Get your tinfoil hats ready, people - there's something strange afoot.
A reader has got in touch to point out the strangeness of today's UK Google News seems weirdly devoid of any mention of the Olympic torch protests that took place yesterday.
You know, the ones that are on the front page of every newspaper, leading most of the TV and radio bulletins and prominently featured on news websites such as the BBC and the Guardian.
As our tipster points out "You could be looking at Google's news page for the UK and not have any idea it was going on (though you would know Keith Allen thinks Diana's death wasn't an accident!)."
The story actually features on the sports pages, and there is currently a mention of China in the third story on the World news page "China faces long-term risks from tough Tibet stance" from our very own site. So this might indicate an algorithmic cockup - perhaps all stories about the Olympics are deemed sports, not hard news.
At best, it's a horrible inadequacy of Goog's news ranking system. At worst? Well, let's see what Google's explanation is first.
Update: A Googler has got back to me saying that they're looking at the problem and working out whether there's something to be shifted around in the code. "It was indeed just algorithmic blip," he said in an email. "I'm told by the team that they happen occasionally, but when things go wrong they help us learn how to parse stories better in the future."
