Clipmarks | arifsali's clips

Tehran Opens Controversial Women-Only Park

Tue, 20 May 2008 03:36:56 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: So what do they do in this park which we can't see?

In an official ceremony in Tehran this week, Mayor Mohammad Baqir Ghalibaf opened a new, sex-segregated park designed exclusively for women's leisure and sport.

In the new park, called "Mothers' Paradise," women can walk, jog, and engage in other athletic activities without having to cover their heads.

Men can reportedly not see inside the park since it is surrounded by green walls and covered by bright-colored materials.

Some Tehran residents welcomed the launch of the park as an opportunity for women to act freely. Many others, however, criticized it as yet another step in what they call widespread discrimination against women.

Tags: women, iran

Student Says Death Verdict Followed Torture To Coerce Confession

Tue, 20 May 2008 03:30:14 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.rferl.org

An Afghan journalism student sentenced to death for allegedly insulting Islam has rejected the charges and told an appeals court in Kabul that he was tortured into a confession.

"As a human being, a Muslim, and a descendant of the family of the Prophet Muhammad, I will never allow myself to insult my ancestor or my religion," Kambakhsh told the court, according to RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan. "These are things of which I have been unfairly accused. This accusation is unlawful and I don't know why they did this to me."

The hearing was adjourned until May 25 to allow 24-year-old Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh to consult with an attorney and prepare a written defense.

Kambakhsh was condemned to death by a court in Balkh Province in January at a summary trial for blasphemy at which he had no legal representation.

Kambakhsh supporters protest in Kabul after his death sentence was announced in January

Tags: afghanistan, blasphemy, muslims

Social networking gets medieval

Tue, 20 May 2008 03:23:14 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.nature.com

Researchers give a French province the 'Facebook' treatment.

The popularity of Internet sites such as Facebook, Bebo and MySpace might make social networking seem relatively modern. But a team of French researchers has challenged this idea by trawling through medieval documents to create the oldest detailed social network ever constructed.

Working from records of land transactions dating back as far as 1260, computer scientists have reconstructed the social ties that bound 10 villages in the province of Lot in southwest France. The result is a rare look at how medieval peasants and lords were connected.

Documents showing medieval landholdings have been preserved in other parts of Europe, but are relatively rare in France, says one of the research team, Nathalie Villa of the University of Toulouse. "In France, most of these types of documents disappeared during the revolution," she says. "There is little documentation of how peasants lived their lives."

Tags: history, social networking, research

Dictator writes a book, and it's a must-read, best seller!

Mon, 19 May 2008 22:52:47 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.rferl.org

In Central Asia, they're known as the "books that won’t be read." Yet regional leaders keep churning them out.

The latest book is “Mortality Is Invincible Power” by Uzbek President Islam Karimov. It’s an ironic title for a book written by a leader known as one of Central Asia’s most authoritarian. Karimov, like other strongmen in the region, is a prolific writer, with more than 30 million copies of his books in circulation.

Last week, Uzbek state television showed the presidential book-launch ceremony, where participants praised Karimov’s new work as “the best book on philosophy and morality since the times of Socrates,” the ancient Greek who was one of the founders of Western philosophy.

Mahmud Tohir, an Uzbek poet, has read Karimov’s new book. He says it could be “a spiritual guide not only for Uzbeks but also for all the other nations of the world."

State television compared Uzbek President Islam Karimov's latest book to the writings of Socrates (file photo)

Tags: books, author, uzbekistan

Indian billionaire signs deals with Hollywood production houses

Mon, 19 May 2008 22:38:47 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Indian billionaire Anil Ambani's Reliance Big Entertainment group says it has signed deals with eight Hollywood production houses.

Reliance plans to invest about $1bn (£514m) in 10 films over the next few years to extend its global reach.

The deal is being seen as a major coup in Indian business circles.

Anil Ambani - one of the most powerful men in India

The BBC's Karishma Vaswani in Mumbai (Bombay) says that as India's middle-classes have become more affluent, their cinematic tastes have also changed, and Hollywood films have flourished in India in the last few years.

But Indian entertainment firms are also keen to spread their wings overseas.

Tags: india, hollywood, entertainment

In Pakistan, a dark trade comes to light

Mon, 19 May 2008 18:09:32 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.atimes.com

BANGKOK - Prostitution in the Islamic nation of Pakistan, once relegated to dark alleys and small red-light districts, is now seeping into many neighborhoods of country's urban centers. Reports indicate that since the period of civilian rule ended in 1977, times have changed and now the sex industry is bustling.

Early military governments and religious groups sought to reform areas like the famous "Taxali Gate" district of Lahore by displacing prostitutes and their families in an effort to "reinvent" the neighborhood.

While displacing the prostitutes might have temporarily made the

once small red-light district a better neighborhood for a time, it did little to stop the now dispersed prostitutes from plying their trade. Reforming a neighborhood, instead of offering education and alternative opportunities, appears to be at the core of early failures to curb the nascent sex industry.

This mistake would become a prophetic error as now the tendrils of the sex trade have become omnipresent

Tags: pakistan, prostitution, sex