Emily's News Blog

A methane explosion in Ukraine killed 63 miners leaving 37 still trapped in the mine after rescuers saved more than 360 miners, according to the New York Times.

The explosion, the deadliest accident in Ukraine since 2000, occurred in the heart of the country's coal mining industry in the regional capital Donetsk. The mine was particularly dangerous because of it's extreme depth at more than 3,000 feet because methane concentrations increase with depth.

President Viktor Yushchenko's office has issued a statement saying that Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's government is to blame for ignoring the mining sector and it's safety violations, according to the Washington Post. Yanukovych has declared a three-day mourning period for the victims.

Since 1991, when communism took over Ukraine, 4,700 miners have died in accidents.

Posted by Emily Weber at 8:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

An insurgent attack killed six U.S. troops and three Afghan soldiers in the deadliest attack in Afghanistan since February, according to the New York Times.

The attack, that also left 11 U.S. troops and eight Afghan soldiers injured, was a complex attack involving machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

The troops were walking back from a meeting with village elders in Arnis, a village in the Waygal District, when the attack occurred.

This attack brings the total U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan to 101 from an Associated Press count, according to the Washington Post.

So far this year in there have been a record 130 suicide attacks in Afghanistan, and a suicide bombing killing 75, the deadliest attack since 2001.

Posted by Emily Weber at 7:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Only one has died in the Mexican state of Tabasco but thousands are still trapped on rooftops, according to the Star Tribune. Four had died in the neighboring state, Chiapas, after days of heavy rain. Officials said that the death toll could rise because so many are still trapped in their homes or on their rooftops.

President Felipe Calderon called it one of the worst natural disasters in recent history. The United States, the European Union and Canada all sent aid.

Villahermosa, home to about half a million people, was flooded Friday when water levels burst through sandbag barriers, according to Reuters.

Many may be spending another night on their rooftops as tens of thousands are already crammed into emergency shelters. A local navy commander said that 28,000 people had been evacuated as army and navy personal attempt to reach people by boat and by helicopter.

Posted by Emily Weber at 7:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The United States designated one military force in Iran as a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction and another force as supporters of terrorism, according to Reuters.

The U.S. has imposed sanctions on more than 20 Iranian companies, some banks and individuals in an effort to pressure Tehran into stopping their nuclear program.

The United States has labeled Iran as sponsoring terrorism, singling our the Revolutionary Guard Corps displays growing frustrations, according to the New York Times.

The action will freeze any assets the guard has in the United States, though it's unlikely that the guard has many assets in American banks or institutions.

There have been efforts by the United Nations to curb Iran's activities but after two round of sanctions China and Russia disagreed to go further. The Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, after visiting Iran last week, said there was no reason for military strikes, according to the New York Times.

The over-all goal of the designation is to increase political and psychological pressure on Iran.

Posted by Emily Weber at 7:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani resigned Saturday, according to CNN.

Larijani was considered one of the more moderate people involved in the ongoing dispute over Iran's nuclear policies. His resignation may make negotiations with more radical President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad quite a bit more difficult. Iran has been accused of secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons by enriching uranium that they continually claim to be for energy purposes.

The was conflict between Larijani and Ahmadinejad stemmed from a struggle for power after Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dies, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. said, according to CNN.

Larijani had reportedly requested resignation several times before the president accepted it. He resigned in order to pursue other political activities, according to the Iranian government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham, reported the New York Times.

Posted by Emily Weber at 1:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Three men, two Americans and one Brition, have been awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine for 2007, according to the New York Times. They will split the $1.54 million prize that they've received for developing a widely used technology to create animal models of human disease in mice. This process is also known as gene targeting.

The three men receiving the prize are Mario R. Capecchi, 70, of the University of Utah, Oliver Smithies, 82, of the University of North Carolina, and Sir Martin J. Evans, 66, in Cardiff University in Whales, according to the New York Times.

The three men mostly worked independently but shared their research with each other, according to the Washington Post. All three were surprised and happy with the news of the award after working on this for 20 years.

The process they developed has been used to study heart disease, cancer, cystic fibrosis, diabetes and other diseases. Smithies hopes that the award will make it easier to secure funding for further research, according to the Washington Post.

Posted by Emily Weber at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The recent crackdown in Myanmar by the armed junta forces on peaceful for-democracy demonstrations have drawn international attention and concern to the country. About 1,000 refugees from Myanmar live in Minnesota and 200 gathered by the capitol in St. Paul to support change in the country, according to the Star Tribune.

The violence began just before dawn on Thursday with attacks on Buddhist monasteries in the country's main city Yangon. United Nations has sent an envoy in to help find a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Other countries including Russia, China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations also urged Myanmar to restrain violence and address the demonstrator's desires, according to CNN.

Hundreds of monks are detained and monasteries are deserted. Nine are reported dead by the government of Myanmar, but human rights activist say that the death toll is much higher, according to the New York Times.

The demonstration is the largest opposition to the current ruling junta since it came to power 19 years ago. The government has shut off access to its internet, confiscated cameras from pedestrians and taken other measures to stop the flow of information from inside the country to the rest of the world. Pressure from China, Myanmar's neighbor and closest trading parter, would be very influential in moving the country into a peaceful means of resolving the conflict, according to the New York Times. China has yet to join the rest of the world in boycotting or financially isolating Myanmar.

Posted by Emily Weber at 1:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The presence of private security contractors in Iraq will be reviewed after a shooting that left eight people dead, according to the New York Times. Blackwater, one of the security companies working in Iraq for the United States has been banned from working in the country. A spokeswoman from Blackwater said that the individuals fired upon were armed enemies, who had fired at a U.S. convoy and were fired upon in defense.

Reuters reported that in the shooting Sunday, 11 people were killed, according the Iraqi Interior Ministry. The interior ministry also said that Blackwater contractors fired randomly after the convoy appeared to be under attack.

There are 1000 Blackwater employees in Iraq that provide protection for U.S. embassy officials in Baghdad. Security firms function under a memorandum that makes them immune to Iraqi law, according to Reuters. Many companies operate without a license, and the rules do not apply evenly to all forces. Baghdad security sources told Reuters that it was "widely known that Blackwater was opperating without a license because they worked under the protection of the U.S. Embassy."

The Iraqi government said it would review the status of all security companies operating in Iraq. It may be difficult to prosecute any Blackwater contractors because they operate under a law that protects them from Iraqi prosecution.

Posted by Emily Weber at 4:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Following a 8.4 magnitude earthquake off the shore of Indonesia was several smaller quakes and seismic tremors. A 10-foot tsunami resulted from the first major quake and mostly went out to sea but wiping out only a dozen houses of a small fishing community according to the Star Tribune
Three days after the first quake, smaller ones ranging from 4.9 to 7.8 magnitude are still shaking the Bengkulu Province. People are sleeping outside in tents because their homes have already been destroyed or because they do not what to be in them if they finally do collapse. It's safer outside, reported the New York Times.
There were 14 casualties and th structural damage was considered not that bad and a need for international aid was not desperately necessary.

Posted by Emily Weber at 9:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)