A coastal Chinese city has started construction on a 6-billion-yuan (949 million U.S. dollars) undersea tunnel linking Xiamen's downtown island with its major industrial district.

The 9.03-km tunnel will link downtown Xiamen with Haicang District, the largest Taiwanese investment zone in the Chinese mainland in terms of size, when it is completed in 2016, local officials said. The bottom of the tunnel will be built 72.6 meters below the ocean surface.

Veteran diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi will be the new Joint Special Representative of the United Nations and League of Arab States for the crisis in Syria, taking over the peace-facilitation role played over the past several months by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, a spokesperson for the world organization said today.

Mr. Brahimi is expected to assume his duties following the expiration of Mr. Annan’s mandate on 31 August 2012.

Today, Mayor Bloomberg announced the launch of Citi Bike, New York City’s public bike share system, will be delayed until 2013. Like the millions of New Yorkers who can’t wait to try bike share, we’re disappointed. But Citi Bike shouldn't launch until it's ready.

It took decades of T.A. advocacy to bring a public bike share system to New York City. Our mission -- to revitalize New York City’s streets -- is a marathon, not a sprint. Citi Bike’s launch isn’t the finish line.

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PUSSY RIOT PUNK BAND GUILTY. Russia's Putin Protest.
A Russian judge has found Pussy Riot guilty of hooliganism driven by religious hatred for their guerrilla performance in Moscow's main cathedral. They got a 2 year prison sentence.

MITT ROMNEY'S TWITTER POPULARITY. What's The Real Reason?
Some are questioning whether his more than 861,000 followers are for real.

ECUADOR PROTECTS ASSANGE. What's The Motivation?
Offering asylum to the man responsible for the biggest-ever spilling of U.S. secrets was apparently too attractive for President Rafael Correa to resist.

As fighting rages on in Syria, conditions have not been met to continue the mission of the United Nations observer force there, but Security Council members, meeting on the situation this morning, have agreed to the creation of a liaison office to support efforts for a political solution to the conflict and respect for human rights, a top official of the world body said today.