FIA motorsport head Max Mosley is suing the News of the World in the wake of its revelations that he held sado-masochistic spanking sessions with prostitutes.

He is not alleging libel but breach of privacy, saying that although he had practised what he called his "unfortunate interest" for some 45 years, it was his business and his alone and had no bearing on his professional position.

He is asking for exemplary damages -- which are meant not to compensate the claimant but to punish the offender.

One of the planks of the News of the World's defence is that his high-profile job meant he had a responsibility to behave himself and that exposing him was in the public interest.

The Independent says the case is the "frontline in a legal battle for freedom of expression."

What's your view?

Gone are the days of pencils, paper, notebooks and dog-eared textbooks. Schools across the U.S. and beyond are embracing new methods of teaching through technology and offering glimpses into the future.

One school in Boston, Massachusetts gives students a laptop at the start of each day. Classwork is done in Google Docs, or Apple’s iMovie and special educational software like FASTT Math. Teachers and students maintain blogs, and staff and parents chat over instant messaging.

Students at a school in Tokyo use the Nintendo DS consoles to learn English, with sessions on vocabulary, penmanship and comprehension.

What do you think of technology’s role in schools? Will students learn better this way? Will textbooks and old-fashioned methods become obsolete? Share your thoughts.

Caption: A teacher answers a student’s question at the Lilla G. Frederick Pilot Middle School during a class in Dorchester, Massachusetts June 20, 2008.

Christian pub landlords John and Krista Fleming have been sacked after their attempts to ban swearing and gambling on horse races drove customers away in such large numbers that takings plummeted.

Regulars at the King's Head in Islington, north London, complained that they were excessive in their Christian zeal. "They should have had pews in there, not chairs," said one.

The Flemings however said all they were trying to do was to stop people swearing at the top of their voices at the bar and intimidating other customers. Arsenal supporters were among the main culprits apparently (!).

What do you think? Now that smoking is banned in pubs, was it a step too far to try and push the "F" word out of the door as well?

Or was this a brave -- if hopeless -- stand against the bellowing yobs who seem to be a permanent feature at the bar of so many of our pubs?

Imperial College withdrew its offer of a place to study medicine to an 18-year-old when it found out he had been convicted of burglary three years ago.

Majid Ahmed won the place after turning his life around and achieving straight A grades at A level. The conviction was spent but he had to disclose it for a criminal records check for Imperial.

The decision, which comes as the government is considering a new strategy to encourage elite universities to take more students from less wealthy backgrounds, has been widely criticised. Ahmed should not have to bear the consequences of a youthful indiscretion for life and should have been given the chance to fulfil his ambition to become a doctor, critics say. 

Imperial College says it was right to bar him and that decision had been made to uphold trust in the medical profession.

What is your opinion? Is Imperial being too harsh?   

Times are tough for Americans as their wallets take multiple blows from the housing slump, rising oil and food prices, growing unemployment, inflation fears and recession talk. Many homeowners are facing negative equity, with mortgages bigger than their property’s value.

Even as recently as November, households were going into debt to maintain spending, but new numbers show that Americans are saving at the highest rate since March 1995.

With gasoline prices topping $4 per gallon, fewer Americans will be hitting the road for holidays. Die-hard sports fans are making sacrifices even as they refuse to give up the luxury of going to the game.

What are you sacrificing to make ends meet?

Caption: A vendor sells candy to fans attending the MLB interleague baseball game between the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs in Chicago June 27, 2008. REUTERS/Frank Polich

In a landmark ruling on Thursday, the Supreme Court said that individual Americans have the right to own guns for personal use, and struck down Washington, D.C.’s strict gun control law adopted 32 years ago. Here are some of the reactions :

“We’re pleased that the Supreme Court affirmed that the Second Amendment protects the right of Americans to keep and bear arms.” — White House spokesman Tony Fratto

“After the … ruling, as before, approximately 80 Americans will continue to die from guns every day. Our weak or nonexistent gun laws contribute to the thousands of senseless gun deaths and injuries in this country that occur each year.” — Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence

“Unlike the elitist view that believes Americans cling to guns out of bitterness, today’s ruling recognizes that gun ownership is a fundamental right — sacred, just as the right to free speech and assembly.” — Republican presidential candidate John McCain

“This is a great moment in American history.” — National Rifle Association Vice President Wayne LaPierre

What are your thoughts on the Supreme Court decision?

U.S. nuclear weapons in Britain - out with a whimper, not with a bang?

It was once one of the most contentious issues in Europe, inspiring mass demonstrations, "peace camps" and a movement that shaped the politics of a generation. After more than half a century, there are no more U.S. nukes in Britain.

On Thursday, the Federation of American Scientists, a group set up by former Manhattan Project scientists alarmed by the legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, reported that the United States had removed the last of its nuclear bombs from the Royal Air Force base at Lakenheath in eastern England.

The move had more to do with changing U.S. strategic imperatives and military technology than with a sudden outbreak of global harmony. Dropping nuclear bombs out of airplanes is an old-fashioned way to deliver them in an era of accurate ballistic missiles. Washington now considers its main threat to come from the area south of the former Soviet Union, and is still keeping nuclear bombs in bases in Italy and Turkey and other parts of Europe. Britain has its own nuclear weapons and has decided to replace the submarines that carry them with a more modern fleet.

If the removal of American nukes from Britain really happened, it happened on the sly. A spokewoman for the U.S. forces in Lakenheath said Washington never talks about the
location of its nuclear bombs. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's spokesman had not read reports on the subject and had nothing to say about it, and the Ministry of Defence had no comment.

But the event, if confirmed, marks the end of an era for thousands of British protesters who defined themselves by their opposition to U.S. nukes, camping outside bases like Lakenheath throughout the 1980s.

The head of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, the biggest single-issue campaign group in Europe, welcomed the news that the bombs were gone and said it would be good if the government would announce it publicly. She also said the fight would continue against U.S. plans to set up an anti-missile defence, perhaps with base stations at the same location in Lakenheath.

Those who pine for the days of "peace camps" may still get their chance to break out their muddy tents.

Have your say. Twenty years after the Cold War, should the United States still have nuclear weapons in Europe?

OK, they may not be Prince in terms of their importance and popularity, but youthful band McFly are a pretty big deal in Britain, boasting seven number one singles and two chart-topping albums. So when they announce they will be giving their new album away for free with a Sunday newspaper, perhaps they should not be ignored.

The band is following Prince's lead to the letter. The U.S. star also issued an album free with the Mail on Sunday last year in a move that enraged retailers and record labels, for obvious reasons, but which was seen as a commercial success when the tour he was promoting sold well.

McFly will release "Radio:ACTIVE" with the same newspaper on July 20 in order to lure more people to their live shows. It underlines the trend in pop music towards giving your music away for free, or at least selling it for a song, in order to make money through live performances, merchandising and advertising.

Prince has done it, Radiohead has done it with their "pay-as-much-as-you-want" scheme, Coldplay gave away a single from their latest album online -- the list gets longer and longer. The reason? Selling music does not make enough money, due to online piracy and the popularity of other forms of entertainment like video games.

Artists are convinced they will be the winners in the long term as revenues from touring go on rising. Record labels are going to end up among the losers if the trend continues. But there is another potential loser. The music fan.

Industry executives, perhaps unsurprisingly, argue that the more music is given away for free, the less money music labels make, and the less money labels make, the less money they spend on discovering new talent.

Do you buy that argument? And will the trend towards cheaper music continue to the point where some or even all of it is free?

 What makes Russian President Dmitry Medvedev tick? How independent is he of his predecessor, Vladimir Putin?
Medvedev gave Reuters a chance to find out more about his plans, and get some clues about the questions being asked by Russia watchers, analysts and diplomats, by granting us an interview in the Kremlin.
During a 90-minute question-and-answer session he played down differences with Putin, his long-time ally who is now prime minister, and portrayed himself as a continuity figure but the contrast in style and tone between the two men was striking.
Medvedev made none of the harsh attacks on the West that became Putin's trademark and used considered, lawyerly phrases that sounded quite unlike Putin's more direct and earthy language.
Medvedev said Russia's foreign policy would not be swayed by criticism from abroad, but added that complaints about its policy were normal. He avoided echoing Putin by making charges of Western hypocrisy and double standards.
But he did sound more like Putin when discussing Russia's media, saying television channels, newspapers and websites were "absolutely free" and dismissing any possibility of special controls on the media in Russia.
Some analysts think Medvedev is a deliberately more liberal choice than Putin who can usher in an era of greater freedom, private property and foreign investment. Others view him with suspicion as little more than a Putin puppet.

 What do you think?

Morgan Tsvangirai's decision to pull out of the presidential election on Friday leaves the road open for President Mugabe to win another term in power.

The decision has been met by a storm of international condemnation of the violence, with increasingly powerful voices speaking out from Africa. On Tuesday President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal and ANC leader Jacob Zuma joined the condemnation and called for the vote to be postponed.

But there is no sign that Mugabe and his supporters, including the powerful security chiefs, will budge. They are vowing to press ahead with the election despite suggestions Mugabe will have no legitimacy if he wins this vote.

Perhaps Tsvangirai had little choice. President Wade said he fled to the Dutch embassy on Sunday -- where he is still seeking refuge -- minutes before soldiers came to his home. Western powers have defended his decision.

But at the end of the day, will international pressure make any difference?. Mugabe has a long history of defying outside pressure, even though now his support within Africa is diminishing. Can he continue to ignore the pressure and battle on in Zimbabwe as the economy spirals even further into total chaos?

Did Tsvangirai misjudge his move? Has he let down all those who have suffered to support the MDC, some at the price of their lives? Or has he made a calculation that by pulling out of the vote he will show that Friday's election is a sham and he will win in the end? What do you think?