CHINA: Dozens found alive in flooded Chinese mine

9:54 PM PDT, April 4, 2010

Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Rescuers cheer as some of the workers trapped for more than a week are brought to the surface.

XIANGNING, China - Dozens of Chinese miners were pulled out alive after being trapped for more than a week in a flooded coal mine, sparking cheers among the hundreds of rescue workers who had raced to save them and had almost given up hope.

A live state television broadcast counted off the number of survivors -- now up to 35 -- as miners wrapped in blankets were hurried to ambulances that sped to nearby hospitals.

State television said rescuers were preparing to pull as many as 70 to 80 miners out of the mine, though conditions underground remain complicated. A total of 153 workers had been trapped, and there was no word on the fate of the rest.

"A miracle has finally happened," a rescue headquarters spokesman, Liu Dezheng, told reporters Monday morning.

The first rescue early Monday morning had seemed beyond hope for days before crews heard tapping from deep underground Friday.

Some of the soaked miners had hung from shaft walls by their belts for days. Hundreds of rescuers were underground with hopes that glimpses of swinging lights and new tapping sounds meant even more survivors could be found.

Liu said the first batch of nine rescued miners, who were pulled out Monday morning shortly after midnight, were in stable condition. The state-run New China News Agency said all nine were conscious and could say their name and hometown, but their bodies had suffered from being soaked for so long. Television footage showed at least one miner was brought out barefoot.
China Central Television said some miners managed to attach themselves to a wall with their belts when the water rushed in, and they hung there for three days before getting into a mining cart that floated by.

The miners had been trapped since March 28 when workers digging tunnels broke into a water-filled abandoned shaft.
Before rescuers heard tapping noises from below Friday, they had feared this would be China's deadliest mine disaster in more than two years.

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CHINA: The Tour, It Is A-Changin’

Published: April 4, 2010

Arts, Briefly, Compiled by RACHEL LEE HARRIS

Bob Dylan canceled a leg of his Asian tour after the Chinese government refused him permission to play scheduled performances in Shanghai and Beijing this month, Agence France-Presse reported.

Brokers Brothers Herald, Mr. Dylan’s Taiwan-based promoter, said the Chinese culture ministry gave Mr. Dylan “no alternative” but to cancel subsequent shows in Hong Kong and Taiwan. “The chance to play in China was the main attraction for him,” Jeffrey Wu, Brokers’ chief of operations, told The South China Morning Post of Hong Kong. “When that fell through, everything else was called off.”

The ministry did not respond to telephone calls from Agence France-Presse on Sunday, but Mr. Wu said that the Chinese government had become more selective about performances by foreigners after Bjork’s 2008 concert in Shanghai, where she shouted “Tibet, Tibet!” while performing her song “Declare Independence.” Later that year China imposed rules on such concerts, including one that said, “Those who used to take part in activities that harm our nation’s sovereignty are firmly not allowed to perform in China.”

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JAPAN: Transfer of 'whale meat' blocked

Cutting the supply chain: Greenpeace activists chain themselves to the mooring ropes of container ship the NYK Orion and display banners in Rotterdam on Friday in protest over an alleged attempt to transport fin whale meat to Japan. AP / GREENPEACE

Sunday, April 4, 2010

AMSTERDAM (AP) A ship unloaded seven containers believed to contain meat from endangered fin whales bound for Japan on Friday after Greenpeace activists chained themselves to its mooring ropes to prevent it from leaving Rotterdam harbor.

Greenpeace spokeswoman Arja Helmig said the organization had acted after receiving a credible tip that the ship, the NYK Orion, was carrying meat shipped by whalers from Iceland to a Japanese customer.

The 15 activists unchained themselves after the contested meat was unloaded.

NYK Lines spokesman Robin de Pauw said the company was preparing a statement about the incident.

Rotterdam police spokeswoman Tine De Jonge said the NYK Orion had proper permits to transport the meat, and nobody was arrested Friday.

She said NYK had voluntarily agreed to unload the containers.

"It's an absurd situation," said Greenpeace's Helmig. "It's illegal to import this meat into the Netherlands, but the authorities turn a blind eye when it passes through."

It was unclear what will happen with the meat.

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