(Freebase) AusAID (the Australian Agency for International Development) is the Australian Government agency responsible for managing Australia's overseas aid program. The objective of the aid program is to assist developing countries to reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development, in line with Australia's national interest. AusAID provides advice and support to the Minister and Parliamentary Secretary on development policy, and plans and coordinates poverty reduction activities in partnership with developing countries. While an independent agency under the Financial Management and Accountability Act, it is part of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for the purposes of the Public Service Act which covers human resources and non-financial accountability. AusAID's head office is in Canberra. AusAID also has representatives in 25 Australian diplomatic missions overseas. The agency has seen a variety of names and formats. It was founded in 1974 under the Whitlam Labor government as...

(Freebase) Australia ( /əˈstreɪljə/ ə-STRAYL-yə or /ɒˈstreɪljə/ o-STRAYL-yə, or /ɔːˈstreɪliə/ aw-STRAY-lee-ə), officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent (the world's smallest), the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Neighbouring countries include Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the northeast and New Zealand to the southeast. For at least 40,000 years before European settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who belonged to one or more of the roughly 250 language groups. After sporadic visits by fishermen from the immediate north and discovery by Dutch explorers in 1606, Australia's eastern half was claimed by the British in 1770 and initially settled through penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales, founded on 26 January 1788....

(Freebase) Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development (or AYAD) is a volunteer program run by the Australian government's international development agency AusAID. It places Australian citizens aged 18-30 on short term development assignments of three to twelve months in a range of developing countries in Asia and the Pacific, including Cambodia, China, Sri Lanka, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea. The program has grown from the 42 AYADs that were originally deployed in Intake 1 in March 1999, to around 400 AYADs deployed each year. Each works in a Host Organisation in a developing country, completing a specific assignment designed to assist the Host Organisation in one of a number of areas, including gender, health, governance or rural development. It also aims to improve cross-cultural understanding between young Australians and those they work with.

(Freebase) The word authority derives from the Latin word auctoritas meaning invention, advice, opinion, influence, or command. Essentially authority is imposed by superiors upon inferiors either by force of arms (structural authority) or by force of argument (sapiential authority). Usually authority has components of both compulsion and persuasion. For this reason, as used in Roman law, authority is differentiated potestas legal or military power and imperium persuasive political rank or standing. Legitimate Authority In government, authority is often used interchangeably with the term "power". However, their meanings differ: while "power" is defined as "the ability to influence somebody to do something that he/she would not have done", "authority" refers to a claim of legitimacy, the justification and right to exercise that power. For example, whilst a mob has the power to punish a criminal, for example by lynching, people who believe in the rule of law consider that only a court of law has...

(Freebase) An auto rickshaw or three-wheeler (tuk-tuk, trishaw, auto, rickshaw, autorick, bajaj, rick, tricycle, mototaxi, or baby taxi in popular parlance) is a motor vehicle and a mode of transport for private use and as a vehicle for hire. It is a motorized version of the traditional rickshaw or velotaxi, a small three-wheeled cart operated by a single individual, and is a 3-wheeled cabin cycle. Auto rickshaws can be found in many developing countries. An auto rickshaw is generally characterized by a sheet-metal body or open frame resting on three wheels, a canvas roof with drop-down sides, a small cabin in the front of the vehicle for the driver (sometimes called an auto-wallah), and seating space for up to three passengers in the rear. They are generally fitted with an air-cooled scooter version of a two-stroke engine, with handlebar controls instead of a steering wheel. Many auto rickshaws follow the original design of the Piaggio Ape C, from 1956, which was originally based on the Vespa....

(Freebase) About 250 million vehicles are in the United States. Around the world, there were about 806 million cars and light trucks on the road in 2007; they burn over 260 billion gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel yearly. The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells the world's motor vehicles. In 2007, more than 73 million motor vehicles, including cars and commercial vehicles were produced worldwide.

(Freebase) Automotive design is the profession involved in the development of the appearance, and to some extent the ergonomics, of motor vehicles or more specifically road vehicles. This most commonly refers to automobiles but also refers to motorcycles, trucks, buses, coaches, and vans. The functional design and development of a modern motor vehicle is typically done by a large team from many different disciplines included in automotive engineers. Automotive design in this context is primarily concerned with developing the visual appearance or aesthetics of the vehicle, though it is also involved in the creation of the product concept. Automotive design is practiced by designers who usually have an art background and a degree in industrial design or transportation design. The task of the design team is usually split into three main aspects: exterior design, interior design, and color and trim design. Graphic design is also an aspect of automotive design; this is generally shared amongst the...

(Freebase) Avery Hale founded Step by Step, an organization that aims to distribute shoes to impoverished children, in 2006 - when she was just 13 years old.

(Freebase) Awra Amba is an Ethiopian community of about 400 people, located 73 kilometres east of Bahir Dar in the Fogera woreda of Debub Gondar Zone. It was founded in 1980 with the goal of solving socio-economic problems through helping one another in an environment of egalitarianism—in marked contrast to the traditional norms of Amhara society. Founded by Zumra Nuru, who currently serves as co-chairman of the community, with 19 other people who shared his vision, as of 2007 Awra Amba has some 400 members, and is lauded as a model to alleviate poverty and promote gender equality in a country where women are generally subservient to men. The fact that its members work together, are diligent, disciplined and self-confident makes the Awra Amba community distinct from other Amhara communities. Women have equal rights as men and there is no distinction in divisions of labor between men and women. All people in the community have no religion as distinct from most communities in Ethiopia. They...

(Freebase) AXA (Euronext: CS, Pink Sheets: AXAHY) is a French global insurance group headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. AXA is a conglomerate of independently run business, operated according to the laws and regulations of many different countries. The AXA group of companies are engaged in life, health and other forms of insurance, as well as investment management. The AXA group operates primarily in Western Europe, North America and the Asia Pacific region and the Middle East. The AXA Group encompasses five operating business segments: Life & Savings, Property & Casualty, International Insurance (including reinsurance), Asset Management and Other Financial Services. AXA ranks as the 9th largest company in the world (based on revenue) on the 2010 Fortune Global 500 list. The Company was originally founded in 1816 as Mutuelle de L'assurance contre L'incendie (the Ancienne Mutuelle). It acquired Compagnie Parisienne de Garantie in 1978 and became Mutuelles Unies. It went on to buy...

(Freebase) Dr Ayan Panja (b. June 1973, Essex) is a British media doctor, medical expert, television presenter and writer. He is a partner in a NHS GP town centre practice in St Albans. He is a Member of the Royal College of General Practitioners and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Dr Ayan currently presents a new global health series for BBC World News called The Health Show.

(Freebase) The Aymara or Aimara are a native ethnic group in the Andes and Altiplano regions of South America; about 2 million live in Bolivia, Peru and Chile. They lived in the region for many centuries before becoming a subject people of the Inca, and later of the Spanish in the 16th century. The Aymara have existed in the Andes in what is now Western Bolivia, Southern Peru and Northern Chile for over 2,000 years, according to some estimates. The region where Tiwanaku and the modern Aymara are located, the Altiplano, was conquered by the Incas under Huayna Capac (reign 1483-1523), although the exact date of this takeover is unknown. It is most likely that the Inca had a strong influence over the Aymara region for some time. The architecture for which the Inca are now known is clearly modeled after the Tiwanaku style. Though conquered by the Inca, the Aymara retained some degree of autonomy under the empire. There were a number of ethnic groups which were later to be called Aymara by the...

(Freebase) Ayu Utami (born on November 21, 1968 in Bogor, West Java) is a female Indonesian writer. She has written novels, short-stories, and articles. Saman (1998) is widely considered her masterpiece. It was translated into English by Pamela Allen in 2005. Ayu Utami is a leading voice among the new generation of Indonesian artists and writers emerging after the fall of Suharto. Utami was born in Bogor and grew up in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. She obtained her Bachelor degree from the University of Indonesia, where she studied Russian language and literature. During her college years she had already begun publishing reports and essays in various newspapers. In 1990, she was selected as a finalist in Wajah Femina, a beauty pageant in Indonesia. However, she did not pursue a modeling career due to her dislike of cosmetics and make-up. She has been a journalist for various Indonesian magazines, including Humor, Matra, Forum Keadilan, and D&R.; Shortly after Suharto banned three magazines in...

(Freebase) Azerbaijan (pronounced /ˌæzərbaɪˈdʒɑːn/ ( listen) az-ər-bye-JAHN; Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan), formally the Republic of Azerbaijan (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan Respublikası), is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south. The exclave of Nakhichevan is bounded by Armenia to the north and east, Iran to the south and west, while having a short borderline with Turkey to the northwest. The majority-Armenian populated Nagorno-Karabakh region in the southwest of Azerbaijan declared itself independent from Azerbaijan in 1991, but it is not diplomatically recognised by any nation and is still considered a de jure part of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan, a nation with a majority Turkic and Shi‘ite Muslim population, is a secular and a unitary republic with an ancient and historic cultural heritage. Azerbaijan was...

(Freebase) B'Tselem (Hebrew: בצלם‎, "in the image of", as in Genesis 1:27) is an Israeli non-governmental organization (NGO). It calls itself "The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories". The group was founded on February 3, 1989 by a group of prominent Israeli public figures, including lawyers, academics, journalists, and members of the Knesset. B'Tselem's stated goals are "to document and educate the Israeli public and policymakers about human rights violations in the Occupied Territories, combat the phenomenon of denial prevalent among the Israeli public, and help create a human rights culture in Israel". In December 1989 the organization received the Carter-Menil Human Rights Prize. Its executive director is Jessica Montell. B'Tselem was founded on February 3, 1989 by a group of prominent Israeli public figures, including lawyers, academics, journalists, and members of the Knesset. B'Tselem's stated goals are "to document and educate the Israeli public and...