Popular Elsewhere
14:33 UK time, Tuesday, 29 March 2011
A look at the stories ranking highly on various news sites.
Proving popular with Washington Post's readers is an article debunking myths about . One story, that oil companies produce less in the spring to increase the price, is discredited by the Post and explained as "chemistry, not corporate conspiracy". It says that refineries do produce less fuel in the spring but this is because the nature of butane changes from season to season. Butane, it explains, is a cheap ingredient in gasoline that boils at low temperatures. In summer, butane evaporates from gas, leaving less fuel in the tank. So, as temperatures rise, refineries replace butane with more costly ingredients.
The New Scientist's most read article imagines a world where we can start . Over the centuries, it argues, our societies have built up by accident. So, the magazine wonders how you would start from the beginning again. Surprisingly, one trap it says designers shouldn't get into is making everything too efficient. When the weather changed for the Roman Empire, what looked like efficient industry started to appear overbuilt.
The First Post's most popular article for her "a breathless, quite-literally running commentary of sit-ins, scrapes with the police and stream-of-consciousness rambles" about the weekend's protests. The article complains that although "there is no doubt her radical pose and willingness to patrol the frontline have endeared her to thousands of genuinely disaffected youth, whose future educations have been mortgaged by the coalition", to journalists "she's an adventurist who doesn't put enough distance between herself and the stories she covers".
Radio Netherlands looks back at . The Netherlands was the first country in the world to allow same sex marriage. The article reports homosexual couples still get married less than heterosexuals - only 20% of Dutch same sex couples are married compared to 80% of heterosexual couples. It puts this down to the obstacles gay men face when they want to adopt children.
The most popular story on China's Xinhuanet says celebrations were held across Tibet on Monday to commemorate the . The story says more than 3,000 people gathered in a square in front of the Potala Palace, watched the flag being raised, sang the national anthem and celebrated. The article says the anniversary marks a significant moment in the history of human rights, by ending feudal serfdom and freeing one million serfs.
