Israel

After nearly three years of relentless bloodletting, Israel and the Palestinians responded in mid-2003 to international efforts to promote peace. The early promise of a breakthrough proved illusory, however, and the cycle of violence continued. Intense Israeli military pressure, following reoccupation of Palestinian cities in the West Bank and a determined hands-on

Salerno

Latin �Salernum, � city, capital of Salerno provincia, Campania regione, southern Italy. It lies west of the mouth of the Irno River on the Gulf of Salerno, southeast of Naples. The Roman colony of Salernum was founded in 197 BC on the site of an earlier town, possibly Etruscan, called Irnthi. Part of the Lombard duchy of Benevento from AD 646, it became the capital of an independent Lombard principality

Kidinnu

Also spelled �Kidenas, or Cidenas � astronomer and mathematician who may have discovered the precession of the equinoxes, the slow rotation of the Earth's axis that results in slight variations in the length of the year. Head of the astronomical school at Sippar, Kidinnu was probably responsible for introducing the 19-year cycle into the Babylonian calendar in 383 BC. In this system each year had

Kwolek, Stephanie

Kwolek's father, a foundry worker, died when she was 10 years old, and her mother raised her and a brother alone. In 1946 she received a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from the Carnegie

Mitosis

Prior to the onset of mitosis, the chromosomes have replicated and the proteins

Lerma River

Spanish �R�o Lerma, � river in west-central Mexico. It rises on the central plateau 15 miles (24 km) southeast of Toluca and flows northwestward through the state of M�xico, forms the short border between the states of Quer�taro and Michoac�n, and then meanders generally west-northwestward through Guanajuato. After looping southward, the Lerma separates Guanajuato and Michoac�n, and

Aetolian League

Federal state or �sympolity� of Aetolia, in ancient Greece. Probably based on a looser tribal community, it was well-enough organized to conduct negotiations with Athens in 367 BC. It became by c. 340 one of the leading military powers in Greece. Having successfully resisted invasions by Macedonia in 322 and 314 - 311, the league rapidly grew in strength during the ensuing period of Macedonian

Ashcan School

Group of American realist painters based in New York City in the early 20th century. The group's most prominent figures were known as �The Eight.� See Eight, The.

Mitchell River

River in northern Queensland, Australia. It rises near Rumula on the Atherton Plateau section of the Eastern Highlands, 30 miles (48 km) northwest of Cairns, and flows for 350 miles (560 km) northwest across Cape York Peninsula to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Although the stream, fed by the Palmer, Walsh, and Lynd rivers, has the state's largest discharge, it is intermittent and may be dry for

Kathiri Sultanate

Former semi-independent state in the southern Arabian Peninsula, in the inland Hadhramaut region now included in Yemen. The sultanate, with its capital at Saywun (Say'un), once extended from the Wadi Hadramawt, an intermittent stream, northward to the Rub' al-Khali, the vast southern Arabian desert. The Kathiri tribe dominated the Hadhramaut from about 1500 until the early 19th century,

Insurance, United States

The first American insurance company was organized by Benjamin Franklin in 1752 as the Philadelphia Contributionship. The first life insurance company in the American colonies was the Presbyterian Ministers' Fund, organized in 1759. By 1820 there were 17 stock life insurance companies in the state of New York alone. Many of the early property insurance companies failed from

Haasse, Hella S.

Haasse studied at the Amsterdam Toneelschool, a dramatic arts school, and published a volume of poetry, Stroomversnelling (�Fast Current�), in 1945. Her novel Het woud der verwachting (1949; In a Dark Wood Wandering) is about Charles d'Orl�ans, a French nobleman taken

Hawran

Divided between the Nabataeans and the Romans until AD 106, the

Bing�

Formerly ��apak�ur, � city in eastern Turkey, lying along the G�niksuyu, a tributary of the Murat River. It is a market for grain, livestock, and livestock products of the area. The city takes its name (bin, �thousand,� g�l, �lakes�) from numerous small lakes that dot the Bing�l Mountains to the northeast. Bing�l suffered heavy damage by earthquake in 1966. The city is linked by main roads with El�zig to the

Bing�

Formerly ��apak�ur, � city in eastern Turkey, lying along the G�niksuyu, a tributary of the Murat River. It is a market for grain, livestock, and livestock products of the area. The city takes its name (bin, �thousand,� g�l, �lakes�) from numerous small lakes that dot the Bing�l Mountains to the northeast. Bing�l suffered heavy damage by earthquake in 1966. The city is linked by main roads with El�zig to the

Bunner, Henry Cuyler

Educated in New York City, Bunner served on the staff of the Arcadian, at 22 becoming assistant editor and later editor of Puck until his death. He developed Puck from a new, struggling comic weekly into a powerful social and political

Avery, Samuel Putnam

Beginning as an engraver on copper (he worked for the American Bank Note Company), Avery became a skilled wood engraver and illustrated numerous books. In 1864 he gave up his engraving practice and established himself as an art

Amalfi

Town and archiepiscopal see, Salerno provincia, Campania regione, southern Italy. It lies in the ravine of the Mulini Valley, along the Gulf of Salerno, southeast of Naples. Although it was known in the 4th century, Amalfi was of little importance until the mid-6th century under the Byzantines. As one of the first Italian maritime republics in the 9th century, it rivaled Pisa,

Amalfi

Town and archiepiscopal see, Salerno provincia, Campania regione, southern Italy. It lies in the ravine of the Mulini Valley, along the Gulf of Salerno, southeast of Naples. Although it was known in the 4th century, Amalfi was of little importance until the mid-6th century under the Byzantines. As one of the first Italian maritime republics in the 9th century, it rivaled Pisa,

Peter I

King of Aragon from June 1094. The son of Sancho Ram�rez, the third in order of the historic kings of Aragon, Peter belonged to times anterior to the authentic written history of his kingdom; and little is known of him save that he conquered Huesca (1096) and Barbastro (1100) from the Moors of Saragossa. He was twice married but left no children and was succeeded by his brother Alfonso

Bridgwater

Bristol Channel seaport, Sedgemoor district, administrative and historic county of Somerset, England. The town, which is located in Sedgemoor district, lies to the east of the Quantock Hills, mainly on the right bank of the River Parrett. The first of several charters dates from 1200, and wine and wool fairs were economically important in medieval times. The Church of St.

Plum

Fruit of the genus Prunus of the rose family (Rosaceae). Like the peach and cherry, it is a stone, or drupe, fruit. Trees of some plum species reach a height from 6 to 10 metres (20 to 33 feet), while others are much smaller; some species are small shrubs with drooping branches. The flower buds on most varieties are borne on short spurs or along the terminal shoots of the main branches. Each

Antarctica

A great many nations, large and small, played important roles in the discovery and exploration of Antarctica. Who first saw the continent is controversial. The Russian expedition leader Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, the Englishman Edward Bransfield, and the American Nathaniel Palmer all claim first sightings in 1820: Bellingshausen sighted a shelf edge of

Yun, Isang

Yun began composing at the age of 14 and studied music in Japan in Osaka and Tokyo. He returned to Korea, where he was active in the resistance movement against the Japanese during World War

Ear, Human, Auditory nerve fibres

The vestibulocochlear nerve consists of two anatomically and functionally distinct parts: the cochlear nerve, which innervates the organ of hearing, and the vestibular nerve, which innervates the organs of equilibrium. The fibres of the cochlear nerve originate from an aggregation of nerve cell bodies, the spiral ganglion, located in the modiolus of the cochlea.

Cranbrook Academy Of Art

Private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., U.S. The school and its associated museum were designed largely by Finnish-American architect Eliel Saarinen. Cranbrook Academy of Art is devoted solely to graduate study in the arts, offering master's degree programs in fine arts and architecture. Areas of study include architecture,

Berenice I

Berenice arrived in Egypt in the retinue of Eurydice, Ptolemy's second queen, whom he married as part of a political agreement with her father, Antipater of Macedonia. About 317 Ptolemy married Berenice. Probably because she was not of royal blood, a genealogy was fabricated