LAUNCH EXPLOSION
Twenty-one people were killed last Friday when a rocket exploded on its launch pad at Alcantara in northern Brazil. The rocket was not due to be launched for three days, but one of its boosters ignited prematurely as technicians carried out final tests. The rocket was to carry two experimental weather satellites into space. It was Brazil鈥檚 third bid to become the first Latin American country to launch its own satellites.
TEMPLE DISPUTE
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Controversy surrounding a bitterly disputed archaeological site in northern India has been reignited by a report released by the state-run Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). Hindu fundamentalists tore down a 16th-century mosque on the site in 1992, claiming it was built over the ruins of a Hindu temple. Now the ASI says it has uncovered a massive structure dating from between the 11th and 16th centuries, with 鈥渄istinctive features associated with the temples of north India鈥�. Two bombs hit the Indian city of Mumbai on Monday, when the report was released, killing more than 50 people.
HYDROGEN ROUTE
Canada is planning a 900-kilometre 鈥渉ydrogen corridor鈥� lined with enough filling stations to allow hydrogen-powered vehicles to travel between Windsor in Ontario and Montreal in Quebec.