With its aluminium chassis the ultra- light Elise has a 1

With its aluminium chassis, the ultra- light Elise has a 1.8 litre engine that will do 0-60mph in under 6 seconds. They will soon be joined by Fiat's Barchetta coupe, a new Spyder from Alfa Romeo and the Boxster from Porsche. All sell for about pounds 20,000 or less.If that was not enough, Lotus unveiled the futuristic 125mph Elise at this month's Frankfurt motor show. But despite strong advance orders of more than 1,500 - 400 from Japan - Rover knows that the market for cheaper sports cars is getting crowded.Competition includes the Mazda MX-5 and Toyota's MR2. But with Rover's owner, BMW, encouraging the development of further niche models, a new Austin Healey or Riley may soon appear.What makes the 123mph MGF different from its predecessor is that the 1.8-litre engine is in the middle of the car, with rear-wheel drive, like a Ferrari.At more than pounds 16,000, Rover describes the MGF as the "affordable British sports car".

The donation will ensure that building work on the one-acre site in Southwark, London, can carry on while the Arts Council reconsiders whether to give a grant.. RUSSELL HOTTEN A new-look Rover MG two-seater sports car arrives in showrooms today, 15 years after the classic roadster was phased out. The launch of the MGF was keenly awaited by car buffs and could herald the revival of other famous marques under Rover's strategy of moving into more up-market models.First launched 33 years ago, the old MGB was the victim of Rover's decision to concentrate investment and research and development in the volume car market. "We are still hopeful as far as the Arts Council is concerned and we are having a meeting with them to discuss finance." The Shakespeare Globe Centre in New York announced that Mr Getty, a composer and world renowned philanthropist, would fulfil the pledge of pounds 1m which he made at the ground breaking ceremony on the south bank of the Thames in 1987.He challenged the Shakespeare Globe Centre USA and the Shakespeare Globe Trust, London, to raise pounds 9m jointly - which they reached last month.More than 30 per cent of the money so far raised for the thatched, open- airauditorium, has been raised in America. "It means it will tide us over while the Arts Council reconsiders our Lottery application It is wonderful timing," a spokeswoman for the Globe said. He also has a few friendly cobras wrapped around his arms.His wife, Parvati, is the daughter of the Himalayas, and although beautiful, she was only able to win over Shiva by becoming an ascetic herself. Some Indian scholars think that the cult of Shiva is older than Hinduism itself, which dates back to 2,000 BC..

Gordon Getty, the American philanthropist, has donated pounds 1m to the Globe Theatre project which earlier this week learned that its pounds 12.4m application for Lottery money had been deferred. Not recognising his son, Lord Shiva chopped off Ganesh's head.Parvati was understandably upset, and Lord Shiva tried to mollify her by promising to bring their son back to life with the head of whatever creature happened to walk by. Unfortunately, it was an elephant.Devotees claim that statues of Lord Shiva around the world have also acquired a thirst for milk. Lord Shiva is not your typical family man.He is also known as the Dancing Lord of Destruction and is most often portrayed as a tangle-haired ascetic with a third eye, a trident and a garland of skulls. Before a Hindu turns the ignition key on a new car or enters a freshly-built house, he will first crack open a coconut as an offering to Ganesh.Ganesh's happy-go-lucky attitude appeals to many Hindus.

They see in Ganesh's laughing acceptance of his freakish elephant-head as a lesson, a philosophical stance, that Hindus can apply to shrug off the burden of their own misfortunes.The story goes that Ganesh's fiery-tempered father, Lord Shiva, saw Ganesh in the forest near where his wife, Parvati, was bathing. Milk-guzzling Ganesh is one of the best loved of Hinduism's 30 million odd gods, writes Tim McGirk in Delhi. Paunchy and rather comic-looking with his elephant-head and his broken tusk, idols of Ganesh can be found in practically every Indian household or shop. His preferred mode of transport is by rat, and Ganesh is considered the Lord of Auspicious Beginnings.Hindu believers usually burn a joss stick in front of their own private Ganesh statue before opening their businesses every morning or embarking on a trip. South Africa was ordered to hand back two medals after the relay runner and long jumper Karen Botha, wife of the former Springbok rugby captain, Naas, was found to have taken a banned stimulant in pain- killers that she used for back problems.A British doctor, Richard McGown, found himself dismissed as an announcer after insulting a Nigerian official at the swimming competition.He had earlier introduced the Mozambique leader Joaquim Chissano as president of Angola and told spectators that he could not pronounce the name of a competitor from Madagascar.The Games showed that African sports federations had little hold on their leading athletes, with Nouredinne Morceli of Algeria, Haile Gebreselassie and Derartu Tulu from Ethiopia, the Kenyan Moses Kiptanui and Frankie Fredericks from Namibia skipping the event.What they missed was 15 prostitutes - "identified by their attire" - being arrested as they left the athletes' village after an all-night show of unity playing games of a horizontal nature.Sport, pages 23-28. The lace sleeves worn by a South African woman gymnast were deemed too sexy, but an Egyptian protest led to the disqualification of gold-winning South African hammer thrower Rumen Koprivchin because he did not satisfy naturalisation requirements.A Nigerian sprinter and an Egyptian wrestler were both stripped of their gold medals and banned for four years after they tested positive for performance-enhancing ste-roids. They were supposed to promote unity, but instead repeated rows between black Africans and Arabs disrupted the harmony."In general, North Africans don't want to accept defeat and always think they are superior to black Africa," Olatunde Fakuade, a Nigerian squad official, said.Sporting conduct sunk to a low in the football match between Algeria and Guinea which ended with police dogs restoring order and a one-year ban from football for an Algerian player.The handball competition was marred by by an off-court brawl between women players from Zimbabwe and Egypt over allegations that one of the Egyptians - who was nicknamed "Boy George" - was in fact a man and should be forced to take a sex test.Some of the disputes have been petty.