A meteor streaked across the sky and exploded over Russia’s Ural Mountains with the power of an atomic bomb yesterday, its sonic blasts shattering countless windows and injuring about 1,100 people.

A meteor streaked across the sky and exploded over Russia’s Ural Mountains with the power of an atomic bomb today, its sonic blasts shattering countless windows and injuring about 1,100 people.

Nuclear experts have insisted there is no safety threat after a partial roof collapse at the wrecked Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Russia has laid out its ambition to gain an edge in the space race by building a nuclear-powered spaceship.

Russia’s Natural Resources Ministry said today that a oil pipeline leak threatened environmental damage, but the pipeline’s operator and emergency officials said the spill was far smaller than the ministry claimed and had already been cleaned up.