I don't know whether the report is true that the father of Rubina Ali, the child actress who played the young Latika in Slumdog Millionaire, tried to sell his daughter for $300,000 to undercover reporters posing as wealthy would-be adopters from Dubai. But I do know that his defense is not a terribly persuasive one: "In India, you never say 'no' directly, least of all to guests. You try not to offend people by refusing to help. They said they were childless and desperately fond of Rubina after seeing her in the film. I felt sorry for them, but I was never going to give her up."
What I know better still, though, is that any publication that sends undercover reporters to pretend to buy the child stars of third-world parents is a publication run by moral degenerates.
--Christopher Orr