Vanishing headlines
Whatever happened to the Saudi rape case? It disappeared from the headlines shortly after the Saudis announced they had arrested over 200 terror suspects. Was it a trade-off? Two hundred-odd suspects for 200 lashes?
Interesting take on the 'teddy row'
Red faces in Sudan over teddy row
By Jonah Fisher
Former BBC Khartoum correspondent
Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir speaks in Khartoum after pardoning Gillian Gibbons
President al-Bashir had been under huge pressure to intervene
Just over a week ago it was hard to imagine how the international reputation of the Sudanese government could sink any lower.
Accused of sponsoring the killing and rape of hundreds of thousands of its own people in Darfur and then of blocking the peacekeepers who might protect them - barely a week passed without a threat of sanctions or a new UN resolution.
But thanks to the Gillian Gibbons saga, Sudan has managed to transform its public image from pariah state to something approaching a laughing stock.
read the rest (and watch a statement by Ms Gibbons) here
By Jonah Fisher
Former BBC Khartoum correspondent
Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir speaks in Khartoum after pardoning Gillian Gibbons
President al-Bashir had been under huge pressure to intervene
Just over a week ago it was hard to imagine how the international reputation of the Sudanese government could sink any lower.
Accused of sponsoring the killing and rape of hundreds of thousands of its own people in Darfur and then of blocking the peacekeepers who might protect them - barely a week passed without a threat of sanctions or a new UN resolution.
But thanks to the Gillian Gibbons saga, Sudan has managed to transform its public image from pariah state to something approaching a laughing stock.
read the rest (and watch a statement by Ms Gibbons) here
BBC: Britons go to India to abort unborn daughters
Just when I was rejoicing about Gillian Gibbons's pardon (and hoping she gets safely out of Sudan), I found this on the BBC News website. It was like a slap in the face - and a wake-up call:
Cultural pressure to have a boy is leading some British women of Asian origin to travel to India for abortions to avoid having a girl.
"As soon as you're pregnant everyone sits there and looks at you and constantly says: 'you're going to have a boy. We'll do this and we'll do that and we'll have celebrations'," she said.
| By Sanjiv Buttoo |
Cultural pressure to have a boy is leading some British women of Asian origin to travel to India for abortions to avoid having a girl.
Among them is Meena, whose name has been changed to protect her identity.
She describes what led her to do such a thing.
 |  Reconstruction: 'Meena' went to India to abort her daughter  |
Full interview But when the child is actually born and it's a girl, everyone around you feels disappointed - they say: 'well, never mind'."
read the rest here
