19 people killed, 28 missing in Chinese mine blast

A gas explosion at a coal mine in southwest China has killed 19 people and left 28 trapped underground, state media say.Efforts are underway to rescue the remaining miners at the Xiaojiawan mine in Panzhihua city in Sichuan province.

The blast happened on Wednesday evening when about 150 miners were underground.By Thursday morning, more than 100 people had been rescued and taken to hospital.Chinese state television said rescue teams had retrieved the bodies of 16 miners who died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Another three people died in hospital.

The mine is owned by Zhengjin Industry and Trade Co Ltd. Its officials are assisting in a police investigation, the city government said in a statement on its official microblogging site.Accidents are frequent in China's mining industry, which is criticised for poor safety standards.

Official figures show that 1,973 people died in coal mining accidents in the country last year. While this represented a 19% drop compared to the year before, some have suggested that actual numbers could be higher as not all incidents may have been reported. China's central government has introduced measures aimed at improving standards but these directives are often ignored at local level

11 militants killed on Georgia-Russia border

At least 11  militanta and three special forces personnel have been killed near the  Georgia-Russia border, the Georgian interior ministry said.

Interior ministry units on Wednesday sealed off a gorge near the border with southwestern Russia's Dagestan region where an armed group was detected Tuesday.

According to Georgian media reports, around 20 well-armed militants trespassed into the country's territory from Dagestan, taking about 10 locals hostage, who were later released

World’s oldest person celebrates 116th birthday.

The world’s oldest living person celebrated her 116th birthday Sunday, the Guinness World Records
Besse Cooper,of Monroe, Ga., was certified as the world’s oldest person by Guinness World Records in January 2011, but she had to relinquish the title for a few months when it was discovered that Maria Gomes Valentim was 48 days older, according to the website.

Cooper was reinstated when Valentim died in June 2011 and Robert Young, senior consultant of gerontology for Guinness World Records, presented her with another plaque at her birthday party Sunday.

Cooper was born in Tennessee and moved to Georgia during World War I to find employment as a teacher. She has 12 grandchildren and more than a dozen great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. Her husband, Luther, died in 1963.Cooper told Guinness World Records that the secret to her longevity was not eating junk food, and “I mind my own business.”

 

Now, permanent cure for high blood pressure.

Scientists have developed a radical therapy that could provide a permanent cure for high blood pressure by zapping the kidneys with radio waves.
The breakthrough by researchers from  Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute of Melbourne,Australia  could bring hope to thousands of patients who do not respond to drugs.

The procedure known as renal denervation may be available on UK's  Natina Health Service as early as next year after trials showed it produced dramatic improvements in the condition, the Daily Mail reported.High blood pressure is a risk factor in heart disease, stroke, and kidney failure. Changes in lifestyle, such as cutting back on salt and alcohol and exercising, can control blood pressure and there are a number of drug treatments available. Many who are on medication, as many as five different types, still have difficulty with it. It is this group who can be helped.

The technique uses a burst of radiofrequency energy delivered through a catheter to knock out a number of tiny nerves that run in the lining of the arteries of the kidney.High blood pressure is sometimes caused by faulty signals from the brain to these nerves. Latest findings from a trial showed reductions in blood pressure persist for at least 18 months after treatment.

Four killed in Indonesia plane crash.

Rescue teams have found the body of an Australian man and three others killed when their small chartered plane crashed in Indonesian Borneo, an official said on Monday.Peter John Elliott, who chartered the survey flight for his Perth-based mining company, Elliott Geophysics International, was among the four dead in the burnt wreckage reached late on Sunday, National Search and Rescue Agency spokesman Gagah Prakoso told.

"The plane was found around a coal-mining area. We believe it crashed into trees and caught fire. All four people died. Their bodies were badly burnt," he said.The twin-engine Piper Navajo Chieftain plane was found in a forested area of East Kutai district in East Kalimantan province two days after it went missing, Prakoso said.Local media reports said the three others flying with Elliott were Indonesians, including one pilot.

Their remains were taken to a hospital in the city of Samarinda -- where the group had taken off on Friday for a short surveying flight."Weather, like strong winds, might have caused the plane to become unsteady," Prakoso said, adding that investigations are ongoing.
The Australian Embassy in Jakarta said it was providing consular assistance to Elliott's family.

Iraqi General Abdul Hussein Mohsen among three dead in attacks

 Gunmen shot dead an Iraqi border forces brigadier general on Monday, among three people killed and six wounded in nationwide violence.Brigadier General Abdul Hussein Mohsen was gunned down by several armed men while he was in the town of Taji, just north of Baghdad, an interior ministry official said.A medic at Kadhimiyah hospital in the north of the capital confirmed the facility received Mohsen's body, adding that the general died of multiple gunshot wounds.

A bomb blast targeting an army patrol in the town of Haditha, 210 kilometres west of Baghdad, meanwhile, killed a civilian and wounded three soldiers, according to an army officer and a doctor at Haditha hospital.And in the main northern city of Mosul, a roadside bomb apparently aiming for a police patrol killed one person and wounded another, according to police 2nd Lieutenant Salam Hamed and doctor Faiz Tareq from the city's main hospital.

Also in Mosul, which lies 350 kilometres north of the capital, two young boys were wounded by another bomb blast, the officials said.The latest fatalities took to 259 the number of people killed in nationwide attacks so far in August, according to an AFP tally based on reports from security and medical officials.Violence has significantly decreased in Iraq compared to the brutal years of 2006 and 2007, but attacks are still common across the country.

'One drink a day ups cancer risk'

Binge drinkers are not the only ones who need to worry about the health implications of alcohol, even light drinking increases the cancer risk significantly, a new study has claimed.

According to the study led by researchers from the University of Milan, just one alcoholic drink a day may increase the risk of cancer adding that light drinking is estimated to be responsible for 34,000 deaths a year worldwide.