I find this paragraph strangely hypnotic

From The Sun:

The other fatalities, five men and two women, were Panneerselvam Annamalai, Rishi Ranjeev Kumar, Vivek Baskaran, Lavanyalakshmi Seetharaman, Karthikeyan Pugalur Ramasubramanian, Subramaniyan Arachelvan and Tamilmani Arachelvan.

The world would be a better place if we'd never had to read it, obviously.

"Northern Ireland: Cameron urges leaders to bring country together"

From the BBC:

David Cameron has said his symbolic visit to Northern Ireland has "drawn attention to the plight" of the Protestant minority in the country.

The Unionists' treatment at the end of the country's Troubles dominated the run-up to the Commonwealth summit, which opened in the capital Belfast earlier.

The UK prime minister has defied calls for him to boycott the event in protest against alleged human rights abuses. He urged the authorities in both halves of the divided island to show "generosity" to all Irish.

Mr Cameron has insisted there should be a proper investigation into alleged IRA crimes in the final months of the conflict which largely ground to a halt in 1998, saying a process of "truth-telling" was essential for reconciliation.

In a historic move, Mr Cameron travelled to the north of the country in early 2013 to open a visitor centre at Giant's Causeway - the first UK Prime Minister to do so since his predecessor Gordon Brown did so in 2009.

The difference between British and Sri Lankan ballot papers

Ours tend to be more in 'portrait' layout, whereas in Sri Lanka, they go for 'landscape', to wit:

"Sri Lanka cricketers arrive home"

... is a headline on the BBC website.

Poor chaps etc etc.

Directly beneath it is another article headed Sri Lanka faces war 'catastrophe'. Maybe I have an overly vivid imagination, but wouldn't it be ironic if the cricketers' bus were now attacked by Tamil Tigers?

Pakistan flushes self down toilet

Gunmen shoot Sri Lanka cricketers.

Arthur C Clarke 1917 - 2008

I must admit I wasn't sure whether he was still alive until I saw this. I've read a couple of his books, they were pretty good.

On the topic of geostationary satellites, which he invented, along with solar sails*, from the point of view of somebody standing on The Moon, Planet Earth is a geostationary satellite. Not many people know that!

* He had a bit part in inventing radar as well.