Stories from 8 October 2009
Kyrgyzstan: Gypsies community
Elena presents a photo-post about her visit to the community of Luli (or Gypsies, or Roma) on the outskirts of Osh, a town in southern Kyrgyzstan.
Tajikistan: President Rahmon in on the Tour
On his way to this year’s United Nations summit, long-ruling president of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, stopped over in Moscow, then in Croatia. Botur reflects on the tour and its results.
Turkmenistan: Students banned from study abroad
Musa updates on the situation when Turkmen students of foreign universities outside of the country were not allowed to leave their country without special approval certificates from the Ministry of Education.
Kazakhstan: Architectural Astana
Mursya posts photos of Astana, the new Kazakh capital being built in the steppes under a close eye of authoritarian president Nazarbayev.
Uzbekistan: Auction of children’s sweat
Musafirbek writes about the use of child labor in Uzbekistan, especially when children pick cotton for 8-10 hours a day. The government says they are doing it ‘by their own will’.
Afghanistan: Kamdesh Area
Joshua Fousts comments on the news that eight American and an unknown number of Afghan soldiers were killed after an attack on outposts in Afghanistan.
Japan: A blogger has dinner with Prime Minister Hatoyama
Blogger Satonao tells [ja] about him having dinner with Prime Minister Hatoyama and other politicians in a restaurant of Tokyo on Sept. 30. On that occasion, he could explain Mr. Hatoyama what Twitter is and exchange a few words on the condition of social media in Japan. Here are some...
Bhutan: After The Earthquake
The devastating earthquake of 6.3 Richter scale on September 21, 2009 and several aftershocks caused Bhutan a lot of destruction leaving the people traumatized. Freedom In Bhutan critically analyzes the relief and rescue efforts and damage assessment and questions “whether Bhutan has the resources to start rebuilding”.
Bangladesh: Fair Trade Empowers Indigenous People
Safia's Blog tells how People Tree, a global fair trade group has worked with tribal and indigenous people of Bangladesh to “help support them and provide markets for their traditional textiles”.
Egypt: Amending the marriage certificate to protect rape victims
Group blog Bikya Masr reported: Prominent Egyptian female religious leader Soad Saleh has called on the country ministry of justice to amend its current marriage certificate regulations where women must write “virgin” or “divorced” or “widow” – the latter two considered one category. She said that the ministry should allow a...
Will Egypt import Chinese Hymens?
An artifical hymen kit is now available in the market. Egyptian law makers have banned the product while bloggers continue to debate the cons and pros of this Chinese 'invention' - and question its morality.
Oman: Swine Flu Campaign Update
The recent initiative taken by Omani bloggers to help raise awareness about the spreading swine flu in the country managed to attract media attention and raise money to help take the initiative further.
China and Hong Kong: Jackie Chan's comment on military parade
In order to promote nationalism and celebrate the 60th anniversary of PRC, CCTV invited internationally well-known movie star Jackie Chan to comment on military parade.
Afghanistan: Conflicted Response
Captain Cat is conflicted over the dispute within UNAMA: she thinks they do good work, but their acceptance of the fraudulent election is ruining their credibility.
Afghanistan: Reflecting on the Battle of Kamdesh
The large scale assault on a U.S. base in Nuristan over the weekend has caused many bloggers familiar with Afghanistan to reconsider how they feel about the conflict.
Turkey: Inside the World Bank/IMF Meetings
Having obtained a press pass for the World Bank/IMF Meetings being held this week in Istanbul, Turkey; Erkan's Field Diary gives us a behind the scenes view of the proceedings.
Turkey: Lighting the Eiffel Tower
For the next five days the Eiffel Tower will be lit up in red and white in honor of the Season of Turkey in France. According to The Istanbulian “This nice gesture is a sign of historical friendship between two countries, emphasizing the fact that not all the French people...
China: Grass Mud Horse, Motherland
C. Custer from ChinaGeeks translated some comments from Anti-CNN forum on Ai Weiwei's short video “Grass Mud Horse, Motherland”, which was exhibited in Munich to “celebrate” the 60th anniversary of PRC.