Bloody sunday in China

At least 156 people are killed and 1080 others injured during riots yesterday in Ürümqi, People’s Republic of China, The riots  broke out in capital city of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, in northwestern China.

Ürümqi

They involved between 1,000 and 3,000 Uyghurs (a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia).

Late in the day rioting had spread to the neighboring city of Kashgar, with conflicting reports claiming that rioters were “causing a rampage” and Uighur independence activists reporting that police had fired on a group of protesting students.

The violence was part of an ongoing ethnic conflict between Han Chinese and Uyghurs, predominantly Muslim and is one of the officially recognized ethnic groups in China.

Many assume that these specific riots were sparked by dissatisfaction with the Chinese central government’s handling of the deaths of two Uyghur workers in Guangdong province. Xinhua said more than 800 others have been injured and that many motor vehicles were burned. Police attempted to quell the riots with tear gas, water hoses, armored vehicles, and roadblocks.

On this day July 6, 1966

Hastings Banda became the first president of Malawi, exactly two years after the country was granted independence from the United Kingdom.

Malawi adopted a new constitution on July 6, 1966, in which the country was declared a republic. Banda was elected the country’s first president for a five-year term; he was the only candidate. The new document granted Banda wide executive and legislative powers, and also formally made the MCP the only legal party.

However, the country had been a de facto one-party state since independence. In 1970, a congress of the MCP declared Banda its president for life. In 1971, the legislature declared Banda President for Life of Malawi as well.

His official title was His Excellency the Life President of the Republic of Malaŵi, Ngwazi Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda. The title Ngwazi means “chief of chiefs” (more literally, “great lion”, or, some would say, “conqueror”) in Chicheŵa.

Fraud Office to investigate MG Rover

The United Kingdom’s Serious Fraud Office is to launch an investigation into the collapse of car manufacturer MG Rover. The move follows the conclusion of a four-year enquiry started immediately after the firm became insolvent.

The group of four who owned MG Rover – John Towers, Nick Stephenson, Peter Beale and John Edwards – have been accused of asset stripping. The quartet, known as the Phoenix Four, paid a symbolic £10 (approximately €15) for Rover in 2000. At that time the company received an interest-free loan from former owner BMW for £427 million (approximately €700 million) and came with a large amount of unsold stock.

On this day July 5, 1687

The Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica by Isaac Newton was first published, describing his laws of motion and his law of universal gravitation.

The Principia is a three-volume work, Newton also published two further editions, the second in 1713, and the third in 1726.

The Principia contains the statement of Newton’s laws of motion forming the foundation of classical mechanics, as well as his law of universal gravitation and a derivation of Kepler’s laws for the motion of the planets (which were first obtained empirically).

The Principia is “justly regarded as one of the most important works in the history of science”.

In formulating his physical theories, Newton had developed a field of mathematics now known as calculus. However, the language of calculus as we know it was largely absent from the Principia. Instead, Newton cast the majority of his proofs in geometric form, although with many calculus-like arguments based on limits of vanishing small geometric quantities.

African Union refuses to act on Sudan war crimes

The African Union (AU) has decided it will not act on an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for allegedly perpetrating war crimes in Darfur.

Jean Ping, the AU’s current chairperson, said of the decision by the 53 member states “They are showing to the world community that if you don’t want to listen to the continent, if you don’t want to take into account our proposals… if you don’t want to listen to the continent, as usual, we also are going to act unilaterally.”

Thirty African states have ratified the ICC treaty. Libya in particular had pressed for the decision, with leader Moamer Kadhafi, who hosted the summit, going so far as to invite controversial Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to address the summit; the Iranians agreed but later canceled the visit.

Gunmen abduct humanitarian workers

Two foreign aid workers have been reported kidnapped in the western Darfur region of Sudan. United Nations (UN) and African Union officials in Sudan stated that the two women were abducted at gunpoint from their camp in the town of Kutum.

A Sudanese national was also abducted but released a short time later, according to officials.

The aid workers were identified as Sharon Commins, 32, of Ireland and Hilda Kawuki, 42, of Uganda. Both work for the Irish humanitarian organization, GOAL. John O’Shea, a GOAL executive, indicated that the women were abducted by as many as six assailants. “We don’t know who took them,” O’Shea told Reuters. “There are so many splinter groups in the area you’d only be guessing.” He added that GOAL had not previously experienced a kidnapping.

The kidnappers have not been identified and there have been no claims of responsibility reported thus far. There have been two other incidents of kidnapping of aid workers in Darfur since March of this year, but all victims were released within days to a few weeks.

On this day July 4, 2005

The NASA space probe Deep Impact impacted the nucleus of the comet Tempel 1, excavating debris from its interior to study its composition.

Close-up image before impact

The probe launched on January 12, 2005 was designed to study the composition of the interior of the comet 9P/Tempel by colliding a section of the spacecraft into the comet.

At 5:52 UTC on July 4, 2005, the impactor of the Deep Impact probe successfully impacted the comet’s nucleus, excavating debris from the interior of the nucleus.

Photographs of the impact showed the comet to be more dusty and less icy than expected. The impact generated a large, bright dust cloud that obscured the hoped-for view of the impact crater.

Auriga Leader solar powered vessel

On Friday, a new generation solar powered cargo vessel, the Auriga Leader has docked in North America for the first time. Toyota Motor Corp will employ this car carrier for automobile shipments to Europe and North America from Japan. The vessel will be operated by the Japanese-based NYK Line.

Auriga Leader has 328 solar panels to provide 40 kilowatts, about 10% of the ship’s power while sitting idling in dock. This amount of energy is the equivalent to the power used by ten average homes.

“This is the first ship to direct the solar power into the ship’s main electrical grid. It’s helping all of the time, and its helping with everything, like the ship’s thrusters and the hydraulics for the steering gear,” said Brian Mason, national manager of marine logistics and export for Toyota.