News: Apple has announced that its latest Mac Pro desktop computer will be available worldwide from December, after the sale of its predecessor was banned in the EU earlier this year due to safety regulations.

Apple announced the launch date of its black cylindrical Mac Pro desktop computer at an event in San Francisco yesterday.

Made in the US, the tube-shaped workstation is smaller and more difficult to customise than the previous model, which was released in 2006.

In March this year an EU health and safety amendment set out regulations dictating the amount of protection required around cooling fans and electrical ports, so the sale of the older machines was banned in most European countries.

The design of the latest Mac Pro was first unveiled in June at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in California, along with the iOS7 software interface.

Yesterday Apple also launched the iPad Air, a new thinner and lighter model in its range of tablets.

Following similar slim design principles to the company's MacBook Air laptop, the latest tablet weighs just 450 grammes, measures 7.5 millimetres in thickness and has narrower borders around its screen.

Apple's $5 billion Foster + Partners-designed campus in California was unanimously approved by Cupertino City Council last week. In a movie published by the council, Norman Foster has revealed that Steve Jobs called him "out of the blue" one day to ask him to design the ring-shaped building.

Via The Guardian.