Just a quick note to say that there’s an important story on the BBC by Rayhan Demytrie about protests in Almaty.

Several hundred people have gathered in the Kazakh city of Almaty to protest against what they call “Chinese expansionism”.

The protest follows the announcement by the country’s leadership of a proposal to lease farmland to China. [...] Holding banners that read “Kazakh land is not for sale”, between 500 and 1,000 people gathered in one of Almaty’s parks. Addressing the crowd from a platform under a giant statue of Lenin, a group of opposition leaders urged the government to reconsider.

Read the story here.