The Foreign Desk
LSE: New concerns over human rights
Last year, the London School of Economics (LSE) found itself mired in controversy over ties to the Gaddafi regime, one of a number of universities accused of complicity with human rights abuses through funding sources and research ties.
By Ben White | Notebook, Opinion, The Foreign Desk | Monday, 6 February 2012 at 1:02 pm
Mitt Romney faces competition for Nevada’s Mormon vote
The outcome of tomorrow’s Republican caucus in Nevada is likely to be decided by a spectacular turnout from local Mormons, who make up around 7 percent of residents but (as I reported this morning) are expected to cast 30 percent of votes.
Received wisdom has it that nine out of ten of them will back Mitt [...]
By Guy Adams | The Foreign Desk, iPolitics | Friday, 3 February 2012 at 7:11 pm
The fight over the Port Said football narrative has already begun
It is a year to the day since the infamous camel charge during the Egyptian uprising. That day, Ultras from al-Ahly and Zamalek football clubs, along with many other Egyptians, fought in the streets against the regime. It is being claimed that the atmosphere in Cairo today is very much like the day after that camel charge. Yesterday’s events in Port Said, in which over 70 football supporters died, is therefore not just ‘another football tragedy’, however terrible it was. Rather, the disaster takes place in a context of heightened political tension over the state of post-Mubarak Egypt, and concerns about security, order and the pace of democratisiation.
By Alex Hochuli | The Foreign Desk | Thursday, 2 February 2012 at 6:19 pm
India’s newspaper rivals do battle in ad war
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 [...]
By Andrew Buncombe | The Foreign Desk | Wednesday, 1 February 2012 at 11:30 am
Horror in the land of blue and gold
The Kachin people of Burma are enduring a nightmarish situation obscured by news of the country’s reforms.
By Emanuel Stoakes | The Foreign Desk | Wednesday, 1 February 2012 at 11:15 am
The Rushdie debacle is an indictment of India’s democracy
It is thecomplaint of the complacent to argue,“it’s all their fault” and in India the opportunity to argue “it’s them” isever-present. But with the dust almost settled on the Rushdie fiasco, it’s apparent that this complaint against India’s government is not being made often enough.
By Ram Mashru | The Foreign Desk | Tuesday, 31 January 2012 at 11:33 am
Kashmir movie triggers new controversy
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 [...]
By Andrew Buncombe | The Foreign Desk | Friday, 27 January 2012 at 12:48 pm
Salman Rushdie was blocked out but MF Husain is back on show
Just a few days after Salman Rushdie was excluded from the Jaipur Literature Festival because of an extremist Muslim campaign against his writings, paintings by M.F.Husain are hanging at the India Art Fair without any objections from Hindu fundamentalists who have had them taken down in the past.
The fair opens today and Husains are on show [...]
By John Elliott | Arts, The Foreign Desk | Thursday, 26 January 2012 at 11:19 am
Politics and religion – and police – invade the Jaipur Lit Fest
JAN 24: In a potent example of religious intolerance hitting India’s traditional freedom of expression, plans for Salman Rushdie to speak to the festival by video link were abandoned this afternoon.
Muslim demonstrators managed to gain access to the premises and positioned themselves in groups around the various venues, while several thousand prepared to march to the location.
Some [...]
By John Elliott | Arts, The Foreign Desk | Monday, 23 January 2012 at 9:05 am
Elephant symbols of empowerment are too powerful for India’s Election Commission
These giant stone elephants sitting on their pedestals in a huge park outside Delhi are a symbol of India’s political development. Built here and in Uttar Pradesh’s capital city of Lucknow, along with other massive stone and bronze monuments, stupas, and domes at a reported cost of Rs4,500 crore ($1bn), they are designed to glorify [...]
By John Elliott | The Foreign Desk | Tuesday, 17 January 2012 at 8:19 am
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