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Abed, Sir Fazle Hasan

(Encyclopedia)Abed, Sir Fazle Hasan, 1936–2019, Bangladeshi humanitarian. After studying accounting in Britain, he returned (1968) to what was then East Pakistan and began working for Shell Pakistan. In 1970, dur...

gong

(Encyclopedia)gong, percussion instrument consisting of a disk, usually with upturned edges, 3 ft (91 cm) or more in diameter in the modern orchestra, often made of bronze, and struck with a felt- or leather-covere...

Hortensius, Quintus

(Encyclopedia)Hortensius, Quintus kwĭnˈtəs hôrtĕnˈshəs [key], 114 b.c.–50 b.c., Roman orator. He was the favorite lawyer of the patrician party and made his name as defense counsel in the bribery and embez...

Tan, Amy

(Encyclopedia)Tan, Amy, 1952–, American novelist, b. Oakland, Calif. The daughter of Chinese immigrants, she has taken for her theme the lives of Asian-Americans and the generational and cultural differences amon...

Persad-Bissessar, Kamla

(Encyclopedia)Persad-Bissessar, Kamla, 1952—, Trinidadian political leader. A lawyer of South Asian descent and a member of the United National Congress (UNC), she was appointed to Trinidad and Tobago's senate in...

Bosporus

(Encyclopedia)Bosporus –pərəs [key] [Gr.,=ox ford, in reference to the story of Io], Turk. Boğaziçi, strait, c.20 mi (30 km) long and c.2,100 ft (640 m) wide at its narrowest, separating European from Asian T...

ninebark

(Encyclopedia)ninebark, any plant of the genus Physocarpus of the family Rosaceae (rose family). Ninebarks are North American (one is Asian) deciduous, hardy, spring-blooming shrubs, with thin bark which peels off ...

Moore, Clement Clarke

(Encyclopedia)Moore, Clement Clarke, 1779–1863, American educator and poet, b. New York City, grad. Columbia, 1798. A biblical scholar, he was professor of Asian and Greek literature at the Episcopal General Theo...

mangosteen

(Encyclopedia)mangosteen mangˈgəstēnˌ [key], the edible fruit of Garcinia mangostana, of the family Clusiaceae (Guttiferae), an evergreen tree native to SE Asia. The purple fruit is similar to an orange in size...

Banharn Silpa-archa

(Encyclopedia)Banharn Silpa-archa, 1932–2016, Thai businessman and political leader. Born into a family of ethnic Chinese traders, he grew wealthy during the 1960s economic boom and became a political power broke...