Cern, the European particle physics research centre, said yesterday it hoped to restart its $8bn (€6.3bn, £5.5bn) atom smasher, the Large Hadron Collider, next summer. The LHC is being repaired after the failure of an electrical connection in September, nine days after it was first switched on.

Fifty-three magnets are being replaced or repaired, new pressure release valves installed and an extra early warning system added to the LHC's 27km ring, which runs under the SwissFrench border outside Geneva.