Adam Pickup, of Bramhall in Stockport, Greater Manchester, was last seen in Manchester city centre on Saturday.

Greater Manchester Police have been given isabel marant until 03:00 GMT on Tuesday to question two men they are holding in connection with his disappearance.

Mr Pickup's father Chris said his son's disappearance was "out of character".

Police said the teenager left the Fab Cafe in Portland Street at about 03:20 GMT and was last seen on CCTV walking along Oxford Street 10 minutes later.

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Police are investigating the disappearance of Adam Pickup, 17, who failed to return home after a night out in Manchester city centre

The newly-released footage shows Adam speaking to a man and woman as he walks along Oxford Road.

Supt John Berry said: "This couple may have vital information to help us find him."

The police search is centred on a 200m radius from Portland Street, taking in a canal, alleys and subways, added Ch Supt Neil Adderley at a later news conference.

Underwater search teams have searched the canal, which was partly drained, he said.

He also appealed to owners of premises that have been empty for the last few days to check them.

At 15:00 GMT, Ch Supt Adderley granted his officers an extra 12 hours to hold the arrested men. He said they would be using the time to put more questions to the men.

On Sunday, family and friends carried out a search near to the former BBC site in Oxford Road where Adam's mobile phone signal was last traced by police.

Mr Pickup said: "He goes out occasionally and enjoys himself like any teenager does.

"To not let us know where he is, is totally out of character for him.

"We are absolutely distraught at the moment," he added.

Adam is described as white, 6ft 2in tall, slim with mousey brown hair. He was wearing a maroon long-sleeved collared shirt, black jeans and black leather Nike trainers with white soles.

"Crepes" is another word for trainers, and Truman Brewery is hosting Crepe City 9, a secondary market event.

Let's be clear, shoes on the secondary market aren't really second-hand in the sense that they're someone's smelly old, worn trainers.

The event is aimed at sneakerheads - people who collect or trade trainers (also known as sneakers or "kicks") as a hobby. They come here to buy, sell and swap.

"Second-hand kicks are popular for a variety of reasons," says Simon "Woody" Wood, the editor and founder of Sneaker Freaker magazine.

"Sometimes they're cheap and sometimes they're simply super rare, or maybe they're just not available anywhere and you're happy to finally land a holy grail. Prices range from $50 [£30] to $5,000, so it's a pretty broad market."

Crepe City has seen its numbers swell over the years, isabel marant sneakers with more than 2,500 people passing through its doors on this particular Saturday.

Gerard Starkey is selling a few trainers at the event, but he is mainly exhibiting his Air Jordan VI collection.

He says his love of basketball got him interested in the shoes. Like many, he was influenced by former Chicago Bulls NBA star Michael Jordan, whose Air Jordan line of shoes was released in 1985.

"Michael Jordan is probably one of the world's greatest athletes and that, along with the fact the shoe design was so cutting-edge and progressive, got me into Jordans."

The 32-year-old finance professional has amassed his collection from all over the place, "from old grannies selling their husbands' collections to some of the most powerful men in NBA basketball. I had a lot from my teenage years and the rest I have hunted down all over the world."

He wears a lot of his rare recent releases, but his original releases are generally for display purposes.

The most expensive shoes in his collection are his MJ True Blue practice-worn, dual-signed IIIs or his game-worn, triple-signed Carmine VIs. He says they are very hard to value exactly, but "they are both five-figure shoes".

Despite his own expensive collection, he has mixed feelings about the resale market: "I do feel that they are ruining the joy of wearing iconic shoes for the younger guys, since some of the pricing is just a little crazy."

But one young guy who did manage to get his hands on a pair of Gerard's trainers was 26-year-old Didier, who bought the Jordan IV Fire Red for £175.

These trainers were on his wish list, and he knew that they would be for sale at the event.

He plans on wearing them, but not just yet. "I isabel marant uk will be wearing my kicks in the summer. They are too special to be worn in winter."

Kids have been digging sneakers since the 1970s and probably even before that... but it's the global connectivity that has transformed the game”

The secondary sneaker market seems to be benefiting from a knock-on effect from growth in the primary market.

"The US market was $21bn at retail last year. The international market was about the same size," says Matt Powell, a "sneakerologist" at SportsOneSource.

"Over the last decade, sneaker sales in the US have averaged [growth of] 5% per year. Internationally it has grown faster, as emerging markets and China grow very fast."

According to Mr Powell, it is the premium end that has seen the biggest growth in the US and to a lesser extent internationally.

"There has always been an element of conspicuous consumption in sneaker purchasing. 'I have $160 to spend on sneakers and you don't.' "

At Crepe City, trader Ben Adu-Yeboah says he sees two main types of buyer.

"Some are OG [Original sneakerheads] coming through the era of the 80s, looking to cop a pair of trainers that they had way back when.

"The other segment are the new wave of sneakerheads who are the future of the scene. At the [last] Crepe City event I witnessed people as young as 13 spending big money on sneakers."

Mr Wood says the digital age and the advent of social media have really "blown up" the sneakerhead market.

"Kids have been digging sneakers since the 1970s and probably even before that, so nothing has really changed, but it's the global connectivity that has transformed the game.

"I would say that since we started [the magazine] back in 2002, the size of our potential audience has grown to encompass millions, rather than tens of thousands of kids."

Mr Adu-Yeboah also realises the power of the internet, but says it too can have its downside for sellers.

"With eBay, it's the fees. However, you can reach a worldwide audience at a click of a button.

"With the Crepe City event you pay a one-off fee as a vendor and any profit goes directly into your coffers. However, the audience is localised and the event is only held once a quarter."

And as for the people who have queued up in the freezing cold, they proudly display their crepes online, on shelves and on their feet.

Ford pour Rapport sur la durabilité relève le défi fondamental de la durabilité et comprend une discussion franche sur les performances passées de timberland pas cher soldes Ford, les erreurs commises et comment ils travaillent à intégrer davantage le développement durable dans leur modèle d'affaires.

Seventh Generation
(Best Small et moyennes Rapport Enterprise)

septième génération comprend l'accent sur deux éléments essentiels pour les entreprises durables:. chaîne d'approvisionnement et de la concurrence Le rapport présente une discussion approfondie sur la façon dont la compagnie s'engage avec ses partenaires de fabrication pour améliorer les performances de durabilité, ainsi que la façon dont il utilise la collaboration de l'industrie pour créer des changements positifs.

Le fait que le Concours des meilleurs rapports Ceres-ACCA est de dix ans et de comptage est la preuve même qu'il existe un réel besoin et l'intérêt pour les entreprises de communiquer ouvertement et honnêtement de ses efforts visant à créer un impact social et environnemental positif. Nous avons tiré la perspicacité et l'inspiration de lauréats des années précédentes, et nous espérons que nous pouvons vivre à leur leadership et leur faire la même chose pour d'autres organisations.

Pour plus d'informations sur les meilleurs rapports Ceres-ACCA, cliquez ici.

The woman, in her 70s, opened her eyes when a police officer who waded into the river reached her lifeless form.

PC Mat Mitchell said the woman had looked dead and called it "one of the most bizarre experiences of my career".

He pulled her to the bank at Colwick Marina and she was taken to hospital where she was said to be doing well.

Pc Mitchell, of Nottinghamshire Police, had thrown a life ring cheap uggs uk sale to the woman on Tuesday but feared the worst when she did not respond and waded into the water.

I'd like to say it was like a scene from Baywatch but it was actually very cold and I'm not quite as chiselled as David Hasselhoff”

The crew of a passing pleasure boat pulled him onboard so he could get nearer before he called out to the woman, who was floating on her back and looked "very peaceful".

"Her head was slightly submerged and she uggs classic mini uk really did look dead. Then, in one of the most bizarre experiences of my career, she opened her eyes," he said.

"She had the most piercing blue eyes - it was so bizarre. I stripped off and jumped in the water, she was about 20 metres away, and swam her back to the bank.

"We were more than surprised, I don't think I can repeat what we said."

PC Mitchell, who was helped by PC Katie Eustace, added: "It's certainly not every day you go wading into the water.

"I'd like to say it was like a scene from Baywatch but it was actually very cold and I'm not quite as chiselled as David Hasselhoff.

"We were preparing for the worst so it was so nice that this had a happy ending."

The woman is expected to be discharged from hospital soon.

"I have spoken to her husband since the incident and she's doing well," PC Mitchell said.

Since the fall of the US-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1959, Cuba has been a one-party state led by Mr Castro and - since February 2008 - by his chosen successor and younger brother, Raul.

Fidel Castro exercised control over virtually all aspects of Cuban life through the Communist Party and its affiliated mass organisations, the government bureaucracy and the state security apparatus.

Exploiting the Cold War, Fidel Castro was for decades able to rely on strong Soviet backing, including annual subsidies worth $4-5 billion, and succeed in building reputable health and education systems. But, at least partly because of the US trade sanctions, he failed to diversify the economy.

The disappearance of Soviet aid following the collapse of the USSR forced the government to introduce tight rationing of energy, food and consumer goods. The economy soldiered on with the help of Canadian, European and Latin American investments, especially in tourism.

Controls were relaxed in the 1990s, with companies allowed to import and export without seeking permission and a number of free trade zones opening up.

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Some of these economic reforms were later rolled back, with Fidel Castro denouncing what he called the "new rich".

However, after Fidel Castro was succeeded as president by his brother Raul, the pace of economic reform picked up once more.

Cuba has forged closer ties with China and with oil-producing Venezuela. The latter supplies cheap fuel, while the former is helping Cuba to develop its own oil industry.

But the money sent home by Cubans living abroad - many of them in the US city of Miami - is still crucial to the economy. Hardships have led to an increase in prostitution, corruption, black marketeering and desperate efforts to escape in search of a better life.

Cuba has fallen foul of international agencies, including the UN's top human rights forum, over rights abuses. The UN's envoy has urged Havana to release imprisoned dissidents and to allow freedom of expression.

The US leases the Guantanamo Naval Base on the eastern tip of the island under a 1903 treaty, and continues to send Cuba payment for it. Cuba under the Castros disputes the lease, saying that it was concluded under duress, and has refused to cash any of the cheques since the early days of the revolution.

Relations with the US showed signs of a thaw following the election of President Barack Obama, who in April 2009 said he wanted a new beginning with Cuba.

Russia has also taken steps to revitalise ties with its Soviet-era ally, and in July 2009 signed an agreement to explore Cuba's offshore oil deposits, although these have turned out to be disappointing.

Raphael Pirker was sitting on a bench at Washington Square Park on a blustery Friday in New York. A small drone called Discovery, a remotely controlled aircraft made by his company, TBS Avionics, was on the bench next to him.

Nearby another drone was flying near a fountain. Even before he saw the drone, he heard it. "It's just like this, 'bzz-bzz'," he said.

An onlooker watched the aircraft - "a beginner drone", Pirker said, crash into the pavement.

Down the block hundreds of people had gathered at New York University for a Drones and Aerial Robotics Conference. Like Pirker, many of them were carrying their own drones.

On a global scale the US and Israel are the world's biggest manufacturers of drones. Yet some European officials want to change the dynamic.

Michel Barnier, a European Union commissioner, told a group of French journalists in July that Europeans should make their own drones, rather than rely exclusively on US- and Israeli-made ones.

Pirker is also planning for the future. In Europe drones are used to make movies (see Smurfs 2). In the UK officials have granted permission to more than 130 companies and government agencies to fly drones, according to an Aerospace America report.

In the US the Federal Aviation Administration has approved the use of drones for police and government agencies, issuing about 1,400 permits over the past several years.

The civilian air space will reportedly be open to all kinds of drones in Europe by 2016 - and in the US by 2015. Many of these machines will be small - like the ones Pirker makes.

And cheap. You can make a drone, explained South-African-born Mike Winn, of Drone Deploy, for $500 (£310).

Pirker, 29, is a Swiss-Austrian who lives in Hong Kong - "for business reasons". He wears rimless glasses, the kind once worn by Apple guru Steve Jobs, and he has light blue eyes. Pirker and the others at the conference belong to a new breed of drone maker. Many are global travellers, and most grew up on drones.

At the conference 14-year-old Riley Morgan approached Pirker, carrying a drone he had made. Another enthusiast, Russell de la Torre, who is 31, made his first robot, "a remote-controlled truck with cardboard boxes", at age 12.

Pirker started building model airplanes when he was six. "I got bored because they were just flying circles around," he said, spinning his hand in the air in a lazy manner. As an adult he said: "I had this crazy idea of flying [a drone] over the Statue of Liberty.

"Everybody said, 'Don't do that - you're doing to get shot.'"

It's not the plane that turns in the air - it's the world that turns”

"It was a strange feeling," he said, describing the day three years ago when the drone flew, as shown in this head-spinning footage. "It felt a little bit eerie because you're flying past so much history, you know, about America."

Drones give one a different perspective. "It's not the plane that turns in the air - it's the world that turns," he said.

Drones do more than provide material for trippy videos, though. They help farmers check on crops and allow journalists to report stories. But even small drones - like the kind Pirker makes - cause problems.

"Every country has different rules, but we follow our own," Pirker said. "We're not going to hurt anybody. We do it with a little bit of play." Not everyone sees his drones as whimsical.

Federal Aviation Administration officials tried to fine Pirker $10,000 for operating a drone in Charlottesville, Virginia, in October 2011. His lawyer filed a motion three weeks ago, describing the aircraft, a "five-pound radio-controlled model airplane constructed of styrofoam", as harmless.

Small drones are usually benign. Yet they can be lethal. Roman Pirozek, 19, died last month in Brooklyn, NY, when his remote-controlled helicopter spun out of control - and hit him in the head.

Small drones also provide new ways to spy. A Seattle woman felt uneasy about a drone outside her window, as she reported earlier this year on a blog.

Amie Stepanovich, director of a project on domestic surveillance at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, thinks drones are cool - and said Pirker's video was "gorgeous".

But drones also worry her. "They are helping to usher in a new age of physical surveillance," she said. "They provide a platform for some of the most invasive surveillance technologies we've ever seen."

Pirker has a different perspective. Rather than causing anxiety, drones have helped him get over his fear of heights - a handicap, since he lives in a high-rise in Tseung Kwan O, outside of Hong Kong, on the 40th floor.

As he sat on the park bench in New York, he stuck out his leg and jiggled it, showing what used to happen when he looked down from a window in a tall building.

Now he said: "I just step back."

Mr Cocker is not a lone voice in the industry. The boss of another foreign-owned big player in our market, Vincent de Rivaz of EDF, has for a couple of years been asking for the same thing - although Mr Cocker has gone a bit further than Mr de Rivaz by writing to the prime minister, the Energy Minister Ed Davey and the energy regulator, Ofgem, to formally request such a probe.

For both Cocker and de Rivaz, the ostensible motive is that such an independent and detailed investigation is a necessary pre-condition of winning back the trust and confidence of customers and the political class - whom they acknowledge have been completely alienated over the past few years uggs for cheap online by price rises that have wrecked British people's living standards and are rarely understood.

But, for the avoidance of doubt, this is not a cheap public relations stunt. Once an investigation is launched - and I am told that the prime minister is very close to initiating one - a cloud of expensive uncertainty will descend on the industry. (And, by the way, on Wednesday morning Mr Davey's department put out something of a non-committal response.)

Only the Competition Commission has the ability and independence to examine these issues thoroughly”

Mr de Rivaz has told me that his company - and by implication his industry - has "nothing to hide", which is why he thinks an inquiry would be a good thing.

But that is only partly relevant. Even if the companies are not colluding to rig prices or deliberately exploiting excessive market power to fatten profits in an unfair way - and they insist they are not - any Competition Commission inquiry would have to examine whether there are structural flaws in the industry which mean that competition does not serve consumers' interests adequately.

That is why such a review is supported by one of the more influential voices on competition in the UK, the former head of the Office of Fair Trading, John Fingleton.

And because such a review would be so serious, the companies would find it more expensive to raise money for investment - their cost of capital would increase - until it became clear whether the Competition Commission would force radical change on the industry, such as breaking up the big six players.

The big question that any Competition Commission probe would have to answer is whether it is good or bad for consumers, and for the British economy, that energy companies are allowed both to generate power and sell it to us.

Does this vertical integration allow the energy giants to invest for the long term, confident they have a captive market, thus making sure that the UK has ample supplies of relatively cheap energy over the longer term?

This is what Mr de Rivaz would claim, citing the example of France, whose massive investments in nuclear power over decades by vast and integrated EDF has led to French people enjoying cheaper power than the British and some of the cheapest electricity in Europe.

Or does this combination of so-called upstream and downstream activities set up a conflict of interest to the detriment of customers - in that integrated companies have less of an incentive to keep retail prices as low as possible, since higher prices boost the profits of their generators and the value of whatever gas reserves they hold?

There is a related issue of whether the current regulator, Ofgem, is fit for purpose.

Any referral of the industry to the Competition Commission would probably be in a slap in the face for Ofgem, since it has argued that the industry suffers from behavioural rather than structural weakness. And it is trying to secure a better deal for consumers by forcing the big companies to be open and more transparent about their charges and profitability.

The concern in government and at Ofgem about a Competition Commission investigation is that it would be a further deterrent to investment in new generating capacity, at a time when the UK is perilously close to seeing the lights go out because so much old plant is being decommissioned.

That said, some argue that the game is up anyway till after the election - in that (with the exception of the recent Hinkley Point C nuclear deal, which will take many years to build and had cross party support) the party conference statement of Ed Miliband that as prime minister he would freeze prices may be leading to an investment hiatus in any case.

What is striking is the dog that hasn't barked: the debate is largely about how competition can be improved. But none of the big parties is arguing that the UK should more closely follow the French model and revert to greater direction and state ownership of the industry.

And perhaps that is why Cocker and de Rivaz favour a Competition Commission probe - to ward off the more serious threat to them of a return to explicit government control.

It's like starting a fire with a parabolic mirror.

"Fundamentally it's reflection. If a building creates enough of a curve with a series of flat windows, which act like mirrors, the reflections all converge at one point, focusing and concentrating the light," says Chris Shepherd, from the Institute of Physics.

The half-finished 37-storey "Walkie Talkie"- nicknamed such because of its tapering rectangular design - is indeed a curvy building. Its design, which has also been compared to a brimming pint glass, has provoked controversy before.

It transpires the car, a Jaguar on Eastcheap in the City of London, was parked at just the spot where the focused light landed.

The car wasn't the only casualty. There have also been reports of a smouldering bicycle seat, singed fabric and blistered paintwork.

Land Securities, which is developing the tower with the Canary Wharf Group, says it is working on a solution and has taken the emergency measure of suspending the parking bays beneath the glare.

They have described the problem as a phenomenon caused by the current elevation of the sun in the sky. It is thought it can last for two hours a day and might only be a problem for the next two or three weeks.

But how common is it for skyscrapers to damage cars or property in this way?

Architectural visit us for cheap uggs critic Jonathan Glancey says the story is not unprecedented.

In 2003, the opening of the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, designed by architect Frank Gehry, hit a similar stumbling block.

"The building was clad from head to toe, right down to the pavement, in stainless steel panels, and they would send the sun dazzling across the sidewalks to hotspots where people were. It was measured up to 60C (140F).

"Local people living there complained they were having to crank their air conditioning up to maximum to cool things down," he says.

Blinding glare also affected drivers passing the building.

After computer models and sensor equipment identified the panels causing the problem, they were sanded down to break up the sun's rays.

There are also plenty of lesser-known, smaller scale sun traps caused by architecture, according to Shepherd.

"The Eden shopping centre in High Wycombe has a shop with a series of windows in a curve that all happen to concentrate the light at one point. If you walk across that point you can feel some warmth," he says.

There are also those caused by design, rather than accident.

Solar furnaces, the largest of which is in Odeillo in France, use mirrors to gather sunlight and create high temperatures, usually for industry.

The temperature at focal points can reach 3,500C (6,330F), with the heat used for testing various materials, generating electricity and the design of solar plants.

Shepherd says the same principle is also used in reflecting telescopes. A curved mirror collects the light and reflects it to a focus.

"It has to be perfectly curved to get a clear ugg boots cheap picture - if not you get hazy blob concentrations," he says.

The physics is the same for sound as for light, he adds. "The curved mirror effect can be used to focus sounds - or the reverse, if a speaker stands at one end of an amphitheatre, and wants to project to an audience."

When it comes to the skyscraper and the car, Shepherd says the fact the car was black - a good absorber of light - would have had an impact on the damage caused by the concentrated heat.

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He says the only parts that seem to have suffered are plastic, which is significant, as plastics generally have a much lower melting point than the steel of the car body.

Some plastics such as PVC - polyvinyl chloride - can melt at 100C, but they can soften before that. One reading taken today suggested the hotspot was 91.3C.

As for the Walkie-Talkie, Shepherd thinks the developers could employ a number of possible solutions.

"They could coat the windows to reduce reflection - which would be a cheap fix - but the downside of that is it could reduce the light entering the building.

"Another solution would be for them to misalign the window frames, to slightly alter them by about a millimetre, but that would be very expensive," he says.

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The charity is working to adopt the neighbouring Portishead Lifeboat Trust and needs to build a new lifeboat station to house a modern lifeboat.

It estimates a new boathouse in the marina will cost about £180,000.

In Weston-super-Mare, the RNLI moved into its station in 1902 u-g-g-s and expects to spend £300,000 updating facilities.

"We don't yet know how much the new boathouse at uggs cheap Portishead is going to cost because we are in the tendering process right now, but a modern facility like this doesn't come cheap," said Nigel Jones, RNLI Divisional Operations Manager.

"We also know that we are going to have to make changes at Weston-super-Mare in the future."

Widespread corruption, unemployment and a lack of political and media freedoms have held the country back. But after years of stagnation, the uptake of social media is starting to change Tajik politics.

Shahnoz Komilzoda is the smartly dressed spokeswoman for one Tajikistan's thriving mobile phone companies.

"I'm a keen social media user," she says. "Once you read social media in Tajikistan you understand what is happening in the country."

Ms Komilzoda is one of a growing number of young professional Tajiks visit us for cheap uggs who shun traditional media in favour of social networking sites.

"The state media is no alternative and one can feel that it [social media] is a growing power. People are not the same as they were a few years back," she adds.

The power of the internet is fuelled by a competitive mobile phone market offering a range of deals.

For around $3 a month customers can get unlimited access to a social media site of their choice, Shahnoz Komilzoda says.

Such freedoms have changed the atmosphere of the elections.

In the last poll in 2006, Emomali Rakhmon won with almost 80% of the vote. But international observers were unimpressed with the lack of political competition and debate, and with numerous media restrictions.

This time round the silence has made way for an energetic debate, driven by hundreds of thousands of netizens eagerly discussing the campaign on Facebook and the popular Russian social media site Odnoklassniki.

Most here say there is little doubt about the outcome of the elections, not least because the only opposition candidate, a well-known human rights campaigner, is out of the race.

But Oynihol Bobonazarova caused a stir nevertheless when she was interviewed after being disqualified for failing to collect the 210,000 signatures required to stand.

She bluntly attacked the president, saying: "I am different, I am educated, I had a good upbringing and I have faith" - an apparent reference to Mr Imomali's farming background and criticism of his manners on social media.

The publication of such a critical interview in the Tajik media immediately became a heated topic on social platforms, with many applauding her courage.

It is just one sign that a young generation, many of whom face unemployment at home or who have left for Russia in search of jobs, have found a voice.

And local markets are providing the tools. The trade in cheap Chinese-made smartphones is buzzing in the capital Dushanbe.

Some mobile operators are offering free internet applications for popular social media sites like Facebook and Odnoklassniki.

The Association of Internet Providers of Tajikistan estimates that almost half the population of Central Asia's poorest nation is now connected to the internet, mainly through their mobiles.

A growing number of activists are using the platform, setting up social media discussion groups which tackle topics ranging from road accidents to politics.

Of a population of around seven million, the Odnoklassniki platform alone has almost 300,000 daily users.

Facebook attracts fewer people, but still many more than in neighbouring countries.

Some write openly using their own names, others prefer a pseudonym, the moderator of one discussion group on Facebook says.

'We are free on the net, we're discussing all matters, you name it," he says.

"Dozens of discussion groups inside and outside Tajikistan are talking about corrupt officials, drug trafficking, unemployment, migrant workers - and obviously officials don't like us. But they also know that they can't do much."

Abdufattoh Shafiev is a well-known blogger who works for an international organisation in the capital Dushanbe.

He says when Facebook first became known in Tajikistan, many young professionals employed at foreign embassies and international organisations signed up, driven by a desire to highlight problems in society.

"Compared to Odnoklassniki, Facebook users are a small group, but almost all of them are educated and employed," he says.

"Government officials got worried, because Facebook was getting so popular and all the 'forbidden themes' were suddenly online, like corruption, drug trafficking, unemployment and migration."

Mr Shafiev says that the authorities blocked Facebook twice in the past year, but had to relent following external and internal pressure.

"Now they are forming special campaign groups to intimidate bloggers and activists," he says. "They are sending hate messages and threaten us."

But it seems there is nothing that is not being turned into an online discussion in Tajikistan.

Last month the underage son of a senior official was involved in a car crash in which three people died.

Some media were quick to ask how a 16-year-old managed to secure a licence, driving a flashy car late at night.

Social media exploded with accusations against high-ranking officials.

'Does [the] president know what is happening?" one Facebook user asked. Another wrote "Lives of ordinary people are cheaper than a penny in Tajikistan! How come his son can drive such an expensive car? Where is the money coming from?"

Such open debate is also having an impact on traditional media.

Online publications and even some newspapers are now daring to challenge the authorities directly, mainly by giving a platform to readers' comments.

But while the result has been a much livelier public debate than in previous polls in Tajikistan, no one predicts that it will have an influence on the result of the 2013 election.