China gold mine fire kills 16 workers

BEIJING: Sixteen workers were killed in a fire in a gold mine in eastern China that also left another seven trapped underground, state media reported Saturday.

The accident happened on Friday in Shandong province”s Zhaoyuan city, a local news agency said — the latest in a series of accidents in China”s notoriously dangerous mining industry.

Rescuers initially put the number of people trapped at 50 but revised the figure several times as they managed to lift workers to safety. Most of the victims died of toxic smoke inhalation, some of them in hospital, the news agency said.

The work safety bureaus in Zhaoyuan and Shandong refused to comment on the accident when contacted a French news agency.

According to an initial investigation, the blaze broke out in a shaft at the gold mine when an electric cable caught fire. The mine was fully licensed but police have taken the director in for questioning, the news agency said.

Around 329 miners had been working underground when the blaze started and 279 were initially lifted to ground level safely, a spokesman for the rescue headquarters was quoted as saying.

Other workers were subsequently pulled out and dozens of injured miners were sent to two nearby hospitals.

China”s mining industry is plagued by lax regulation, corruption and inefficiency.

Earlier this week, 32 people were killed in two coal mine accidents.

An explosion rocked a colliery Tuesday in the southwestern province of Guizhou, killing 16, state media reported.

Sixty miners were working underground when the accident happened in Renhuai city, but many managed to escape or were saved.

Late Monday, 16 workers were killed when deadly gas leaked into a pit at the Sanyuandong coal mine in Dengfeng city in central Henan province.

Last weekend, 24 miners were trapped in a flooded pit in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, while 17 others were killed in an explosion at a mine in the northern province of Shanxi.

The government regularly pledges to clean up safety problems in its mines but deadly accidents are still routine.

Only last month, Premier Wen Jiabao lamented the nation”s “serious” work safety situation, ordering mining bosses to work side-by-side with workers in the pits to ensure that companies more closely observe safety rules.

Last year 2,631 miners were killed in China, according to official figures, but independent labour groups say the actual figure could be much higher as many accidents are covered up to avoid costly shutdowns.

Earthquake rattles southern California

LOS ANGELES: A magnitude 5.4 earthquake rattled Los Angeles, San Diego and parts of southern California on Wednesday, the United States Geological Survey said.

The epicenter of the quake, which struck at 2353 GMT, was located 13 miles (22 kilometers) northwest of Borrego Springs, 58 miles (94 kilometers) northeast of San Diego, and at a depth of 11.7 kilometers (7.3 miles) USGS said on its web site.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. The quake struck just as people headed home from their jobs and it was felt for about 30 seconds in San Diego, Los Angeles and other parts of southern California. It was felt most in high rises. Authorities in Los Angeles, which was 158 miles (245 kilometers) away from the quake”s epicenter, said the city”s international airport was operating normally.

Mass sabotage wipes out seven million veggies in Australia

SYDNEY: Australian police Thursday probed a mysterious mass poisoning of seven million tomato plants and other crops which cost tens of millions of dollars in damage and is expected to send prices soaring.

Detectives were investigating whether vandals or a competitor with a grudge had put herbicide in sprinklers at a major nursery near the northeastern city of Cairns, wiping out 16 million tonnes of produce, mostly tomatoes.

“It could be a grudge, it could be competition-based or it could be an act of vandalism by a couple of young hoons (vandals) we can”t rule that out either,” said Townsville detective Dave Miles.

The damaged crops also included capsicums, pumpkins, melons, aubergines and courgettes due to be harvested and transported across Australia and to New Zealand and Vanuatu in the coming months.

Baghdad bombs kill three, including Iraqi general

BAGHDAD: Bombers killed three people in Baghdad on Tuesday, one of them an Iraqi general, as insurgents sabotaged a key oil pipeline on the northern outskirts of the capital, security officials said.

The general, whom police identified only by his first name Khodr, was blown up by a magnetic bomb in Aden Square in the Shiite shrine district of Kadhimiya in the north of the city.

A second magnetic bomb killed one person and wounded two outside an army officers” club in Al-Hurriya in northwest Baghdad, police said. There was no immediate word on whether the casualties were soldiers or civilians.

A roadside bomb killed one person and wounded four in a car in the southern district of Dora, police said.

Saboteurs blew up the oil pipeline in Rashidiyeh district on the northeastern fringes of the capital, Baghdad operations command said.

A major pipeline links an oil refinery and power station in Dora with the northern town of Baiji, another refining and power generating hub that is a key junction point on the supply network from Iraq”s northern oil fields around Kirkuk.

Sixteen killed in US floods; scores missing

ARKANSAS: Flash floods have swept away entire campsites in a forest in the southern US state of Arkansas, drowning at least 16 people as they slept and leaving dozens more missing.

Survivors described a torrent of water descending through the Ouachita National Forest, catching campers and families vacationing in hillside cabins completely unaware in the dead of night.

“What is being reported right now from the scene is that there are probably about 30 people still missing,” Chad Stover from the Arkansas department of emergency management, told media, putting the toll at 16.

The exact number of missing was hard to determine as the Albert Pike campground, which bore the brunt of the massive tide of water, had no registration system to show how many campers were present.

Three helicopters were scrambled to help rescuers on foot and horseback as they hunted the forest for survivors from the deluge, which saw local rivers swell by up to six meters (20 feet).

Officials brought a refrigerated truck to the forest to act as a temporary morgue, while at least 30 people had been rescued by early afternoon.

US President Barack Obama ordered federal emergency officials to be on call to help the state authorities if needed and along with the First Lady issued a special message to the disaster victims.

North China expressway accident kills 32

SHENYANG: At least 32 people are dead after a coach and truck collided early Sunday on an expressway in Fuxin City, northeast China”s Liaoning Province.

A spokesman with the Liaoning Public Security Bureau said the accident happened at 3 a.m. when the truck, with an Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region registration, turned the wrong way coming out of a service area.

The two vehicles collided head on and began burning.

Three people on the truck and 28 passengers on the bus died at the scene, he said.

Zhang Zhijing, deputy director of the Zhangwu County People”s Hospital, said the hospital had received 25 injured people from the accident. One of four severely injured people had died.

The coach, with a Tianjin Municipality registration, had 53 people on board. It was en route from Tianjin to Harbin, capital of the northeastern Heilongjiang Province.

Maintenance work was being carried out on the section of the four-lane expressway linking Tieling and Chaoyang cities in Liaoning where the accident happened, according to the local transport authority.

The expressway was cleared and traffic resumed shortly after the crash.

Chen Zhenggao, governor of Liaoning, is on the way to the accident site to oversee the rescue work.

Obama sends top aides to Pakistan over NY bomb plot

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama has dispatched two of his most senior national security aides to Pakistan in the wake of the failed Times Square car bombing, a White House official said Tuesday.

US national security advisor General James Jones and CIA Director Leon Panetta have left on a mission to investigate the May 1 bomb plot, which has been blamed on the Pakistani Taliban.

“In light of the failed Times Square terrorist attack and other terrorist attacks that trace to the border region, we believe that it is time to redouble our efforts with our allies in Pakistan to close this safe haven and create an environment where we and the Pakistani people can lead safe and productive lives,” a White House official told AFP.

“The US and Pakistan have a robust bilateral relationship based on shared interests. We are in frequent contact and this is one of many senior-level engagements that occur,” the official added.

A second US official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said Panetta had been “building bridges” with the Pakistanis in counter-terrorism matters.

“It”s important the Pakistanis hear our latest thinking on the common threat we face from the tribal areas,” the official told AFP.

The discovery of a crude bomb inside a parked car in crowded Times Square prompted an evacuation of the popular tourist spot and a massive manhunt that culminated in the arrest of Pakistani-born US citizen Faisal Shahzad.

Authorities have been interrogating Shahzad since his dramatic arrest at JFK Airport in New York, as his Dubai-bound plane was about to take off.

The arrest came just 53 hours after the attack was foiled by street vendors who spotted smoke coming out of the vehicle and reported it to police.

Federal agents arrested last week three men suspected of funneling money to Shahzad after a series of raids across the northeastern United States.

Power outages continue in Karachi

KARACHI: Long hours unabated electricity outages is underway in parts of Karachi while KESC sources said many feeders have gone tripped due to load shedding, Geo news reported.

Those areas sustained the worst state of load shedding included Defense, CPB Society, Bahadurabad, Landhi, Gadap and Gulistan-e-Johar.

KESC sources said their officials are attentively addressing complaints of consumers who are registering their complaints by phone.

Another town submerged as water level rises in Ataabad lake

GILGIT BALTISTAN: Another town has been inundated due to rising water level in Ataabad lake whereas Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani will likely reach Gilgit today to review the situation. He will take an Ariel view of Ataabad lake and other affected areas.

According to administration of Hunza, Prime Minister’s visit to Hunza depends upon weather conditions. On the other hand, traffic has been suspended near Murtazaabad at Karakoram Highway since two days that suspended land link of Hunza and upper Nagar with other areas.

Talking to Geo News, Deputy Commissioner Hunza Nagar Waqar Taj said that rescue operation has been speed up to reopen the road and it will be opened for traffic till 3:00 pm today if no fresh land sliding will be occurred. He said operation is underway to remove wooden hanging bridges at four different places in Hunza Nagar to avoid damage in case of expected flooding due to water discharge from Ataabad lake.

Man arrested in Pakistan admits aiding Times Square bomb suspect

WASHINGTON: The Pakistani government has arrested a suspect with connections to a Pakistani militant group who said he acted as an accomplice to the man accused of trying to bomb Times Square.

A US newspaper claimed that the suspect, whose arrest has not been previously disclosed, provided an “independent stream” of evidence that the Pakistani Taliban were behind the attempt and has admitted helping Faisal Shahzad, the main suspect.

Officials familiar with the investigation cautioned about inconsistencies in the two suspects” accounts. Federal authorities expanded their search for evidence Thursday, carrying out raids in four northeastern states, and arresting three people suspected of funneling money to Shahzad.

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