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Kai Islands

(Encyclopedia)Kai Islands or Kei Islands both: kī [key], island group (c.550 sq mi/ 1,420 sq km), E Indonesia, SE of Seram, in the Banda Sea, in the Moluccas. It is densely forested with valuable timber; the peopl...

Doctors Without Borders

(Encyclopedia)Doctors Without Borders, Fr. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), international organization that provides emergency medical assistance to people suffering from a natural or societal disaster, such as an...

Aldrich, Thomas Bailey

(Encyclopedia)Aldrich, Thomas Bailey, 1836–1907, American author and editor, b. Portsmouth, N.H. His most widely read work was The Story of a Bad Boy (1870), a vigorous narrative based on his own boyhood. His sho...

Ajaccio

(Encyclopedia)Ajaccio äyätˈchō [key], town, capital of Corse-du-Sud dept., France, on the Isle of Corsica. A year-round tourist attraction, Ajaccio also has manufacturing, fishing, ...

Shuayb

(Encyclopedia)Shuayb sho͞ohāyb [key], Qur'anic non-biblical prophet, appeared later than Hud and Salih among “the people of the thicket.” His preaching is said to have consisted of a call to monotheism and so...

Reiner, Fritz

(Encyclopedia)Reiner, Fritz rīnˈər [key], 1888–1963, American conductor, b. Budapest. After serving as conductor of the People's Opera in Budapest (1911–14) and the Court Opera in Dresden (1914–21), he cam...

Ball, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Ball, Thomas, 1819–1911, American sculptor, b. Charlestown, Mass.; son of a house and sign painter. Thomas Ball was also a singer of reputation, the first in the United States to sing the title role...

Ballia

(Encyclopedia)Ballia bŭlˈyə [key], town, Uttar Pradesh state, N central India. Situated on a rich alluvi...

Nilotes

(Encyclopedia)Nilotes nīlōˈtēz [key], people of E Africa who speak Nilotic languages. Among these are the Nuer and the Masai. The most prominent Nilotic ethnic groups live in South Sudan, N Uganda, and N Kenya....

benediction

(Encyclopedia)benediction [Lat.,=blessing], solemn blessing usually administered in the name of God by a priest or a minister. The temple worship at Jerusalem had fixed forms of benedictions, and Christians have al...