Kazakhstan to Burn Bibles? Sex and the ’Stan. Was the Eurasian Economic Union a Good Deal for Kazakhstan?

Eurasianet - Kazakhstan to Burn Bibles? - A court in northern Kazakhstan has ordered Christian literature including Bibles to be destroyed, Oslo-based religious freedom watchdog Forum 18 reports. One official has said the Holy Scriptures are likely to be burned.

Interview 180: Was the Eurasian Economic Union a Good Deal for Kazakhstan?

CNTV - Kazakhstan opens 1st Chinese learning center - As China’s economy booms, so does learning Chinese in other countries. In Astana, Kazakhstan has just opened its first Chinese Language Learning Center.

The Hindu - Kazakhstan steals the show - On a bright and cool day at the Buddh International Circuit, the Kazakh riders took advantage of the quick Formula One track to post a consistently high average speed.

BBC - India orders Italy ambassador Mancini not to leave - India's Supreme Court has ordered the Italian ambassador not to leave the country after Rome's refusal to return two marines charged with the murder of two fishermen in Kerala last year.

Guernica - Tara FitzGerald: Sex and the ’Stan - An abundance of oil and other natural resources, plus the foreign investment that came with them after Kazakhstan gained independence from the Soviet Union, mean the country’s wealth has grown exponentially in recent years, at least in the cities. The products that appear on the pages of Cosmopolitan Kazakhstan—brand-name cosmetics (Chanel, Givenchy, YSL), smart phones and designer fashions—speak to a level of disposable income that would have been unthinkable here a little over twenty years ago, when the only stores were state-owned and usually empty at that.

Russia Today - Iraq war cost US more than $2 trillion – study - At the time of the 2003 invasion, the Bush administration estimated the war would cost between $50-60 billion.