The sordid truth: we cut and ran in India

Mountbatten rushed into partition 10 months early with barely a thought for the consequences
Published: 09 August 2007

It may be because of the obvious parallels with Iraq today, or the fact that there is now a whole new generation of young Britons of Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi descent who are interested in their parents' past, but the 60th anniversary next week of the partition of the Indian subcontinent has already aroused an amazing amount of media coverage here. A great deal more coverage it should be said than even the 50th anniversary in 1997 or, for that matter, than in the countries concerned.  continue...

Kebab shop worker's rap is the hottest single in France

By Claire Soares
Published: 09 August 2007

From mutton grease to musical greatness, it has been an unconventional road for rapper Lil'Maaz and his hit anthem "Mange du Kebab" (Eat Kebab).

The 27-year-old Turkish immigrant, whose real name is Yilmaz Karaman, moved to Paris four years ago and took a job in a kebab house where he would sing as he served. "It all started with my interactions with customers, asking them whether they wanted tomatoes, mayonnaise," he explained. "The questions took on their own rhythm and very quickly it became a rap."

It turned out some of his kebab-hungry clientele worked in a recording studio and they decided to help him reach a wider audience. continue...

Jinnah's daughter takes up fight for house where Pakistan was created

By Andrew Buncombe in Delhi
Published: 09 August 2007

Dina Wadia was a teenage girl when her father, Muhammad Jinnah, built the sprawling mansion overlooking the ocean at Mumbai's Malabar Hill. continue...

Gestures Convey Message: Learning in Progress

By Rick Weiss

Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 6, 2007; Page A06

Susan Wagner Cook stands at the front of a third-grade classroom, an unfinished equation printed neatly on the whiteboard.

4 + 3 + 6 = __ + 6

continue...

Face the facts: prison does not work

We must have the courage to sweep away prison and replace it with a genuinely radical alternative
Published: 08 August 2007

Our prison system is in crisis. This weekend, we heard news of yet more cuts. The financial burden of running a prison system which is 13 per cent over capacity has forced the Prison Service to consider abandoning key aspects of rehabilitation services, including daily cell checks and mandatory and voluntary drugs testing. continue...

A global property boom Russian style

In Russia's booming commercial property market, old meets new, as developers balance architectural style against the drive for profits.
By Jay Merrick
Published: 08 August 2007

Forget London, New York and Tokyo. The place to be for booming commercial property development right now is Moscow. According to international property analyst Knight Frank, new developments of high-grade office space in the Russian capital have doubled since 2003, with a further 1.5m square feet of space becoming available before 2011. continue...

Leading article: All in a good cause?

Published: 08 August 2007

Whatever your views on the ethics of state-sponsored gambling, the National Lottery is manifestly here to stay. No political party is pressing for its abolition. And there is no public demand for such a drastic move, with around 70 per cent of Britain's adult population playing regularly. The question rather is whether the game's present administrators are doing a satisfactory job. continue...

Camelot hits the National Lottery jackpot for the third time running

By Karen Attwood
Published: 08 August 2007

Camelot has won its third licence to run the National Lottery, beating off competition from an Indian rival Sugal & Damani.

Its success was, in part, due to the proposed creation of a global mega-lottery, the World Lottery Draw, with an annual £250m jackpot. It will also create around 100 millionaire winners every month. The 10-year licence will begin in 2009, when Camelot's current licence expires. The National Lottery Commission (NLC) named Delhi-based Sugal & Damani a "reserve bidder", which means it could still be awarded the licence in the highly unlikely event that an agreement with Camelot is not reached. continue...

A box-office banker: How Matt Damon became Hollywood's leading man

Cast Matt Damon in your film, and he will give you a better return than any other actor. So Forbes magazine says. Andrew Gumbel reports on a man who makes movies that people actually want to see
Published: 08 August 2007

Matt Damon's agent no doubt sat up and paid attention yesterday morning when Forbes, the business magazine, pronounced his client to be a very particular sort of top movie star - the one who provides the best return on the studios' investment. continue...

Disaster looms as 'Saddam dam' struggles to hold back the Tigris

By Patrick Cockburn in Mosul
Published: 08 August 2007

As world attention focuses on the daily slaughter in Iraq, a devastating disaster is impending in the north of the country, where the wall of a dam holding back the Tigris river north of Mosul city is in danger of imminent collapse. continue...

Guiliani given headache as daughter supports Obama's Presidential bid

By James Macintyre
Published: 08 August 2007

The Republican presidential hopeful Rudolph Giuliani is facing embarrassment after his teenage daughter was "outed" as a supporter of the Democratic candidate Barack Obama, in the first political upset caused by the networking site Facebook. continue...

Women prefer a 'feminine' appearance in partners

By James Macintyre
Published: 08 August 2007

Macho, dominating, masculine men appear to be in for long-disappointment in the love stakes after a new study shows that women prefer a "feminine" streak in their partners when it comes to settling down. continue...

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Whites keep Britain racially tolerant

Published: 06 August 2007

According to an ICM survey of 18- to 34-year-olds for the BBC Asian Network, most white Britons - a whopping 87 per cent - would happily marry out and between 78 and 83 per cent would date people from outside their own race. Depressingly, the same survey shows that only 53 per cent of Asians say they would marry outside their communities and between 44 and 53 per cent would date non-Asians. Despite the popularity of the BNP, the rise in inter-ethnic tensions and pervasive racism, and our own dreadful Asian prejudices, indigenous Brits are becoming more delightfully open when it comes to love and sex. continue....

Lala Amarnath - life and Times: The Making of a Legend, by Rajender Amarnath

Reviewed by David Llewellyn
Published: 06 August 2007

Cricket politics on the subcontinent are involved at best and Gordian at worst. Plots, perfidy, powerplays and pusillanimity – with the emphasis on the animosity – all feature.

For evidence of this you just have to read this book. It is of course an "affectionate" study of Lala Amarnath, one of India's more charismatic players and the first captain of independent India at home and abroad, by one of his three sons. continue...

Ireland's youngest king of chess takes on the world

Published: 06 August 2007

A player so young he cannot read or write is astonishing the chess scene in Ireland by taking on opponents more than twice his age.

At the tender age of five, Shane Melaugh is being hailed as a child prodigy, and has already become the youngest person to represent Ireland as a member of the under-12s team. continue...

Robert Fisk: Mistrust fuels cycle of violence in Lebanon

Published: 06 August 2007

When, oh when, will the Lebanese Christians stop destroying each other? General Michel Aoun's Free Democratic Party (colour them bright orange) stood yesterday, along with their pro-Syrian allies, against the Phalangist candidate Amin Gemayel, former president and father of the assassinated incumbent MP, Pierre, murdered - by Syrians? By rival Christians? You name it - last year. continue...

Mining giant faces tribal protest

Published: 06 August 2007

Until he came to London Kumti Majhi had never worn shoes before - he had never needed to. A member of the Dongria Kondh, one of India's most traditional tribes from the forested hills in the state of Orissa, he had never had any need to put any protection on his feet.

But the tribal leader knew shoes would be needed if he was to try to halt the construction of a £400m bauxite mine on the Niyamgiri Mountain, the Dongria Kondh's homeland and a hill they worship as their god.

Since building of the mine and its adjacent alumina refinery first began in 2004 by the UK-based mining giant Vedanta Resources, a battle has raged between the FTSE-100 company on one side and environmentalists and tribal members on the other who say the mine has already caused untold misery and is an ecological disaster waiting to happen. continue...

Award-winning film-maker's death divides UK and Israel

By Eric Silver in Jerusalem
Published: 06 August 2007

Britain and Israel face a diplomatic and legal showdown this week over the death of James Miller, an award-winning British film-maker who was shot by Israel soldiers while working on a documentary in the Gaza Strip more than four years ago. continue...

History A-level may become a thing of the past

By Richard Garner, Education Editor
Published: 06 August 2007

History is in danger of disappearing as an A-level subject, according to the head of the body representing UK exam markers.

Kathleen Tattersall, the chairman of the Chartered Institute of Education Assessors, warned that the subject was facing replacement by "so-called soft subjects", such as media studies and photography, and others that were more likely to lead more directly to employment. continue...

Micro-machines given a scientific lift by levitation theory

Published: 06 August 2007

Levitation - the magical ability to rise when there seems to be no external force at work - may be possible in the real world, two British scientists have conjectured.

Disappointingly, even if they are right, their theory will only apply to very small objects, not to human beings. The importance of the theory will be felt in nanotechnology and the construction of micro-machines, where its effects could be revolutionary.

It depends on a quirk of nature that allows particles to pop into existence from nowhere. Known as the "Casimir force", it was predicted by quantum physicists in 1948, and measured for the first time in 1997. continue...

Television Standards: Trained? Who cares as long as you're cheap

Don't blame the TV fakery scandals on inexperienced young staff, says Nicola Pearson. They're learning from an industry obsessed with quick-fix, low-quality entertainment
Published: 06 August 2007

Before the finger was pointed at his own channel, the ITV executive chairman (and former chairman of the BBC) Michael Grade, in part blamed the embarrassing revelations of audience deception in BBC programmes on under-trained, inexperienced young people working in the industry.  continue...

Jack Bauer, the hero of '24', takes on global warming

By Stephen Foley in New York
Published: 06 August 2007

The battle against climate change has just got its toughest new recruit: Jack Bauer, hero of the TV show 24. The programme's creators, Fox, are promising their next series will introduce a host of environmentally-friendly production measures, as the industry gropes for ways to make carbon neutral television. continue....