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...Even as Shanxi celebrated the miners' rescue (click title to entry - thank you) today [MON], officials in Henan warned that the death toll from a mine blast there had reached 28 with another 16 still trapped underground.
It was a stark reminder of the dangers of an occupation which saw 2,631 workers die in pits last year. Even given the exclusion of deaths from mining-related diseases, many believe the true figure is higher because mine owners often fail to report fatalities - preferring to pay off relatives and witnesses rather than risk closure. China recently prosecuted journalists and dozens of officials over the three-month cover up of a mining disaster in Hebei province that killed 35 people.
The government's recent safety drive has undoubtedly saved the lives of thousands of workers; at its peak in 2002, China saw 6,995 die in mines. But campaigners warn that the campaign, which has focused on the closure of small, often illegal private mines, is not by itself enough. Wangjialing, the flooded pit, is being built by a state-owned company. And last November, 108 died in an explosion at a state-run mine in Heilongjiang province....
...The Discovery astronauts (click here) also plan to deliver spare parts for the station's water recycling system in an ongoing effort to work the bugs out of the complex life support equipment before the shuttle's retirement later this year.
"We didn't really know how to design this hardware at the beginning," said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's chief of space operations. "We did as good as we could and now we're actually working those bugs out. This is important for us to have the shuttle around for these couple of flights so we can get the water systems and the life support systems up and operating."
Mission managers cleared Discovery for launch after deciding a failed helium isolation valve in the ship's right-side aft rocket pod posed no significant threat to crew safety or meeting the flight's objectives. Likewise, a review showed suspect ceramic inserts around critical bolts were unlikely to shake free and pose an impact threat during launch or re-entry.
With Discovery ready to go, spacewalker Clay Anderson, veteran of a long-duration stay aboard the station in 2007, said the crew was anxious to get on with a complex mission....
...The odds are astronomical (click here), said Tom Petersen — and the Hudson’s Bay teacher wasn’t going for an easy pun.
Petersen knows two of the astronauts who will be aboard the space shuttle Discovery when it blasts off from the Kennedy Space Center early Monday morning.
Petersen taught with Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger during her five-year tenure at Hudson’s Bay High School, and they also coached cross country and track together....
...But Metcalf-Lindenburger is not his only link to the NASA shuttle mission. Petersen went to a small college in Nebraska with Clay Anderson, who will be making his second trip to the International Space Station.
“We both graduated from Hastings College in 1981,” Petersen said.
Petersen and Anderson shared the college’s “Bronco Award,” given annually to outstanding seniors. Petersen said he got his share of the award through campus involvement — “ASB-type things.” Anderson was a multisport athlete....
When bulk coal carrier Shen Neng 1 ran aground on a shoal in Great Barrier Reef waters on Saturday it did not have a marine pilot aboard to guide it through.
The vessel grounded on a reef 15 kilometres from the shipping channel it was supposed to traverse.
The incident has again sparked debate over whether pilots should be compulsory on vessels traversing the passage between the outer reef and the Queensland coastline.
It's a debate that has gone on for decades.
A near-identical incident in 2000 saw a Malaysian-flagged container ship run aground on Sudbury Reef off Cairns.
On November 2, 2000 the Bunga Teratai Satu ploughed into Sudbury Reef at full speed, its bow penetrating 100 metres onto the coral.
The ship was refloated, without spilling fuel or cargo, on November 14, 2000.
The incident again sparked media debate about the need for pilots on the large freighters which traverse the waters of the inner reef.
The official report into the grounding, by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, noted that "a detailed study of pilotage in the inner route of the Great Barrier Reef is currently being undertaken jointly by AMSA and the Queensland Department of Transport"....
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) -- A coal-carrying ship that ran aground and was leaking oil on Australia's Great Barrier Reef was in danger of breaking apart, officials said Sunday.
The Chinese coal carrier Shen Neng 1 ran aground late Saturday on Douglas Shoals, a favorite pristine haunt for recreational fishing east of the Great Keppel Island tourist resort. The shoals are in a protected part of the reef where shipping is restricted by environmental law off the coast of Queensland state in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
Authorities fear an oil spill will damage the world's largest coral reef off northeast Australia, listed as a World Heritage site for its environmental value.
The ship hit the reef at full speed, nine miles (15 kilometers) outside the shipping lane, State Premier Anna Bligh said.
A police boat was standing by to remove the 23 crew if the ship broke apart and an evacuation was necessary, she said.
Patches of oil were seen near the stricken ship early Sunday, but Maritime Safety Queensland reported no major loss from the 1,000 tons (950 metric tons) of oil on board.
''We are now very worried we might see further oil discharged from this ship,'' Bligh told reporters.
Maritime Safety Queensland general manager Patrick Quirk said the vessel was badly damaged on its port side....
...The approach helped turn the tide of insurgency in Iraq. But in Marja, where the Taliban seem to know everything — and most of the time it is impossible to even tell who they are — they have already found ways to thwart the strategy in many places, including killing or beating some who take the Marines’ money, or pocketing it themselves.
Just a few weeks since the start of the operation here, the Taliban have “reseized control and the momentum in a lot of ways” in northern Marja, Maj. James Coffman, civil affairs leader for the Third Battalion, Sixth Marines, said in an interview in late March. “We have to change tactics to get the locals back on our side....
BAGHDAD – When the coalition led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki narrowly lost at the polls, he raised the prospect that he could pull ahead by gaining the support of other Shiite-dominated alliances. Since then, the largest of those groups have been reaching out – but not to him.
Al-Maliki's secular challenger, Ayad Allawi, gained a significant advantage when he won the unexpected support of a major Iranian-linked Shiite party.
Allawi received support Thursday night from the Iranian-linked Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council – a stunning development because Allawi has been outspoken against the influence of Iran and religious parties.
Ammar al-Hakim, the leader of the Supreme Council, did not endorse anyone as prime minister but said he was open to an alliance with Allawi's Iraqiya list.
"We will not participate in the next government if Allawi's list is not in it," al-Hakim said in remarks broadcast late Thursday.
Allawi, a Shiite who was prime minister in 2004-05, appeared to be benefiting from stark divisions among Shiites despite purported efforts by Iran to push al-Maliki and his rivals into a coalition that could cement Shiite domination of the government....
By Stuart Fagg ninemsn Money
News Corporation chief Rupert Murdoch has been named Australia's richest boss but could soon lose his crown to mining tycoon Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest.Mr Murdoch’s shareholder wealth grew by more than $2 billion in the past year to $5.96 billion placing him at the head of BRW’s executive rich list just ahead of Mr Forrest, who heads resources giant Fortescue Metals Group.
The list ranks executive wealth by the value of the shares they own in the companies they run.
BRW executive rich list editor John Stensholt told ninemsn that Mr Forrest, whose wealth grew to $4.79 billion in the last year, is the executive most likely to topple Mr Murdoch.
"Andrew Forrest is really at the vanguard of what looks like a strong resources recovery," he said.
"The resources boom is back....
The new criteria selects passengers for additional security based on possible matches to intelligence information, including physical descriptions, age or a particular travel pattern.
An official announcement in Washington said that the US Transportation Security Administration will begin implementing new security policy from this month and it will apply to all air carriers with international flights to the United States.
US Secretary for Homeland Security Janet Napolitano told journalists that “these new measures utilise real-time, threat-based intelligence along with multiple, random layers of security, both seen and unseen, to more effectively mitigate evolving terrorist threats”.
Separately, a US official told Dawn in Washington that “the principled engagement of Pakistan’s leadership on this matter with the US resulted in this policy change”.
The official said that US special envoy Richard Holbrooke first learned about the negative impact of the now abandoned policy from Pakistani officials during his January visit to Islamabad.
“And he successfully agitated within the US administration to get the rules changed, as he saw the policy as ‘discriminatory’ and inconsistent with the administration’s desire to build a new kind of relationship with Pakistan,” the official said.
Starting in April, security personnel at US airports will match passengers with the information provided by the Department of Homeland Security for potential terrorist threats. Only those who match the new description for people of interest will be marked out for additional screening....
The junta plans to hold elections later this year which most foreign observers believe are aimed at legitimizing the rule of the regime, which never allows the opposition to take over after it won the last vote in 1990.
The main opposition National League for Democracy has decided to boycott the election rather than give in to pressure to oust its leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate who is under house arrest.
Besides McConnell, the letter was also signed by 2008 presidential candidate John McCain along with fellow Republicans Sam Brownback, Susan Collins and Judd Gregg.
It was also signed by Democrats Barbara Boxer, Russ Feingold and Dianne Feinstein and independent Joe Lieberman.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Western authorities are investigating whether an Iranian firm acquired valves and vacuum gauges used to enrich uranium through the representative of a Chinese firm, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.
The report appeared as the United States sought China's support for a new round of sanctions to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear activities are peaceful and legitimate.
Purchase of the equipment could violate export sanctions. The newspaper cited a diplomat in Vienna as saying the International Atomic Energy Administration and western intelligence agencies were investigating.
The probe was sparked by a Jan. 14 email to IAEA. It alleged an Iranian firm, Javedan Mehr Toos (JMT), acquired the French-made valves through an intermediary who represented Zheijiang Ouhai Trade Corp, a subsidiary of Jinzhou Group, based in China, said the report...
White House keen to exploit signals from Beijing that it might support fresh punitive measures
Barack Obama has urged Beijing to "ratchet up the pressure" on Iran over its nuclear programme after a breakthrough for the US administration in persuading China to agree to talks on fresh sanctions against Tehran.
Obama told CBS news that Iran was increasingly diplomatically isolated and that international unity was essential to ensuring it did not develop nuclear weapons.
"The idea is to keep turning up the pressure," Obama said. "We're going to ratchet up the pressure and examine how they respond but we're going to do so with a unified international community."
The interview was broadcast within hours of the president's hour-long phone call from Air Force One with Hu Jintao ahead of the Chinese president's visit to the US for a nuclear non-proliferation summit later this month....
