Hamburg - Bookings are presently being accepted for the maiden voyage of the Sea Cloud Hussar vessel next year.

The new tall ship is owned by Sea Cloud Cruises and will begin its 12-day maiden voyage from Malta to the Greek port of Piraeus on April 5, 2010.

The ship will ply the waters of the Mediterranean, the Arabian Peninsula and northern Europe, said the Hamburg-based company.

Sea Cloud Cruises already has two traditional sailing vessels: the Sea Cloud built in 1931 and the Sea Cloud II which was launched in 2001.

Kuala Lumpur  - Zookeepers in Malaysia's southern Johor state have named two new African lion cubs after US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, a news report said Tuesday.

Obama and Hillary, along with another female cub yet to be named, were born in captivity at the Johor Zoo on January 16, zookeeper Mohamad Sham Mahdon Said said.

"Obama the president and Obama the lion cub can both trace their ancestry back to Africa, so there is a definite connection there," Mohamad Sham was quoted as saying by the Star daily.

Cape Town - South Africa is a holiday paradise for families with children - who can ride elephants, pet cheetahs and splash in the Indian Ocean - to name just a few activities. It is also an ideal gateway to exotic Africa for families who do not want to do without European standards.

"An increasing number of tour operators offer trips tailor-made for kids," noted Stephan Gotta, who works for South African Tourism in Frankfurt, Germany.

"Hotels and restaurateurs have reacted to rising demand and geared accommodation and prices to families with children." Demand has grown steadily since 2007, he said.

The region around Cape Town is particularly suited for an exciting and relaxing stay in Africa.

Hong Kong  - A rapist was Tuesday beginning a 10-year jail term in Hong Kong after being traced by his DNA nearly a decade after attacking a 13-year-old schoolgirl.

Truck driver Chung Chi-wing, 30, posed as a policeman to lure his young victim to a parked van and violently rape her as she walked home from school on an afternoon in November 1999.

He was only identified as the attacker when a police officer found a match between DNA in the semen found in the victim and a DNA sample taken from Chung when he was arrested for car theft in 2001.

Lushoto, Tanzania  - Many of East Africa's touristic highlights lie in Tanzania: Serengeti National Park, Mount Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar. Another area, the rain forests covering Tanzania's Usambara Mountains, may be little known to tourists but is a major attraction to scientists.

Chiang Mai  - The elephant that chose the site of Doi Suthep temple must have been a truly far-sighted creature. Legend has it that King Kuna wanted to build a temple to house a relic of the holy Buddha. He ordered that the precious artefact be strapped to the back of a white elephant which was let loose into the jungle.

The elephant stormed through the undergrowth and stopped just short of the summit of Suthep mountain. The monarch took this to be a sign and in 1388 he ordered that a spectacular golden temple be erected on the site. The building still clings to the slope of the peak today. Northern Thailand is hillier, cooler and compared with the south of the country, it calls for more effort on behalf of the tourists intent on discovering its charms.