http://blogs.independent.co.uk| Blogs from the Independent newspaper - news, views and features from the world's most free-thinking newspaper| Sun, 19 May 2013 20:00:59 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2| en hourly 1 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/05/17/syrias-cannibal-rebel-defends-himself/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/05/17/syrias-cannibal-rebel-defends-himself/#comments Fri, 17 May 2013 11:30:35 +0000 Richard Hall http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=34973 Much has been written this past week about a Syrian rebel named Khalid al-Hamad, who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Sakkar, and who gained notoriety after a video emerged of him appearing to eat part of a dead pro-government fighter’s lung.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/05/17/syrias-cannibal-rebel-defends-himself/feed/ 12 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/05/06/india%e2%80%99s-latest-2m-corruption-scandal-is-a-very-old-scam/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/05/06/india%e2%80%99s-latest-2m-corruption-scandal-is-a-very-old-scam/#comments Mon, 06 May 2013 07:35:45 +0000 John Elliott http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=34718 The latest corruption scandal to embroil India’s coalition government is scarcely a surprise. The nephew of Pawan Kumar Bansal (right), the railways minister, was to be paid Rs100m (about £1.2m) to fix a top Railways Board appointment. Such appointments have been fixed for decades, often financed with money from companies that later benefit, as was [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/05/06/india%e2%80%99s-latest-2m-corruption-scandal-is-a-very-old-scam/feed/ 2 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/17/you-don%e2%80%99t-have-to-have-visited-syria-to-be-horrified-by-syria-across-the-lines/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/17/you-don%e2%80%99t-have-to-have-visited-syria-to-be-horrified-by-syria-across-the-lines/#comments Wed, 17 Apr 2013 16:32:21 +0000 Rob Hastings http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=34232 Rarely has a piece of salad served as a symbol of friendship, especially not a limp and watery lettuce. As a gesture, however, the leafy homegrown green presented to my friend Richard by the family elder among a large family of Syrians during our holiday to their country a couple of years ago has stuck in our minds as one of the kindest and most generous of gifts.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/17/you-don%e2%80%99t-have-to-have-visited-syria-to-be-horrified-by-syria-across-the-lines/feed/ 6 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/15/the-two-sides-in-syria%e2%80%99s-civil-war-are-talking/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/15/the-two-sides-in-syria%e2%80%99s-civil-war-are-talking/#comments Mon, 15 Apr 2013 11:48:26 +0000 Richard Hall http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=34159 A new video uploaded by a group of rebel fighters in Darayya appears to show a dialogue of sorts between the Syrian regime and the opposition.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/15/the-two-sides-in-syria%e2%80%99s-civil-war-are-talking/feed/ 0 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/11/how-we-launched-thatcher%e2%80%99s-privatisation-word-in-the-ft-in-1979/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/11/how-we-launched-thatcher%e2%80%99s-privatisation-word-in-the-ft-in-1979/#comments Thu, 11 Apr 2013 06:34:20 +0000 John Elliott http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=34053 One of Margaret Thatcher’s most significant legacies is privatisation – not only for introducing the policy itself, but also for adding the word into the world’s every-day vocabulary. Her death this week seems a good moment to recount how we launched the word on July 28 1979 in The Financial Times. The day before, I [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/11/how-we-launched-thatcher%e2%80%99s-privatisation-word-in-the-ft-in-1979/feed/ 3 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/13/free-syrian-army-launch-investigation-into-arrest-of-the-yellow-man-of-aleppo/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/13/free-syrian-army-launch-investigation-into-arrest-of-the-yellow-man-of-aleppo/#comments Wed, 13 Mar 2013 20:06:41 +0000 Richard Hall http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=33318 The Free Syrian Army has launched an investigation into the arrest of “The Yellow Man of Aleppo” – a local celebrity who was detained by rebels in the city last week. ]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/13/free-syrian-army-launch-investigation-into-arrest-of-the-yellow-man-of-aleppo/feed/ 4 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/08/is-the-bangladeshi-spring-morphing-into-a-national-islamophobia/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/08/is-the-bangladeshi-spring-morphing-into-a-national-islamophobia/#comments Fri, 08 Mar 2013 22:00:48 +0000 Hasnet Lais http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=33041 Almost 42 years since Bangladesh won independence from Pakistan, the ghosts of the bloody 1971 liberation war still haunt the nation. The bloodletting, rape and torture inflicted by Pakistani militias prevent many Bengalis to this day from treating the country’s road to freedom as just a tragic tale of the past.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/08/is-the-bangladeshi-spring-morphing-into-a-national-islamophobia/feed/ 2 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/08/syrians-put-non-lethal-aid-to-use/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/08/syrians-put-non-lethal-aid-to-use/#comments Fri, 08 Mar 2013 12:03:33 +0000 Richard Hall http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=33139 Days after William Hague announced that Britain would be sending “non-lethal aid” to Syria’s opposition, a video has been uploaded online showing it being put to use.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/08/syrians-put-non-lethal-aid-to-use/feed/ 0 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/02/06/artist-recreates-gustav-klimts-the-kiss-in-war-torn-syria/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/02/06/artist-recreates-gustav-klimts-the-kiss-in-war-torn-syria/#comments Wed, 06 Feb 2013 23:25:44 +0000 Richard Hall http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=32338 Syrian-born artist Tammam Hazzam superimposed Gustav Klimt's The Kiss on a devastated, bullet-ridden building somewhere in Syria.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/02/06/artist-recreates-gustav-klimts-the-kiss-in-war-torn-syria/feed/ 1 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/02/03/two-videos-two-battles/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/02/03/two-videos-two-battles/#comments Sun, 03 Feb 2013 16:25:34 +0000 Richard Hall http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=32225 Two disturbing videos have emerged in recent days that highlight two different battles being fought in Egypt’s on-going revolution.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/02/03/two-videos-two-battles/feed/ 0 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/01/20/rahul-gandhi%e2%80%99s-inevitable-and-incredible-appointment-as-congress-no-2/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/01/20/rahul-gandhi%e2%80%99s-inevitable-and-incredible-appointment-as-congress-no-2/#comments Sun, 20 Jan 2013 18:07:05 +0000 John Elliott http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=31786 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/01/20/rahul-gandhi%e2%80%99s-inevitable-and-incredible-appointment-as-congress-no-2/feed/ 0 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/12/28/one-year-on-no-justice-for-uludere-victims/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/12/28/one-year-on-no-justice-for-uludere-victims/#comments Fri, 28 Dec 2012 11:05:40 +0000 Richard Hall http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=31116 One year ago today, on a bitterly cold winter evening, a Turkish fighter jet attacked a group of its own citizens who were crossing the border from Iraq. A total of 34 civilians were killed, most of them children.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/12/28/one-year-on-no-justice-for-uludere-victims/feed/ 6