India’s Mars rocket Mangalyaan blasts off
India has launched its first Mars-bound spacecraft in a complex mission it hopes will demonstrate and advance space travel technology. Hundreds of people watched Mangalyaan, which means “Mars craft” in Hindi, take off from the east-coast island of Shriharikota and streak across the sky. (Guardian)
Blasts at China regional Communist Party office kill one
A series of small blasts have killed at least one person outside a provincial office of the ruling Communist Party in northern China, state media report. The blasts in Taiyuan in Shanxi province appeared to have been caused by home-made bombs. (BBC)
Greek protesters rally against IMF and EU inspection
In scenes not witnessed since the beginning of Greece’s economic crisis, auditors from the European Union and International Monetary Fund came face-to-face with the full force of anti-austerity anger as protesters in Athens jeered, heckled and stopped them from leaving the finance ministry. (Guardian)
Marvel Comics debuts female Muslim superhero
Marvel Comics is bringing Ms. Marvel back as a 16-year-old daughter of Pakistani immigrants living in Jersey City named Kamala Khan.Teenage Ms Marvel will deal with adolescence, religion and superpowers. (Telegraph)
Parents sue to overturn New Jersey ban on ex-gay therapy
A South Jersey couple has filed a lawsuit against Gov. Chris Christie for signing a law this summer prohibiting licensed therapists from providing gay-to-straight “conversion” therapy to children, saying it infringes on their rights to free speech, religion and to parent their teenage son “free from unconstitutional government interference.” (Washington Post)
