For Afghan asylum seekers arriving in cold Sweden, the transition isn’t always simple — but a new project is aiming to ease the way.
Source: KBR
A pan-Asian news operation with correspondents across the region, KBR Asia Calling publishes TV, radio, and digital content in multiple languages.
WAGAH — Here at the India-Pakistan border, thousands of men, women and children have gathered to watch a stunning ritual: On either side of the border, military march back and forth, as music roars and crowds cheer. Known either as the Wagah border ceremony, the lowering of the flags, or “Beating Retreat” ceremony, the ritual has been performed every day since 1959, as flags are lowered around sunset. “Summer, winter or in any kind of storm, whatever the weather or political conditions, the parade doesn’t stop,” said Sumer Singh, former Deputy Inspector General of India’s Border Security Force (BSF). The […]
Safe from the disapproving eyes of their families, women writers gather secretly in Jalalabad to immerse themselves in poetry.
Sept. 30, 1965, is a night that changed Indonesia forever. The events of that night led to Indonesia’s first president, Sukarno, being ousted from office, as military General Suharto assumed control of government — Suharto went on to rule the country for 32 years, until 1998. In Central Java, Indonesia, KBR journalist Muhamad Ridlo spoke with a man who was at the heart of the action that night, and who says a fake version of events has been remembered in Indonesia. JAVA — The man in front of me is tall and thin. He’s 77 years old, with a vivid […]
An estimated 2.3 billion people worldwide live without toilets. Nearly two-thirds of them are in India. Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, a sociologist and NGO founder, is determined to do something about it.
In the northwestern state of Rajasthan, camels have long been worshipped as the main source of transport . But their numbers are rapidly dwindling.
KARACHI — A Turkish family is rushing out to a weekend protest in this populous Pakistani city; outside the Karachi Press Club, Turkish residents release doves as a sign of peace; 25 Turkish teachers plea for safety in Pakistan. These Turkish families have lived here for over two decades, teaching at a network of international schools led by Fethullah Gülen, a moderate Islamic cleric from Turkey, who currently lives in the United States. In the last 16 months, 28 Gülen schools and colleges across Pakistan have been shut down under pressure from the government in Ankara. Staff members now face […]
BANGKOK — Luzviminda Siapo is telling me about the day her 19-year-old son was killed — that was just seven months ago. He was dragged from his home by 14 masked men and shot in the head twice. Witnesses say he was ordered to run for his life before being shot. “He just couldn’t run, he had club feet,” Luzviminda told me. I met Luzviminda along with The Philippines Human Rights Commissioner, Leah Tanodra-Armamento. The pair were visiting Thailand last month, sharing stories of Filipinos killed in the country’s so-called ‘war on drugs.” It’s been 16 months since Rodrigo Duterte […]
SEOUL — Stella came to South Korea on a government scholarship to do a PhD. She says when she arrived from Europe, she found that the degree came with some “unofficial” costs. “I heard that there should be some kind of payment every time that my committee of professors would meet to discuss my thesis.” Stella did not want to reveal her real name since she works for that same university now. She says she confronted her professors about these payments, but it didn’t go well. “I was explicitly told by one of the members of my committee that I […]
The South Korea nun’s culinary philosophy has influenced chefs and foodies around the world.
Refugees in the border town of Mae Sod are uniting across ethnic lines to defend their rights against unscrupulous employers and Thai authorities keen to send them back.
The southern city of Marawi was liberated last week after months of fighting which left some 1,000 dead and hundreds of thousands displaced.
In the Indian state of Odisha, the Khond, a large Indigenous community, are losing their forest and their food sources. There are environmental and nutritional consequences.
KABUL — In the crowded old city of the Afghan capital, dozens of shops are lined with piles of colourful dried herbs, sitting out in the open. Their fragrance wafts into the street. Hindu shopkeepers wear red, blue and black turbans, and have long, bushy beards. They tell they’ve been making and selling herbal medicine here for generations. Darmander Singh is a Hindu sage – a wise mystic. People here call him La La Dil Soz, which means ‘Kind big brother” in Persian. He sees more than 30 patients a week, asking them detailed questions about their body, before setting […]
High education levels and salary expectations have created something of a disconnect between South Korean job seekers and employers.
A vital source of agricultural crops, fish and shrimp, the Mekong Delta is Vietnam’s most fertile area. But it’s also the most fragile.
Choi fled to freedom in South Korea, where he has managed to turn his frightening experiences into a laugh-out-loud online comic strip.
In Indonesia, the heavy metal band Voice of Baceprot is turning and banging heads. But critics say this is not what Muslim girls should be doing.
Government crime numbers show that since 2001, more than 2,000 ‘witches’ — most of them women — have been killed.
MUMBAI — Afreen Rehman, 28, is one of five Muslim women who recently took her case to India’s Supreme Court demanding a ban on a controversial practice known as “Triple Talaq,” or instant divorce. Afreen says she had been married just two months when her in-laws started harassing her about her dowry. “My husband and other in-laws started mentally harassing me, saying that he has a law degree and that any other girl would have brought a large cash dowry and a big car while I brought nothing,” she says. Afreen’s in-laws sent her back to her parents’ home. And […]
KABUL — When a series of terrorist attacks rocked the Afghan capital late last month, killing more than 150, less than a kilometer away from worst blast, a group of women were busy preparing a morning show for the country’s only TV station run by women. Zan TV, or Women’s TV, was launched this month, dedicated to women’s voices and women’s issues. Since the end of Taliban rule in 2001, Afghanistan has gone from having just one state-owned TV station to 76 stations broadcasting across the country. But despite the proliferation of channels, women are often neglected by the Afghan […]
NEW DELHI — Wearing orange dresses with matching turbans, a group of folk musicians play tunes on their pungi, also known as been, a traditional flute made from gourd fruit. The audience at Surajkund Craft Fair on the outskirts of the Indian capital is enthralled. Many break into dance. But the musicians themselves don’t look very enthusiastic. “This is not what we want to do; it’s been thrust upon us,” says Badri Nath, 75, who heads the troupe. “But since our original work has been banned, this is all we can do. Whether we are happy or not doesn’t matter.” […]
They say it’s never too late to learn. A special school in the Indian state of Maharashtra is proving that in a new way.
BANGKOK — Three years ago, on May 22, 2014, members of parliament gathered to find a solution to Thailand’s political crisis. But the politicians were swiftly captured by the army, and sent to military camps. The country’s democratically elected government was overthrown in a military coup, and the coup’s leader, General Prayut Chan-o-cha, declared that military rule was necessary to put a lid on escalating political turmoil before it boiled over. He said it would be brief, just enough to ensure stability and order. “We will return to you your happiness,” the general said, and citizens would be able to […]
PESHAWAR — Ayesha Rahmat, a 31-year-old mother of five, lives in a small, two-room house with an open kitchen in this northern Pakistani city. The smell of the bathroom cuts through the air. Ayesha has four daughters and a son, but her husband of more than 20 years, Rahmat Khan, is gone — Ayesha says his absence has left her in a desperate situation. “I have stopped taking my medicine as I don’t have money to buy it,” Ayesha said. “My children have only eaten one meal a day for the last month. We have not paid utility bills. The […]
In Pakistan, men dominate public life. There are very few occasions women can enjoy being out by themselves. But now there’s a place in Karachi that’s giving women the opportunity to enjoy a long-awaited cup of tea.
DELHI — A disturbing video has gone viral in India. It shows a mob viciously attacking a Nigerian man at a suburban Delhi mall. The attackers kick, punch and hit him with steel trash cans, chairs, bricks — pretty much anything they can lay their hands on. The victim is 21-year old Nigerian student Endurance Amalawa — who is now lying on a hospital bed with bandages covering his head, arms and back. In the adjacent bed is his older brother Precious Amalawa. He has fewer injuries and is able to recount the ordeal. He remembers entering the mall, buying […]
Deforestation, poaching and civil war have had a devastating impact on Sri Lanka’s elephant population. One orphanage for elephants is working to bring the species back from the brink of extinction.
Ride hailing apps are revving up motorcycle taxi use in Indonesia’s congested capital, and a handful of enterprising women are challenging an otherwise male-dominated domain.
LUCKNOW — It’s Friday afternoon at the Ambar mosque in the northern Indian city of Lucknow. The call to prayer, or Azan, rings out in the afternoon heat. Women start to gather. They wash their hands, face and feet as part of a ritual purification. In India, women aren’t typically encouraged at mosques. But Ambar mosque is doing quite the opposite — the second floor of the mosque is reserved for women to offer Namaaz or prayer. Rabia, a local resident, says she visits the mosque most Fridays. For her, the Ambar mosque is more than a place to pray. […]
The northern state of Punjab is known as India’s bread basket. But in recent years, it has become a fertile ground not just for crops, but also drug abuse.
South Korean fried chicken franchises are popping up all over the country. Tight competition is squeezing owners.
Pakistan is ranked among the most dangerous countries in the world for religious minorities. Marginalized and persecuted for their faith, minorities such as Christians, flee to countries like Sri Lanka.
India’s Supreme Court made it compulsory to play the national anthem in cinemas. And you better stand up when the music starts.
In India’s patriarchal society, there’s a cultural tendency to favor boys, which leads to too many parents each year abandoning their baby girls. At least there is a way to avoid the worst outcome.
‘Baad’ is a tribal tradition through which a woman is offered as compensation if her relative commits a crime.
From the rich peanut sauce of gado-gado to the spicy tang of the fried rice nasi goreng, Indonesian cuisine is known for its intense flavors and lavish use of spices.
JAKARTA — Yanti, 93, lives in a tiny room along with three other family members in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta. She’s unable to move or get up so she lies on a bed that dominates the cramped space. The air is thick with the stench of stale urine. Yanti tells me she can’t pass a bowel movement. She says she’s constantly urinating. She lies on a layer of opened diapers. She grabs the flesh on my arm, which suddenly feels more chubby and elastic than ever before in her bony hand covered in thin, papery skin. Palliative care is […]
NEW DELHI — I am outside the Reserve Bank of India building in New Delhi. It’s 8 a.m. The bank opens at 9 a.m. but more than 300 people have already queued up here. Among them is 60-year-old Mohammad Mustaqeem. He runs a garment shop but hasn’t been able to open it for the last three days. “There’s no business in the market. The only thing for us to do now is to stand in these queues for money because without it we can’t even get food.” “The grocer is now refusing credit so we can’t get milk, we can’t […]
SEEMAPURI — In this neighborhood on the outskirts of Delhi, electronic scrap keeps growing. Piles and piles of electronic waste or “e-waste” litter the narrow alleys here from old computer circuit boards and cables to discarded keyboards and phone handsets. Mohammad Salman, 25, deals with such e-waste. “We collect it from all over the country, from waste pickers and other scrap dealers and then look for items that can be fixed,” he says. Salman says he sells the precious metals that can be found in e-waste. “We give it to bigger dealers and what they do with it is their […]