Chinese anti-pollution protesters freed as state bows to public outcry
Shifang government releases majority of demonstrators and cancels copper plant project after thousands took to streets
A Chinese city has released 21 people who were detained after a clash between police and residents protesting against a metals plant they feared would poison them, city officials said on Wednesday.
Thousands of people in the south-west city of Shifang took to the streets over the past three days to protest against the government's plans to allow the building of a copper alloy plant, the latest unrest spurred by environmental concerns in the world's second-largest economy.
The Shifang government said police had "forcibly taken away 27 suspected criminals" on Monday and Tuesday for tearing down the door of the municipal government building, smashing windows and throwing bricks and stones at police and government workers.
The wrong maps, doors left open, bad wiring: is this why Costa Concordia really sank?
Consumer group claims electrical problems may have led to the loss of several passengers stuck in lifts
Senior officials at Costa Cruises knew that the Concordia liner had been sailing with electrical problems several days before it crashed on to rocks off the Italian coast with the loss of 32 lives, it was claimed yesterday.
A raft of damaging new allegations, leaked from Italian magistrates, also suggested the main doors, which were meant to be sealed, were not closed properly and that the crew were using unauthorised maritime charts when the vessel ran aground on 13 January with more than 4,000 passengers and crew aboard.
Pakistan reopens border to NATO after US apology
Ben Doherty, South Asia Correspondent
July 4, 2012 - 12:15PM- America says "sorry" for botched attack
- Pakistan agrees to reopen Afghan border
Pakistan will re-open NATO's supply lines into neighbouring Afghanistan after the most pressing impasse between Pakistan and the US was resolved with a simple “sorry”.
The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, yesterday phoned Pakistan's Foreign Minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, and told her “we are sorry for the losses suffered by the Pakistani military” in a botched NATO strike last year.
In a statement, she said later, “Foreign Minister Khar and I acknowledged the mistakes that resulted in the loss of Pakistani military lives. We are committed to working closely with Pakistan and Afghanistan to prevent this from ever happening again.”
Mali steps up efforts to protect north from militants
Mali's interim government has ramped up diplomatic efforts to save the north from militant fighters who have smashed shrines in Timbuktu.
The post-coup transition authorities in Bamako are powerless in the face of the armed al-Qaeda-allied groups occupying the north, and Mali's neighbours in West Africa have proposed a stronger unity government be formed.
West African leaders will meet in Burkina Faso's capital on Saturday to discuss this option with senior Malian political figures, as the radicals escalate efforts to exert their control in the country's north.
In Timbuktu, where they have enforced sharia law for the past three months, Islamist group Ansar Dine (Defenders of Faith) have smashed seven tombs of ancient Muslim saints as well as the "sacred door" to a 15th century mosque.
Physicists say they've found evidence of 'God particle'
The head of the world's biggest atom smasher says they have discovered a new particle that is consistent with the long-sought Higgs boson known popularly as the “God particle,” which is believed to give all matter in the universe size and shape.
Associated Press
July 4, 2012, 2:18 a.m.
The head of the world's biggest atom smasher says they have discovered a new particle that is consistent with the long-sought Higgs boson known popularly as the "God particle," which is believed to give all matter in the universe size and shape.
Rolf Heuer, director of the European Center for Nuclear Research, or CERN, says "we have a discovery" of a new subatomic particle, a boson, that is "consistent with a Higgs boson."
Higgs boson's existence was predicted decades ago to help explain how the universe works.
Rolf Heuer, director of the European Center for Nuclear Research, or CERN, says "we have a discovery" of a new subatomic particle, a boson, that is "consistent with a Higgs boson."
Higgs boson's existence was predicted decades ago to help explain how the universe works.
No early end to Mexico's election stand-off
As the glitter and confetti were still showering the activists at the headquarters of Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) on Sunday, a hush suddenly came over the crowd.
They had been making a big noise for several hours now, as their candidate, Enrique Pena Nieto, appeared to have won the presidential election based on the preliminary results. He had already been described as "the president-elect" by the outgoing leader, Felipe Calderon.
But in mid-celebration, the music was interrupted and the crowd silenced to listen to the message of the nearest challenger, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
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