CRI Hourly News 2012 8 31

 Chinese rescuers race to save trapped miners after deadly blast

 
Thirty-seven miners have been confirmed dead and ten others were still trapped after Wednesday's gas explosion in a coal mine in the southwestern province of Sichuan.
More than 300 rescuers have been dispatched to the Xiaojiawan Coal Mine in the city of Panzhihua in an attempt to free the trapped workers.
However, rescue efforts at the mine are being hampered 1 by narrow underground spaces, cave-ins and high temperatures in the gas-filled pit.
A total of 154 miners were working underground when the accident occurred Wednesday afternoon.
107 of them have been pulled out of the shaft 2. Three miners died on their way to hospital.
 
 
Another flight grounded after threatening message
 
Shenzhen Airlines says one of its flights was diverted to an airport in central China's Wuhan after receiving a threatening message on Thursday evening.
The Flight from Xiangfan city in Hubei Province to Shenzhen, landed safely at Wuhan Tianhe International Airport Thursday night due to safety concerns.
The announcement did not elaborate on the content of the message.
It's the second incident of its kind in China's civil aviation industry in a week.
An Air China flight from Beijing to New York returned to the Beijing International Airport after receiving a threatening message on Wednesday evening.
Nothing unusual was subsequently found aboard the aircraft.
 
 
U.S. defense 3 secretary to visit China in mid-Sept.: MOD spokesman
 
China says that US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will visit the country in mid-September.
A spokesman for China's Ministry 4 of National Defense says the Pentagon chief's visit is part of this year's bilateral 5 military-to-military exchanges.
Colonel Geng Yansheng said at a regular press conference that the two militaries will hold joint 6 anti-piracy maritime 7 exercises.
They will also conduct exchanges on the mechanism 8 for bilateral contact.
Panetta's visit comes after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's trip to China on Sept. 4 and 5.
 
 
270 miners at the South Africa platinum 9 mine charged with murder
 
Miners arrested at the South Africa platinum mine have been charged with murdering their colleagues.
The 270 were in the crowd of striking miners, who confronted police earlier this month.
The confrontation 10 later turned violence as police shot dead 34 miners.
6 of the charged miners are still in hospital after being wounded in the shooting.
Police blamed striking miners for inciting 11 violence leading up to the police shooting.
Video footage showed the miners threw grenades first, prompting police to retaliate 12 in self-defense.
The 270 miners were rejected bail 13.
Their hearing has been adjourned 14 for 7 days.
 
 
IAEA says Iran has doubled underground potential nuclear capacity
 
The International Atomic Energy Agency says Iran has stepped up production of its enriched uranium.
The UN nuclear watchdog says in a report that Iran has doubled the number of uranium enrichment centrifuges it has in an underground bunker.
The report says Tehran has produced a total of 189 kilograms of high-level uranium since May.
The report also indicates Iran's nuclear facilities were buried deep inside a mountain for better protection against military strikes.
The UN nuclear watchdog urged Iran to immediately open Parchin Military Base to UN inspectors 15 to clarify its nuclear program.
 
 
More than 2.5 million people need aid, protection inside Syria: UN
 
The United Nations says that more than 2 and a half million people are "in great need" of humanitarian 16 assistance inside Syria.
The statement has come as UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson was briefing the UN Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Syria.
Eliasson said Syrians are most in need of water, sanitation 17, food, shelter, blankets and health care.
Eliasson said the number of people in need has more than doubled the number in March.
The council meeting was called by France, which holds the rotating presidency 18 for this month.
 
 
Paul Ryan speech challenged
 
Republican Vice 19 Presidential nominee 20 Paul Ryan has come under fire over alleged 21 inaccuracies during his convention debut 22.
Ryan attacked President Obama cutting the Medicare money to cover the costs of the 2010 health care reform law passed by the Democrats 23.
However fact-checking groups say Ryan's budget plan has the same savings 24.
At the same time, Ryan complained that proposals to repeal 25 Obama's health reform law by a budget commission were not adopted.
However, Ryan didn't mention that he opposed the proposals.
Ryan did say he and Romney welcomed the upcoming debates before the Election Day on 6th November.
 
 
People's Bank of China injects RMB40 billion of liquidity 26 via reverse repo
 
People's Bank of China (PBOC) has conducted another round of reverse repo, injecting 40 billion yuan worth of liquidity to the market.
Reverse repo, or 'Reverse Repurchase Agreement', means the purchase of securities with the agreement to sell them at a higher price at a specific future date.
The new round brings the total injection to 165 billion yuan within the last week.
Meanwhile, an official with PBOC has stated that reverse repo rates may be one tool to achieve the goal of interest rates liberalization.