Nepal: A new beginning

Al Jazeera's interesting report on the ongoing political struggle in Nepal.

Karnali Highway: Deadliest Journeys docu

Nepalese are far too closely aware of the hellish condition of the Karnali region with no visible signs of civilization. We've seen their lives in drudgery and heard tales of survival. Deadliest Journeys visits Jumla, a place with about 10,000 people, and "virtually forgotten by the rest of civilization" that is accessible only by an "awful hellish and dangerous road." The documentary has compelling visuals of the most dangerous stretch of the road (Surkhet-Jumla) above 3,000 meters in the rugged Himalayas.



DEADLIEST JOURNEYS uncovers the world's most treacherous roads, skies and waterways, where intrepid travelers risk life and limb to reach their destinations.

US media goes gaga over 1-1 draw with England

Within minutes of the unexpected 1-1 draw with England, online media in the US flooded their front screen with pictures of the terrible goof by the English goalie and narrated the US "victory" as if it was all in the making. I tried to get screengrabs of few popular sites of the moment...

(Click to enlarge the images.)

World Cup 2010: Round 16 predictions

All the Group winners are the expected powerhouse in their own category. Except for Group G with Brazil and Portugal as FIFA World Rankings Top 10 teams, all other groups have one top-10 team from last year (sans Croatia). There are several high-powered matches I'm not going to miss -- such as today's England-USA, or Netherlands-Denmark, Brazil-Portugal, Spain-chile, even Italy-Paraguay. Since the top two in each group will move to Round 16, here's my prediction of who will move through: (Of course, you'll disagree!)


Group A
Mexico
Uruguay (France misses Zidane badly.)

Group B
Argentina (already ahead with 1-0 win over Nigeria)
South Korea (2-0 win over Greece is an impressive start)

Group C
England
USA (Unless Algeria does some miracle!)

Group D
Germany
Ghana (I'm betting on them this time.)

Group E
Netherlands
Cameroon (Just can't pick the Danes over them.)

Group F
Italy (Waka Waka Italia!)
Paraguay

Group G
Brazil (If anyone says they aren't going up to QF, it's blasphemy.)
Portugal

Group H
Spain
Chile


Round 16 rule: Group A winner plays Group B runner up, Group B winner plays Group A runner up, Group C winner vs. Group D runner up...and so on.

(A1) Mexico vs. (B2) South Korea

(B1) Argentina vs. (A2) Uruguay

(C1) England vs. (D2) Ghana

(D1) Germany vs. (C2) USA

(E1) Netherlands vs. (F2) Paraguay

(F1) Italy vs. (E2) Cameroon

(G1) Brazil vs. (H2) Chile

(H1) Spain vs. (G2) Portugal


More prediction to follow.....