Amazing Pictures of Nature

We live in absolutely beautiful and breathtaking world. Enjoy these amazing pictures of nature.

Beautiful Sky picture


Big UFO-like cloud


Beautiful twister-like clouds


Marvels of nature

Ice-cream anyone?

HOT! HOT!

Dawn in the mountains

Palm tree on a tropical island

C&H Happy Halloween (Comic)

Click on picture to enlarge size :)

Mr.Shroom and Pink Sausage

Tough Slog on Health Care Plan Gets a Little Easier

WASHINGTON — A columnist for the online news magazine Slate once proposed that the month of August be banned, as “it has a dismal history” and “nothing good ever happens.” A week ago, President Barack Obama might have cosponsored the suggestion.

The first week of the month, congressional Democrats, on their summer recess — or “district work period,” as some call it — were on the defensive; the “Astroturf” anti-health-care-overhaul demonstrators took over constituent sessions, forcing Democratic members to cancel town hall meetings. Republican derision of the Obama stimulus plan dominated the political debate.

By last week, the dynamic had shifted some. Democrats and health care proponents didn’t have the edge as angry demonstrations against the health care plan continued, but a counteroffensive was gaining ground. On the economy, and to an extent on health care, the president and Democrats were giving as well as getting.

Representative Joe Donnelly, a second-term Democrat who represents an industrial slice of Indiana, says the passion in his district is palpable. Last weekend, 300 constituents turned up in the delicatessen section of a supermarket to discuss health care. On Aug. 12, he expected 70 people in Kokomo; 500 showed up, and the event had to be moved to the street.

Though the gatherings were intense, Mr. Donnelly says that these residents largely were “respectful” and that there was “more of a balance” on health care the past week: senior citizens worried about Medicare cuts, parents worried about coverage for children with pre-existing conditions and people who after many travails — unemployment ranges close to 20 percent in some of his counties — are “overwhelmed” at the notion of tackling health care, too.

There are two likely causes for the more balanced perspective, which was also observed by other lawmakers.

One, the administration caught a big break on the economy. The July unemployment number was better than anticipated. The last two Federal Reserve chairmen — Ben S. Bernanke and Alan Greenspan — along with Nouriel Roubini, the prescient prophet of gloom the past several years, and Goldman Sachs Group all saw an economy on the mend.

And the oft-ridiculed fiscal stimulus package is starting to look like a winner. Mayors and local officials around the United States now say the federal funds are demonstrably creating or at least saving jobs.

Some of the Republican governors who initially talked of rejecting stimulus money are either out of office (Sarah Palin of Alaska), discredited (Mark Sanford of South Carolina) or spending it freely while claiming credit for its effects in their states (Rick Perry of Texas and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana).

With only 15 percent of the cash spent, the stimulus has already saved more than 500,000 jobs, according to separate estimates by Moody’s Economy.com and HIS Global Insight. “There are clear signs the stimulus is working,” said Kenneth Goldstein, an economist at the nonpartisan Conference Board in New York.

The fate of health care is inextricably linked to the economy. It is a test of the administration’s competence: if they can’t get a stimulus right, how do you expect them to overhaul 17 percent of the nation’s economy? It also forms the perception of the financial climate for any other measures.

The other factor that has neutralized the bleak situation that faced Democrats is the overreach of critics. Some of the opposition may be ginned up by conservative groups, but Obama Democrats — accused of orchestrating the huge crowds for their candidate during the campaign — invite ridicule when they suggest the protesters at the health care gatherings are all puppets.

The opposition, however, has gone over the top. At a town hall meeting with Democratic Representative John D. Dingell in Romulus, Michigan, a woman with disabilities was shouted down by health care overhaul opponents; some lawmakers have been threatened physically, and a swastika was painted on the office of a Democratic congressman in Georgia.

Demagogic misrepresentations that the health care proposals mandate euthanasia or are a magnet to attract illegal immigrants abound. It’s not just from fringe groups. Ms. Palin, the 2008 Republican vice-presidential candidate, railed that “my baby with Down syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s ‘death panel”’ if the Democrats’ initiative were enacted. That canard is offensive to families who have loved ones with disabilities.

Then Investors Business Daily, in criticizing the Obama health care plan, charged that if the famed scientist Stephen Hawking lived in Britain, its National Health Service wouldn’t save his life, which “because of his physical handicaps is essentially worthless.” Mr. Hawking, 67, who has a motor neuron disease that is like Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a British subject and has received lifelong care from that nation’s health system; he was one of 16 recipients of the Medal of Freedom from Mr. Obama this week.

The White House, working with Democratic supporters, plans to stay on the offensive for the next week, with more town halls and by directly taking on the critics. Mr. Obama plans weekly phone-ins for Democratic senators and House members to discuss strategy.

Enacting a health care overhaul still is a very tough slog. Opponents have an easy, if sometimes false, target; Democrats haven’t coalesced behind a consensus proposal yet, which creates awkward dialogues and allows peripheral issues to dominate.

And while the economy is improving, new budget deficit numbers out later this month aren’t likely to be confidence-inducing. “We couldn’t pass a bill that adds to the deficit,” Mr. Donnelly said.

Although the Obama economic plan may be succeeding, there remain painful dislocations and 15 million jobless Americans.

That makes the president’s decision to vacation in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, later this month puzzling. Certainly, the Obamas need and deserve a family vacation. But with the worst economic situation since the Great Depression and joblessness close to 10 percent, paying more than $25,000 in weekly rent to hobnob with the elite seems off key. Isn’t there something nice, a lot cheaper, on Lake Michigan?

However well deserved, Mr. Obama will have returned from that vacation when the battle is fully joined in September. And while he has been slow to react, history is encouraging to health care overhaul supporters. He initially was slow off the mark in the presidential primaries, the general election and some of the early moments of his presidency. When he gets going, though, usually he’s more than a match for the opposition.

Tropical Storm Claudette bears down on Florida

 - A satellite image from 2 p.m. ET Sunday shows a tropical storm nearing the Florida Panhandle.

At 2 p.m. ET, Claudette's winds had picked up to near 50 mph, based on observations by an Air Force reconnaissance plane. The center of the storm was about 40 miles south of Apalachicola, Florida, and about 160 miles from Pensacola, the center said. It was moving at about 14 mph, putting it on course to hit land by Sunday evening.

A tropical storm warning was in effect from the Alabama-Florida border east to the Suwannee River. A tropical storm warning means that weather conditions will likely deteriorate in the next 24 hours.

The storm could bring 3 to 5 inches of rain, with isolated amounts up to 10 inches, and storm surges across portions of North Florida.

Meanwhile, two other tropical storms were in the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday. Tropical Storm Ana was moving west but losing strength, forecasters said, while Tropical Storm Bill was gaining strength as it followed behind Ana.

Ana was about 240 miles (385 kilometers) east of Dominica at 2 p.m. ET Sunday. It was expected to arrive at the Leeward Islands by late Sunday or early Monday, the center said. It was moving about 25 mph, and its maximum sustained winds were close to 40 mph, the center said.

Tropical storm watches were in effect for Dominica, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla, St. Maarten, Saba, St. Eustatius, Guadeloupe, St. Martin, and St. Barthelemey.



Tropical Storm Bill -- which could become a hurricane on Monday -- should be watched closely as it heads west-northwest in the Atlantic, possibly toward Florida, CNN meteorologist Reynolds Wolf said. The storm was 1,555 miles east of the Lesser Antilles at 11 a.m. ET Sunday.

Microsoft, partners announce first set of phones carrying Windows Mobile 6.5

In a Tuesday announcement, Microsoft and its partners said that the much-awaited first set of phones carrying the updated Microsoft's mobile operating system, Windows Mobile 6.5, is all set to hit the stores.

The first three Widows Mobile 6.5-based phones include Verizon's HTC Imagio and AT&T's HTC Pure, and HTC Tilt 2.

Microsoft expects over 30 phones running its new Mobile OS by the end of this year, with a number of them debuting from now onwards till the holiday season. Moreover, as per Microsoft's February announcement of the Windows Mobile 6.5, some current Windows Mobile 6.1 phones can also be upgraded to the new Mobile OS.

While the updated Windows Mobile 6.5 is largely a reinforcement of Microsoft's conventional OS, it boasts an additional app store and a few usability enhancements. In addition, the operating system also features an improved browser, Adobe Flash support, and easy-to-navigate menus.

With Windows Mobile having faced a downslide in its market share, with fierce competition for RIM and Apple, analyst Tina Teng at market researcher iSuppli said: "Windows Mobile is facing a host of challenges, including rising competition from free alternatives like Symbian and Android, the loss of some key licensees, and some shortcomings in its user interface."

However, Teng also added that "Windows Mobile holds some major cards that will allow it to remain a competitive player in the market."

FaceID – face recognition door access system

Biometric security access system that involves fingerprints and retinas scanning is out. The latest technology is to deal with scanning your entire face, which is definitely much more secure as no one will be able to easily duplicate your face.


Here comes the FaceID, a face recognition dock access system, that allows you to unlock your door using your face. The FaceID is able to store up to 500 faces in its database. It has a pair of cameras that capture the 3D image of your face and then uses face detection algorithm to match those faces in the database.

The 3D image recognition system also makes it hard for anyone simply uses a photo to deceive the system. It also works in dim or low-lighting conditions, which shouldn’t be a problem for those who always get home late. The system is available and can be purchased from ChinaVasion, but the price tag of $447 may put many of you off. It’s also suitable for offices, can be replacement for card systems as it also takes care of time attendance.

Please note the FaceID does not come with an electronic door lock, so you have to pair it up with one. It should be a reliable system to safeguard your home and claims to have a margin of error of 0.0001%. The very little percentage of error could probably be caused by your twin brother who has face closely resembles yours.

Apple Using Google To Dampen Windows 7 Hype

Apple is digging deep into its bag of marketing tricks in a bid to deflect some of the buzz around Windows 7, and it's doing so with the assistance of Google.

On Monday, Google search queries on the terms "Windows 7 download" and " Windows 7 upgrade" were returning surreptitious sponsored links for Apple.

The sponsored links contain messages that are intended to steer users away from Windows 7 and into the comforting arms of Apple products. "Thinking of Upgrading? Avoid Windows 7 headaches. Make the switch to Mac. It's easy," reads one message.

"If you have to upgrade, make the ultimate upgrade. Switch to Mac," reads another.

Apple didn't respond to an email request for comment on the Google ads, so it's unclear how much it's spending to steer Web searchers away from Windows 7. However, given the positive reviews and launch of Windows 7, Apple's marketing teams are probably headed back to the drawing board to devise new angles of attack that don't involve Windows Vista.

At Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference in June, Bertrand Serlet, senior vice president of software engineering at Apple, called Windows 7 "just another version of Vista" that suffers from the same problems. "Microsoft has dug quite a hole for themselves with Vista, and now they're trying to get out of it with Windows 7," Serlet told attendees at WWDC. 

Apple isn't the first Microsoft rival to target Windows 7 with timed news releases. Last month, Salesforce.com issued a couple of snarky statements, attributed to CEO Marc Benioff and Bruce Francis, vice president of corporate strategy, which ridiculed Microsoft's claims that Windows 7 is more stable than Vista.

Google, meanwhile, has plenty of motivation to take part in Apple's Windows 7 campaign. Microsoft, in promoting its Bing search engine, has been poking fun at Google's keyword advertising model and trying to make the case that search engines today are 'broken' and in need of fixing.

Google has been running billboards that call out the difficulties of using Microsoft Office, so it's hard to imagine that it wouldn't be eager to help Apple take a few shots at Windows 7 as well. Whether this increased marketing activity from IT vendors is an indication of an improving economy is anyone's guess.

Microsoft Exec Backs Off Windows 7 'Hack' Comment

A Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) executive whose pointed comments on Windows 7 upgrades have irked Microsoft bloggers has apologized. Well, in a roundabout sort of way, that is.

In a Monday blog post, Eric Ligman, global partner experience lead in Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Group, said his now-infamous blog post titled "Regardless of what any hack says, a Windows 7 upgrade is an upgrade" wasn't aimed at Microsoft bloggers, but at technical workarounds that make it possible to clean install Windows 7 using upgrade media.

"So for anyone out there thinking my post was trying to 'make an example' of someone as a 'hack' or that I was calling someone specifically a 'hack,' sorry to disappoint you," Ligman wrote in the blog post.

For the past several months, Windows 7 testers have been asking Microsoft for technical details on Windows 7 upgrades but the company hasn't responded. So some Microsoft bloggers have developed workarounds for clean installing Windows 7 using upgrade media, something Microsoft says is illegal if a machine doesn't have an existing version of Windows installed.

Ligman, as the public face of Microsoft's Byzantine software licensing program, has been particularly vocal about the consequences of using improperly licensed software, often invoking the specter of Business Software Alliance audits and other legal troubles.

Some media reports have assumed Ligman's "hack" reference was to Paul Thurrott of the Supersite For Windows blog, who published details on the Windows 7 upgrade workaround last week. Ed Bott, another noted Microsoft blogger, has also called out Microsoft over the issue. So have dozens of posters who've left comments on Ligman's Microsoft SMB Community blog.

But Ligman insists he wasn't using the term "hack" in a pejorative sense. "There appears to be a lot of reading through 'pre-determined conclusion' lenses," Ligman wrote in the blog post.

Although Ligman is downplaying the issue, Thurrott sees it as an example of Microsoft's heavy-handed approach to software licensing and its tendency to punish its body of customers for the actions of a few software pirates.

"This is very much about how Microsoft communicates with his customers, and while Ligman tries to make the case that Microsoft cares very much about its customers, this little episode is telling them otherwise," Thurrott wrote in a Monday blog post .

The good news is that the Windows 7 upgrade kerfluffle has led to a great deal of feedback that Ligman says he has shared with higher-ups.

"I have submitted your various comments on this topic to the appropriate people for that topic and will be happy (believe me) to post the exact link to where you should go for this information as soon as I hear back," Ligman wrote.

iPhone Reception In China Less Than Stellar

The iPhone was officially released in China on the China Unicom network October 30th. They had a big launch party but reception for the device itself was considered tepid compared with other iPhone launches in other countries around the world.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the party itself was a big success with lots of attendees, but there was no sellout of devices. As of last night, you could walk into a China Unicom store and pick one up. 

Why was it not the huge success it has been at other launches? Well, it is possible they had enough inventory on hand to meet the typically high demand and then some, but I doubt that is the case. I think Apple likes to run out of devices. It drives buzz around the product. Plus, there were no long lines. In fact, the article says there were no lines in the Apple Beijing store. I don't care where you are, anytime you have more than 3 people in a store to buy a cell phone, you have instant lines because the only thing more time consuming than buying a phone and activating it is buying a house.

Apparently there are a lot of gray-market devices already in China. The original iPhone came out in 2007 and not everyone waited two and a half years to get theirs. This would cause demand to be lower on a launch day as well. Apple may be falling prey to what impacts so many other industries in China. The gray-market phones are selling for less than what China Unicom charges. Anyone that has done business in or with China knows the gray-market there is well established and can impact legitimate business.

One final tidbit that just blew my mind is that the WiFi radio has been disabled by China Unicom. This was done in order to comply with Chinese law. Most of us have no idea how it is to live under a government that attempts to control what you see to such a high degree. The internet is supposed to make information available to everyone everywhere, but China spends an inordinate amount of time and resources in filtering that data for its users. That's a shame. Maybe China should spend more time on protecting the intellectual property rights of companies doing business there rather than the thoughts of its citizens

Apple Faces iPhone Hurdles In China

Apple (NSDQ:AAPL)'s iPhone is off to a slow start in China, much to the chagrin of the country's No. 2 mobile carrier, China Unicom, which is hoping to get an iPhone boost much like other carriers round the world.

Many Beijing stores still had iPhones in stock Sunday night, according to The Wall Street Journal, and crowds were more subdued when compared to the mania that led to sold-out locations when the Apple device was introduced in the U.S. and Japan.

Apple signed a three-year deal with China Unicom on Aug. 28 to sell the iPhone in China, hoping to tap into China's 710 million mobile phone users. At that time, the carrier said it planned to grow through more services and place more emphasis on 3G business. Last week, the company said its profit fell in the third quarter as it looks to build the expensive 3G networks using the WCDMA standard to support the iPhone.

Apple and China Unicom also face the challenge of cost for the iPhone, reportedly $750 to $1,000 through the companies, while more than 2 million iPhones have been brought into China for much less from other countries, according to the Journal.

Also hampering Apple's efforts in China is the fact that its initial offering won't include Wi-Fi features, according to the Shanghai Daily.

In addition, China Unicom last week released a survey of its WCDMA signal quality, which showed that only 30 cities now meet the company's ideal standards. Nearly as many have average (17 cities) or poor (11 cities) quality, according to Tencent Tech, a media company for China's 3G market.

Dubai firm in hot water over San Francisco oil spill

San Francisco: Clean-up crews working on the aftermath of Friday's oil spill in San Francisco Bay reported significant progress Sunday.
Some 422 gallons of oil spilled onto the deck of the Panamanian-flagged Dubai Star and into the water after a fuel line ruptured Friday during a fuel transfer, Coast Guard spokeswoman Sherri Eng said.
The ship in question, the 50,000 dwt Dubai Star, owned by Emirates Trading Agency is likely to be at the centre of a long drawn out, highly expensive investigation and fine, just like the Cosco Busan incident in the same city in 2007.
Clean up crews now think most of the oil is on the shoreline and not in the water, but they still have plenty of work to do.
The environmental toll is something they are still measuring. Crews say at least ten birds have died. They are almost positive there will be more.
Some of the oiled birds were at the Wildlife Care and Education Center in Fairfield Sunday. They take them there after they stabilize them at the scene where they were found. So far, they have found 30 live birds, most of them along the Alameda shoreline.
"If you do see any live animals that are found to be in distress or if you see any oil on beaches, do not approach the animals or the beach to try to engage in the oil," Josh Nicholas with the Department of Fish and Game said Sunday. "Doing so may further cause harm to the wildlife by scaring the animals back into the water and making any type of recovery for those animals even harder."
An error while refulling the Dubai Star led to more than 400 gallons of oil spilled Friday, creating an oil sheen about two miles long and 200 yards wide. Officials say there was a mechanical failure, although they are still investigating exactly what happened.

Chinese iPhone has grey market to contend with

By most accounts, the iPhone's debut in China has been lackluster. Figures at China's only Apple Store in Mainland China are incredibly bad. They sold 10 on Saturday and only one on Sunday. The Apple Store Manager hopes that sales pick up during the week.

This, to a nation of 1.3 billion people and almost 800 million mobile users. In fact, China's leading mobile carrier has more subscribers than the US has citizens.

What's the problem?

Apple has been selling Gray Market iPhones to the Chinese through the open iPhone sales in HongKong.

What's more, these Gray iPhones are better equipped than the official Apple ones. The official iPhones aren't allowed to have Wifi in China so that's been stripped (ironically the ability to have Wifi was reinstated, it will just take Apple a long time to start building these again).

The gray market iPhones are also cheaper and available in most neighboring countries as well. Finally, once they buy one, users can switch networks at their leisure, the unlocked iPhones can switch networks based on the Simcard installed

So Apple might already have finally met its match in when it comes to Chinese competition...from other iPhones.

Galactic Suite Space Resort 'on target' for 2012

A COMPANY behind plans to open the first hotel in space is on target to accept its first paying guests in 2012 despite critics questioning the investment and time frame for the multi-billion dollar project.

The Barcelona-based architects of The Galactic Suite Space Resort say it will cost €3 million ($4.4 million) for a three-night stay at the hotel, with this price including an eight-week training course on a tropical island.

During their stay, guests would see the sun rise 15 times a day and travel around the world every 80 minutes.

They would wear velcro suits so they can crawl around their pod rooms by sticking themselves to the walls like Spider-Man.

Galactic Suite Ltd's CEO Xavier Claramunt, a former aerospace engineer, said the project will put his company at the forefront of an infant industry with a huge future ahead of it and forecast space travel will become common in the future.

"It's very normal to think that your children, possibly within 15 years, could spend a weekend in space," he said.

A nascent space tourism industry is beginning to take shape with construction underway in New Mexico of Spaceport America, the world's first facility built specifically for space-bound commercial customers and fee-paying passengers.

British tycoon Richard Branson's space tours firm, Virgin Galactic, will use the facility to propel tourists into suborbital space at a cost of $200,000 a ride.

Galactic Suite Ltd, set up in 2007, hopes to start its project with a single pod in orbit 450km above the Earth, travelling at 30,000km/h, with the capacity to hold four guests and two astronaut-pilots.

It will take a day-and-a-half to reach the pod - which Mr Claramunt compared to a mountain retreat, with no staff to greet the traveller.

"When the passengers arrive in the rocket, they will join it for the days, rocket and capsule," he said.

"With this we create in the tourist a confidence that he hasn't been abandoned.

"After three days the passenger returns to the transport rocket and returns to Earth."

More than 200 people have expressed an interest in travelling to the space hotel and at least 43 people have already reserved.

The numbers are similar for Virgin Galactic with 300 people already paid or signed up for the trip but unlike Branson, Galactic Suite say they will use Russian rockets to transport their guests into space from a spaceport to be built on an island in the Caribbean.

But critics have questioned the project, saying the time frame is unreasonable and also where the money is coming from to finance the project.

Mr Claramunt said an anonymous billionaire space enthusiast has granted $3 billion to finance the project.

Witchdoctor searching for cop has 'never failed'

AN Aboriginal witchdoctor and his son have begun their search for missing north Queensland police officer Mick Isles.

Arnhem Land-based tracker and witchdoctor Victor Huddleston and his son Victor Nathaniel Huddleston this morning began searching bushland around Ravenswood, where Sen Sgt Isles' abandoned car was found in late September.

An exhaustive search involving police, army and SES personnel was launched shortly after Sen Sgt Isles' disappearance on September 23 but failed to find any trace of the missing officer.

However, Mr Huddleston believed he would find him within two or three days even though any footprints left by Sen Sgt Isles a month ago would have disappeared.

"I will know where he is because I will see his spirit," he said.

Mr Huddleston has been involved in a number of searches in the Northern Territory and said he had never failed to find the person he was looking for.

"When I get close to the place I will see the clear picture," he said.

Sen Sgt Isles' son Steven travelled to Mr Huddleston's community last week to seek his help after learning of his reputation through a police contact in the Northern Territory.


He said having spent time with Mr Huddleston in his community at Ngukurr in Arnhem Land, he was confident in the witchdoctor's abilities.

Training, leadership at fault in Digger's death

A DEFENCE inquiry has found deficient training, assessment, certification and leadership contributed to the death of Lieutenant Michael Fussell while he was serving in Afghanistan.

Lt Fussell, 25, from Armidale, NSW, was a member of the Sydney-based 4RAR Commando Battalion when he stepped on an improvised explosive device that killed him on November 27, 2008.

But a defence inquiry into the incident, released today, found that was not the sole cause of his death.

"Deficient training, assessment, certification and consequently leadership of Force Element operated to increase the risk that such a casualty might occur," a report by Vice Admiral Christopher Ritchie said.

"Therefore, those deficiencies materially contributed to the death of Lieutenant Fussell."

New Zealand makes Best in Travel guide top 10

NEW Zealand has been named one of the top 10 countries in the world to visit next year.

Australia didn't make the grade in the Lonely Planet's new popular Best in Travel guide, although the south-west of Western Australia won a spot in the top 10 regions worldwide.

The travel bible named New Zealand on the basis of the adage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

The authors said the last time they checked, "the land of Maori and hobbits certainly didn't need repairing".

The annual guide, which drew on the knowledge of Lonely Planet's staff, named the country's most inspiring activities as flying over Fiordland, kayaking in Abel Tasman National Park and paragliding over Queenstown - all South Island activities.

But the North Island's Tongariro National Park, prized for its iconic one-day crossing hike, also rated a mention.

Other countries named in the top 10 were El Salvador, Germany, Greece, Malaysia, Morocco, Nepal, Portugal, Suriname and the USA.

Fan dressed as sheep set alight

A 24-year-old football fan dressed as a sheep suffered serious burns to his arms and legs when he was set alight on a train in Fife.

Aberdeen fans said the man ran through the carriage on fire as others threw beer on him to douse the flames.

The Edinburgh to Aberdeen service was stopped at Kirkcaldy at about 1900 GMT on Saturday to allow him to be treated.

British Transport Police said one man was arrested and another was assisting the police with their inquiries.

A second man is reported to have suffered slight injuries.

The train was carrying Aberdeen football supporters back home after their side's match against Hibs in Edinburgh.

It is understood a number of the fans at the match and on the train were dressed as sheep.

The train involved, an Arriva cross-country train, was the 1808 GMT service from Edinburgh to Aberdeen.

The fan who suffered burns is said to be in a serious but stable condition in hospital in Kirkcaldy.

British Transport Police said a 23-year-old man had been arrested and was expected to appear at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court on Monday.

The spokesman added: "British Transport Police are treating the incident very seriously."

Fainting Flight

LONDON — Six people fainted on board a British Airways flight from Newark Liberty Airport to London's Heathrow Saturday, prompting emergency crews to check the plane for hazardous materials.

Police said nothing suspicious was found on board after the jet was searched by emergency teams in protective gear.

Ambulance personnel said the six people were treated on board the plane and allowed to continue travel. No one required hospitalization, they said.

The plane landed at Heathrow's Terminal Five shortly after 6 a.m. and was boarded by emergency teams, including fire brigades, that had been notified about the unusual onboard illnesses.

British Airways officials said the medical teams were called as a precaution. Officials said the cause of the fainting has not been determined.

The Boeing 777 aircraft carried 216 passengers and 14 crew.