I have a fascination for trains and prefer rail travel to flying. Oh!…But now the trains have begun to fly!!! Goodbye to slow and gentle art of travel…? To read the thrilling/’terrifying’ first-person account by a journalist on board the French TGV train that hit 357mph yesterday (and created a world record), please click here… “At 357mph, it was impossible to focus on anything within a mile of the train. Even distant hilltop villages flashed past in a second. “We...

In my last post the news story did not give the exact magnitude of the protest in Pakistan. Here is the latest The Guardian story… “Thousands of boisterous opposition supporters massed outside Pakistan’s supreme court yesterday in the largest show of support yet for the beleaguered Chief Justice, Muhammad Iftikhar Chaudhry. “Activists from across the political spectrum massed outside the imposing marble building as Mr Chaudhry faced disciplinary hearings inside. “The...

New Delhi is the venue of the 14th SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) annual summit. India is chairing the two-day summit where leaders from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Maldives are participating. Officials from the European Union, the United States, China, Japan and South Korea are attending the summit as observers. The eight-member organization was designed for South Asian nations to forge a regional consensus on various issues and establish...

Pakistan’s suspended chief judge has appeared before a judicial panel in the capital, as a political street battle over his fate enters its fourth week. From Islamabad, VOA Correspondent Benjamin Sand reports that lawyers and political activists continue taking to the streets in the thousands, protesting the suspension and calling for the Pakistani president to resign. Read on… “Political analysts here say the current political storm may be the greatest challenge Mr. Musharraf,...

An interesting CNN video…ITN’s Kylie Morris takes a look inside a madarsa for Pakistani girls.

Germany’s Baltic Sea resort of Heiligendamm, which will host the G8 summit in June, has revoked the honorary citizenship it awarded to Adolf Hitler in 1932, reports Reuters. “The local council voted late on Monday to formally strip the Nazi dictator’s name from the roll of honorary citizens even though it felt the honour had lapsed when Hitler, a regular summer guest, killed himself.”

“A failed American attempt to abduct two senior Iranian security officers on an official visit to northern Iraq was the starting pistol for a crisis that 10 weeks later led to Iranians seizing 15 British sailors and Marines…” More here… Another news item says: “Iran and Britain signaled possible ways out of the standoff over 15 detained British soldiers Monday, with Tehran promising to stop airing video confessions and Britain saying it was willing to discuss ways to...

In never hurts to be considerate in your general behaviour whether you believe in Global Warming/Climate Change or not. The residents of Sydney got a chance to show that they care… The Sydney Opera House’s gleaming white-shelled roof was darkened Saturday night along with much of the rest of Australia’s largest city, which switched off the lights to register concern about global warming, reports ROHAN SULLIVAN, Associated Press Writer. “The arch of Sydney’s other iconic...

Bodies of dead Iraqi civilians stored in a refrigerated truck. It seems the world has gone off to sleep so far as killings, murder and mayhem in Iraq is concerned. Years are flying by and ordinary men, women and children continue to be slaughtered. Why? Is there anyone left to attempt an honest answer? America is allowing its valiant soldiers to be sacrificed at the altar of personal whims and expediency of the present US administration/business. The UN and member states have even forgotten to...

Maoist ex-rebels have been sworn in as ministers in Nepal’s interim government after a deal on the make-up of the new cabinet tasked with building peace, says the BBC. ” ‘A new chapter has begun in the history of Nepal,’ Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala told the interim parliament. “The election of a constituent assembly, which will determine Nepal’s future course, was set for 20 June. “Maoists are joining the government as the Communist Party of Nepal...

Before you begin to party or cry (depending on your ideology)…Think again…what’s the date today…April Fools’ Day!!! “Many media organizations have either unwittingly or deliberately propagated hoaxes on April Fools’ Day. Even normally serious news media consider April Fools’ Day hoaxes fair game and spotting them has become an annual pastime…” More here… Among the other messages in my mailbox was one regarding impeachment of Bush…Click...

Why is President Bush so adamant in preventing the planned visit to Syria next week by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi? “Ms. Pelosi is leading a bipartisan delegation on a weeklong tour of the Middle East that is scheduled to include a meeting with Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad. Read the NYT report here… And also the Boston Herald report: “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will visit Syria, a country President Bush has shunned as a sponsor of terrorism, despite being asked by...

An Internet governing body on Friday rejected a proposal to create a unique set of Web addresses for adult entertainment Web sites. Why? Read on…

Pakistan cannot do anything without the tacit approval of the United States of America. And the world knows this. Here comes the news of Pakistan testing nuclear-capable missile today. People living in South Asia wonder what games President George Bush and President Pervez Musharraf are playing, with the US Congress watching all this with intriguing silence. A latest report states that “Pakistan successfully test-fired an indigenously developed short-range nuclear-capable missile on Saturday,...

US President George W Bush Saturday slammed the Democrats for imposing restrictive conditions on war spending and insisted that he will veto both House and Senate versions of the bills on Iraq that contain deadlines for withdrawal of troops from the country, reports a leading Indian TV channel ZEE News.

Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda) Nepal has emerged as a latest showpiece of democracy in the world by removing the powerful King without bloodshed, holding elections and then persuading the ultra-leftists to participate in the democratic process. Did I hear someone say: “Thank God that the West kept out of Nepal!!!” “Eleven years after they had started a civil war, Nepal’s Maoist guerrillas finally captured the power they had been seeking, reaching an understanding with the...

Iranian authorities have started legal proceedings against the British military personnel it has seized and said they would be punished if found guilty, Iran’s ambassador to Moscow said last night, reports The Sunday Morning Herald. ” ‘No kind of apology has been received from the British side and, as a result, the case has taken on a juridical form,’ Gholamreza Ansari told Vesti television in comments quoted on the channel’s internet site. ” ‘If their guilt...

The case of Gitmo inmate Australian David Hicks, 31, is getting curiouser and curiouser. The latest news is that ‘Hicks will walk free from an Adelaide jail next New Year’s Day, even though the confessed terrorist was recommended a seven year sentence by a US military commission…’ Read on…

Well, after a long time I read a story that on seeing George W. Bush the journalists did not have the usual scowl and disbelief on their faces…Instead they merrily laughed away as the President regaled them with jokes. A sample: “Noting that he had only 664 days more to go in the White House, Bush told journos critical of the administration’s immigration policy that technically he too was a ‘temporary guest worker.’ ” ‘A year ago, my approval rating was...

The British government is still looking for support on the issue of the capture of its 15 service personnel by Iran, although the crisis entered its second week. So far the statements from the European Union and the U.S. administration have been cautious. Please see here… And here… However, the latest is that some sort of diplomatic initiative has been initiated to find a solution to the crisis…see here.

In the recent past the US policy in Iraq has begun to test the patience of not only Republicans and Democrats at home but also America’s most trusted and long-time allies abroad. Saudi Arabian King’s statement that the American occupation of Iraq was illegal, and his warning that unless Arab governments settled their differences, foreign powers like the United States would continue to dictate the region’s politics, has caused a flutter. Although the U. S. Under Secretary of State...

Sri Lanka, whose closest neighbour is India across the Indian Ocean, witnessed recently a serious escalation in its 23-year-old fight against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). On March 26 the rebel LTTE used two aircraft to bomb a military base next to Colombo’s international airport. The Sri Lankan government has been at war with LTTE to thwart their ambition for an independent homeland, or “Eelamâ€?, for the island’s Tamil minority in the north and east. The recent...

Here’s an interesting comparative study in The Independent of the present international conflicts and what Shakespeare wrote long ago. Shakespeare could have been writing about Iraq or Afghanistan, his scenes of battle were so prescient, says Robert Fisk. “Shakespeare would certainly have witnessed pain and suffering in daily London life. Executions were in public, not filmed secretly on mobile telephones. “But who cannot contemplate Saddam’s hanging – the old monster...

Warren Beatty and his sister, Shirley MacLaine , grew up in Richmond, Virginia. Warren Beatty turns 70 today, although you wouldn’t guess it from his well-preserved features – and the fact that he is still as famous for his philandering as his film-making, writes David Usborne in The Independent. “His extraordinary accomplishments were the reason that just this January Beatty was honoured with the lifetime achievement Cecil B DeMille award at the annual Golden Globes show. After...

Ms Faye Turney, 26, the only woman amongst the British navy personnel seized by Iran, appears in this image made from television. (AP/APTN/Courtesy of Al-Alam) Iran on Thursday rolled back on a pledge to release a female British sailor, and a top official said the 15 captives may be put on trial, says NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer. “Iran’s foreign minister had said Tehran would soon free Faye Turney, the only woman among the sailors and marines seized last week while searching...