The death toll from a Russian coal mine accident has reached 52, with 38 people still missing, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said Tuesday. "The rescue operation to locate and recover the missing people is being carried out around the clock," Veronica Smolskaya, spokeswoman for the ministry, told CNN. More than 80 survivors are currently in hospitals, according to the Russian State Health authorities.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/05/11/russia.mine.blast/index.html?hpt=T2

Emergency Situation Minister Sergei Shoigu said more than 700 rescue workers are now combing numerous underground tunnels of the mine, and the plan is to complete the operation within the next 24 hours, according to the ministry's website. He was speaking at a special meeting of the rescue headquarters in Kemerovo region, which was also attended by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who traveled to the region Tuesday. Russian officials are still displaying hope and optimism in public, but several sources at the mine told Russian reporters on conditions of anonymity that finding anyone underground who survived the explosions would be a miracle. What do you think can be done in order to prevent these kind of accidents in the future?

Week 15

This time last year, Somali pirates dominated headlines in the U.S. The hijacking of the Maersk Alabama, a tanker captained by an American, led to a made-for-Hollywood intervention by sharp-shooting marines and triggered a media frenzy about the rise of piracy off the Horn of Africa. In the months that followed, a U.S. and E.U.-led naval task force stepped up patrols around Somalia's coastline and lessened the threat posed by pirates there. This year there were only 17 attacks in the Gulf of Aden and waters surrounding Somalia between January and March — a peak time for piracy in the region because of a favorable weather conditions — compared to over 40 in that same period in 2009.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1984473,00.html?hpt=T2

Despite the vigil of many of the world's powerful navies, it's clear that the pirates' reach seems to be widening, with the majority of recent successful attacks taking place closer to the Indian Ocean archipelagos of the Maldives and the Seychelles than Somalia. Currently, 15 vessels and 326 sailors are being held by Somali pirates — similar numbers to this time last year. Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Centre based in Kuala Lumpur, says his organization has been receiving frantic calls from shipowners asking what Indian Ocean routes are actually safe. "It's difficult to know what to tell them," he says. "The pirates have been popping up almost everywhere." How can we stop them?

the death toll from last week's 6.9-magnitude earthquake in northwest China has risen to 2,039, state media said late Monday. Another 195 people were still missing, the state-run Xinhua news agency said, citing rescue headquarters. It added that 12,135 people were injured, of whom 1,434 were in serious condition. Since the quake struck the country's Tibetan region, rescuers have been working round the clock to find survivors and pull them from the rubble. The earthquake toppled about 15,000 homes in and around the impoverished county of Yushu, and caused more than 100,000 people to flee the area. Qinghai province is home to about 5 million people and is considered a gateway to Himalayan Tibet. About half its people are Han Chinese, but the area is home to more than 40 ethnic groups, including Tibetans, Hui and Mongols.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/19/china-quake-toll-rises-to-nearly-2000/

There was a time when if a natural disaster occurred in a country, the people would look up and ask, what did we do to deserve this?

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution Tuesday, Mar.16, urging the Chinese Communist Party to end its decade-long campaign against Falun Gong and expressing solidarity with victims of persecution in China.

House Resolution 605 recognizes, “the continued persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China on the 11th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party campaign to suppress the Falun Gong spiritual movement and calling for an immediate end to the campaign to persecute, intimidate, imprison, and torture Falun Gong practitioners.” “The Falun Gong spiritual discipline is based on truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance,” said Ros-Lehtinen. “Yet these innocents are brutally targeted by the Chinese regime. The stark reality which this resolution addresses gives new meaning to the phrase 'Butchers of Beijing.’” All the Governments of the World are aware of these atrocities and many many more but choose to keep them from us and continue to do Business as Usual because of corporate greed. What are your ideas?

week 11

A group of suspected pirates was captured Thursday after attacking a U.S. Navy frigate in the Indian Ocean, according to a statement released by the U.S. Sixth Fleet. The USS Nicholas reported taking fire from a suspected pirate skiff shortly after midnight local time west of the Seychelles, the statement said. The Nicholas quickly returned fire and began pursuing the skiff, which was eventually disabled. A boarding team from the Nicholas subsequently captured and detained three people, the statement said.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/04/01/navy.pirates/index.html?hpt=T1

The team discovered ammunition and several cans of fuel aboard the skiff, which was later sunk by the Nicholas. Two more suspected pirates were captured on a confiscated "mother ship," the statement said. The detainees will "remain in U.S. custody on board Nicholas until a determination is made regarding their disposition," it said. I'm glad to hear that the U.S. is able to handle problems such as pirates. This helps to keep us safe and many other people in other countries.

Week 9

At least 39 people have been killed after two suicide attackers targeted a military convoy in a high-security area of Lahore, in the second attack on the Pakistani city this week.

The two bombers, each carrying around 12 kilograms of explosives, approached their targets on foot and detonated their bombs within 15 to 20 seconds of each other, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sana Ullah said on local television.

At least five Pakistani soldiers were killed, he said.

At least 95 other people were injured in the attack, according to local police.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/03/12/pakistan.bombing/index.html?hpt=T2

I think the bombings are horrible. The killing of innocent people for no reason is always unjustified. The government could possibly be to blame for this though. They need to press on to keep the attacks to minimums. It is the second attack on military personnel in Lahore this week. On Monday, the Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide blast that killed 13 people in an affluent part of Model Town. The attacker targeted the Special Investigation Agency, a provincial law-enforcement agency that investigates high-value detainees.