Moscoso, Mireya

Moscoso was born to a poor family in a rural town. After graduating from high school, she worked as a secretary and in the early 1960s met Arnulfo Arias, a former president of Panama. She began working on his political campaigns, and on October 1, 1968, he was reelected. When he was deposed nine days later

Navas De Tolosa, Battle Of Las

Immobilized for several years by his crushing defeat at Alarcos (1195) at the hands

Aisling

In Irish literature, a poetic or dramatic description or representation of a vision. The Vision of Adamn�n is one of the best-known examples. In the 18th century the aisling became popular as a means of expressing support for the exiled Roman Catholic king James II of England and Ireland and for the restoration of the Roman Catholic Stuart line to the throne. The word

Siamese Fighting Fish

(Betta splendens), freshwater tropical fish of the family Belontiidae (classified by some authorities as Anabantidae; order Perciformes), noted for the pugnacity of the males toward one another. The Siamese fighting fish, a native of Thailand, was domesticated there for use in contests. Combat consists mainly of fin nipping and is accompanied by a display of extended

Uzbek Language

In Uzbek roughly two main dialect groups can be distinguished. One includes

Pease, Edward Reynolds

Born to a prosperous family, Pease left a business career and joined with Frank Podmore, a spiritualist and socialist writer, to found the Fabian Society in London in January 1884. The Fabians sought a gradualist approach to socialism in Britain. Early members

Great Britain

First Atlantic ocean liner that was built of iron and had screw propulsion. It was the world's largest ship at the time of its launching (1843) and was 322 feet (98 m) long with a tonnage of 3,270. Designed by the British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel originally as a paddle steamer and built at Bristol, it was equipped with screw machinery that was supplemented by sails on six (later five)

Karaje Rug

Also called �Karadagh, � floor covering handmade in or near the village of Qarajeh (Karaje), in the Qareh Dagh (Karadagh) region just south of the Azerbaijan border, northeast of Tabriz, Iran. The best-known pattern shows three geometric medallions that are somewhat similar to Caucasian carpets. The central one has a latch-hooked contour and differs in colour from the others, which are eight-pointed

Eadbald

King of Kent, who succeeded his father Aethelberht in 616. He had not been influenced by the teaching of the Christian missionaries, and his first step on his accession was to marry his father's widow. After his subsequent conversion by Laurentius, archbishop of Canterbury, he built a church in Canterbury dedicated to the Virgin Mary. He arranged a marriage between

Tlaloc

During Aztec times (14th to 16th century), Tlaloc's

Pito�ff, Georges

Russian-born director and producer, noted for his popularization in France of the works of contemporary foreign playwrights, especially Pirandello, Shaw, Chekhov, Schnitzler, and O'Neill. He was a member of the Cartel des Quatre (Group of Four), a group including Louis Jouvet, Charles Dullin, and Gaston Baty, dedicated to rejuvenating the

Saxifragaceae

The saxifrage family of flowering plants, in the order Rosales, comprising 36 genera of mostly perennial dicotyledonous herbs. The members are cosmopolitan in distribution but native primarily to northern cold and temperate regions. Members of the family have leaves that characteristically alternate along the stem and sometimes are deeply lobed or form rosettes.

Handball

Any of a family of games played in walled courts or against a single wall, with a small rubber ball that is struck with hand or fist against the wall. The object is to cause the ball to rebound with variations of power or speed and at such an angle that the opposition cannot return it. There are three versions of handball: four-wall, three-wall, and one-wall. Each may be played

Cadenza

(Italian: �cadence�), unaccompanied bravura passage introduced at or near the close of a movement of a composition and serving as a brilliant climax, particularly in solo concerti of a virtuoso character. Until well into the 19th century such interpolated passages were often improvised by the performer at suitable openings left for that purpose by the composer. They

Insurance, Conditions

Homeowner's policies may include the following conditions: (1) Owners are required to give immediate written notice of loss to the insurer or the insurer's agent. (2) The insured must provide proof of the amount of loss. This suggests that owners should keep accurate records of the items in a building and of their original cost. (3) The insured must cooperate with the insurer

Gharbiyah, Al-

Muhafazah (governorate) in the middle Nile Delta, Lower Egypt, bounded on the east and west by the Damietta and the Rosetta branches of the Nile, on the north by Kafr ash-Shaykh muhafazah, and by al-Minufiyah muhafazah to the south. Its area is 750 square miles (1,942 square km); the muhafazah's capital has been at the cultural centre and transportation node of Tanta (q.v.) since 1836. An administrative unit named

Oslo Fjord

Norwegian �Oslofjorden,� fjord on the Skagerrak (strait) penetrating the southern coast of Norway for 60 miles (100 km) from about Fredrikstad to Oslo. With an area of 766 square miles (1,984 square km), the fjord occupies a glacier-formed depression, or graben, that has been partially filled and partially reexcavated. The fjord's forested shoreline is dotted with numerous towns and seaports and is one of the most

Mu'tamid, Al-

At age 13 al-Mu'tamid commanded a military expedition that had been sent against the city of Silves. The venture was successful, and he was appointed governor

Mazia, Daniel

U.S. cell biologist (b. Dec. 18, 1912, Scranton, Pa.--d. June 9, 1996, Monterey, Calif.), studied the structure, division, and regulation of cells and was best known for having isolated the cellular structures involved in mitosis (the process by which chromosomes within the nucleus of a cell double and divide), research that he carried out in 1951 with Japanese biologist Katsuma Dan. Mazia, who was interested

Aerospace Industry, Between the wars

The world's aircraft industry fell into sharp decline following the Armistice. Within days most contracts were canceled. The wartime-oriented industry was overcapitalized, overstocked with raw materials, overorganized, and overmanned for peacetime needs. In Europe, national governments realized that maintaining a strong air force in case of war required an

China, Population

Ming China's northward orientation in foreign relations was accompanied by a flow of Chinese migrants from the crowded South back into the vast North China Plain, and by a concomitant shift in emphasis from an urban and commercial way of life back to a rural and agrarian pattern. Thus, demographic and economic trends that had characterized China for centuries - the

Alaska, Economic growth

A dispute between the United States and Canada over the boundary between British Columbia and the Alaska panhandle was decided by an Alaska Boundary Tribunal in 1903. The U.S. view that the border should lie along the crest of the Boundary Ranges was accepted and boundary mapping was completed in 1913. Between 1898 and 1900 a narrow-gauge railroad was built across White Pass to link

Monad

(from Greek monas �unit�), an elementary individual substance that reflects the order of the world and from which material properties are derived. The term was first used by the Pythagoreans as the name of the beginning number of a series, from which all following numbers derived. Giordano Bruno in De monade, numero et figura liber (1591; �On the Monad, Number, and Figure�) described

Allegheny College

One of the oldest colleges

Paradzhanov, Sergey Yosifovich

Paradzhanov studied music at the Tbilisi Conservatory and cinema at the State Institute of Cinematography. In 1952 he joined the Kiev Dovzhenko Studios, but the early motion pictures that he

Brandt, Bill

Following early schooling in Germany and a stay in Switzerland, during which he took up photography, Brandt briefly worked in the Paris studio of the American artist and photographer Man Ray in 1929. In 1931 he returned

B�jart, Maurice

After studies in Paris, B�jart toured with the Ballets de Paris de Roland Petit (1947 - 49), the International Ballet (1949 - 50), and the Royal Swedish Ballet (1951 - 52). In 1954 he founded Les Ballets

Girardon, Fran�ois

Giradon attracted the attention of Chancellor Pierre S�guier, who brought him to Paris to study under Fran�ois Anguier and afterward sent him to Rome. He returned to France about 1650, becoming a member of the

Uberaba

City, western Minas Gerais estado (�state�), Brazil, in the highlands at 2,575 feet (785 m) above sea level, on the Uberaba River. It was given city status in 1856. Uberaba is the trade centre of an important agricultural area, yielding cattle (the largest source of income), rice, oranges, corn (maize), beans, coffee, sugarcane, and bananas. A well-known cattle and agricultural exhibition is held there

Dagestan

Dagestan can be divided into five physical regions. The first, occupying most of the southern half of the republic, consists of the Caucasus Mountains, there at their widest.

Augustine, Saint

The most widespread and longest-lasting theological controversies of the 4th century focused on the Christian doctrine of the Trinity - that is, the threeness of God represented in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Augustine's Africa had been left out of much of the fray, and most of what was written on the subject was in Greek, a language Augustine barely knew and had little