Oil Hits Home, Spreading Arc of Frustration

PORT FOURCHON, La. — For weeks, it was a disaster in abstraction, a threat floating somewhere out there.Not anymore. In the last week, the oilslick in the Gulf of Mexico has revealed itself to an angry and desperate public, smearing tourist beaches, washing onto the shorelines of sleepy coastal communities and oozing into marshy bays that fishermen have worked...

Why We Exist: Matter Wins Battle Over Antimatter

The seemingly inescapable fact that matter and antimatter particles destroy each other on contact has long puzzled physicists wondering how life, the universe or anything else can exist at all. But new results from a particle accelerator experiment suggest that matter does seem to win in the end. The experiment has shown a small — but significant — 1 percent...

Black hole 'hurled out of galaxy'

A supermassive black hole may have been observed in the process of being hurled from its parent galaxy at high speed. The finding comes from analysis of data collected by the US Chandra space X-ray observatory. However, there are alternative explanations for the observation. The work, by an international team of astronomers,...

Thailand backtracks on red-shirt protest crackdown

Thailand's leaders have suspended plans to cut supplies to anti-government protesters camped in Bangkok.Officials had announced that utilities, food, transport and telephones would be cut in a bid to move the protesters, known as the red-shirts. But they cancelled the measures after complaints from residents in the area. The government has been trying to...

David Cameron coalition team in first cabinet meeting

David Cameron is preparing for his first cabinet meeting as prime minister as he puts the finishing touches to his historic coalition government.The Tory leader will announce a string of junior government posts, which will include further Lib Dem appointments. He began the business of government on Wednesday evening with a first meeting of the new National...

Doctors 'cause blood pressure to rise'

The 'white-coat' effect - where blood pressure rises during a check by a doctor - is even worse in someone whose level is already high, researchers say.The effect is due to patients becoming stressed by being in a doctor's surgery or a hospital.Writing in the British Medical Journal, an Australian team say giving people a cuff to wear for 24 hours is a better...

Turkey MPs back key constitutional changes

Turkey's parliament has approved all but one of 27 controversial changes to the constitution, which critics say could undermine the secular courts.The main secular opposition accuses the ruling AK Party of trying to seize control of state institutions. The AKP's roots are in political Islam.The AKP did not get a two-thirds majority, so the amendments will still...

Global shares fall on Greece debt worries

Global stock markets have fallen sharply, amid investor fears that Greece's debt crisis could halt the global economic recovery.In the US, the Dow Jones index fell 0.6% in early trading, while France's Cac 40 was down 4%, the UK's FTSE 100 shed 2.6% and Germany's Dax lost 3.3%.Japan's Nikkei index shed 3.1%, having fallen by 4.1% in morning trading.Sterling...

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associa...

Greece transport halts as anti-austerity strike extends

A general strike has been called across Greeece as protests against planned spending cuts and tax rises continue.Trains, planes and ferries are at a standstill as transport workers join public sector workers who began their own 48-hour strike on Tuesday.Austerity measures planned in return for a 110bn euro (£95bn) international rescue package for the debt-struck...

NY bomb-plot suspect charged with terrorism

A Pakistan-born US citizen has been charged with terrorism and trying to use a weapon of mass destruction over the failed car-bomb attack in New York.US authorities said Faisal Shahzad, 30, had also admitted to being trained in bomb-making in Pakistan.Mr Shahzad was arrested on a Dubai-bound plane at JFK airport on Monday, two days after the car bomb was found.Earlier,...

Security slip let suspect on plane, near takeoff

WASHINGTON – The no-fly list failed to keep the Times Square suspect off the plane. Faisal Shahzad had boarded a jetliner bound for the United Arab Emirates Monday night before federal authorities pulled him back.The night's events, gradually coming to light, underscored the flaws in the nation's aviation security system, which despite its technologies, lists...

Norsk Hydro buys Vale's aluminium business

Norwegian aluminium producer Norsk Hydro has agreed to buy a majority stake in the aluminium operations of Brazilian miner Vale.The deal is valued at $4.9bn with Vale receiving $1.1bn in cash and a 22% stake in Norsk.The Norwegian firm said the deal would improve competitiveness by securing access to bauxite and alumina.About 3,600 Vale employees will be transferred...

Gulf oil spill could be unprecedented disaster - Obama

US President Barack Obama has described a sprawling oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico as a "potentially unprecedented" environmental disaster.Speaking in Louisiana, Mr Obama said his government would do whatever it takes to clean up the oil, adding that BP was responsible and must pay.He said the focus was now on preventing any further damage to the Gulf coast.BP...

Eurozone approves massive Greece bail-out

Eurozone members and the IMF have agreed a 110bn-euro (£95bn; $146.2bn) three-year bail-out package to rescue Greece's embattled economy.In return for the loans, Greece will make major austerity cuts which Prime Minister George Papandreou said involved "great sacrifices".The EU will provide 80bn euros in funding and the rest will come from the International...

US studies bomb evidence from New York's Times Square

Investigators are poring over a wealth of evidence to find out who tried to detonate a car bomb in Times Square - New York's bustling entertainment area.The bomb, described as "amateurish", consisted of propane tanks, fireworks, petrol and a clock device. It was planted in a sports utility vehicle.NYC police commissioner Ray Kelly said there was no evidence...

BCCI Working Committee endorses charges against Modi

Lalit Modi's alleged financial irregularities dominated the discussion in Sunday's BCCI Working Committee meeting, during which the members "agreed" with the charges levelled against the suspended IPL Commissioner.During the hour-long deliberation at its headquarters, BCCI President Shashank Manohar explained to the 22 members of the committee just why it was...