Bus crashes proliferate: Back on June 13, a bus in the Philippines ran off the road and crashed down a ravine, killing 20 Iranian students on board. In the 12 weeks since then, another four buses in the Philippines have been involved in fatal accidents with another 63 people killed.

Digital retaliation: The Iranian Foreign Ministry announced Sunday that “in a retaliatory action” Iranian embassies will start fingerprinting all British nationals applying for visas.

Castro knows: Last month, Fidel Castro (photo) announced that he had learned that the United States was about to hit Iran with nuclear weapons. Now, Fidel says that the world should know that Osama bin Laden is a bought–and-paid-for CIA agent who was always brought out and propped up by former US President George W. Bush when he needed to scare the world. Castro said he learned all this from one of the documents recently posted on WikiLeaks. No one else, however, has found this interesting information.

That puts Pevensey in its place! A band of hackers in Iran calling itself Ashiyaneh told the Fars news agency Monday that it spent the weekend hacking into 1,000 American, British and French websites to protest terrorist attacks. It said the most important sites it hacked were those of the State of Louisiana, the Parish Council of Pevensey, a village in England with a population of 4,000, LogMeIn, a British Internet service company, and the French website security company. It did not explain how Pevensey was linked to terrorism. A check Monday afternoon of the Louisiana, LogMeIn and Pevensey sites showed all of them operating normally, although a box under “Latest News” on one side of the Pevensey Parish Council’s home page said, “Hacked by Ashiyane.”

Why on earth? The world’s longest gondola transport line, 36 kilometers, is to be built near Urumiyeh in West Azerbaijan province. The report carried by the Iranian Students News Agency failed to say why a gondola lift was needed or even what route it would take. The report said the line would cost $5 billion and would be funded by the Iranian private sector, two Italian firms and a Turkish company, which appeared to put this firmly in the fantasy world.

Appeasing the Turks: The head of Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization, Hamid Baqai (photo), has denied published reports that he termed the killing of Armenians during World War I a case of “genocide.” The government moved quickly to deny the reports after the Turkish embassy complained vociferously. The state news agency said Baqai didn’t characterize the killings, but merely said they were a lingering problem between Armenia and Turkey. Turkey is supersensitive about this issue.

Foreign investment: The police in Mumbai have arrested six Iranians who has set up a factory and were making methamphetamines. They had entered India in three pairs early in August.

Mojahedin beating: The US Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents has issued a press release charging that Iraqi forces severely beat two members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq in the camp last Tuesday.

Two more days off: The Majlis has approved legislation to extend the Eid-e Fitr holiday from one day to three days. The decision prompted objections from many people who have long argued that there are far too many holidays in Iran already.

Real politics: A Majlis deputy says that 250 licenses have been issued for political parties, but that 90 percent of them are inactive. That would leave 25 active, a number that appears far too high. But Deputy Hamid-Reza Fuladgar said the law on parties should be amended to provide for more supervision of the activities of parties, the daily Mardom Salari reports.

Better than death: Farzad Mehregani is a cousin of Afif Naeimi, one of the seven Baha’is just sentenced to 20 years in prison by Iran. Mehregani, who lives in Regina, Saskatchewan, says he knows it sounds strange, but he was relieved when he heard of the sentence. “You hate to hear somebody get 20 years imprisonment for nothing, but at the same time, it was a bit of a relief because at least they didn’t kill him.”

Not impressed: Stephen Colbert (photo) of Comedy Central noted that Iran unveiled a new bomb-carrying drone last week. “Iran has a dangerous new weapon. And, this time, we didn’t sell it to them!… But the most disturbing thing was how they unveiled it—with cardboard clouds, painted backdrops and fake snow. Nation, the day we feared is finally here. Iran has acquired diorama technology. Meanwhile, the United States hasn’t even started on its diorama. And it’s due Monday, first period.”

Still waiting: It’s been 12 weeks since the UN Security Council passed its new sanctions on Iran. Most major countries have issued regulations putting the sanctions into effect. But not Russia. The order has to be signed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The big question is will the rules ban the sale of the S-300 air defense system to Iran. The US agreed to language in the resolution that was carefully written to exclude the S-300 from the ban on weapons sales to Iran. But many in Russia are plugging to write the Russian rules so the sale will be banned. It must be quite a debate for 12 weeks to pass with no decision.