Word: offshoot
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...home, Assad has brought a stable government to a country that had rarely experienced that phenomenon before he came to power 13 years ago. His durability is especially noteworthy considering that Assad belongs to the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam that accounts for only 13% of his country's 9.6 million people (most of the rest are Sunni Muslims). Assad's long tenure has, however, been purchased at great cost. The regime cruelly silences opponents both at home and abroad, maintains a standing army of 275,000, and has five intelligence agencies to keep watch...
...mountain strongholds, and only a handful of initiates are permitted to know their mystic rites or to read their "Six Books of Wisdom." Their faith is a baffling hybrid of Greek philosophy and Muslim mysticism; they revere Jesus, Moses and Muhammad equally. Though their sect is technically an offshoot of the Isma'ili Muslim sect, it shares ideas with Chinese and Indian religions. Such are the shadowy outlines of the mysterious Druze, a self-enclosed feudal group famous for its autonomy and military prowess...
Shaw said the Ephraim Isaac Defense Fund, an offshoot of his group, last year raised more than $4000 to help defray Isaac's legal expenses...
...selection committee, headed by the Rev. Desmond Tutu, Secretary General of the South African Council of Churches, picks from over 900 applicants. Once those chosen receive visas--usually a formality--they are sent to the U.S. for a two-week orientation session before starting school. SAEP, which is an offshoot of the Institute of International Education in New York City, is the primary organization for South African-U.S. student scholarships. Beginning with six students in 1979-80, the program has expanded up to next year's 160 students as funding has increased to its current $5 million annual budget...
Assad's longevity is all the more remarkable considering that he is a member of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam that accounts for only 11% of his nation's population, which is predominantly Sunni Muslim. In a sense, it was Assad's religion that put him on the path to power. With few career opportunities available to a non-Sunni, Assad entered the military academy at 22; by 25, he was an air force officer. Around that time, the ambitious Assad became active in the country's Baath Party, which advocates...