Sri Lankan players injured

Profiles of...
(from BBC)

What in the world...

Ugh. More bad news. Here's BBC's report on Volganeft, the Russian tanker that spilled its guts into the Black Sea along with 2,000 metric tonnes of fuel oil. Making it a Blacker Sea. The people who know say the mess "could take years to clean up."
Just what we needed - another environmental disaster.
Coincidentally, I was cussing under my breath just last night when watching a TV program [on Discovery or Animal Planet, I'm not sure] about the Galapagos Islands, with special focus on the unique indigenous marine iguanas found there. A few years ago, an oil spill in the San Cristobal area had reduced the population of marine iguanas on Santa Fe Island by a whopping 62%, because the oil affected the algae that the iguana fed on. Or that's what they said on the program.
The New Scientist website report said the algae was okay, it was the fermentation bacteria in the iguana's hindguts [Yes. Hindguts.] that were affected so they couldn't digest the algae etc.
Anyway. It's not nice to know.

Many years ago when I was in middle school in Dubai, I remember there was a 'big oil spill' which affected the Gulf, and it was all over the news which is the only reason it stuck in my childish memory. I was quite disturbed by the dead bodies of oil-blackened seagulls washing up ashore [not my favourite bird by any means, but...] and I read up a lot on the subject and felt even back then that human beings can be quite shit. (After which ruminations I would go back to my gripping games of Hopscotch, Poison-Medicine or Four-Square.) Our schools organised programs to go help clean up beaches, there were special presentations and seminars on the environment in general and the effect of such disasters on wildlife etc. That was probably the first time I thought about such things seriously. I think it was the visual of the dead birds that affected me most.
I hardly remember anything specific about the incident but searches on the internet and my brilliant deduction techniques [my approximate age at the time of said spill plus Google search], lead me to understand it was the Persian Gulf oil spill of 1991, only the biggest oil spill of all time. Phew. An environmental warfare technique used by Iraq where over 2 million barrels of oil were deliberately released to prevent US Marine forces from landing in Kuwait. Fantastic.

And in recent days, I read up on tigers worldwide actually going extinct in the near future. Seriously. Alarmingly. Not the usual "Yeah, yeah, they're going extinct. We've been hearing that for ages now," that we used to hear in the same vein as "Yeah, yeah, Metallica's coming to Bangalore this year for sure."
Some factoids:
"At the turn of the century, the world had approximately 100,000 tigers. Now it is estimated there are only 3,000 to 7,000 left in the wild. In the last 50 years, three subspecies have vanished, and a fourth, the South China tiger, is on the brink of extinction. More than half the
tigers that survive in the wild are in the Indian subcontinent, persisting in threatened habitats. If the trend continues, our magnificent tiger may disappear completely from the face of the Earth."
In India alone, the tiger population has decreased by 50% in only the last 5 years. There are just 1300-1500 tigers left in the wild in India.

This is devastating. Till last year I used to feel horses were the most beautiful creatures in the world. Then I discovered cats. My feline initiation leaves me no doubt that cats win hands down. And tigers especially. Rrrrrrr.

Sitchwayshun is grim

The neighbours are having trouble. I have no informed opinion because I have no real information. Meaning I know not so I'll stay quiet. What I glean from Paki friends on the ground [where else, Saab, where else?] is that Musharraf is a bum. But only some voices like Kinkminos here. More noise needed.
The BBC has, as usual, good coverage of this story.
And some nostalgic Gulf News fare on the subject.

F Briatore makes Alonso the offer

But only if the Sullen Spaniard is of a mind to stick it for the long-run. No half-hearted one year contract in the offing. Here's what the BBC has on that story.

Maybe, just maybe, Alonso will manage a third championship next year with Renault. Yay!
PS: Why was this year so lopsided? It was all Ferrari and McLaren. ALL...

Oh, and for the slow-pokes: He's through with McLaren.

Kashmir (Not the Led Zep version); And 'A+' to BBC.

اگر فردوس بر روی زمین است
همین است و همین است و همین است

Agar firdaus bar roo-e zameen ast,
Hameen ast-o hameen ast-o hameen ast.

If there is paradise on face of the earth,
It is this, it is this, it is this.
-Amir Khusro

I thought Shah Jahan was moved to poetic outburst on taking in the beauty of Kashmir when he said this, but like all romantic notions this seems to be an exaggeration, a fallacy and not a little bit of an anticlimax. See this post [on a blog called AMAR AKBAR ANTHONY] for a fuller explanation. How interesting.

Anyway.

In the beginning of October, BBC online posted a great Special Report on Kashmir. There are several related links and articles here, starting from a very factual Background [roots of the crises, the forgotten plebiscite, the LOC etc], Voices from Kashmir, Key Questions Answered, even a page on Possible Solutions and Pitfalls.
It's kind of your summarised overview of the problem. Read and understand, my friendships. It's a non-propaganda-angle report. Not the Indian, Paki or Chinese version. Facts as is.

There are many reasons BBC World is my preferred news source.
Objectivity in news stories is the primary one.
Newsreaders and presenters don't have that annoying nasal twang from umreeka. [This is very important.]
Also, an overwhelmingly large number of these respectful presenters have no notion of frivolous Botox-usage. They exhibit more than one facial expression and it's usually the right one for the story.
You can often find obscure news pieces here, special reports, great documentaries, some really kick-ass shows like Hard Talk and The World Debate, even their travel and entertainment segments are top-notch. Oooh, which reminds me, how nice is Top Gear?
I could go on and on but here is where I stop.