Special reports	Sri Lanka	India	Iraq	Afghanistan	Darfur

Selection
'The blast left the soldier on his back, staring at the mess of his leg'   STRUGGLING TO sit up, Frederic Couture surveyed his torn trouser leg and the bloodied strips of flesh which were all that remained of his foot. A landmine had exploded, blowing the rest of it away. "I'm 21-years-old and I've lost my foot,'' he cried. "What am I going to do now?''	Gap, Next and M&S in new sweatshop scandal   Some of the biggest names on the British high street are at the centre of a major sweatshop scandal. An Observer investigation has found staff at their Indian suppliers working up to 16 hours a day. Marks & Spencer, Gap and Next have all launched their own inquiries into the abuses and pledged to end the practice of excessive overtime, which is in flagrant breach of the industry's ethical trading initiative (ETI) and Indian labour law. Some workers say they were paid at half the legal overtime rate. Gap, which uses the same factory as Next, confirmed it had found wage violations and gave its supplier a deadline of midnight last night to repay workers who lost out. M&S says it has yet to see evidence to support the wage claims.	India's generation of children crippled by uranium waste   Their heads are too large or too small, their limbs too short or too bent. For some, their brains never grew, speech never came and their lives are likely to be cut short: these are the children it appears that India would rather the world did not see, the victims of a scandal with potential implications far beyond the country's borders.
'He turned to the helicopter and sank to his knees, then I hit him with my rockets'   CAUGHT IN the middle of the Helmand river, the fleeing Taliban were paddling their boat back to shore for dear life. Smoke from the ambush they had just sprung on American special forces still hung in the air, but their attention was fixed on the two helicopter gunships that had appeared above them.	The five-year race to save India's vanishing tigers   With some conservationists claiming only 800 tigers still live in the wild, radical steps are needed if the species isn't to disappear from India within five years	Litany of rape and abuse in Darfur region ONE man held her arms, others held her legs. They took it in turns to rape her. It lasted six hours. When the baby is born in four months time she will keep it. But a part of her will always think of it as her Janjaweed child.
The real Slumdog Millionaires   AMID a narrow warren of side streets close to the mosque that dominates the skyline on the edge of the mega-slum of Dharavi, in the heart of Mumbai, a young boy tilts his head back and stares up at the narrow strip of blue which is all that can be seen of the sky. Rickety warehouses crowd in from all sides, their high sheet-metal walls and overhanging asbestos roofs blocking out the sun, plunging the dirt streets below into a gloomy half-light, though it is nearly midday. Picture gallery The National	Hope dies for Africa's lost generation   CAROL Singwoma is weaving her way through the crowd, the eyes of the men on her dirty white knitted turtle-neck top and the little skirt covering her thin legs. Her skin is a deep black, her eyes big and open, her features attractive, if not quite pretty. She is giggling, her arms folded across her small breasts, aware of the attention of the men swigging from bottles of beer and swaying to the sound of the African dance music as they spill out of the open-air bar into a darkened side street on the edge of the Zambian crossroads town of Kapiri Mposhi.	In this cat-and-mouse war, the sniper is king THE tank crew spotted them first; four men in civilian clothes jumping out of a pickup truck in the centre of Zubayr. One had a rocket- propelled grenade launcher. Corporal Mark Harvey was the first of the accompanying snipers to react, dropping to his knee and fixing the man carrying the RPG in his sights. One shot, a moving target, the militia man dropping like a stone, dead before he hit the ground.
Vedanta versus the villagers: the fight for the sacred mountain The ash spills out across the plain beneath the brooding bulk of Niyamgiri mountain, swamping the trees that once grew here, forming dirty grey-brown drifts around the stems of the now-dead scrub. Every day there is more ash, pouring out of the alumina refinery that squats among the steep-sided, jungle-clad hills of western Orissa, India. The dust hangs in the air and clings to the landscape, settling on the huts of the aboriginal Kondh tribes who call this place home, choking those who breathe it in.	They poured out of their Warriors and let fly with grenades, guns, everything Just after dawn yesterday the Warrior crashed through the wall of the house tucked away down a side road in the Iraqi town of Al Zubayr, west of Basra.	'Even the stones were destroyed' HALAWA'S body lay on the mountainside where she fell when the bombs exploded, her womb torn open, the tiny body of her unborn baby lying by her side, the blood soaking into the soil congealing in the heat of the sun. She was nine months pregnant; her friends said she was due to give birth to her fifth child.
Eyewitness to carnage   Damilvany Gnanakumar witnessed Sri Lanka's bloody conflict from a Tamil hospital - then spent months detained in a camp. She tells Gethin Chamberlain her story	Convert or die, Hindu lynch mobs tell fleeing Christians HUNDREDS of Christians in the Indian state of Orissa have been forced to renounce their religion and become Hindus after lynch mobs issued them with a stark ultimatum: convert or die.	This is really a disaster. I don't know really how to explain it. At the moment, it is like hell...   "The most terrible thing that I have seen was when a mother had a bullet go through her breast and she was dead and the baby was still on the other side of the breast and the baby was drinking her milk, and that really affected me. I was at that place where it happened...I'm talking to you now, but maybe tomorrow I'll be dead." Vany Kumar, 25, speaking by telephone from a shelled hospital in Sri Lanka's no fire zone.
Turkey's 'creeping Islamisation' divides nation   IT COULD have been a scene from any beach in Turkey: a cluster of young women reclining on sun-loungers, soaking up the midday rays, thumbing through novels and smoking cigarettes, while fellow holidaymakers splashed in the sea.	'We are tired of firing at people – get us out of here’   The British Army, said the man sitting in a prefab hut in Britain’s last base in the country, were tired of fighting. Not only that: their very presence in Basra was now the problem.	Child victims of the battle to end a bloody civil war   LYING howling on a torn mattress, in a cot by a window overlooking the Sri Lankan ­capital, Colombo, the wounded toddler was a pitiful sight. A female relative fretted, trying to calm the girl down as the medics worked around her. The 18-month-old had been shot in the stomach in the final stages of the fighting in the north-east of the country and there was an ugly line of stitches across her abdomen where doctors had operated to remove the bullet.
Horses left to starve after Romania bans carts from the roads   RIBS SHOWING clearly through their tattered flanks, the starving horses corralled on the edge of the eastern Romanian city of Galati are just a few days away from death.	Red hackles rise as the Black Watch stride out Tam o'shanter on his head, pistol in his belt, the commanding officer of the Black Watch is striding ahead through the crowded market place in the centre of the town of Az Zubayr.	Where a baby girl is a mother's awful shame   THE birth of Rekha's second daughter should have been one of the happiest days of her life. Instead, she lay on the bed of her home on the outskirts of Delhi, the newborn child on the floor, screaming in terror as her mother-in-law poured paraffin over her.
Murdered Polish nurse came to the UK looking for a better life   IT was in the little notes she wrote home to her family in Poland that Magda Pniewska revealed the silent anguish behind the smiling face of a young woman who had travelled to Britain in search of a better life. "I wish I could be back home with you," Magda wrote to her parents in the little town of Brzeg. "I love you, I miss you."	India prays for rain as water wars break out   IT was a little after 8pm when the water started flowing through the pipe running beneath the dirt streets of Bhopal's Sanjay Nagar slum. After days without a drop of water, the Malviya family were the first to reach the hole they had drilled in the pipe, filling what containers they had as quickly as they could. Within minutes, three of them were dead, hacked to death by angry neighbours who accused them of stealing water.	Damage caused during theft is no stain on the value of The Scream   EDVARD Munch's most famous painting, The Scream, is damaged beyond repair. Four years after it was stolen in an armed raid on an Oslo museum, and two years after Norwegian police found it, scratched and water-damaged, conservators have told The Sunday Telegraph there is nothing more they can do to restore what is undoubtedly one of the most recognisable paintings in the world.
Without aid now, this child and millions more will starve to death In the shade of the grass roof of a hut in a village at the end of a dirt road, in the heart of a country the tourist brochures call the warm heart of Africa, a young girl is dying. Madaloo James's eyes are bloodshot, her belly distended from the parasitic worms feeding inside her, her feet swollen from the oedema which starvation brings. Thirteen months old, she has weeks to live, perhaps less.	Death at a checkpoint AHMED'S head is turned away to one side, his mouth open, the blood which streaks his face already dry. His right hand is by his side, the left curled across his stomach. The fingers stop a few inches from the inch-wide hole just above his groin.	'Two of us fled. 75 other women killed themselves with grenades'   By the time Arulmathy and her fellow Tamil Tigers realised they were surrounded, it was too late. They had fallen asleep and now Sri Lankan soldiers were swarming into their bunker. Arulmathy watched aghast as 75 women she had fought beside for so many months reached for their hand grenades, pulled the pins and blew themselves to pieces, as they had been ordered to do.
We heard the bullets and then the first shell hit our sandbags   The shell exploded without warning. Kandiah Rasamahendran felt a searing pain in his left leg and looked down, to see blood gushing from the wound. His young sons were screaming, his wife struck dumb with shock. Frantically, he scooped sand from the floor of their makeshift bunker and poured it into the gaping hole, trying to staunch the bleeding.	Afghan army takes fight to Taliban's heartland The Taliban were out there, somewhere in the darkness to the north of the jagged peaks of Masum Gar, just the other side of the Arghandab river. They had fired one rocket. Now they were ready to fire again.	Mayawati - Power broker of the lower castes Her supporters hand-feed her cake, she covers herself in diamonds and has a fleet of planes. Yet, as a Dalit, an 'untouchable', she is loved by India's legions of poor and could even be prime minister after the general election
Chances with wolves In the winter, snow covers stone markers painted red and white to show the only safe path through the mines, which still claim victims regularly. There is also a threat from wolves, which come down from the mountains to search for food.	"I hate myself for being part of this war"   BULLETS kicked up the dust in front of the armoured car. Another round flashed overhead, close enough for its high-pitched whine to be heard. The African Union fuel convoy moving west across Darfur had driven straight into a firefight between the Sudanese army and rebels, in which the army was coming off worst.	Friendly fire SITTING IN her hospital bed with a plastic patch taped over her left eye, Robina ud Din was a picture of misery. The red-haired two-year-old had been flown to the US military hospital in Bagram, outside Kabul, the Afghan capital, after being injured when American soldiers opened fire on her family's car at a checkpoint in the eastern town of Khost. Glass fragments ripped open her left eye, and she needed surgery to save her sight. The US military said the vehicle failed to stop when told to do so. But her family - who had been returning from her father's funeral - said soldiers had opened fire without warning.
Sold for £20: just two of India's million stolen children RAJESH was 14 when he disappeared. Beneath a mop of jet black hair, his clear brown eyes glance sideways out of the picture that is all his family have left of him. He was his parents’ only son and they doted and relied on him. One morning in April last year, his mother, Sunita, asked him to go out to fetch water. She remembers him loading the empty plastic containers on to his cart and setting off cheerfully down the lane. It was the last time she saw him.	Name of al-Sadr hangs over uneasy south Oday al-Dibaj clasps the bars of his prison cell, his hair cropped close to his head, his beard neatly trimmed. He speaks fast, and passionately. The people love Muqtada al-Sadr, Dibaj says, because Sadr loves his country and supports all the good people in Iraq. Around him, the 20 or so other men with whom he shares his filthy cell in Basra's main prison press forward, agreeing with him, talking over him. Behind them, in between the slogans painted on black sheets, a picture of Sadr dominates the rear wall.	Do they know it's Christmas? RUBINA turns the card round and round in her hands, peering blankly at the Christmas trees on the front. Maybe they are foreign houses, she ventures after a while, giggling. It is clear she has no idea what the shapes are, though she stuck them to the card. In Sreepur village, Bangladesh, the Muslim women who make what are probably the UKs most ethical Christmas cards are certainly aware that Christmas is coming, but they have only the vaguest idea of the trappings that accompany it.
Maoist guerrillas threaten Indian poll from their jungle lair   In Dantewada, in the heart of the world's biggest democracy, civil war is flaring, claiming nearly 1,000 lives in the past two years. Gethin Chamberlain reports from the jungle hideouts of the Naxal rebels who are ordering villagers to boycott the election - and whose increasing strength is straining the Indian security services to breaking point.	Scam-dog millionaires MILLIONS of pounds of taxpayers' money sent to India to educate poor children is falling into the pockets of crooked officials in the country. A News of the World investigation has uncovered corruption on an incredible scale after our Government poured in £340 million aid. It went to a multi-billion schools project blasted by Indian inspectors as fraudulent and riddled with malpractice.	'We want to work in Hollywood- but God still hasn't fulfilled our dreams' It is raining, the water dripping from roofs of tin and plastic into the pale grey ooze of the drain running down the narrow lane between the shanties that make up Bombay’s Garib Nagar slum. Rubina Ali, Slumdog Millionaire starlet and precocious 10-year-old, is skipping from one concrete slab to another, trying to avoid the stinking puddles and the filth strewn all around. It is futile: the dirt is as much a part of the slum as are its 5,000 impoverished inhabitants.
Round-the-world couple fight pirates of the Caribbean A BRITISH businessman and his wife have told how they were attacked and robbed by armed pirates as they sailed through the Caribbean on a round-the-world adventure. Peter Lee, 61, rammed his pursuers in a bid to knock them off their boat as it came alongside his 41ft yacht but the pirates managed to scramble on board after firing several shots at him. The couple's dog then furiously attacked the men, biting and snapping at them, until one of them shot and stabbed the animal between the shoulder blades, leaving him for dead.	Survival of the fittest in Hong Kong   Ten years ago, as Britain handed over Hong Kong to the Chinese, the predictions for its future were uniformly bleak. So far, however, the pessimists have been proved wrong	Building rights THE pregnancy came all too easily. Monica was 13, and the man in question was her overseer at the brick kiln where she worked about 40km north of the booming Indian mega-city of Kolkata. More than twice her age and married with two children of his own, he was the son of the kiln owner. He had smiled at her as she trotted past him every day, carrying on her head the rough clay bricks shaped from river mud which she would deposit in the kiln to be baked into the building blocks of Kolkata’s expansion.
Kazakhstan is promised democracy, but the election result is not in doubt   IN MOST elections, a lurch to the Right indicates a political swing: in Kazakhstan, it has more to do with which side of the car voters want their steering wheel positioned.	Czech Cold War survivors on front line   THEY made it through one cold war on the side of the Soviet Union, but now the people of the Czech Republic have been thrust back on to the front line of a new nuclear stand-off - this time on the side of the West.	Burning Bright SWAPAN Haldar had no inkling the tiger was there until it pounced, clamping its jaws around his head and dragging him backwards into the thick mangrove forest. It was the last time anyone saw him alive. “Don’t go,” his wife, Minati Haldar, had begged him. There seemed to be tigers everywhere and they were getting bolder and more aggressive. But Swapan would not be swayed. It was a Saturday morning in January when the crab fisherman set off. His companions returned with his body the following night.
Goodbye Chiang Kai-shek, says Taiwan in bid to rewrite history   The tour guide was seething. "Chiang Kai-shek was a psychopathic dictator,'' she shouted, glaring at the woman in the gift shop of what used to be the main memorial to Taiwan's former leader.	Capture of Saddam HE was lying about 6ft down, at the foot of a narrow shaft known to the soldiers as a spider hole. He looked confused, but put up no resistance. He made no attempt to use the pistol he was carrying, or either of the two AK47 rifles they recovered from the hole. Haggard and dishevelled, his hair was long and he wore a bushy white beard. He seemed disorientated as he climbed out of the hole, the soldiers said, and he spoke very little. It was 8: 30pm and the hunt for Saddam was over.	Goa: property frenzy and crime poison the hippy dream For decades, waves of westerners have swept through the beautiful Indian resort, some settling in search of the good life. But the trial of two men accused of killing a British teenager is just the latest source of tension in a community beset by fears over rising crime and economic insecurity.
Street beggar to star striker, Raja is India's football hope Rounding the last defender, Raja Chinnaswamy looks up towards the iron frame of the goal in the lee of the white-washed wall of the orphanage behind. He pulls back his right foot and lets fly, sending the ball hurtling past the goalkeeper and out through the gaping hole in the torn netting.	Sri Lankan guards 'sexually abused girls' in Tamil refugee camp   A British medic held for months in an internment camp for Tamil civilians has revealed how military guards dealt out cruel punishments, while many suspected of links to Tiger rebels were taken away and have not been seen since. Sri Lanka coverage in full

In brief
Buddha disrupts flight path at Delhi airport Britain and US protest after India tightens tourism rules Saddam's end: tormented as he waited for death I no longer have power to save Iraq from civil war, warns Shia leader Tortured screams ring out as Iraqis take over Abu Ghraib Hands up if you've lost the plot... Freed jihadis put Pakistan's war on terror 'back to square one' US to build Afghan super-madrassas Power struggle after PM admits tax cut lies Basra fight pointless, says British commander Brown feels the squeeze over Europe as old foes re-group India launches offensive on Naxalite rebels as they near Delhi	Secret deal to persuade Ireland on EU treaty "All of a sudden there was the sound of firing. I heard the sound of a bullet..." Illegal immigrants ready at EU's new border Cars UK gave to Basra police now stolen Immigration: Controls no barrier to Romanians Politics on hold for the partying Bhutto Clerics in hot water over the good life It's been 30 years since our daughter was taken The Tamil Tigers are defeated No internet sex please, we're Indian	N Korea's ill must choose morphine, amputation or pickled cabbage Peacekeepers in Darfur pay fighters $1m a year Iran spy post heightens Gulf tension with US Iraqi teachers are sacked in exam marking scandal Sunnis and Shias fail pupils from rival sects Separated by Stalin, lovers are finally reunited after 60 years Police threaten to shoot lawyers seeking election result Hunt for 'boyfriend' of Briton murdered in Jamaica Glitz all over for Slumdog stars Sri Lanka vows to free 130,000 Tamil refugees

Copyright ©2009 Gethin Chamberlain. All rights reserved.