BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Cheney warns on Chinese build-up

As BBC NEWS reports, on an official visit to Australia, American vice-president Dick Cheney (the evil one will suffice) issued a warning about a Chinese build-up of military power. He "expressed concern over China's military policies, saying they were at odds with the country's stated peaceful aims."

Great! So the US now wants to point its finger at China too, does it? Isn't it pointing enough fingers at Iran and North Korea, as it is? Isn't US military power - which, by the way, to some also seems at odds with the United States' stated peaceful aims - overstretched enough as it is? And, aren't Bush and his henchman Darth Cheney slated to be leaving the Oval Office in one and a half years' time?

Is this their plan of withdrawal? Start wars with as many nations as possible and leave the rest up to the - most probably - Democrat administration? The mind truly boggles over the diplomatic finesse these guys possess!

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Delhi street snacks face the chop

You can tell India is desparately trying to purge itself of its image as a poverty-stricken, dirt-ridden, stomach ache causing country. But, the drive for modernity seems to be taking on some very strange guises.

The latest concession towards a more sanitized, western lifestyle has now come in a move to ban street vendors selling food by the roadside! Now, anyone who has ever been to Delhi will know that while the street food eateries can sometimes admittedly be a tough prospect, the taste of the food they serve does not necessarily correlate to the cleanliness of the stall. Obviously, caution is required, as some of the stalls are indeed very grubby.

Yet the market soon sorts itself out, and this is one of the few instances where you can actually see consumer power at work. The trick is simple, if it's good it will attract custom. The more custom the more fresh food gets cooked quicker and the safer it is - from a "gastrohygienic" point of view. Go to an empty stall and you're obviously taking a risk, because the flies and dirt the Supreme Court in Delhi is complaining about really might have taken their toll on the food.

On the other hand, maybe the Supreme Court is simply taking the easy route to the problem by targeting the street stalls. Maybe if they decided to root out the cause of the dirt on the streets, like in the image below I shot in Delhi 2 years ago and which has not changed one iota, or even decided to install an efficient and working waste disposal system, things might be a little easier for the grubby street hawkers.


Then again, without wanting to offend anyone, I sometimes wonder think it will take far too long for India to adopt a healthy attitude towards modern - yes, modern - forms of waste...

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Bangkok banquet beckons for rich

As the BBC reports, a Bangkok restaurant is putting on an extravagant show of culinary delights with a price tag to make you giddy. The idea of the event, hosted by the Dome Restaurant, is to promote high-class tourism to Thailand.

The only catch behind it is that there won't actually be any Thai food served during the 11-course meal, which will cost millionaires and billionaires 1 million Thai Baht (approx. £15,000) per head, tax & service not included (if there even are any tips going)!

Obviously promoting high-class tourism is an important issue. Thailand does - admittedly - suffer from its image as a paradise for sex tourists, wannabe hippie travellers and beer-fuelled package tourists. But anyone who has been there will know that each of the above groups has their own congregating grounds and tend to leave most of the country to the truly interested.


This won't be on the menu at the Dome Restaurant's millionaire's bash

Confronted with concern over the environmental cost of not just having foreigners, but most of the food flown in for the privilege of a single night, Deepak Ohri, managing director of the restaurant, told the BBC that if the restaurant achieves its goal, quality tourism will rise and for some, unmentioned reason drive down the" lesser forms of leading less flights as people on board those planes more money spend this compensate the losses other tourism sectors would have to shoulder.

Sometimes, some people's logic simply defies logic, doesn't it?