http://blogs.independent.co.uk| Blogs from the Independent newspaper - news, views and features from the world's most free-thinking newspaper| Wed, 19 Jun 2013 20:22:27 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2| en hourly 1 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/09/20/can-journalists-ever-be-trusted-to-keep-a-secret/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/09/20/can-journalists-ever-be-trusted-to-keep-a-secret/#comments Thu, 20 Sep 2012 09:12:06 +0000 Andrew Buncombe http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=28539 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/09/20/can-journalists-ever-be-trusted-to-keep-a-secret/feed/ 0 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/08/07/all-aboard-making-a-killing-with-indias-genuine-duplicate-gold/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/08/07/all-aboard-making-a-killing-with-indias-genuine-duplicate-gold/#comments Tue, 07 Aug 2012 08:06:50 +0000 Andrew Buncombe http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=27162 The bus had barely reached the outskirts of the city when it pulled to the side of the road and a man clambered aboard. In an instant he had pulled a gold chain from his pocket and looped it around the hand-rail attached to the roof and he was pulling on it hard, as if to show off its strength.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/08/07/all-aboard-making-a-killing-with-indias-genuine-duplicate-gold/feed/ 1 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/10/the-flavours-of-burma-and-whether-its-food-could-become-the-next-big-thing/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/10/the-flavours-of-burma-and-whether-its-food-could-become-the-next-big-thing/#comments Tue, 10 Jul 2012 13:03:50 +0000 Andrew Buncombe http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=26180 The celebrated food writer Naomi Duguid rarely travels with either a translator or a fixed itinerary. Rather, she’d prefer to go where her eyes and taste-buds lead her and plunge into situations, hoping that with a little persistence and patience she will make herself understood and understand what people are saying to her. ]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/10/the-flavours-of-burma-and-whether-its-food-could-become-the-next-big-thing/feed/ 14 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/30/still-no-justice-for-murdered-journalist-saleem-shahzad/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/30/still-no-justice-for-murdered-journalist-saleem-shahzad/#comments Wed, 30 May 2012 06:19:51 +0000 Andrew Buncombe http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=24774 A year has somehow charged past since the abduction and murder of Pakistani journalist Saleem Shahzad, a full 12 months in which no suspect has been identified, no-one charged with his killing and nobody brought to justice. The 40-year-old correspondent of Asia Times Online, disappeared on the evening of May 29, a Sunday, as he [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/30/still-no-justice-for-murdered-journalist-saleem-shahzad/feed/ 4 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/07/is-there-a-plan-to-bring-the-last-mughal-emperor-back-to-india/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/07/is-there-a-plan-to-bring-the-last-mughal-emperor-back-to-india/#comments Mon, 07 May 2012 11:09:57 +0000 Andrew Buncombe http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=23926 At Mehrauli’s crumbling Summer Palace, a once opulent building established by India’s Moghul rulers on the southern edge of Delhi, lie four grave plots. Three of the plots are occupied by the tombs of Mughul emperors – Akbar Shah II, Bahadur Shah I and Shah Alam II. But the fourth remains empty. On a recent walk around [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/07/is-there-a-plan-to-bring-the-last-mughal-emperor-back-to-india/feed/ 18 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/01/khalil-dale-his-life-was-one-of-love-not-hatred/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/01/khalil-dale-his-life-was-one-of-love-not-hatred/#comments Tue, 01 May 2012 13:27:17 +0000 Andrew Buncombe http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=23738 Khalil 'Ken' Dale was a British aid worker kidnapped in Pakistan earlier this year and then subsequently killed by his captors. They attached a note to his body, discovered by police in Quetta on Sunday, saying he had been killed because no ransom had been paid.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/01/khalil-dale-his-life-was-one-of-love-not-hatred/feed/ 19 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/04/19/ousted-leader-of-maldives-says-international-community-must-support-democracy/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/04/19/ousted-leader-of-maldives-says-international-community-must-support-democracy/#comments Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:47:47 +0000 Andrew Buncombe http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=23358 Mohamed Nasheed, the former president of the Maldives who was forced out in what he says was a coup earlier this year, is trying to drum up support from the international community to pressure the new regime to hold early elections. Currently in Delhi with a small delegation of MPs from his party, he said he [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/04/19/ousted-leader-of-maldives-says-international-community-must-support-democracy/feed/ 0 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/04/12/fried-rat-and-palm-toddy-a-post-election-rally-snack-in-burma/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/04/12/fried-rat-and-palm-toddy-a-post-election-rally-snack-in-burma/#comments Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:19:07 +0000 Andrew Buncombe http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=23158 It was hot and dusty and the motorcycle journey back from Aung San Suu Kyi's campaign rally in the town of Kawmhu had already taken more than an hour. Would you like something to drink, asked my Burmese journalist colleague. Before I knew what was in store, I'd agreed.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/04/12/fried-rat-and-palm-toddy-a-post-election-rally-snack-in-burma/feed/ 0 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/21/why-do-pakistani-lawyers-want-to-ban-the-countrys-favourite-soft-drink-a-clue-its-made-by-minorities/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/21/why-do-pakistani-lawyers-want-to-ban-the-countrys-favourite-soft-drink-a-clue-its-made-by-minorities/#comments Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:14:42 +0000 Andrew Buncombe http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=21696 Generations of Pakistanis have grown up reaching out for the sweet and easy pleasures of Shezan soft drinks. Over five decades the company has cemented its reputation as a supplier not just to high street shops, but to hotels, airlines and the country’s armed forces.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/21/why-do-pakistani-lawyers-want-to-ban-the-countrys-favourite-soft-drink-a-clue-its-made-by-minorities/feed/ 147 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/01/indias-newspaper-rivals-do-battle-in-ad-war/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/01/indias-newspaper-rivals-do-battle-in-ad-war/#comments Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:30:46 +0000 Andrew Buncombe http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=20954 In India, there is a jolly and very entertaining newspaper war going on between two of the country’s most established titles. Between them, they enjoy a circulation of more than 5m readers. The Times of India (TOI) has always thought itself more lively than its rivals, and its usually breathless mix of showbusiness “news”, cricket gossip [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/01/indias-newspaper-rivals-do-battle-in-ad-war/feed/ 1 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/01/27/kashmir-movie-triggers-new-controversy/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/01/27/kashmir-movie-triggers-new-controversy/#comments Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:48:57 +0000 Andrew Buncombe http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=20822 Indian filmmaker Ashvin Kumar is used to controversy. His previous documentary, Inshallah Football, about the conflict in Kashmir and its lingering ramifications, was refused a certificate by the censors. With the launch of his latest film, Inshallah Kashmir:Living Terror, he has sought to avoid that problem by putting the film directly online. Kumar uploaded his film [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/01/27/kashmir-movie-triggers-new-controversy/feed/ 1 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/11/16/breathing-life-into-a-dying-langauge/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/11/16/breathing-life-into-a-dying-langauge/#comments Wed, 16 Nov 2011 04:37:32 +0000 Andrew Buncombe http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=18669 The Andamans, a cluster of islands 700 miles east of the Indian mainland in the Bay of Bengal, are home to three highly endangered languages. One of them, Great Andamanese, has only five speakers. Professor Anvita Abbi, a renowned linguist specialising in the minority languages of the Indian subcontinent, has spent many years researching the languages, [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/11/16/breathing-life-into-a-dying-langauge/feed/ 2