Julie Charpentrat
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/ 4 April 2007

French train speeds along at 574,8km/h

A supercharged French Train a Grande Vitesse (TGV) on Tuesday smashed the world speed record for a train on rails, hurtling through the countryside into the history books at 574,8km/h. Powered by two souped-up locomotives carried on extra-large wheels, the TGV easily beat the previous record of 515,3km/h set in 1990.

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/ 27 September 2005

Storms lay bare US refinery crisis

If proof were needed that United States oil refineries are stretched to breaking point, the twin hurricanes of Katrina and now Rita have provided ample evidence. A total of 859 rigs and platforms in the Gulf are unmanned after being evacuated last week before Rita swept through, US government figures showed on Monday.