Partial Eclipse of the Sun
The moon passes between the earth and the sun to cause an annular solar eclipse as seen from Segovia in central Spain October 3, 2005. An annular eclipse differs from a total eclipse in that the moon appears too small to completely cover the sun. As a result, the moon is surrounded by an intensely brilliant ring or annulus formed by the outer perimeter of the sun's disk. The last annular eclipse visible from Spain took place on the 1st of April 1764 and the next one will occur on the 26th of January 2028. Clouds spoilt the view for all in Britain... More..

Praying for Earthquake Victims
Indian Army soldiers pray for the dead and the speedy recovery of earthquake victims at the Sikh religious Shrine Golden Temple in the northern city of Amritsar, 9th October 2005. Rescuers scoured the rubble in frontier villages of Indian Kashmir for survivors of Saturday's earthquake which killed more than 558 people on the Indian side and injured hundreds.

Wallace & Gromit Archives Destroyed
Wallace and Gromit weren't able to save the day when a fire broke out at an Aardman Animations warehouse in Bristol, 10th October 2005. The blaze claimed irreplaceable sets and models from the clay animation stars' past films, as well as other series. The fire at the archive hit just as the absent-minded inventor and his dog sidekick topped the box office with the release of their first full length movie, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Instead of celebrating the success, the company is mourning the loss of its "whole history."

Bracing for Bird Flu
Just two years after the SARS outbreak sent Asian economies into intensive care, companies across the region are bracing themselves for the vastly more malignant threat of a bird flu pandemic. Chinese leaders have assured the world they have bird flu under control after a spate of outbreaks, amid reports a girl died from flu-like symptoms in a village struck by the virus. RAF Flies dead chicken back from Macedena More..

Big Ben Big Turn Off
Big Ben's chimes are stopped to allow maintenance work on St Stephen's Tower clock and bells 29th October 2005. Big Ben has been the world's time piece for over 146 years and it is the first time in 22 years that the clock has been stopped for a lengthy period. It is the longest shutdown, considered as the heartbeat of the nation. The St Stephen's Tower bell and clock, at Westminster Palace, stopped after the 0800 BST chimes on Saturday and the hands moved to the midday position.

Engineers are replacing rubber hammers on the hour bell and three of the quarter hour bells. The stopping of the clock coincides with the end of British Summer Time and the start of Greenwich Mean Time - clocks have gone back an hour.

The chimes were silenced for longer in 1983 when the clock's hands were removed for new gilding to be applied. Extreme heat and snow have caused short unplanned stoppages of the Great Clock. The last time this happened was in May this year, when engineers said high temperatures of 31.8C (90F) could have contributed to the clock failing for an hour-and-a-half.