Word: ja
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Utada enjoys adding traditional Ja-panese touches to her image. Says Utada: "In my most recent artist photo shoot, I said, 'I want to wear a Japanese summer kimono.' At first everyone was like, 'Are you sure?' Because people don't really wear it for artist photos. I've never really seen a musician wearing it." But she did it anyway. She's also taken to wearing traditional Japanese wooden sandals, or geta, with blue jeans...
...Laskar jihad was founded in 2000 by an unassuming Islamic teacher named Ja'far Umar Thalib. A 40-year-old from the east Java heartland of Indonesian Islam, Ja'far's mild demeanor disguises a fierce devotion to what he sees as the plight of Muslims in Indonesia. Like many of Southeast Asia's radical Muslims, he spent several years in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the mid-1980s, both studying and fighting against the Soviet invasion. (Ja'far says he met Osama bin Laden then, but was unimpressed: "He couldn't even read the Koran without stumbling...
...After his return, Ja'far might have stayed an obscure preacher in Yogyakarta but for an explosion of Muslim-Christian fighting in the Maluku Islands, the famed Spice Islands, in 1998. "We waited and waited for the government to respond and finally we gave up hope they would defend the Muslim community and decided to act ourselves," Ja'far says. His call for an armed defense force elicited a speedy response, both in personnel and cash. Within months the newly formed Laskar Jihad had sent some 3,000 volunteers to Ambon, the capital of Maluku province, a force the group...
...Ja'far similarly justifies the group's intervention in Sulawesi: to defend his Muslim brothers and prevent what he claims is a plan by Christians to declare a separate state. He denies any plot to take over Christian villages. "Ours is a passive defense organization," says Ja'far with one of his characteristic soft smiles. "We only attack if we are attacked...
...loves America. According to the Associated Press, J. Lo, Kid Rock and Ja Rule are off to a “U.S. Military base overseas” to entertain the USO troops during the holidays, sponsored by the popular music pantheon. Those stationed in Kosovo will have the pleasure of being serenaded by Mariah Carey. U2’s Bono ended the band’s Elevation tour in Miami with the exclamation, “I’d like to say how much we love this country and we wish you safety and prosperity,” wearing...