by AFP | Feb 12, 2020 | Culture, Lifestyle, society
Daulatdia (Bangladesh) (AFP) – Often treated as less than human in life, there has been little dignity in death for the sex workers of one of the world’s biggest brothels: their bodies frequently tossed into unmarked graves or dumped in the river.Until now.On Thursday, Hamida Begum became the first sex worker from Bangladesh bordello Daulatdia to receive a formal Islamic funeral, breaking a longstanding taboo in Muslim majority Bangladesh where prostitution is legal but regarded by many as immoral. Scores of women gathered at the graveside, weeping for the 65-year-old’s passing but also becaus… (more…)
by Jenny Zhao | Feb 10, 2020 | Culture, people, society
Central has a lot of pigeons, or as I call them, flying rats. These filthy creatures not only drop their faeces everywhere on the street, but also walk around on Jubilee and Douglas looking like they own the place.I usually curse if one takes off next to me, but that day as I heard the sound of sudden flapping by my side, my heart jumped and I shouted: “Phew! Thank God it’s you!”I was trying to make my way to the Central MTR station at 12:30pm on a Tuesday last November. I needed to go home, eat, pump breastmilk for my baby and go back to the office. That was my lunchtime routine … (more…)
by The Bangkok Post | Feb 9, 2020 | Culture, place, society
A few days ago, a twitter user posted a photo of a pile of socks in the grounds of a school. The socks had allegedly failed to meet a school regulation requiring they be all-white.Most had black or grey soles. Some were also low-cut and thus considered inappropriate.The offending socks, according to the poster, were to be thrown away.In another tweet, a video clip shows a school teacher cutting the shoulder-length hair of a female student to level with her earlobes.These two incidents prompt questions about whether schools have the authority to dispose of students’ property or impose penalties… (more…)
by AFP | Feb 8, 2020 | Culture, Lifestyle, place, society
Hong Kong (AFP) – Waiting at a bus stop on Hong Kong’s border with mainland China, Billy Yiu was preparing to say goodbye to his wife and baby, unsure when he might see them again.The 40-year-old Hong Konger works in the semi-autonomous financial hub and commutes daily from neighbouring Shenzhen, where rents are far cheaper.But the journey will be all but impossible for the foreseeable future.In a bid to halt the spread of a deadly new coronavirus, Hong Kong on Saturday began placing anyone crossing from the mainland under a mandatory 14-day quarantine.So on Thursday night Yiu was making a fin… (more…)
by VOIZ asia | Feb 7, 2020 | Culture, Lifestyle, place, society
Even before my son was born, I knew raising him in Japan was going to be the hardest thing I would ever do. His father, who is Japanese, was never in the picture. He always had an excuse why he couldn’t be bothered to give our son a bath, change his diaper, or even just be present.I would not stick around to find out if [my husband] would strike our son the way he struck me many times before.He would abandon us for days, sometimes weeks, without money for food or baby supplies. On the rare occasion he was actually around and I mentioned finding work for myself, he would shame and isolate me.I … (more…)
by Chelsea Lim | Jan 9, 2020 | society
Quang Tri (Vietnam) (AFP) – Inching across a field littered with Vietnam war-era bombs, Ngoc leads a… (more…)
