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State media: China mine accident kills 13
Thirteen miners were killed and five are still missing after a "gas outburst" Tuesday at a coal mine in China's southwestern Guizhou province, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Rescuers were continuing the search late Tuesday for the five missing miners at the Anping coal mine, the agency said. The bodies of 10 workers have been recovered.
FULL STORYFour trapped in Wales coal mine
[Updated at 9:16 a.m. ET] Four people are trapped in a coal mine in Swansea Valley, South Wales, police confirmed Thursday.
Rescue services are at the scene at Gleision Colliery, a police spokeswoman said.
Seven people were in the mine when the incident occurred, and emergency services were called soon after 9 a.m. local time (4 a.m. ET), the spokeswoman said.
Three of them got out of the mine and one has been taken to the hospital, she said, but his or her condition is unknown.
Local lawmaker Gwenda Thomas, who represents the Neath constituency in which the mine lies, near Cilybebyll, issued a statement saying she was heading back to the area.
"I am currently travelling back to Rhos community center from Cardiff. My thoughts are with all the family and friends of those currently trapped in the mine and I have confidence in all the emergency services at the scene."
A spokesman for Thomas, Robert James, told CNN the colliery was one of the few remaining drift mines operating in the area.
In a drift mine, coal is excavated from the side of a hill using shafts that are almost horizontal.
- CNN's Laura Smith-Spark contributed to this report.
Rescuers in China hear 'knocking' as they scramble to save 22 coal miners
Rescuers struggling to save 22 miners trapped underground in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province reported hearing "knocking sounds" within the mine early Monday, according to state-run media.
The report from the Hengtai coal mine, which has been flooded for a week, came about 2 a.m. after rescuers knocked on the sides of a 900-foot-deep hole that was drilled Sunday to make contact with the miners. The knocking is believed to be a response from the miners, Xinhua reported.
Relief supplies including food, a lamp, pen and paper were lowered down the hole, and something shook the rope to which the package was tied, but when rescuers brought the package back to the surface, it remained unopened, Xinhua said.
Forty-five miners were working Tuesday when the flooding occurred. Nineteen miners escaped, Xinhua reported, and rescue workers are attempting to pump water out of the mine.
Tuesday's live video events
There's a bit of a budget battle in Washington as President Obama and Congress look to prevent some kind of a government shutdown. Watch CNN.com Live for continuing coverage of the budget crisis.
Today's programming highlights...
10:00 am ET - 9/11 military trials hearing - Attorney General Eric Holder announced Monday that the suspects in the 9/11 attacks on the United States would be tried in military tribunals and not civilian courts. A House judiciary subcommittee will discuss the matter and more.
Dangerous conditions delay New Zealand coal mine rescue
A toxic mix of gasses inside a New Zealand coal mine kept frustrated rescue workers on the sidelines again Monday, as they waited for the go-ahead to try to reach 29 miners trapped underground.
No one has heard from the men - ages 17 to 62 - since an explosion inside the mine around 4 p.m. Friday afternoon. Officials hope they are alive, though they do not know if the men found a safe haven or whether parts or all of the mine collapsed.
Official: Gas prevents rescue of New Zealand miners
Authorities listed the nationalities Saturday of the 29 miners trapped in a New Zealand coal mine and said gas levels inside are still too high to attempt a rescue.
Most of the miners are New Zealanders, but there are also two Australians, two Britons, and one South African, New Zealand Police said.
Air samples taken late Saturday afternoon indicated the gas levels inside the Pike River mine were still high, making the risk for rescuers too great, said Gary Knowles, superintendent of the Tasman Police District, who is heading the rescue effort.
On the Radar: Miners in U.S., Rangel punished
Miners in America - The men who survived 69 days in a Chilean mine are in Atlanta, Georgia, on their first U.S. tour since being rescued last month. The miners are on their way to Los Angeles, California, to tape "CNN Heroes: An All Star Tribute," which will air on Thanksgiving.
"I want to see the world," said 27-year-old miner Richard Villarroell, who has only been to Argentina. "I know all of Chile, but not the rest of the world."
CNN Heroes brings attention to regular people around the globe who are doing significant things that improve lives. The Chileans were invited because they symbolize the resiliency and endurance of the human spirit.
Rangel punished, Murkowski claims win - Politics is making news Thursday from New York to Alaska. New York Rep. Charles Rangel will be punished by his colleagues for violating House rules. The House ethics committee meets today and could recommend anything from a fine to expulsion. In Alaska, Sen. Lisa Murkowski has finally declared victory over fellow-Republican Joe Miller. The votes are still being counted. Murkowski would be the first write-in candidate to win a Senate race since Strom Thurmond in 1954.
Mystery bone - Investigators hope to determine Thursday whether a jawbone found on an Aruba beach belongs to an animal or a human. It's possible that the bone is from the body of Natalee Holloway, the missing American teenager. If the bone is human, authorities will attempt to find out using a DNA match whether it belongs to Holloway, who was last seen on the island in 2005. The Netherlands Forensic Institute in The Hague is examining the bone. Joran van der Sloot, the suspect in the Holloway case, is being held in Castro-Castro prison in Peru on another murder charge. Holloway's mother met with him recently.
Government moves to shut down Kentucky coal mine
The federal government, in an action that it says is the first of its kind, filed a lawsuit Wednesday to close a Kentucky coal mine until its owner can make it safe for workers.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration, filing in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, seeks a preliminary injunction against the Freedom Energy Mining Co. mine No. 1 in Pike County. The mine is owned by Massey Energy Co.
"Freedom Energy has demonstrated time and again that is cannot be trusted to follow basic safety rules when an MSHA inspector is not at the mine," Joseph A. Main, assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health, said in a statement. "If the court does not step in, somebody may be seriously injured or die."
Massey Energy also owns a coal mine in West Virginia where 29 miners died in an explosion April 5, the industry's worst disaster in 40 years. The mine had a spotty safety record before the explosion, with three deaths reported in the past 12 years.
Blast kills 21 in China mine
A gas explosion Saturday killed at least 21 workers and 16 others were trapped at a coal mine in central China, authorities told state-run media.
Rescuers have retrieved 20 bodies so far, the official Xinhua news agency reported. The 16 trapped miners have been located but rescuers have to clear coal dust from the shaft in order to reach them.
On the Radar: Chile miners, T.I. in court, space tourism
Chilean miners - More miners are expected to be discharged Friday from a regional hospital in Chile following their rescue after 69 days underground, and officials said they hope that all 33 will be home by Sunday.
Three miners were discharged Thursday night, CNN Chile reported. CNN's sister network identified them as Juan Illanes, Edison Pena and Carlos Mamani. It aired video of several men and what appeared to be their families inside a red van departing the hospital grounds. We also heard for the first time from rescue workers - including the last man into the capsule - who says he was "just one link" in the chain.
T.I. hearing - Rapper T.I. may learn his fate at an Atlanta, Georgia, court hearing Friday, days after he helped a suicidal man who wanted to jump off a building.
Mountain-top removal protesters arrested
More than 100 people protesting mountain-top removal coal mining were arrested Monday outside the White House for failing to obey an order to disperse, the U.S. Park Service said.
All 114 people arrested at the protest against mountain-top mining were later released pending a court date, according to the park service.
The protesters, most from the Appalachian coal-mining states, had a permit to gather in front of the White House, but some failed to follow rules set out in the permit, according to a park service spokesman.
The protest capped a three-day event called "Appalachia Rising" in the nation's capital. Residents of states in the coal mining region - West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee - first came together for a weekend conference called "Voices from the Mountains."
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