FT267

HELL TO CLOSE
President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov of Turkmenistan wants to close down “Hell’s Gate”, a gaping crater in the Karakum Desert that has been spewing flames for 40 years. The crater, one of the few tourist attractions of the Central Asian nation, is about 200ft (60m) wide and 65ft (20m) deep. It appeared in 1971 when the ground caved under a drilling rig and exposed a methane-choked cave. Soviet geologists decided to burn off the gas and it has been burning ever since. www.aroundglobe.net, 20 April 2010.

WHAT A BUZZ!
Almost 40 competitors gathered in a field in the city of Tartu, Estonia, for the country’s mosquito-catching contest.