I was lying on my surfboard when I saw this grey mass and thrashing tail fin approach

I was lying on my surfboard when I saw this grey mass and thrashing tail fin approach. Dunstan Hogan, 49, was surfing off the coast of Cape St Francis in South Africa in April 2001 when he was nearly killed.”The attack came without warning. It was only about two metres away from me, the water was crystal clear and it was as clear as the nose on my face,” Mr Howes said.Marine biologists believe the dolphins – air-breathing mammals the same as humans – were probably applying a natural defensive posture that they use to protect themselves and their young from predators.Eye-witness accounts of shark attacks bear testimony to the fear they can generate. He needed little encouragement when he saw a great white shark coming his way.”I just recoiled. He realised that something was wrong when bottlenose dolphins suddenly began herding the swimmers together and circling protectively around them.When Mr Howes broke out of the circle, two of the larger dolphins tried to coral him back in.

They reported this week that a pod of dolphins had come to their aid when they found themselves being investigated by a shark.Ron Howes was on a training swim with his 15-year-old daughter and two of her friends. Witnesses said that the only thing left was her red swimming cap.A group of lifeguards training in New Zealand had a luckier escape. Seconds later a gaping mouth full of razor-sharp teeth lunges at you.
Most people who experience a shark attack survive the encounter but Tyna Webb was not so lucky. Earlier this month, the fit and healthy 77-year-old South African disappeared after a great white shark attacked her off a Cape Town beach.Mrs Webb had been taking her regular early morning dip in the sea when the shark was seen circling her three times before dragging her under the water. You find yourself alone some way out from the beach when a dark, menacing shadow passes through the water a few feet away.

It is every swimmer’s nightmare. They say that the Yamuna river is drying up where it flows next to the site, and have called for urgent remedial works to protect the monument.What remains to be seen, when the first tourists return for their romantic visits this weekend, is whether the moonlight can be seen through the thick smogs which descend each winter over India’s cities.. There were also fears that the Kashmiri separatist group Lashkar-e-Toiba might attack the structure – although it is not clear why Muslims would attack a Muslim tomb.More recently, art historians have warned that the Taj’s minarets have begun to tilt dangerously. Although that violent outburst ended many years ago, there have been fears of threats to the Taj from other sources.When India and Pakistan came close to war in 2001, Delhi drew up plans to camouflage the Taj and so protect it from air strikes. And, starting from this weekend, the Taj will be open at night for five days every month – on the date of the full moon itself and on the days immediately before and after.Night visits were banned because of fears that Sikh extremists would attack at a time when their insurgency was at its height.

But the most fabulous time of all is when it reflects the moonlight. It changes from rose at dawn to almost translucent white at the height of a sunny day. This weekend, however, all of that will change.The white marble of the Taj, built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jehan in memory of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal, is so perfectly cut and polished that it reflects light at its different intensities throughout the day. Full moon nights, when the walls of marble shimmer in the light, are thought to be the most romantic time to see the Taj Mahal, except that – barring a few one-off occasions – such visits have been banned for 20 years.
The last time India’s great monument to love was regularly open by night was in 1984, but the authorities decided to ban visits after nightfall for fear that extremists might use the cover of dark to attack it. Fifteen Sunni Muslim and Kurdish parties met in Baghdad yesterday to call for the vote to be postponed for six months in the hope that security will improve.”The election cannot take place in six to seven provinces [out of 18] because it is too dangerous,” declared Mohsin Abd al-Hamid, the leader of the Iraqi Islamic Party. He said: “By my count, I have now secured the release of a grand total of 33 hostages.”Mr Jouvenal insisted he had not been paid and had only wanted to help secure the UN election workers’ release.In Pakistan, he said he was passing messages through a third party to Akbar Agha, the head of Jaish al-Muslimeen, who is said to have split from the Taliban leader Mullah Omar.