Skanderbeg

A son of John (Gjon) Kastrioti, prince of Emathia, George was early given as hostage to the Turkish sultan. Converted to Islam and educated at Edirne, Turkey, he was given the name Iskander - after Alexander the Great - and the rank of bey (hence Skanderbeg) by Sultan Murad II. During the defeat of the Turks at

Switzerland

Officially �Swiss Confederation�, French �Suisse �or �Conf�d�ration Suisse�, German �Schweiz �or �Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft�, Italian �Svizzera �or �Confederazione Svizzera� or �Confederazione Elvetica�, Romansch �Svizzra �or �Confederaziun Helvetica� country of central Europe, bordered to the west by France, to the north by Germany, to the east by Austria and Liechtenstein, and to the south by Italy. Switzerland extends about 135 miles (220 km) from north to south and 220 miles (350 km) at its widest extent from west to east. Its small area of 15,940 square miles (41,284 square km) - about half the size of Scotland - and its modest population give little indication

Syria, Air transport

Syria has international airports at Damascus and Aleppo and domestic airports at al-Qamishli, Latakia, Dayr az-Zawr, and Tadmur. The facilities at Damascus and Aleppo can handle jet aircraft. International services connect Syria with Arab, other Asian, and European countries. Domestic services are provided by Syrian Arab Airways.

Mckay, Donald

After emigrating to New York City in 1827, he worked as an apprentice to the ship carpenter Isaac Webb. In 1845 he established a shipyard at East Boston, Mass.; there he designed and built his great clipper ships. His first, the Stag Hound, launched in 1850, was

Obelia

Genus of invertebrate marine animals of the class Hydrozoa (phylum Cnidaria). The genus, widely distributed in all the oceans, is represented by many species. The animal begins life as a polyp - a stalklike form attached to the ocean bottom or some other solid surface. The polyp produces medusae, or jellyfish, which in turn, produce polyps. Rootlike filaments sent out by

Kachina

In Pueblo Indian religious practice, any of more than 500 divine ancestral spirits who act as intermediaries between man and god. Each tribe has its distinct forms and variations. Kachinas are believed to reside with the tribe for half of each year. They will allow themselves to be seen by the community if the men properly perform a traditional ritual while wearing kachina

Upasampada

A candidate for ordination must be at least 20 years old, have the permission of his parents, be exempt from military service, be free from debt and from contagious

Medicine, In the developed countries

Those concerned with providing health care in the developed countries face a different set of problems. The diseases so prevalent in the Third World have, for the most part, been eliminated or are readily treatable. Many of the adverse environmental conditions and public health hazards have been conquered. Social services of varying degrees of adequacy have been

Military Affairs

(For a comparison of approximate strengths of selected regular armed forces, see Table III.) The issue of homosexuals in the armed forces made headlines in the U.S. throughout the year. The new president, Bill Clinton, was forced to back away from a campaign pledge to drop the 50-year ban on homosexuals serving in the military when he immediately ran into opposition within

Marr, Nikolay Yakovlevich

A professor at St. Petersburg University from 1900, Marr published numerous collections of old Georgian and Armenian literature and attempted to prove a relationship between

Great Bend

City, seat (1872) of Barton county, central Kansas, U.S. Great Bend lies on the Arkansas River where the High Plains begin to shade into tallgrass prairie. Situated in the alleged locality of the mythical city of Quivira sought by Francisco Coronado in the 16th century, the site was visited by the American explorer Zebulon Pike in 1806 and became a stopping point on the Santa Fe