Sci-fi 'titan' Clarke buried in Sri Lanka

Visionary science fiction writer Arthur C Clarke was buried on Saturday in his adopted home of Sri Lanka, where the nation paused for an international "titan" it had adopted as its own. British-born Clarke, best known for his work on the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, died aged 90 of respiratory complications and heart failure.

Sci-fi guru Arthur C Clarke dies at 90

Pioneering science fiction writer and visionary Arthur C Clarke, best known for his work on the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, has died in his adopted home of Sri Lanka at the age of 90. He died of respiratory complications and heart failure doctors linked to the post-polio syndrome that had kept him wheelchair-bound for years.

Global whistle-blowing website shut down

A secretive Swiss bank landed an apparently novel censorship blow against the internet this week. Anyone who tried to call up Wikileaks.org, a global website devoted to publicising leaked documents, found themselves frustrated. The site simply wasn't there any more.

Britain says North Sea incident 'contained'

Britain evacuated of oil workers from a North Sea accommodation platform on Sunday after reports of a bomb threat but officials said the incident was quickly contained and there was no need to send in a bomb squad. Fourteen helicopters were sent to the Safe Scandinavia platform following a security alert, officials said.

Former Rhodesian leader Ian Smith dies

Ian Smith, who defied the world in 1965 when he led 270 000 white Rhodesians in a unilateral declaration of independence from Britain rather than accept moves to black-majority rule, has died in South Africa aged 88. State-owned radio ZBC, reporting his death, said "Smith will be remembered for his racism and for the deaths of many Zimbabweans."

British jets intercept eight Russian bombers

Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF) scrambled four Tornado jets on Thursday to intercept eight Russian long-range bombers, the Ministry of Defence said. "In the early hours of this morning, four RAF Tornado F3 aircraft from RAF Leeming and RAF Waddington were launched to intercept eight Russian "bear" aircraft, which had not entered UK airspace," the ministry said.

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