If you have beautiful flowing locks and are travelling around Rio de Janeiro, then be careful as recently, scissor-wielding thieves cut off the waist long dark brown hair of a 22-year-old Brazilian woman as she rode in a city bus. “We got on at the same stop and they sat behind me,” sales assistant Mirna Marchetti said. “Then all of a sudden I felt someone pulling my hair. My friend tried to help me but they just cut it off, right at the base.” The culprits also stole her handbag and her mobile phone before escaping. Police suspect the thieves hope to sell the hair to a hairdresser.

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The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office advise against all but essential travel to the Fijian capital Suva because of tensions in the relationship between the Government of Fiji and the Republic of Fiji Military Forces. The Fiji Military Commander has issued an ultimatum demanding that the Government resigns during November. On 1 November, the Prime Minister made it clear he would not resign. The Fiji Military Commander is now in Suva following his return from an overseas tour. The security situation in Suva could therefore deteriorate at short notice.

You should also exercise caution if travelling to the rest of Fiji, particularly in urban areas. You should avoid all military or political rallies and large gatherings of people and keep yourself informed of developments. The British High Commission in Fiji is monitoring events closely.

The security situation in Fiji, although currently calm, could worsen at short notice. Britons should exercise caution, particularly in urban areas, and stay clear from military and political rallies as well as large crowds, it added. The FCO advice follows warnings given to Australians and New Zealanders by their respective governments.

Thailand has changed its immigration rules to deter foreigners from 41 countries, including the UK, from working illegally on tourist visas. The old arrangement allowed visa-free tourist entry for 30 days. Many tourists were taking advantage of this by leaving Thailand every 30 days to a neighbouring country and then returning. Under new regulations it will only be possible to do this for a total of 90 days, after which the visitor must leave the Kingdom for 90 days before returning.

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Eleven employees at Indian Airways have recently been grounded for putting on too much weight. The airline which is being taken to court over the legality of firing its air hostesses for being too fat, claim that they should be able to select the ‘best ambassadors’ to represent the national airline, and the country as a whole, and will also claim that thinner employees are more agile and better equipped to tackle terrorist incidents and other emergencies.

An internal memo earlier this year warned cabin staff they would be banned from flying if random weight checks found them to be over a fixed weight, set out in a company chart. Although weight guidelines have always been in place, previously they were not rigorously enforced.

Lawyers for the cabin crew unions say that around 130 members of staff have been temporarily suspended without pay for putting on too much weight, although most are now back at work. ‘They want to discard the heavier women and bring in newer, thinner models,’ said Sheela Joshi, an air hostess who was grounded after a spot weigh-in found she was 1.9kg over the prescribed limit for her height.

So, how thin should you be to be a brand ambassador for modern India? If Kate Moss can win model of the year after her recent antics, and be a brand icon, then surely, Indian Airways can cope with some overweight air hostesses as long as they are good at their job?

Although Japanese Christians make up only 1% of the country’s population, about 90% of weddings in Japan are in the Christian style, complete with the words, “you may now kiss the bride” and the big white dress. There appears to be something of a roaring trade for Europeans to act as fake priests presiding at Western-style weddings to give a performance and add to the atmosphere. These are not legal ceremonies – the couples also have to make a trip to the local registrar.

The first of a planned series of tsunami early warning buoys is being put down in the Indian Ocean. The buoy, provided by the US, (who already operate a similar system in the Pacific Ocean) is being placed between Thailand and Sri Lanka, two of the countries worst-hit by the 2004 tsunami which killed more than 200,000 people. The buoy can detect sudden increases in pressure deep under the sea and send signals to a buoy floating on the surface. Using satellite communication the buoy passes the gathered information to tsunami warning centres around the Indian Ocean to give coastal communities early warning of a tsunami.

The plan is to create a network of 24 buoys that will extend to Indonesia and Australia, along the deep and unstable fault-line that caused the 2004 earthquake.

The BBC’s South-East Asia correspondent said that system will only be effective if proper warning sirens are installed in coastal communities – so far only a few have them.

Dubai-based Emirates will become the first airline to allow passengers to make mobile phone calls on its flights. Emirates expects to launch the service on one of its Boeing 777 planes as early as January next year. The news comes just months after Ryanair announced it planned to launch a similar service in mid-2007 – subject to regulatory approval.

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