After two months of isolation trapped in the San Jose mine  below the Atacama Desert in Chile since August 5 the end of their ordeal is in sight for the  33 miners. With drilling continuing apace the authorities remain conservative in their estimate of when the miners will be brought to the surface. However there [...]

Hundreds were evacuated on Monday when a lethal flood of caustic, toxic red sludge engulfed towns  and villages after a gigantic sludge reservoir at an alumina plant in Ajka, a town 160 km southwest of Budapest, burst its banks.  The waste contains heavy metals lead,  cadmium, arsenic and chromium and is toxic if ingested.   The [...]

The doors of the Paris Motor show are now open to the eager public and will remain so until Sunday 17 October.  The show is at the Paris Expo, Porte de Versailles. Opening hours are 10am to 8pm daily with late nights on Thursday to 10pm. On show will be 332 brands from 21 countries. [...]

On Thursday 30 September the Spanish masterpiece of Miguel de Cervantes “Don Quixote de la Mancha” was launched on YouTube by The Royal Spanish Academy the official guardians of the Spanish language. The Academy has done a deal with Google whereby the 17th century novel will be promoted globally in over thousands of  live book [...]

More cause for celebration today at the San Jose mine site where 33 Chilean miners have been trapped underground for nearly two months since the rock fall on 5 August.  Drillers say one of their drills has cut through 50 meters of rock in a day. This raises hopes that the men could be brought [...]

Former US President Bill Clinton will make a whirlwind two day visit to Ireland north and south starting today in Londonderry with a keynote  speech at the University of Ulster, Magee College campus.  This is his first return trip to Ireland since 2004. He will meet with the Northern Ireland  First Minister Peter Robinson and [...]

There are fears the fragile Middle East Peace Process will be at risk if hard line Jewish settlers recommence construction now that the voluntary 10 month moratorium on building settlements has ended.   There are thousands of permits awaiting approval and bulldozers are primed to recommence work. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has called for restraint [...]

Despite the growing chorus of opposition  against the Serengeti Highway Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete is ignoring the latest pleas from a group of 27 scientists and has confirmed the planned highway to be  created through the Serengeti National Park will go ahead. President Kikwete in a speech to the nation in July said the road [...]

Les Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais will host an exhibition of 200 paintings of Claude Monet (1840-1926) from 22 September 2010 through to 24 January 2011. Monet who was one of the most notable founders of the French impressionist movement left behind a prodigious collection from his 60 years of painting. His works include landscapes, [...]

The operations of the Navitaire computer system external provider of reservations and check-services for Virgin Blue in Australia went down early today.  The result was a day of chaos at airports and disrupted travel plans for thousands of Virgin Blue passengers around Australia. Following the computer outage which started this morning domestic and international flight [...]