Tag Archives: society

Kazakhstan’s president gives fitness advice

SEPT. 10 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — On a visit to a school in Astana, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev had some advice for the country’s youth.

He credited his success to an hour of exercise each morning and to his high-brow, if somewhat eclectic, reading material.

“I get up at 6.30am and do physical exercise for exactly one hour,” he said according to the Tengrinews website. “When you get used to living with it, you can’t do without it.”

And on his reading habits, Kazakhstan’s only post-Soviet leader and the self-styled Father of the Nation said that he took his inspiration from a select group of high-brow authors; Russian writers Leo Tolstoy and Anton Chekov, the Roman philosopher Seneca and the French 19th century novelist Honore de Balzac.

“You should read and not sit in social networks,” Mr Nazarbayev said on his visit to the school. “Social media is a fashion and will pass.”

ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 151, published on Sept. 11 2013)

Kazakh football misses Champions League

AUG. 28 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) –Kazakh football team Shakhter Karagandy narrowly missed out on becoming the first side from Kazakhstan to compete in the UEFA Champions League group stages after losing 3-0 in Glasgow, Scotland, to Celtic. Shakhter Karagandy had beaten Celtic 2-0 in the first leg of the tie a week earlier in Astana.

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(News report from Issue No. 150, published on Sept. 2 2013)

Violence erupts in Kazakhstan after concert is called off

AUG. 31 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Hundreds of youths in Almaty smashed cars and hurled bottles at police after a pop concert at a shopping mall was abruptly cancelled. Media reported that security forces called in specially armed riot police to control the crowds. Over 165 arrests were made and about a dozen people were injured.

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(News report from Issue No. 150, published on Sept. 2 2013)

Stars feature at Kazakh president’ family wedding

AUG. 31 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — US singers Beyonce and Kanye West sang at the wedding of Aysultan Nazarbayev, grandson of Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev. Leaders of ex-Soviet states often pay popstars to sing at private concerts. In June, Jennifer Lopez sang for Turkmen President Kurbangkuly Berdymukhamedov.

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(News report from Issue No. 150, published on Sept. 2 2013)

Suicide in Azerbaijan’s military base

AUG. 29 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A conscript in Azerbaijan’s army hanged himself at a military base, media reported. Human rights groups have previously criticised conditions for conscripts in Azerbaijan’s army which has seen a number of suicides in the past few years. They have said bullying is a common feature of life in Azerbaijan’s armed forces.

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(News report from Issue No. 150, published on Sept. 2 2013)

Minaret removed in Georgian village

AUG. 26 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — On Aug. 26, the authorities in Chela, a town in the region of Ajara in south-west Georgia, removed a minaret from a mosque. The official reason was to inspect whether the minaret had been constructed legally. Protesting Muslims claimed the removal was an attack on their right to worship and a debate over religious freedom kicked off.

Most of Georgia’s 4.5 million people belong to the Georgian Orthodox Church and are guided by the Church’s relatively conservative views. A Muslim minority, roughly 10% of the population, lives in Georgia, mainly in the south-east near the border with Azerbaijan or in the south-west along the border with Turkey.

The authorities dismantled the minaret from Chela and drove it to Tbilisi for inspection. There they decreed that, although the minaret had been made of illegal material, it should be resurrected. And so they loaded the minaret back on to a truck and drove it back to Chela.

Near Chela, though, a group of Orthodox Christians, stepped in and blocked the road. They don’t want the minaret to be resurrected.

The minaret now lies in pieces a few kilometres from Chela. Meanwhile, Georgia debates its view on religious tolerance.

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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 150, published on Sept. 2 2013)

Stalin statue erected in Georgia

SEPT. 1 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Sparking controversy, private donors in the east Georgian town of Telavi unveiled a new statue of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. Stalin, who was Georgian, sent millions of people to their deaths in camps in Siberia. Many Soviet veterans, though, credit Stalin with defeating the Nazis during the Second World War.

(News report from Issue No. 150, published on Sept. 2 2013)

Fuel shortages in Uzbekistan

AUG. 21 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Petrol stations in Uzbekistan have restricted fuel sales to counter a reported shortage, media reported. The shortages haven’t been adequately explained but may be due to stockpiling. A website linked to the government said fuel prices, normally controlled, may soon shoot upwards.

(News report from Issue No. 149, published on Aug. 26 2013)

Islamists jailed in Kazakhstan

AUG. 15 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s Supreme Court sentenced six radical Islamists to up to 10 years in jail for plotting attacks against senior officials. Kazakhstan has been trying to quell a surge in attacks linked to radical Islamists over the past three years. Reports said the group plotted suicide attacks on major public buildings.

(News report from Issue No. 148, published on Aug. 19 2013)

Vodka smuggling into Kyrgyzstan

AUG. 19 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The authorities in Kyrgyzstan uncovered an illegal pipeline pumping vodka into the country from neighbouring Kazakhstan, media reported. The discovery of the pipeline under the river Chu, which separates the two countries, highlights Central Asia’s entrenched smuggling networks and thirst for hard alcohol.

(News report from Issue No. 148, published on Aug. 19 2013)