Word: west
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Nigerian connection is especially troubling because, if the al-Qaeda link is true, then the huge West African country, which is sharply divided between Muslims and Christians, may indeed have become a new recruiting ground for the cause of Osama bin Laden - a situation Western officials have been concerned about for some time. Furthermore, the oil-rich yet impoverished sub-Saharan African nation sits on a religious fault line, its 150 million people split almost evenly between Muslims in the north and Christians in the south. Bin Laden is widely admired in the arid, Muslim north. It has become fashionable...
...Nasir Khan, curator of the museum at Taxila, one of the country's premier archaeological sites and a former capital of the Gandhara civilization. "It is very clear that if the situation carries on like this, it will destroy our cultural heritage." (See pictures of Pakistan's vulnerable North-West Frontier Province...
...After it became part of the pre-Islamic Persian Empire, Gandhara's culture went on to influence artistic developments in the Middle East. Peshawar, Swat and much of northern Pakistan lay astride a portion of the old Silk Road, the ancient highway that transported riches between the east and west. Indeed, the Jehanabad Buddha looks out over a stretch of the old path. Later, in the 7th century, Swat Valley was the birthplace of Tantric Buddhism, and Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang described the valley as home to hundreds of Buddhist sculptures, monasteries and stupas. Only a fraction has been excavated...
...verdict against the enemy of the Chinese state came down on Christmas Day, not a particularly significant holiday in the calendar of the People's Republic but one that perhaps meant that Beijing wanted as little attention on it as possible in the West. Following a two-hour trial on Dec. 23, the literary critic Liu Xiaobo was sentenced to 11 years in prison in Beijing No 1 Intermediate People's Court. His crime: writing a series of essays questioning the monopoly on power of the Communist Party as well as compiling a manifesto demanding political reform and increased democracy...
...Awlaki had emerged as a major headache for U.S. officials. American-born and educated, he had contact with at least two 9/11 hijackers before fleeing the US in late 2001. In Yemen, he became something of an e-imam, using the internet to preach fiery anti-American and anti-West sermons. He called upon believers to rise up against the U.S. Because his sermons were published in English, he became popular with radical American Muslims. "He understood American society and was able to tailor his message to American audiences," says Hoffman. (See pictures of the Fort Hood shootings...