Word: south
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Jiranan Phedsri confesses that she has "one true friend." The 51-year-old Thai housewife strokes the object of her affection, caressing its cool curves. The recipient of the devout Buddhist's ardor? A .38-caliber Smith & Wesson pistol Jiranan carries wherever she goes in Thailand's troubled deep south, where a Muslim insurgency has resulted in roughly 4,000 deaths since it gained momentum in 2004. The handgun, though, isn't Jiranan's only trusted companion. As a volunteer in the Iron Ladies, an all-female civilian militia designed to protect Buddhists from Islamic extremists, she received military training...
...Buddhist monks and Muslim imams, as well as soldiers and police. Just a few years ago, neighbors of different religions used to mingle, but the carnage has frayed such bonds. "The communities have become alienated from each other," says Srisompob Jitpiromsri, who heads a think tank on the Thai south conflict at Prince of Songkla University in Pattani. "They both blame the other for being the real cause of the violence in the south." (See pictures of Thai people boxing their way out of poverty and prison...
...Critics of the arms proliferation are calling for the government to address the root causes of discontent in Thailand's south - on both sides of the sectarian divide. Buddhists complain that an environment where simply commuting to work exposes them to possible assassination is unacceptable. They feel that too few insurgents have been punished for their crimes and wonder why the Thai authorities have not done a better job infiltrating militant cells. In turn, Muslims resent what they see as an official attitude that regards members of their religion as potential terrorists who must be suppressed by draconian emergency laws...
...again on Nov. 18, Egypt went head to head with its archrival Algeria in an intense bid for a spot at next year's World Cup in South Africa. It was the first time the two had played a World Cup qualifying match in 20 years, and in the weeks leading up to the first game and the days that followed, everyone from the Egyptian regime to local industries was busy ratcheting up support for the home team. (Read "Cairo Braces for a Soccer Bombshell...
...their kitchens to (gasp!) cook for themselves, is this niche meal on the rise? Brunch traffic was up 8% during the first eight months of this year compared to the same period in 2008, according to market-research firm NPD Group. Brunch traffic was up 15% in the South, and even in the Northeast, the land of the white-collar layoff, traffic...