The mysterious removal of a statue of Confucius opposite Beijing’s Tiananmen Square sparked an online flurry of speculation yesterday by Chinese looking for an explanation.
One report said the monument was simply moved inside a nearby museum.
The statue of the 2,500-year-old sage was unveiled just three months ago in the Communist government’s most visible endorsement yet of an icon it had once reviled.
Yesterday, it was missing from the pavement on the north side of the recently reopened National Museum of China, with no notice as to where or why it had gone.
Online forums were abuzz with speculation as to its fate. The news portal sina.com quoted a museum staff member saying it had been moved inside to a new sculpturegarden.
Rig count climbs
The number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the US increased by 28 last week to 1,800.
Houston-based Baker Hughes Inc. reported that 913 rigs were exploring for oil and 878 for gas. Nine were listed as miscellaneous. A year ago, the count was 1,482.
Of the major oil- and gas-producing states, Texas gained 22 rigs and Oklahoma picked up four. Pennsylvania added two, and Wyoming and North Dakota gained one apiece.
Barack Obama to meet UAE prince
The crown prince of the United Arab Emirates is visiting President Barack Obama this week, and they are expected to discuss the turmoil in Yemen.
A White House announcement said Sheik Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan will meet with Mr Obama on Tuesday to talk about “common strategic interests”.
The UAE is a major US ally in the Gulf and has been hosting talks between representatives of Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh and opposition groups seeking his removal.
Fatal plane crash
A small airplane has crashed in a field in north-central Kansas, killing four people.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the six-seat Beechcraft was headed to Topeka’s Phillip Billard Airport from Scott City.
The crash occurred late in the morning about three miles north east of Topeka.
Briton honoured for rescuing toddler
A British woman who caught a toddler who fell from a hotel balcony was showered with rewards for her actions.
Helen Beard, from Worksop in Nottinghamshire, was by the pool with her son and partner at a Florida hotel when she heard a scream and turned to see a one-year-old girl dangling from a fourth-storey balcony.
She leapt up and positioned herself beneath the toddler just in time to catch her, saving the girl from certain injury.
The 46-year-old data analyst said she did not consider herself a heroine for her actions two days ago.
“It feels a bit daunting to be here for something that was instinctive,” said Ms Beard. “It felt like it was something anyone would have done and I feel honoured to be recognised in this way.”
Ms Beard, who is on a 12-day holiday in Orlando with her partner and 10-year-old son, was given the Orange County Sheriff Office’s Medal of Merit.
Twitter decides it willnot be fleeing its nest
Twitter is staying in its home city of San Francisco.
Twitter’s chief financial officer Ali Rowghani announced in a tweet that the company had signed a lease on a new headquarters in the Californian city’s Mid-Market neighbourhood.
The deal comes after the city’s Board of Supervisors gave final approval to a tax break that will exempt the company from paying city payroll taxes on new employees.
The rapidly growing social media service is expected to add more than 2,000 new employees over the next few years.
City leaders pitched the tax break as a way to bring economic revitalisation to the struggling neighbourhood near City Hall.
The company said it expects to move into the new space in mid-2012.
Six children dead in Brazil boat tragedy
A boat carrying a family on a Brazilian lake has capsized and six children are dead. Police said at least seven other people in the boat survived, including two children.
Police said four boys and two girls drowned in the accident near the town of Lago Verde in north eastern Brazil. They ranged in age from two to 12.
Authorities said the family was travelling to a nearby town when the small boat capsized in the middle of the lake. The weather was good at the time, but days of heavy rains have created rough waters in the area’s lakes and rivers.
Five killed in suicide bombing attack
A suicide bombing has killed five people in a Pakistani tribal region near the Afghan border, according to a police official.
Fazal Rabbi said the attack yesterday evening in the town of Salarzai targeted a convoy of Pakistani soldiers and elders from an anti-Taliban militia. The town is in the Bajur tribal area.
The police official said the dead included four members of the militia and a paramilitary soldier.