Stories from 7 September 2013
Tokyo to Host 2020 Olympics
Tokyo was awarded the 2020 Summer Olympics after the members of International Olympic Committee have voted on September 7th to select the host city. Tokyo 2020 reacts to the news #olympics2020 #BA2013 #olympics pic.twitter.com/lKws4Qcw4E — Olympics (@Olympics) September 7, 2013
Presidents, Oligarchs and Potash: Russia's Trade War With Belarus
Belarusian authorities arrested Vladislav Baumgartner, CEO of Uralkaliy, a large Russian potash mining company. Russia retaliated by cancelling some of its subsidies and banning Belarusian pork imports.
“I Know A Rapist”: The Blog that Won't Stay Silent
A Tumblr blog collects testimonies [fr] of people who know a sexual predator. The “About” page of the site states that the goal is to show that rapists are not just psychopaths who are statistical outliers but people we know (80% of rape victims knew their aggressors). One contributor recalls one...
Tajikistan's Ubiquitous and ‘Irreplaceable’ Leader
As in most other Central Asian countries, the portraits of the president are everywhere in Tajikistan. Blogger Rustam Gulov (aka Teocrat) believes [ru] that these portraits serve a political purpose: [The portraits] are all parts of a giant machine designed to convince the people in Tajikistan that this person [the president] is...
“Central Asia is Watching [Syria] Too”
As the United States and Russia spar over the way ahead in Syria, the governments in Central Asia are following the situation closely, writes Nathan Barrick on Registan.net: Russia chooses to focus on the perspective that the Syrian government is fighting a battle against Islamic extremists and this message likely resonates...
Yemen Mourns the Loss of Shining Young Activist Ibrahim Mothana
Yemeni Ibrahim Mothana died on September 5th, 2013, at the age of 24. He lived a short life but was an inspiration to many who knew him.
Protests Called for Brazil's Independence Day
Brazil is getting ready for the celebration of Independence Day, September 7, 2013, with the massive protests of June and July still in mind. More than 400,000 people have confirmed on Facebook their intention to participate in the protests that will take place in about 150 cities. The Facebook page that...
Don't Say Millions Starved During China's Great Famine. Try ‘Nutritional Death’ Instead
A professor recently claimed that previous estimates that 30 million people died during the Great Chinese Famine is rumor. According to him, the difficult period caused 2.5 million "nutritional deaths".
