TIME magazine's cover photo for this week features a young woman whose face was disfigured by Taliban officials. TIME Managing Editor Richard Stengel writes about the magazine's decision to use the photo by freelance photojournalist Jodi Bieber:
Our cover image this week is powerful, shocking and disturbing. It is a portrait of Aisha, a shy 18-year-old Afghan woman who was sentenced by a Taliban commander to have her nose and ears cut off for fleeing her abusive in-laws. Aisha posed for the picture and says she wants the world to see the effect a Taliban resurgence would have on the women of Afghanistan, many of whom have flourished in the past few years. Her picture is accompanied by a powerful story by our own Aryn Baker on how Afghan women have embraced the freedoms that have come from the defeat of the Taliban — and how they fear a Taliban revival.
A new food and photo book called "Istanbul Eats: Exploring the Culinary Backstreets" hit the market mid July and breaks open the gastronomic mysteries of Turkey's largest city and biggest tourist destination. Co-written and shot by EurasiaNet contributor Yigal Schleifer and Ansel Mullins, the book is the first spin-off from the duo's successful blog Istanbuleats.com. Currently the English-language book is only for sale in Turkey -- in stores and through online Turkish book sellers -- but may be available soon on Amazon.com and other international book sites.
Yigal's "5 and 5" - five questions and five photos - will get your mouth watering and your tummy grumbling.
1. What inspired you to do this photo book? Istanbuleats.com was launched in April of last year, as a joint project between me and Ansel Mullins, another American living here, who works in the architectural restoration field. Although it started as a blog/website, we always felt like the subject -- Istanbul's best local and authentic restaurants -- would be ideal for a photo-rich book, since the people, places and food tell such a compelling visual story. We felt like a good would be a great way to celebrate some of the unsung heroes of Istanbul's culinary scene.
2. Aren't there already plenty of restaurant guides for Istanbul - so why another one?
Tomorrow we will post a beautifully shot audio slideshow of an ancient wrestling tournament that has taken place in Turkey for several centuries. Nichole Sobecki, an Istanbul-based reporter and photojournalist, talks about the event during a three-minute slideshow of black-and-white images of the greased wrestlers.
With this opening entry to the new EurasiaNet photo blog I am featuring the recent announcement of winners for the OSCE photo contest 2010 called Tolerance, Transparency, Tradition, Trust. A video of the some of the winning and finalist entries can be seen below.
Eric Gourlan, who shot for EurasiaNet in 2006 and 2007 in Kyrgyzstan, was one of the winners. Other finalists included Vadim Mudarisov from Kazakhstan and Laili Palvonova from Tajikistan.
The winners of the OSCE contest were announced June 29 at the OSCE High-level Conference on Tolerance and Non-Discrimination in Astana, where the images are on exhibition.
High atop the Anatolian Plain near the border with Syria a rare archaeological site may be revealing new clues to the origins of human farming. Klaus Schmidt, a German archaeologist who has been excavating the site since 1994, uncovered circles of huge decorated T-shaped stones that are at least 5,000 years older than any other monumental structure ever found.
