Stories from 29 January 2007
Russia: Open Letter to a UK Reporter
Copydude writes an open letter to Justin Penrose, a UK Sunday Mirror reporter who has written on Aleksandr Litvinenko's death.
Russia: Conversation With Litvinenko's Widow, Parts 6-8
David McDuff of A Step At A Time continues with the Marina Litvinenko's interview translation: part 6, part 7, part 8.
Iran:Anti Iranian Government Ad on American TV
Haji Washington says that AFP,the American Foreign Policy Council,has sponsored and launched two ads against Iranian government on USA TV.One ad starts with Ahmadinejad's declaration against Holocaust and continues with the images of Iran-Iraq war.Then at the end, you see a key slogan:Iran ignores nuclear deadline. Ad invites you to...
Pakistan: A Sufi Shrine in the US
Azad Forever has an original video on the first Sufi saint shrine in the US. “Some 40 miles from Philadelphia, among the rolling hills and tall trees of Chester County, is a Mazar (a shrine), the resting place of Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhaiyaddeen the Sufi saint and founder of the...
India: Wild Owls in Kashmir
Wild Kashmir on wild owls. “Trust us Kashmiri's to put our own spin on things and end up on a ‘Wild Owl Chase’. If recent news reports are to be believed, an unknown person is offering a Rs. 30 lakh [approx 70,000 USD] reward for the capture of a 3-kilogram...
India: Bangalore and 2 Blocks
Keith, a Hong Kong born New Zealand Chinese journalist on being in Bangalore during a riot. “Two blocks away, that very night, pro-Saddam mobs clashed with police while youths looted and burned stores. 40 people were injured, and an 11-year-old was killed when police fired at the crowd. In India,...
Pakistan: Lahore and across the border
Prosenoma goes to Pakistan, and discovers much warmth and beauty. “When we segregate people for long, the lines between fact and fiction blur. Our curiosity leads us to lap up any information thrown at us and in order to know the other, we start relying on anything offered – second-hand...
Bangladesh: God and Friendship
Sadiq M.Alam on God, friendship and Islam. “the mainstream islam often come in clash with sufi stream of islam which interestedly emphasize a lot on the inner dimension whereas the orthodox school in most of the cases moves around the periphery of rituals, religious laws etc.”
Iran:Revolutionary Gurads say abducting Americans is easy
Kamangir reports that Sepah (Revolutionary Guards) internal journal, Sobh-e Sadegh [the real sunrise], published a short article in which the author, Reza Zaker, refers to the highly-spread pattern of American presence in Iraq, Afghanistan, Central Asia, Pakistan, India, Africa, Latin America, and even Europe. The article threatens that “abducting Americans...
Iran:Images about Iran that you don't see everyday
Thanks to Omid Memarian‘s [Fa]blog, I discovered this link where you can see a lot of fantastic photos about Tehran.It is an anti war “video.”
Kazakhstan: Party Un-development
Sean Roberts examines efforts to consolidate political parties into and the elimination of parties in opposition to the pro-presidential Nur-Otan.
Kazakhstan: Destination Kazakhstan
neweurasia reports that Kazakhstan has ranked third most popular destination among European countries for gap year backpackers. Borat is believed to be the cause for the jump in popularity.
Kyrgyzstan: Searching for Snow
The Azamat Report goes in search of snow around Bishkek and finally manages to find some for a bit of snowboarding. Video evidence is provided.
Armenia: Election Monitor
Onnik Krikorian has a roundup of the latest news on Armenia's upcoming parliamentary election with a particular focus on efforts to provide transparency and to educate voters, something that blogger Zarchka is participating in herself.
Kyrgyzstan: The New PM
Yulia writes about Kyrgyzstan's new prime minister, noting his lack of experience relative to his predecessor and saying that the parliament would have voted for a donkey for the position just to avoid the president dismissing the parliament.
Bangladesh: Drugs, Sex Education, Freedom of Press, Winter Fruits and Vegetables and Man-Eating Tigers
There seems to be no stopping drug frenzy once it takes hold of a nation. Drishtipat Group Blog tells how Yabba, a speed/amphetamine derivative from Thailand is taking on Bangladesh. It started a few years ago as experiments of the upper class. It has penetrated deeply into the working class...
Trinidad & Tobago: Police force irrelevance
Manicou hits out at the “irrelevance” of the Trinidad and Tobago police force, in light of their handling of the organiser of last week's proposed national shutdown.
Trinidad & Tobago: Soca podcast
The latest IZATRINI.com soca podcast features 2007 tracks by several Trinidadian artists and by Japanese soca sensation Minmi.
East Timor: Foreign Police and Peace Keepers
Beyond Teresa feels that criticism of international military and police forces that they act like they are on vacation in East Timor is wrong. “From a sociological and psychological point of view: these people are away from home and friends, in a tropical climate, and some have the chance to...
St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Airlines merge, prices skyrocket
St. Vincent and the Grenadines blogger Abeni's worst fears are realised with the announcement that the merger between two Caribbean airlines will be accompanied by an increase in airfares.
Cuba: Praying for Fidel
It's unlikely that Cuban president Fidel Castro will be any less of a polarising figure in death than he's been over the course of his long and colourful political career. Since the announcement of his illness and the passing of power to his brother Raúl at the end of July...
