The Age in Melbourne carries an interesting story on a prison in Italy that pretends it’s a restaurant.

Even foul-mouthed TV chef Gordon Ramsay might be lost for words to describe this odd experience.

The inmates at the jail in a picturesque Tuscan town are cooking for curious diners who want to sample a taste of prison life.

Part of a project raising money for charity, the aim is also to teach cooking and waiting skills that could help the prisoners find work when they are released.

Read the full story here.

Around in circles?

In Ireland a few years ago, The Wrap stopped to ask a local the quickest way to Tipperary. The Irishmen stroked his chin, paused for a while, and then replied, “It depends where you are starting from.”

I was reminded of this encounter when reading an article by Roger Collis, in the International Herald Tribune in which he suggests the best places to buy round-the world airline tickets.

He said Bangkok, Colombo, Istanbul and Mumbai have the best deals.

The problem is that you have to start your journey in the country where you bought your ticket – so if you live in say, Wichita Falls, you would need to fly halfway around the world just to pick up your cheap ticket.

Nevertheless, Collis has some good advice for the round-the world traveler here.

Playing by the restaurant rules in Paris

Clotilde Dusoulier, author of the widely popular blog on the Paris food scene, Chocolate and Zucchini, has a new book release.

Clotilde's Edible Adventure in Paris is a guide to the author's favorite haunts. Many of the places she selects for inclusion are relatively inexpensive – “welcome news for American readers, whose currency hit a record low during the month of the book's release,” said Meg Zimbeck, writing in the Wall Street Journal.

"Good service is at your fingertips if you play by the rules of this strange little world called the French restaurant," Clotilde writes.

Here are Clotilde’s recommendations for Paris restaurants.

Golden pants in Kerala

There’s good news for 200 staff at a Hindu temple in southern India. They have won the right to wear underwear to work, says BBC Online.

The human rights commission in Kerala state has ordered Sabarimala temple to withdraw a dress code that barred staff from wearing underwear.

The dress code was imposed 10 years ago after several cases of theft of cash, gold, silver and diamond jewellery donated to the temple by wealthy worshippers.

Full story here.

Same violence, new targets in South Africa

Most newspapers this week have covered the violence in South Africa where immigrants, many from Zimbabwe, have been attacked by locals who fear for their jobs and living standards, such as they are.

While the violence has not been directed at tourists, UK and Australian governments are among those warning their citizens to avoid township tourism – an emerging sector in South Africa.

There is a good eyewitness account of the conflict between black South Africans and the immigrants from other parts of Africa in Telegraph Online. The story begins:

“The gunfire that woke us in the early hours of the chilly Johannesburg morning immediately evoked memories of the uneasy and tense days and nights some 20 years ago, the darkest days of the apartheid era.”

Same tension. Same violence. Different race issue. This time it’s the black communities fighting among themselves.

Read full story here.

- Ian Jarrett