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Women Choosing Polygamous Marriages in Tajikistan as Young Men Flee Poverty

Women Choosing Polygamous Marriages in Tajikistan

Polygamous marriages have been on the rise in Tajikistan for several years, owing to the growing influence of religion and the enormous exodus of young men overseas. High poverty rates and a difficult labour market have lead to roughly 1 million of Tajikistan’s citizens seeking work outside the nation.

According to World Bank and World Economic Forum data, their remittances constitute a major source of income for many families and account for around 20-30% of the country’s GDP.

This is one of the reasons why many divorced Tajik women appear to support men’s right to numerous marriages: polygamous marriages are mostly sought by high- and middle-income men, and many women perceive this as their only opportunity to obtain financial security for themselves and their children.

Though the state does not recognise polygamous marriages, Sharia law allows Muslim men to have numerous spouses. A mullah consecrates these couplings without the marriage being officially registered with the state.

Polygamy is becoming more common for a number of reasons, according to campaigner and psychologist Firuza Mirzoyeva of the Tajik organisation Public Health and Human Rights. Women are willing to become second, third, or fourth wives in order to have socially acceptable private lives, she claims.

Girls are groomed for marriage in Tajikistan

Women Choosing Polygamous Marriages in Tajikistan

“There is also a material aspect to it.” For many rural women with no higher education — and some with only a high school diploma — belonging to a male is the only way to survive financially.”

Mirzoyeva, an activist, cited the Khatlon and Sughd regions as instances. Girls are groomed for marriage from a young age, and schooling is deemed “superfluous.”

According to her, many marriages provide women with “stability” and a certain status: “Society has a bad opinion towards unmarried and divorced women and labels them ‘old maids.’ Society does not approve of a woman who is successful and self-sufficient.”
Unhappy marriage to a prosperous business

Amina is from Isfara in the northern Sughd region, but she and her parents relocated to Dushanbe many years ago. Her parents married her off after she graduated ninth grade.

“They selected a husband for me.” “I had no idea what he looked like, but I knew he was two years older than me,” Amina explained. She resided with him at his parents’ home for a few months before he moved to work in Russia.

“At first, he came once a year for a month.” Then he didn’t come at all. Finally, I discovered that he had remarried and was living with his new family. “I then decided to leave him because he no longer wanted me or our children,” Amina explains.

You can only be a second wife

Women Choosing Polygamous Marriages in Tajikistan

Because she lacked financial means, his parents refused to give her custody of their three children. She still pays them frequent visits. Amina decided to become the third wife of a 46-year-old guy who promised to “lovingly take care” of her and help her get back on her feet.

He purchased her a flat and a car, as well as assisting her in starting her own business. Amina now operates a beauty business as well as a clothing boutique. Her second husband’s support makes her very happy, she says.

Manizha is from the western part of Hisor. She married at the age of 19 and divorced after only four months due to frequent disagreements with her mother-in-law.

“That’s how the traditions go: If you’re divorced, you can only be a second wife.” Fate gives you no other option. “Unfortunately, my family and society no longer accept me,” she explained.

Manizha received offers to become a second or third wife through the Nikah, a traditional Islamic marriage ritual, with the promise of financial support immediately following her divorce.

“At first, I refused because I hadn’t processed the traumatic breakup with my first husband.” But, due to my financial condition and the lack of an apartment, I had to examine the offers’, Manizha stated.

She quickly married the second wife of a local official. “Fortunately, he’s very young, only 27 years old,” she explained.

Considering becoming a second wife

Women Choosing Polygamous Marriages in Tajikistan

Her new husband visits Manizha three days a week and spends the rest of his time at home with his first wife and two children. According to Manizha, the first wife is aware of the second marriage and is unconcerned.

“I chose to be a second wife; I was not coerced into it.” “Right now, I’m very grateful that there is someone in my life who looks after me,” she remarked. “You can’t go against tradition and culture; I have to accept life as it is and thank Allah for all he has given me.”
‘I have nowhere to go.’

Sitora, who is originally from the Khatlon district, works in Dushanbe, where she rents a room. The 29-year-old was in a relationship that did not last. She now believes that her age will prevent her from being a first wife, so she is considering becoming a second wife.

“My parents will no longer accept me because they have been waiting for me to marry for a long time.” I’m stuck with nowhere to go. My meagre salary will not allow me to rent this room in the long run, especially with prices soaring and salaries being meagre.”

Financial stability for future children

Women Choosing Polygamous Marriages in Tajikistan

“I’m ready to become a second, third, or fourth wife,” she says, of a higher quality of life and starting a family. Why not if it helps me avoid loneliness and gives financial stability for future children?”

Being a second or third wife, on the other hand, comes with limited rights and the attendant societal shame. Women in these types of partnerships have no legal protections or property rights without the official registration of a marriage.

“If children are born in such a marriage and registered in the father’s name, only they can expect financial support or inheritance,” campaigner Mirzoyeva told DW.

Polygamous marriages are dangerous for women, especially if the husband abandons or dies, because there is no one to care for the woman or her children. “A whole generation of children born from such marriages is tainted with society’s prejudices,” Mirzoyeva explained.

Second marriages are generally seen unfavourably by first wives, who are obliged to put up with them due to their financial dependence on their husbands.

According to Mirzoyeva, Tajik authorities also turn a blind eye to numerous weddings because they believe that countermeasures may lead to an economic abyss for many women.

“If serious efforts were made to change the situation, many women would fall below the poverty line, forcing some into prostitution,” she claimed. “Even if some of them could earn enough money for an independent existence this way, they would not be accepted in society.”

Tajikistan is a predominantly Muslim country

Tajikistan is a predominantly Muslim country, and while Islam does allow polygamy under certain conditions, the government of Tajikistan has chosen to regulate marriage and family matters through its legal system. The country has taken steps to emphasize monogamous marriage and discourage polygamy due to various social and cultural factors.

Tajikistan, also known as Tadzhikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. It is formally known as the Republic of Tajikistan, Tajik Tojikiston, or Jumhurii Tojikiston.

It shares borders with Kyrgyzstan on the north, China on the east, Afghanistan on the south, and Uzbekistan on the west and northwest. Tajikistan includes the Gorno-Badakhshan (“Mountain Badakhshan”) autonomous territory, with Khorugh (Khorog) as its capital.

Tajikistan has the lowest land area among the five Central Asian governments, but it has the highest elevation, with more and higher mountains than any other country in the region.

Tajikistan was a constituent (union) republic of the Soviet Union from 1929 until 1991, when it gained independence. Dushanbe is the capital.

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Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding, But Still Accounting 48% Search Revenue

Google

Google is so closely associated with its key product that its name is a verb that signifies “search.” However, Google’s dominance in that sector is dwindling.

According to eMarketer, Google will lose control of the US search industry for the first time in decades next year.

Google will remain the dominant search player, accounting for 48% of American search advertising revenue. And, remarkably, Google is still increasing its sales in the field, despite being the dominating player in search since the early days of the George W. Bush administration. However, Amazon is growing at a quicker rate.

google

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

Amazon will hold over a quarter of US search ad dollars next year, rising to 27% by 2026, while Google will fall even more, according to eMarketer.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the forecast.

Lest you think you’ll have to switch to Bing or Yahoo, this isn’t the end of Google or anything really near.

Google is the fourth-most valued public firm in the world. Its market worth is $2.1 trillion, trailing just Apple, Microsoft, and the AI chip darling Nvidia. It also maintains its dominance in other industries, such as display advertisements, where it dominates alongside Facebook’s parent firm Meta, and video ads on YouTube.

To put those “other” firms in context, each is worth more than Delta Air Lines’ total market value. So, yeah, Google is not going anywhere.

Nonetheless, Google faces numerous dangers to its operations, particularly from antitrust regulators.

On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that Google must open up its Google Play Store to competitors, dealing a significant blow to the firm in its long-running battle with Fortnite creator Epic Games. Google announced that it would appeal the verdict.

In August, a federal judge ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly on search. That verdict could lead to the dissolution of the company’s search operation. Another antitrust lawsuit filed last month accuses Google of abusing its dominance in the online advertising business.

Meanwhile, European regulators have compelled Google to follow tough new standards, which have resulted in multiple $1 billion-plus fines.

google

Pixa Bay

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

On top of that, the marketplace is becoming more difficult on its own.

TikTok, the fastest-growing social network, is expanding into the search market. And Amazon has accomplished something few other digital titans have done to date: it has established a habit.

When you want to buy anything, you usually go to Amazon, not Google. Amazon then buys adverts to push companies’ products to the top of your search results, increasing sales and earning Amazon a greater portion of the revenue. According to eMarketer, it is expected to generate $27.8 billion in search revenue in the United States next year, trailing only Google’s $62.9 billion total.

And then there’s AI, the technology that (supposedly) will change everything.

Why search in stilted language for “kendall jenner why bad bunny breakup” or “police moving violation driver rights no stop sign” when you can just ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT, “What’s going on with Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny?” in “I need help fighting a moving violation involving a stop sign that wasn’t visible.” Google is working on exactly this technology with its Gemini product, but its success is far from guaranteed, especially with Apple collaborating with OpenAI and other businesses rapidly joining the market.

A Google spokeswoman referred to a blog post from last week in which the company unveiled ads in its AI overviews (the AI-generated text that appears at the top of search results). It’s Google’s way of expressing its ability to profit on a changing marketplace while retaining its business, even as its consumers steadily transition to ask-and-answer AI and away from search.

google

Google has long used a single catchphrase to defend itself against opponents who claim it is a monopoly abusing its power: competition is only a click away. Until recently, that seemed comically obtuse. Really? We are going to switch to Bing? Or Duck Duck Go? Give me a break.

But today, it feels more like reality.

Google is in no danger of disappearing. However, every highly dominating company faces some type of reckoning over time. GE, a Dow mainstay for more than a century, was broken up last year and is now a shell of its previous dominance. Sears declared bankruptcy in 2022 and is virtually out of business. US Steel, long the foundation of American manufacturing, is attempting to sell itself to a Japanese corporation.

Could we remember Google in the same way that we remember Yahoo or Ask Jeeves in decades? These next few years could be significant.

SOURCE | CNN

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2024 | Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

trump

Washington — Trump Media,  The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will not hear an appeal from social media platform X about a search warrant acquired by prosecutors in the election meddling case against former President Donald Trump.

The justices did not explain their rationale, and there were no recorded dissents.

The firm, which was known as Twitter before being purchased by billionaire Elon Musk, claims a nondisclosure order that prevented it from informing Trump about the warrant obtained by special counsel Jack Smith’s team violated its First Amendment rights.

The business also claims Trump should have had an opportunity to exercise executive privilege. If not reined in, the government may employ similar tactics to intercept additional privileged communications, their lawyers contended.

trump

Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

Two neutral electronic privacy groups also joined in, urging the high court to hear the case on First Amendment grounds.

Prosecutors, however, claim that the corporation never shown that Trump utilized the account for official purposes, therefore executive privilege is not a problem. A lower court also determined that informing Trump could have compromised the current probe.

trump

Trump utilized his Twitter account in the weeks preceding up to his supporters’ attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, to spread false assertions about the election, which prosecutors claim were intended to create doubt in the democratic process.

The indictment describes how Trump used his Twitter account to encourage his followers to travel to Washington on Jan. 6, pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to reject the certification, and falsely claiming that the Capitol crowd, which battered police officers and destroyed glass, was peaceful.

musk trump

Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

That case is now moving forward following the Supreme Court’s verdict in July, which granted Trump full immunity from criminal prosecution as a former president.

The warrant arrived at Twitter amid quick changes implemented by Musk, who bought the company in 2022 and has since cut off most of its workforce, including those dedicated to combating disinformation and hate speech.

He also welcomed back a vast list of previously banned users, including Trump, and endorsed him for the 2024 presidential election.

SOURCE | AP

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The Supreme Court Turns Down Biden’s Government Appeal in a Texas Emergency Abortion Matter.

Supreme Court

(VOR News) – A ruling that prohibits emergency abortions that contravene the Supreme Court law in the state of Texas, which has one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in the country, has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. The United States Supreme Court upheld this decision.

The justices did not provide any specifics regarding the underlying reasons for their decision to uphold an order from a lower court that declared hospitals cannot be legally obligated to administer abortions if doing so would violate the law in the state of Texas.

Institutions are not required to perform abortions, as stipulated in the decree. The common populace did not investigate any opposing viewpoints. The decision was made just weeks before a presidential election that brought abortion to the forefront of the political agenda.

This decision follows the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that ended abortion nationwide.

In response to a request from the administration of Vice President Joe Biden to overturn the lower court’s decision, the justices expressed their disapproval.

The government contends that hospitals are obligated to perform abortions in compliance with federal legislation when the health or life of an expectant patient is in an exceedingly precarious condition.

This is the case in regions where the procedure is prohibited. The difficulty hospitals in Texas and other states are experiencing in determining whether or not routine care could be in violation of stringent state laws that prohibit abortion has resulted in an increase in the number of complaints concerning pregnant women who are experiencing medical distress being turned away from emergency rooms.

The administration cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case that bore a striking resemblance to the one that was presented to it in Idaho at the beginning of the year. The justices took a limited decision in that case to allow the continuation of emergency abortions without interruption while a lawsuit was still being heard.

In contrast, Texas has been a vocal proponent of the injunction’s continued enforcement. Texas has argued that its circumstances are distinct from those of Idaho, as the state does have an exemption for situations that pose a significant hazard to the health of an expectant patient.

According to the state, the discrepancy is the result of this exemption. The state of Idaho had a provision that safeguarded a woman’s life when the issue was first broached; however, it did not include protection for her health.

Certified medical practitioners are not obligated to wait until a woman’s life is in imminent peril before they are legally permitted to perform an abortion, as determined by the state supreme court.

The state of Texas highlighted this to the Supreme Court.

Nevertheless, medical professionals have criticized the Texas statute as being perilously ambiguous, and a medical board has declined to provide a list of all the disorders that are eligible for an exception. Furthermore, the statute has been criticized for its hazardous ambiguity.

For an extended period, termination of pregnancies has been a standard procedure in medical treatment for individuals who have been experiencing significant issues. It is implemented in this manner to prevent catastrophic outcomes, such as sepsis, organ failure, and other severe scenarios.

Nevertheless, medical professionals and hospitals in Texas and other states with strict abortion laws have noted that it is uncertain whether or not these terminations could be in violation of abortion prohibitions that include the possibility of a prison sentence. This is the case in regions where abortion prohibitions are exceedingly restrictive.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which resulted in restrictions on the rights of women to have abortions in several Republican-ruled states, the Texas case was revisited in 2022.

As per the orders that were disclosed by the administration of Vice President Joe Biden, hospitals are still required to provide abortions in cases that are classified as dire emergency.

As stipulated in a piece of health care legislation, the majority of hospitals are obligated to provide medical assistance to patients who are experiencing medical distress. This is in accordance with the law.

The state of Texas maintained that hospitals should not be obligated to provide abortions throughout the litigation, as doing so would violate the state’s constitutional prohibition on abortions. In its January judgment, the 5th United States Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with the state and acknowledged that the administration had exceeded its authority.

SOURCE: AP

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Could Last-Minute Surprises Derail Kamala Harris’ Campaign? “Nostradamus” Explains the US Poll.

Scientists Awarded MicroRNA The Nobel Prize in Medicine.

US Inflation will Comfort a Fed Focused on Labor Markets.

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