الخميس، 5 يناير 2012

Lincoln Tribune

Lincoln Tribune

Link to The Lincoln Tribune

Building collapse in New Delhi leaves five dead

Posted: 05 Jan 2012 03:12 AM PST

NEW DELHI (BNO NEWS) -- Five people were killed on early Wednesday morning when a gas explosion caused a house to collapse in the Indian capital of New Delhi, police said on Thursday.

The accident happened at around 7.30 a.m. local time at a house in the Mundka area of northwest Delhi when several residents were cooking with a leaking gas cylinder. When one of the residents turned on the television, it caused a large explosion.

A local police official said the explosion caused the roof of the building to collapse, killing five people who were inside the single-story building which had three rooms. Eight others were injured, although six of them were able to leave the hospital within hours.

The fatalities were identified as three adults and two children aged 8 and 12, whose parents survived the blast.

"The house was reduced to rubble and almost all my relatives were trapped inside," one relative, who also lived at the house, told the Hindustan Times. "I screamed for help and one of my neighbors called the police. By the time, the rubble was cleared my husband and my 18-year-old son were already dead. I thought it was an earthquake."

The building was described as old and police believe it was already weak before the explosion.

On December 3, four people were killed when a four-story building collapsed in the Uttam Nagar neighborhood of West Delhi. The building collapsed while construction was ongoing in the basement, and the homeowner had just returned from complaining at a government office about the deteriorating condition of his building.

In late September, seven people were killed and 25 others were injured when a three-story building collapsed in the Chandni Mahal area of the walled city of Old Delhi near New Delhi. The collapse was likely caused by digging at a construction complex near the building.

(Copyright 2012 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: sales@bnonews.com.)


Collapse at coal mine in southwestern China kills 9

Posted: 05 Jan 2012 02:48 AM PST

KUNMING, CHINA (BNO NEWS) -- Nine workers have been killed and two others are injured after a collapse at a coal mine in southwestern China, local authorities said on Thursday.

The accident happened at around 5:20 p.m. local time on Tuesday at a mine in Fuyuan county, which is part of Qujing city in Yunnan province. It happened when a group of workers were clearing residue coal, causing a coal heap to collapse.

According to the state-run Xinhua news agency, local officials said that nine miners died while they were being transported to a local hospital. Two other miners were also rushed to a hospital but were said to be in a stable condition.

Tuesday's accident is the second deadliest accident to hit Qujing in the last few months. On November 10, at least 35 miners were killed when methane gas leaked into a shaft at the Sizhuang Coal Mine in Qujing. The gas quickly spread to other parts of the mine, which was operating illegally.

Safety conditions at mines in China have significantly improved in recent years but they remain among the world's most dangerous with 1,083 fatalities in the first seven months of 2011 alone. There were 2,433 fatalities in 2010 and 2,631 in 2009.

China in recent years shut down scores of small mines to improve safety and efficiency in the mining industry. The country has also ordered all mines to build emergency shelter systems by June 2013 which are to be equipped with machines to produce oxygen and air conditioning, protective walls and airtight doors to protect workers against toxic gases and other hazardous factors.

The first manned test of such a permanent underground chamber was carried out in August when around 100 people - including managers, engineers, miners, medical staff, and the chamber's developers - took part in a 48-hour test at a mine owned by the China National Coal Group in the city of Shuozhou in northern China's Shanxi Province.

One of the worst mining accidents in China in recent years happened in November 2009 when 104 workers were killed after several explosions at a coal mine in Heilongjiang province.

(Copyright 2012 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: sales@bnonews.com.)


Indonesians arrested for alleged murder of Taiwanese boat captain

Posted: 05 Jan 2012 01:53 AM PST

TAIPEI (BNO NEWS) -- Two Indonesian deckhands have been taken into custody after allegedly killing the Taiwanese skipper of a fishing boat last December, the Antara news agency reported on Thursday.

The two suspects, identified as Kartubi and Anwar Saepudin, are accused of killing Wang Yao-chang on December 5, 2011, while the vessel, the Chin Hai Hsiang No. 3, was fishing off Myanmar. The prosecutors asked for the two to be detained out of concerns that they might attempt to escape and conspire with each other.

Kartubi admitted beating Wang with a stick after being scolded by him, Antara reported. He and Saepudin then threw his body into the sea, the Pingtung District Prosecutors Office in Taiwan said.

The boat was intercepted by an Indian naval ship on December 9. Indian Navy officers questioned the crewmen and escorted the boat to Port Blair in the Andaman Islands between India and Myanmar.

The suspects were then taken to Taiwan for interrogation. The body of Wang has not been found.

(Copyright 2012 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: sales@bnonews.com.)


After Iowa, How Far Can the Candidates Go?

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 07:09 PM PST

<!--AV-->

There were three strong finishers in the Republican half of the Iowa Presidential Caucuses Tuesday night.

A surprising and new top-tier emerged in Tuesday's caucuses in Iowa. There was the winner, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney; the close runner-up, former senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Congressman Ron Paul of Texas, who finished third.  

Still, the Iowa caucuses are not known for their predictive value, but for their ability to narrow the field.  

Michele Bachmann finished sixth and announced that she is suspending her campaign.

"And so last night, the people of Iowa spoke with a very clear voice and so I have decided to stand aside," she said.

Jennifer Lawless, a professor at American University in Washington, says Iowa also sent a signal to the victor.  "Mitt Romney won, but he still only has 25 percent of that vote.  He will probably do a little better than that percentage in New Hampshire, but that's a part of, an artifact not only of him being from [the region] New England but also fewer candidates in the race.  And so Iowa sent a clear message that he still has not really sealed the deal with the base," she said.

And it is not only the base that Romney has to win over.  Even though he is widely viewed as the strongest contender in a battle against President Barack Obama, he is not embraced by his conservative Republican rivals.

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich, who finished fourth in Iowa, views it this way. "But let's be clear. One of the things which became obvious in the last few weeks in Iowa is that there will be a great debate in the Republican Party before we are prepared to have a great debate with Barack Obama," Gingrich said.

Gingrich is continuing in the race, but Lawless says his words suggest he is abandoning his goal of being his party's nominee.

"Instead it seems that he's now going to be a single-minded seeker of destroying Mitt Romney, and he began that campaign last night," she said.

Socially conservative voters who have been split among Texas Governor Rick Perry, Bachmann and Gingrich might now rally around second-place finisher Rick Santorum.  He surged in the polls only days ahead of the caucuses, thriving on evangelical support, but that top-tier status might be short-lived.

"He hasn't had the opportunity to fall yet, but he hasn't been vetted.  He hasn't been the target of negative ads, and Mitt Romney's venom hasn't been directed at him yet," Lawless said.  

Romney is expected to do well in the New Hampshire primary January 10.  Santorum is expected to do well later this month in conservative South Carolina's primary.  

But what chance has Ron Paul in his third run for the presidency?  

Not much, says Lawless, who authored the book "Becoming a Candidate".

"It is virtually impossible to imagine a path to the presidency for Ron Paul," Lawless said.

While Paul has fervent supporters, his isolationist views and calls for a radically smaller government do not have broad appeal among many Republicans.  That leaves more room for the front-runner Mitt Romney and the other candidates.

Mexican Drug Lord Pleads Guilty in US Court

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 04:38 PM PST

Once-powerful Mexican drug lord Benjamin Arellano Felix has pleaded guilty in a U.S. federal court to charges of racketeering and conspiracy to launder money.

Arellano Felix entered the plea Wednesday in San Diego, California. As part of the 17-page agreement, Arellano Felix admitted smuggling tons of cocaine and marijuana into the U.S. and conspiring to launder millions of dollars.  The deal also calls for him to forfeit $100 million in profits.  He faces a maximum of 25 years in prison when sentenced April 2.  

Arellano Felix headed the Tijuana, Mexico-based cartel bearing his name. Mexican authorities say he led the cartel with some of his brothers from the 1980s until his arrest in Mexico in 2002. Arellano Felix was extradited to the United States in April of last year.  

He is one of the highest-profile cartel members extradited to the U.S. under the administration of Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

More than 50,000 people have been killed in Mexico's drug-related violence since President Calderon took office in December 2006 and began cracking down on the cartels.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
مرسلة بواسطة في

ليست هناك تعليقات:

إرسال تعليق

الاشتراك في: تعليقات الرسالة (Atom)