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appeal

(Encyclopedia)appeal, in law, hearing by a superior court to consider correcting or reversing the judgment of an inferior court, because of errors allegedly committed by the inferior court. The party appealing the ...

Jehovah's Witnesses

(Encyclopedia)Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian group originating in the United States at the end of the 19th cent., organized by Charles Taze Russell, whose doctrine centers on the Second Coming of Christ. The Witnes...

Khodorkovsky, Mikhail Borisovich

(Encyclopedia)Khodorkovsky, Mikhail Borisovich mēkhəyēlˈ bərēˈsəvĭch kōdôrkôfˈskē [key], 1963–, Russian business executive. In the waning years of the Soviet Union, he ran a computer import business...

Liutprand

(Encyclopedia)Liutprand lēo͞otˈprănd [key], d. 744, king of the Lombards (712–44). Under his rule the Lombard kingdom of Italy reached its zenith. The first Christian Lombard ruler, Liutprand strongly favored...

news agency

(Encyclopedia)news agency, local, national, international, or technical organization that gathers and distributes news, usually for newspapers, periodicals, and broadcasters. From 1915 until the 1940s, news age...

Burrillville

(Encyclopedia)Burrillville, town (2020 pop. 16,158), Providence co., NW R.I.; inc. 1806. It is named for James Burrill, Jr., attorney general of the state who later b...

Star Chamber

(Encyclopedia)Star Chamber, ancient meeting place of the king of England's councilors in the palace of Westminster in London, so called because of stars painted on the ceiling. The court of the Star Chamber develop...

Walzer, Michael

(Encyclopedia)Walzer, Michael, 1935–, American political philosopher, b. New York City, attended Brandeis Univ. (B.A., 1956), Cambridge (1956–57), and Harvard (Ph.D., 1961). A prominent liberal thinker and prol...

Kony, Joseph Rao

(Encyclopedia)Kony, Joseph Rao, 1964?–, Ugandan rebel and war criminal. His cousin, Alice Lakwena, led the Holy Spirit Movement against (1986–87) Uganda's President Museveni, and when she was defeated, Kony for...

le Carré, John

(Encyclopedia)le Carré, John lə kärāˈ [key], pseud. of David John Moore Cornwell, 1931–2020, English novelist. He was a tutor at Eton College (1956–58), and subsequently worked for the British foreign serv...