The six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a consortium of countries set up as an alternative to NATO is being held right now in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. But it's missing one important guest - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who may be missing the meeting in order to snub Russia. Instead, a delegation will go in his place while he... heads to the Expo. That's right: "...he is leaving Dushanbe on Thursday morning to Shanghai" for the World Expo, ambassador Ali-Asghar Sherdoost said to Reuters. Er... Welcome to our shores? more ›

"Up to 5 percent of homosexuals in the city were infected, compared with 0.5 percent of women sex workers, said He Xiong, the Beijing Centers of Diseases Control and Prevention deputy director." more ›

Photo by shanghai ultra taken from the Shanghaiist photos page. To see your photos on our photos page, use Flickr and tag your photos “shanghaiist”. Or you can email your photos to photos@shanghaiist.com and they will automatically appear on our site. more ›

"Minor axis of evil" -- an elliptical (pun intended) statement by which we really mean China consorts with terrorists. Yes folks, this is what the US State Department spokesman implied through his comments regarding Iran's presence at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting. According to this spokesman, inviting Iran over casts doubt on the SCO's self-proclaimed mission of combating terrorism and extremism in the region. more ›

By now most of you know that the reason you are working this weekend is not because of a wrathful God but because the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is having a big ol' conference in Pudong. However, because of various transportation, security and aesthetic concerns (yes, your silk pajamas) the government is implementing measures that are sure to be a nuisance and inconvenience to many. Here's what we've heard thus far: more ›

Not that you needed reminding, but the World Cup kicks off in about four hours. That means you have less than four hours to join Shanghaiist's World Cup Challenge -- it's free and it should be fun. (There are 37 entries so far. It is our opinion that "Shanghai Cooperation Organization" would be a great name for an entry ... and it's still available ... although it may be too many letters ... find out for yourself!) more ›

Someone just sent us this joke (in Chinese) about the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Shanghai. The rough translation is: more ›

• .. .train tickets have changed every-so-slightly? In a move to make the process more friendly to visitors from abroad, train stations are now printing the departure and destination city names in English, just below the original Chinese. Since the departure time and car/seat numbers are written in the other international language (numbers), the only thing left to fully interpret a ticket is the bottom/middle/top character on sleeper train tickets. more ›