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wheat

(Encyclopedia)wheat, cereal plant of the genus Triticum of the family Poaceae (grass family), a major food and an important commodity on the world grain market. Wheat is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, ...

Turkmenistan

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Turkmenistan to͞orkmyĕˌnyĭstänˈ [key], republic (2015 est. pop. 5,565,000), 188,455 sq mi (488,100 sq km), central Asia. It borders on Afghanistan and Iran in the south, Uzbekistan in the...

Arabs

(Encyclopedia)Arabs, name originally applied to the Semitic peoples of the Arabian Peninsula. It now refers to those persons whose primary language is Arabic. They constitute most of the population of Algeria, Bahr...

fundamentalism

(Encyclopedia)fundamentalism. 1 In Protestantism, religious movement that arose among conservative members of various Protestant denominations early in the 20th cent., with the object of maintaining traditional int...

Commonwealth of Independent States

(Encyclopedia)Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), community of independent nations established by a treaty signed at Minsk, Belarus, on Dec. 8, 1991, by the heads of state of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. Bet...

strike

(Encyclopedia)strike, concentrated work stoppage by a group of employees, the chief weapon of organized labor. A suspension of work on the employer's part is called a lockout. Strikes usually result from conflicts ...

mosque

(Encyclopedia)mosque mŏsk [key], building for worship used by members of the Islamic faith. Muhammad's house in Medina (a.d. 622), with its surrounding courtyard and hall with columns, became the prototype for the...

Red Cross

(Encyclopedia)Red Cross, international organization concerned with the alleviation of human suffering and the promotion of public health; the world-recognized symbols of mercy and absolute neutrality are the Red Cr...

COVID-19

(Encyclopedia)COVID-19, contagious viral disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, or SARS-CoV-2, a coronavirus that is genetically related to SARS-CoV, which causes SARS. Symptoms generall...

petroleum

(Encyclopedia)petroleum, oily, flammable liquid that occurs naturally in deposits, usually beneath the surface of the earth; it is also called crude oil. It consists principally of a mixture of hydrocarbons, with t...