An Arab ambassador has called off his wedding after discovering his wife-to-be who wears a face-covering veil is bearded and cross-eyed. The envoy had only met the woman a few times, during which she had hidden her face behind a niqab, the Gulf News reported. After the marriage contract was signed, the ambassador attempted to kiss his bride-to-be. It was only then that he discovered her facial hair and eyes. The ambassador told an Islamic Sharia court in the United Arab Emirates he was tricked into the marriage as the woman’s mother had shown his own mother pictures of her sister … Continue reading Arab ambassador discovers bride is bearded and cross-eyed behind veil

An Indian man has ben told by doctors that all his internal organs are back-to-front in what is thought to be the only living case of “situs inversus”. Doctors believe that the 64-year-old could be the only man in the world whose internal organs are in the mirror opposite position of where they should be. Ashok Shivnani was about to have surgery to remove a tumour on his kidney in Mumbai when doctors realised most of his chest and abdominal organs and many blood vessels were on the opposite side of his body. The condition is known as “situs inversus”. … Continue reading Indian man’s internal organs all back-to-front

Stop the presses: there has been an important development in the ongoing negotiations between six world powers (the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, China, France, Germany) and Iran over the latter’s uranium-enrichment program. The “six” have offered to help Iran purchase medical isotopes on the international market. Let’s take a look at the lead-up to this breathtaking development. Oct 1, 2009: Iran accepts in principle a proposal by the “six” (hereafter, “the US”, as Washington is the prime mover) to send 75% of its low-enriched uranium (LEU) to Russia and France to be enriched to 20% for use in … Continue reading Nuclear jawboning for knuckleheads

By Syed Fazl-e-Haider KARACHI – Government efforts to curb black-market currency dealing in the US dollar may be backfiring. The difference between the unofficial and official exchange rates is widening on strengthening dollar demand after the Pakistan central bank recently made it mandatory for everyone to show their personal identification card for greenback deals. The exchange rate for the rupee crossed the 87 mark against the US dollar in the open market this week, while being traded at 85 in the inter-bank market. “For the first time in the past one-and-a-half years, the difference in the exchange rate of the … Continue reading Islamabad slips on dollar crackdown

By Stephen Wong SHANGHAI – The Hollywood blockbuster Avatar is popular across the world, with US$2.21 billion in worldwide ticket sales. In China it has been a smash hit despite its 2-D version being pulled from some cinemas as it was drawing audiences away from the officially approved film Confucius. Some Western media reports have claimed that the 2-D version was banned by the authorities as they saw parallels between the movie’s depiction of the Na’vi people being forcibly relocated on their planet, Pandora, and government land-grabs in China. One blogger said the science-fiction epic was an allegory for “nail houses” – … Continue reading Avatar hits home in China

By Pepe Escobar Like an ever-profitable horror B-movie franchise, the al-Qaeda myth simply refuses to die. United States intelligence has now focused its lasers on the alleged 300 al-Qaeda jihadis concealed in Yemen’s craggy, rural Maarib province – as much as the Pentagon has deployed infinite might to find those maximum 100 prowling the Hindu Kush in Afghanistan. But wait. Didn’t top US intelligence officials recently swear on their government paychecks that it’s all but “certain” that this sinister, multifaceted hydra with sleeper cells all over the planet – “al-Qaeda” – will attack inside the US within the next six … Continue reading Yemen, the new Waziristan