health: Lincoln Tribune

الجمعة، 27 أبريل 2012

Lincoln Tribune

Roadside bomb kills 3 U.S. troops in Afghanistan
South African, Australian citizens killed in Indonesia plane crash
11 miners trapped after coal mine floods in southwestern China
‘Prison Break’ actor Lane Garrison charged after hitting ex-girlfriend
Ukraine begins work on shelter to cover Chernobyl reactor

Roadside bomb kills 3 U.S. troops in Afghanistan

Posted: 27 Apr 2012 02:11 AM PDT

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (BNO NEWS) -- Three U.S. service members were killed on Thursday when a roadside bomb exploded in eastern Afghanistan, U.S. officials said, hours after a rogue Afghan soldier killed another U.S. service member.

United States Forces - Afghanistan (USFOR-A) said three of its service members were killed when an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded in Afghanistan's east. Pending notification of next-of-kin, the force did not release other details about the incident, including the exact location.

Meanwhile, USFOR-A confirmed another U.S. service member was killed on late Wednesday evening when an individual wearing an Afghan National Army (ANA) uniform turned his weapon against coalition service members in southern Afghanistan. "The individual who opened fire was killed when coalition forces returned fire," the force said.

Also on Thursday, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) released the identities of two U.S. soldiers who died in Afghanistan earlier this week.

DoD said 22-year-old Specialist Manuel J. Vasquez, of West Sacramento, California, died in Afghanistan's eastern province of Paktika on Tuesday. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade at Grafenwoehr in Germany. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said Vasquez died as a result of a non-battle related injury.

U.S. officials also confirmed 21-year-old Specialist Benjamin H. Neal, of Orfordville, Wisconsin, was killed in Kandahar province on Wednesday when insurgents attacked his unit with an IED. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.

The deaths on Thursday and Wednesday raise the number of coalition troops killed in Afghanistan so far this year to 128, most of them American and British service members, according to official figures. A U.S. Marine and two U.S. soldiers were killed on Sunday as a result of two separate IED attacks in Afghanistan.

A total of 566 ISAF troops were killed in Afghanistan in 2011, down from 711 in 2010. A majority of the fallen troops were American and were killed in the country's south, which is plagued by IED attacks on troops and civilians.

There are currently more than 130,000 ISAF troops in Afghanistan, including some 90,000 U.S. troops and more than 9,500 British soldiers. U.S. President Barack Obama previously ordered a drawdown of 23,000 U.S. troops later this year, and foreign combat troops are due to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

South African, Australian citizens killed in Indonesia plane crash

Posted: 26 Apr 2012 07:00 PM PDT

SAMARINDA, INDONESIA (BNO NEWS) -- A small Susi Air plane crashed in eastern Indonesia on late Wednesday afternoon, killing a South African pilot and his Australian passenger, officials said on Thursday. There were no survivors.

The accident happened at around 5:10 p.m. local time on Wednesday when the Pilatus PC-6 aircraft crashed near Ritan village, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from Tabang in Kutai Kartanegara Regency of East Kalimantan province. The wreckage was not located until 1:30 a.m. local time on Thursday.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), said both people on board the aircraft were found dead. The victims were identified as 27-year-old South African pilot Jonathan Willis and 57-year-old Australian passenger Ian Douglas.

"We can confirm a 57-year-old Australian man has died as a result of a plane crash in Indonesia. Consular officials in Jakarta are providing support to the man's family in Indonesia," a spokesperson for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said, without giving other details.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said Willis was a photographer and the aircraft was flying in the region to carry out aerial photography. He said the aircraft was manufactured in 2009 and was believed to be in a good condition. "There were technical problems in the fuel system and they had to make an emergency landing after flying 5 hours," he said, adding that the aircraft had a flying capacity of 7 hours.

11 miners trapped after coal mine floods in southwestern China

Posted: 26 Apr 2012 06:17 PM PDT

QIAOJIA TOWNSHIP, CHINA (BNO NEWS) -- A coal mine flooded in southwestern China on late Thursday morning, trapping at least eleven mine workers, officials said. It follows a series of deadly mine accidents in China in recent weeks.

The incident occurred at around 10:30 a.m. local time at the Xinsheng coal mine in Qiaojia township of Guizhou province, according to a spokesman for the State Administration of Work Safety. A total of 18 people were working underground when the mine was flooded.

Seven of the miners were able to escape the mine on their own, but the remaining eleven miners were still trapped on Friday morning. "There are eleven people trapped underground. The rescue work is being carried out," the spokesman said, giving no other details about the incident.

More than 200 rescue workers are working to locate the missing workers.

Safety conditions at mines in China have significantly improved in recent years but they remain among the world's most dangerous with at least 289 fatalities in the first quarter of this year. There were a total of 1,973 fatalities in 2011, 2,433 fatalities in 2010 and 2,631 in 2009, according to official figures.

A series of deadly accidents has hit mines in China in recent weeks. On Monday, a powerful explosion ripped through the Xingya Coal Mine in Bayannur, a prefecture-level city in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region of northern China. More than two dozen people were working at the mine when the blast happened, killing nine of them and injuring sixteen others.

Earlier this month, eleven workers were killed when floodwaters trapped a group of miners who were working at the Shanfu Coal Mine near the city of Changzhi in Xiangyuan County, which is located in Shanxi province. The owner of the mine initially claimed nine miners were trapped, but local authorities later discovered that eleven people were working at the mine which was operating with an expired production license.

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 2011 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.

‘Prison Break’ actor Lane Garrison charged after hitting ex-girlfriend

Posted: 26 Apr 2012 05:03 PM PDT

BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA (BNO NEWS) -- American actor Lane Garrison, who is best known for portraying David "Tweener" Apolskis on the television series 'Prison Break', was charged with one count of misdemeanor battery on Thursday after allegedly hitting his ex-girlfriend.

Garrison, 31, is accused of hitting former Playboy Playmate Ashley Mattingly during an argument early Saturday evening while exiting an elevator at an apartment building in Beverly Hills. "When witnesses allegedly approached the pair, Garrison ran from the building," said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

Hours before the incident, Mattingly announced on the social networking site Twitter that she had broken up with Garrison. "Sooo happy to be single again from [Lane Garrison] bye bye :) hahahaha," she wrote on her profile, giving no other details. "Happiest day of my life," she later added.

Garrison is still on parole after an accident in December 2006 when he crashed his 2001 Land Rover into a tree, killing his 17-year-old passenger and injuring two 15-year-old girls. Garrison was found to have a blood-alcohol level of .20 percent as well as cocaine in his system, and he was later sentenced to 40 months in jail. He was released from prison in April 2009, having served less than half of his sentence.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said Garrison is due in Beverly Hills Superior Court on Friday for arraignment. He is being held without bail due to the potential parole violation and faces up to one year in county jail and a $2,000 fine if convicted of misdemeanor battery.

Ukraine begins work on shelter to cover Chernobyl reactor

Posted: 26 Apr 2012 02:59 PM PDT

PRIPYAT, UKRAINE (BNO NEWS) -- Ukraine on Thursday launched the construction of the so-called 'New Shelter' which will cover the fourth reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which suffered a catastrophic explosion exactly 26 years ago.

Thursday marked the 26th anniversary of the world's worst nuclear accident in history, killing thousands of people as a result of radioactive contamination. The Ukrainian government has worked for years to gather the required funds to build a huge shelter to cover the fourth reactor at Chernobyl, delaying the construction for more than seven years.

"The efforts to bring down the consequences rate of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster continues today," Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said on Thursday. "On the day of 26-year anniversary, works are being launched on the construction of the new safe confinement - a unique building which will cover the remains of the destroyed fourth power unit and transform the existing sarcophagus into an ecologically safe system."

The construction of the facility, which will also allow the storage of spent nuclear fuel, is expected to be completed in 2015. It will cost some €990 million ($1.3 billion) to build the shelter. The main contributors, except Ukraine, are the European Union, the United States, Britain, Germany, Russia, France, Japan, Italy, Canada and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

Also on Thursday, the Ukrainian government said it is considering whether to allow more activities in the so-called Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, an area covering a radius of 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) which remains evacuated due to the increased levels of radiation. The nuclear plant is located in this zone.

Radiation in the zone remains too high for permanent residence and will likely remain so for decades to come, but falling radiation levels have allowed tourists to explore the zone in recent years. The zone has also become a haven for wildlife which has seemingly adapted to the radiation, causing existing populations to multiply and allowing species not seen there for decades to return.

Volodymyr Kholosha, Head of the State Agency of Ukraine for the management of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, said Wednesday that most settlements just outside the exclusion zone may operate without restrictions. He said many areas just outside the zone have seen decreasing radioactive environmental contamination and an improved radiological situation due to natural processes and countermeasures aimed at reducing the radiation.

"Fortunately, the situation shows that in most of these settlements it is possible to live without any restrictions under the radiation factor and to be deal with socio-economic development of these areas. This is positive news," Kholosha said, responding to the results of a government investigation into the radioactive environmental contamination outside the exclusion zone.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that some 50 emergency workers died of acute radiation syndrome, nine children died of thyroid cancer, and an estimated 3,940 emergency workers and residents of the most contaminated areas have or will eventually die of radiation-induced cancer and leukemia. The Chernobyl disaster contaminated more than 200,000 square kilometers (77,220 square miles) of Europe.

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الجمعة، 27 أبريل 2012

Lincoln Tribune

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