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Catalan Independence
"In a non-binding referendum held over the weekend, Catalonians voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence from Spain."
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FEATURED TOPIC
Commemorating Veterans Day
Sending a salute to military heroes
Carol M. Highsmith’s America/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. ( LC-DIG-highsm-14308)
Editor Picks: 10 Best American Sitcoms
Written by Michael Anderson The sitcom genre, initially consisting of flat characters and laugh tracks, has evolved since its inception, most notably in the previous 30 years. Here to offer some comments on this process through a ranking list of the 10 best is your much-trusted EB editor. So let’s see which sitcoms have most effectively exploited the format and made it uniquely their own.
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Sir Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott on chivalry
 Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil B. DeMille on cinema
 Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert on the future of the feature film
 Thomas Malthus
Thomas Malthus
Thomas Malthus on population
 Ted Turner
Ted Turner
United Nations Foundation
 Chris Evert
Chris Evert
U.S. Open
 John Kenneth Galbraith
John Kenneth Galbraith
Notes on Aging
 Marie and Irène Curie
Marie and Irène Curie
Marie Curie and Irène Curie on radium
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BEHIND THE NEWS

  • AP
    No More Bricks in the Wall
  • © Sheryl Nields—Big Machine Records/The Valory Music Co.
    Swift’s Sales Success
  • Hisham Ibrahim/Getty Images
    U.S. Midterm Elections
  • © vivalapenler/Fotolia
    Freedom Tower Open for Business
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    Death With Dignity
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    Compaoré Out
  • Luca Zennaro—EPA/Alamy
    Pope Francis on Science
  • Eraldo Peres/AP
    Rousseff Reelected Brazilian President
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    Attack on Parliament
  • Paula Allen for V-Day
    Sakharov Prize
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    Remembering Oscar de la Renta
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    Peyton Manning Sets TD Record
  • NIAID/CDC
    Ebola: Latest Developments
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    Crude Oil Prices Tumble
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No More Bricks in the Wall
"This weekend Berliners commemorate the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, a signal event in the democratization of Eastern Europe."
  • Berlin Wall Barrier that surrounded West Berlin and prevented access to it from East Berlin and adjacent areas of East Germany during the period from 1961 to 1989. In the years between 1949 and 1961, about 2.5 million...
  • Berlin Capital and chief urban centre of Germany. The city lies at the heart of the North German Plain, athwart an east-west commercial and geographic axis that helped make it the capital of the kingdom of Prussia...
  • Cold War The open yet restricted rivalry that developed after World War II between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies. The Cold War was waged on political, economic, and propaganda...
Swift’s Sales Success
"Nearly 1.3 million copies of Taylor Swift’s album 1989 were sold in the United States in the week after its October 27, 2014, release. As the highest one-week total in 12 years, the figure offered a bright spot for the slumping recording industry."
  • Taylor Swift American pop and country music singer-songwriter whose tales of young heartache achieved widespread success in the early 21st century. Swift showed an interest in music at an early age, and she progressed...
  • popular music Any commercially oriented music principally intended to be received and appreciated by a wide audience, generally in literate, technologically advanced societies dominated by urban culture. Unlike traditional...
U.S. Midterm Elections
"In elections held November 4, the Republican Party won a majority of seats in the U.S. Senate, giving it control of both houses of Congress."
  • Senate One of the two houses of the legislature (Congress) of the United States, established in 1789 under the Constitution. Each state elects two senators for six-year terms. The terms of about one-third of...
  • Mitch McConnell American politician who served as a U.S. senator from Kentucky (1985–), becoming the state’s longest-serving senator. A Republican, he served as Senate majority whip (2003–07) and minority leader (2007–)....
  • Barack Obama 44th president of the United States (2009–) and the first African American to hold the office. Before winning the presidency, Obama represented Illinois in the U.S. Senate (2005–08). He was the third African...
Freedom Tower Open for Business
"Some 13 years after the September 11, 2001, attacks felled New York’s World Trade Center, the new 1776-foot One World Trade Center ('Freedom Tower') welcomed its first tenants, Condé Nast, on November 3. It is the Western Hemisphere’s tallest building."
  • World Trade Center Complex of several buildings around a central plaza in New York City that in 2001 was the site of the deadliest terrorist attack in American history. (See September 11 attacks.) The complex—located at...
  • September 11 attacks Series of airline hijackings and suicide attacks committed by 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda against targets in the United States, the deadliest terrorist attacks on...
  • skyscraper Very tall, multistoried building. The name first came into use during the 1880s, shortly after the first skyscrapers were built, in the United States. The development of skyscrapers came as a result of...
Death With Dignity
"Diagnosed with advanced brain cancer and facing a painful death, 29-year-old Brittany Maynard committed suicide on November 1 at her home in Oregon with drugs she legally obtained for that purpose under the state’s Death With Dignity Act."
  • euthanasia Act or practice of painlessly putting to death persons suffering from painful and incurable disease or incapacitating physical disorder or allowing them to die by withholding treatment or withdrawing artificial...
  • brain cancer The uncontrolled growth of cells in the brain. The term brain cancer refers to any of a variety of tumours affecting different brain cell types. Depending on the location and cell type, brain cancers may...
Compaoré Out
"Pres. Blaise Compaoré’s 27-year rule ended with his resignation on Oct. 31, after days of violent protest against attempts to extend his rule in Burkina Faso. Gen. Honoré Traoré became head of state after Compaoré’s resignation."
  • Blaise Compaore Military leader and politician who ruled Burkina Faso from 1987, seizing power following a coup. He resigned on October 31, 2014, following days of violent protest. Compaoré was born into a family of the...
  • Burkina Faso Landlocked country in western Africa. The country occupies an extensive plateau, and its geography is characterized by a savanna that is grassy in the north and gradually gives way to sparse forests in...
Pope Francis on Science
"Stating that God is not 'a magician with a magic wand' at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences on October 27, Pope Francis affirmed that the theories of evolution and the Big Bang are real and compatible with the belief in a creator."
  • Francis I The bishop of Rome and the leader of the Roman Catholic Church (2013–). He was the first pope from the Western Hemisphere, the first from South America, and the first from the Jesuit order. Early life...
  • evolution Theory in biology postulating that the various types of plants, animals, and other living things on Earth have their origin in other preexisting types and that the distinguishable differences are due to...
  • big-bang model Widely held theory of the evolution of the universe. Its essential feature is the emergence of the universe from a state of extremely high temperature and density —the so-called big bang that occurred...
Rousseff Reelected Brazilian President
"Dilma Rousseff of the Workers’ Party, the longtime protégé of former two-time Brazilian president Luiz Inácio da Silva, won a second term of her own on October 26, narrowly defeating Aécio Neves of the Brazilian Social Democratic Party."
  • Dilma Rousseff Brazilian politician who in 2011 became Brazil ’s first female president. Early life and political career Rousseff was raised in an upper-middle-class household. Her father was a lawyer who immigrated...
  • Brazil Country of South America that occupies half the continent’s landmass. It is the fifth largest country in the world, exceeded in size only by Russia, Canada, China, and the United States, though its area...
  • Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva Brazilian politician who served as president of Brazil from 2003 to 2011. Born in Pernambuco state to sharecropping parents, Luiz Inácio da Silva (“Lula” was a nickname that he later added to his legal...
Attack on Parliament
"On October 22 a gunman in Ottawa, Canada, killed a Canadian Forces soldier and stormed the halls of Parliament, where he was shot and killed by the parliamentary sergeant-at-arms."
  • Canadian Parliament Legislature of Canada, created by the British North America Act. The 301 members of its House of Commons are elected for maximum terms of five years from the provinces on the principle of representation...
  • Ottawa City, capital of Canada, located in southeastern Ontario. In the eastern extreme of the province, Ottawa is situated on the south bank of the Ottawa River across from Gatineau, Quebec, at the confluence...
  • Canada Second largest country in the world in area (after Russia), occupying roughly the northern two-fifths of the continent of North America. Despite Canada’s great size, it is one of the world’s most sparsely...
Sakharov Prize
"Dr. Denis Mukwege has been awarded the Sakharov Prize for his work in treating and rehabilitating women victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and for his campaign against the use of mass rape as a weapon of war."
  • Denis Mukwege Congolese physician noted for his work in treating victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Mukwege grew up in Bukavu, where he first became aware of the need for better...
  • rape Act of sexual intercourse with an individual without his or her consent, through force or the threat of force. In many jurisdictions, the crime of rape has been subsumed under that of sexual assault, which...
  • Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) DRC country located in central Africa. Officially known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the country has a 25-mile (40-km) coastline on the Atlantic Ocean but is otherwise landlocked. It is the...
Remembering Oscar de la Renta
"Fashion designer to the stars, First Ladies, and generations of socialites, Oscar de la Renta leaves behind a legacy of glamour and glitz. Starting out as a design sketcher, he climbed the ranks to become one of the world’s most celebrated couturiers."
  • Oscar de la Renta Dominican-born American fashion designer whose work, blending European luxury with American ease, helped define standards of elegant dressing among society circles in the late 20th and the early 21st century....
  • fashion industry Multibillion-dollar global enterprise devoted to the business of making and selling clothes. Some observers distinguish between the fashion industry (which makes “high fashion”) and the apparel industry...
Peyton Manning Sets TD Record
"On October 19, Peyton Manning of the NFL’s Denver Broncos threw his 509th career touchdown pass, breaking the record that had been held by Brett Favre."
  • Peyton Manning American collegiate and professional gridiron football quarterback who is considered one of the greatest players at his position in National Football League (NFL) history. He led the Indianapolis Colts...
  • Brett Favre American professional gridiron football player who broke all the major National Football League (NFL) career passing records as quarterback of the Green Bay Packers. Favre grew up in Kiln, Mississippi,...
Ebola: Latest Developments
"Three nurses, one in Spain and two in the United States, have contracted Ebola. They are the first cases to develop outside western Africa – the centre of the worst Ebola outbreak in history."
  • Ebola outbreak of 2014 Outbreak of Ebola virus disease ravaging countries in western Africa in 2014 and noted for its unprecedented magnitude. By early November 2014, suspected and confirmed cases had totaled more than 13,000,...
  • ebolavirus Genus of viruses in the family Filoviridae, certain members of which are particularly fatal in humans and nonhuman primates. In humans, ebolaviruses are responsible for Ebola virus disease (EVD), an illness...
  • viral hemorrhagic fever Any of a variety of highly fatal viral diseases that are characterized by massive external or internal bleeding or bleeding into the skin. Other symptoms vary by the type of viral hemorrhagic fever but...
Crude Oil Prices Tumble
"The price of a barrel of oil has fallen from about $108 in July to roughly $80 in October due to lower demand from China and Europe and higher production from shale sources in North America and crude oil sources in Saudi Arabia."
  • petroleum Complex mixture of hydrocarbons that occur in the Earth in liquid, gaseous, or solid forms. The term is often restricted to the liquid form, commonly called crude oil, but as a technical term it also includes...
  • oil shale Any sedimentary rock containing various amounts of solid organic material that yields petroleum products, along with a variety of solid by-products, when subjected to pyrolysis—a treatment that consists...
  • OPEC Multinational organization that was established to coordinate the petroleum policies of its members and to provide member states with technical and economic aid. Membership and organization OPEC was established...

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