WorldFailure

Russian activist convicted under 'anti gay' law
4 May 2012


A Saint Petersburg court has fined prominent gay rights activist Nikolai Alexeyev, seen here in 2011, for "propaganda of homosexuality" to minors, in its first conviction under a controversial new city law.

AFP - A Saint Petersburg court on Friday fined a prominent gay rights activist for "propaganda of homosexuality" to minors, in its first conviction under a controversial new city law.

Nikolai Alexeyev, the organiser of numerous unsanctioned gay pride marches in Moscow, was fined 5,000 rubles ($169) under a new city law that bans propaganda of homosexuality and paedophilia to minors, he told AFP.

The judge "opened a Pandora's box" by issuing the first such ruling, he said, adding that he will appeal and plans to contest the law at the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights. "I think it will be viewed very negatively and it will show the absurdity of what's going on in 21st-century Saint Petersburg," he said, calling the law "absolutely arbitrary."

Asia's architectural treasures 'vanishing': experts
3 May 2012


A view of Buddha statues discovered inside an ancient monastery in Mes Aynak, in the eastern province of Logar in Afghanistan in 2010.

AFP - Asia's architectural treasures, from a Buddhist monastery in Afghanistan to an ancient city in China are in danger of vanishing under a tide of economic expansion, war and tourism, experts said Thursday.

The Global Heritage Fund named 10 sites as the most in danger of "irreparable loss and destruction."

"These 10 sites represent merely a fragment of the endangered treasures across Asia and the rest of the developing world," the fund's executive director Jeff Morgan said in presenting a report. The architectural gems from across Asia's ancient and sophisticated cultures are struggling in the face of economic expansion, sudden floods of tourists and areas of lawlessness and war.