Papeete, French Polynesia (AFP) Jul 31, 2006 - Researchers have established a link between France's nuclear tests over the Pacific ocean in the late 1960s and the high incidence of thyroid cancer in Polynesia.
Beijing (AFP) Jul 31, 2006 - China has shut down a popular blog by a Tibetan author after she wrote birthday wishes for the Dalai Lama and touched on other sensitive topics, the writer and a website operator told AFP Monday.
London (AFP) Jul 31, 2006 - Britain's leading scientists on Monday urged authorities to move quickly to bury radioactive waste deep underground rather than wait to clear up all doubts about such a disposal.
Karachi (AFP) Jul 31, 2006 - Flooding caused by monsoon rain washed out a railway bridge in Pakistan and cut the line to the southern financial hub of Karachi, officials said Monday.
Hong Kong (AFP) Jul 31, 2006 - More than 1,500 factories in southern China had been closed down in the past three years due to the pollution and environmental hazards they posed, an official said Monday.
Beijing (AFP) Jul 31, 2006 - China's air passenger numbers will grow by 9.6 percent annually until 2009 as the booming nation remains one of the world's fastest growing air markets, a top industry association said Monday.
Madrid (AFP) Jul 31, 2006 - Spanish water utility Sociedad General de Aguas de Barcelona SA said on Monday that an agreement to sell its Applus testing unit to Candover Investments PLC of Briotain had been suspended.
Jakarta (AFP) Jul 31, 2006 - A rising moral vigilantism which has flared with the gradual implementation of Islamic law in Indonesia's Aceh province has victimised women and the poor, a think tank said in a report released Monday.
London (AFP) Jul 31, 2006 - Some illegal immigrants are paying gangs of traffickers less than 150 pounds (280 dollars, 220 euros) per person to be smuggled into Britain, a government agency said Monday.
Moscow (AFP) Jul 31, 2006 - One of the main pipelines delivering oil from Russia to its European neighbours was ruptured at the weekend posing a serious environmental threat, a senior environmental official said on Monday.
Beijing (AFP) Jul 31, 2006 - China will be a force for global peace but it must arm its military with the latest in high-tech weapons and ensure that Taiwan never splits from the mainland, the defence minister said Monday.
Beijing (AFP) Jul 31, 2006 - An official from the troubled Agricultural Bank of China has been sentenced to death for corruption involving 15 million yuan (1.87 million dollars), state media reported Monday.
Jalalabad, Afghanistan (AFP) Jul 31, 2006 - Flash floods caused by heavy unseasonal rains have killed at least 13 people with another 19 feared dead in eastern and southeastern provinces of Afghanistan, officials said Monday.
Tehran (AFP) Jul 31, 2006 - OPEC member Iran has signed a 2.7-billion-dollar oil refinery upgrade deal with China which will help feed the Islamic republic's hunger for fuel, state television reported on Monday.
London (AFP) Jul 31, 2006 - Electrical goods retailer Currys announced on Monday that it would begin selling solar power panels to allow British households to cut their soaring domestic fuel bills.
London (AFP) Jul 31, 2006 - Britain is very likely to have endured the hottest July ever recorded and the warmest month since 1914, the Met Office told AFP on Monday.
