BEIJING — A gas explosion tore through a coal mine in northern China today, killing 11 people and trapping another 128, central government authorities say. Another 389 people at the Xinxing mine in Heilongjiang province managed to escape after the explosion, the State Administration of Work Safety said in a statement.
China’s mines are the world’s deadliest, with unregulated operations accounting for almost 80 percent of the country’s 16,000 mines. The closing of many small, dangerous mines halved the average number of miners killed to about six a day in the first half of this year, the government has said. Most accidents are blamed on failures to follow safety rules, including a lack of required ventilation or fire control equipment. A blast at the Tunlan coal mine in northern China’s Shanxi province killed 77 people in February, China’s worst industrial accident in a year.
Associated Press
MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s government says the economy grew 2.93 pct in 3rd quarter, marking and end to the recession.
Mexico has suffered a severe economic crisis for more than a year, but the new figures released Friday confirm what officials have been saying in recent weeks: the rebound has begun.
The gross domestic product was 6.2 percent lower for July through September 2009 than it was for the same period in 2008.
Mexico’s leaders approved a $244 billion budget for 2010 on Tuesday, a slight increase from 2009.
President Barack Obama declared (Saturday) in Tokyo that an era of American disengagement in the globe’s fastest-growing region is over, and warned that the U.S. and its Asian partners “will not be cowed” by North Korea’s continued defiance over its nuclear weapons and other provocations. Obama also said a robust China should be welcomed, not feared, as a powerful partner on urgent challenges. Addressing Americans’ worries about the economic and security threat from China’s rising might and Asians’ skepticism about U.S leadership, the president said: “We welcome China’s efforts to play a greater role on the world stage, a role in which their growing economy is joined by growing responsibility.”
In a 40-minute speech, Obama offered incentives for North Korea to abandon the nuclear weapons it is believed to already have and the production program it continues in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions. He outlined a possible future of economic opportunity and greater global greater respect, saying, “this respect cannot be earned through belligerence.”
“It should be clear where that path leads,” Obama said. “We will continue to send a clear message through our actions, and not just our words: North Korea’s refusal to meet its international obligations will lead only to less security, not more.”
The German defense minister says Germany will send 100 more troops to Afghanistan in January. German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, who is in Afghanistan visiting troops, said today that the German troops will be sent to northern Afghanistan where most of the other 4,000 German troops are stationed. The defense minister from Germany, where popular support for the war is low, says the extra troops will be stationed in Kunduz province, a formerly relatively peaceful area that has seen an increase in Taliban activity in recent months.
TOKYO — President Barack Obama aims Friday to shore up relations with a new Japanese government vowing to be more assertive with its U.S. ally, even as he grapples with sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan. Obama arrived at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport early Friday beginning a four-nation Asia trip, his first to the region as president.
Weighing on Obama is a pending decision on Afghan war strategy. Stopping off at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska on his way to Asia, Obama told a military audience he will only commit more forces to Afghanistan if it is vital to U.S. interests and receives public support. “I will not risk your lives unless it is necessary to America’s vital interests,” Obama told the troops. “And if it is necessary,” Obama added, “the United States of America will have your back. We’ll give you the strategy and the clear mission you deserve. We’ll give you the equipment and support you need to get the job done. And that includes public support back home.”
A massive power failure threw Brazil’s two largest cities into darkness tonight along with other parts of Latin America’s largest nation, affecting millions of people. Officials did not immediately comment on the cause of the blackouts, but Brazilian media reports said there were unspecified problems at the huge Itaipu hydroelectric dam that straddles Brazil’s border with Paraguay.
The problems at the dam caused a loss of 17,000 megawatts of power, resulting in outages in large parts of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and other cities in several states, according to the G1 Web site of Globo TV. The blackouts came three days after CBS’s “60 Minutes” news program reported that several past Brazilian power outages were caused by hackers. Brazilian officials played down the report.
Brazil’s official Agencia Brasil news agency said the outage started about 10:20 p.m. (1220 GMT), snarling streets in Rio after traffic lights stopped working. Subway service was knocked out in both Rio and Sao Paulo. Utility companies that provide electricity to the two cities did not immediately offer explanations for why the power went off or when it would be restored, Agencia Brasil said. Sao Paulo is South America’s largest city, with 12 million residents. Rio has 6 million citizens. But the metropolitan area of both cities are much larger.
A former Minnesotan and two other Americans who were arrested by Iranian border guards in late July after crossing into Iran from Iraq have been charged with espionage, an Iranian prosecutor said today. Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi said in Tehran that an investigation was continuing and that a “final decision” about their case would be announced soon, a state-run news agency reported, leaving it unclear whether Iran would go ahead with a formal trial on spying charges, which carry the death penalty.
The three — Shane Bauer, 27, who grew up in east-central Minnesota; Joshua Fattal, 27, and Sarah Shourd, 31, all University of California, Berkeley, graduates — were hiking in the mountains of Iraq’s northern Kurdish region on July 31 when, according to their families, they strayed across the border accidentally. Authorities in Tehran confirmed three days later that the three had been arrested, and police sources were quoted as saying they were “CIA agents.”
The White House has called for their release, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the spying accusations were baseless. “We believe strongly that there is no evidence to support any charge whatsoever,” she said in Berlin. “And we would renew our request … that the Iranian government exercise compassion and release them, so they can return home.”
Navy ships of the two Koreas exchanged fire today along their disputed western sea border, a South Korean military officer said. A South Korean warship shot at a North Korean navy ship that crossed the disputed western sea border, and the North’s ship shot back, said an officer at the Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. The officer, speaking on condition of anonymity citing department policy, said it was not immediately known whether there were any causalities. Navies of the two Koreas fought deadly skirmishes along the western sea border in 1999 and 2002.
Navies of 2 Koreas exchange fire
Japan said today it plans to provide up to $5 billion in new Afghanistan aid over the next 5 years as the country’s naval refueling mission in the region draws to a close. The Foreign Ministry made the announcement days before President Barack Obama is due in Tokyo for talks with Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.
Japan currently operates a refueling mission in the Indian Ocean in support of the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan, but Hatoyama’s government has repeatedly said it will let the mission expire in January. Tokyo’s new pledge of support comes as it seeks to redefine its long-standing military alliance with the U.S. and as Obama is reviewing his options for a new strategy in the Afghanistan conflict. Japan’s Foreign Ministry said in a release that the new funds will be used in areas such as building up the police force and on agriculture and other infrastructure projects.
KABUL (AP) — Seven U.N. staff members are dead after an attack in Kabul. Heavy gunfire erupted at a guest house used by U.N. staff in Kabul early Wednesday. Afghan police said five people died in the attack. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack several hours later.
Afghan police: 7 U.N. staff dead in Taliban attack in Kabul
