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It has emerged that the 33 Chilean miners trapped underground after the mine they were working in collapsed could be brought to the surface in a shorter time than was initially feared. While officials publicly announced that the men would not be brought to the surface until Christmas, sources inside technical meetings have revealed that they could in fact be on the surface by early November. The news comes as families were allowed to speak by radio-telephone to their trapped loved ones on Sunday. Over the weekend, video images filmed by the miners emerged showing the miners playing dominoes at a table and singing the the Chilean national anthem. The miners also used the camera to send video messages to their families on the surface, saying that they regularly broke into tears, but were feeling better having received food and water.
An oil platform owned by Mariner Energy has exploded in the Gulf of Mexico throwing thirteen people into the water, reports indicate. All thirteen men who fell into the water have been accounted for, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. No injuries were reported. Smoke was billowing from the oil rig named Vermillion 380, which is reported to still be on fire.
The blast occurred at around 9:19 a.m., approximately 80 miles south of Vermilion Bay off the coast of Louisiana. The Coast Guard confirms the platform was producing oil and gas at the time it exploded. They earlier reported a one mile long and 100 foot wide oil sheen which was spotted at the site of the explosion shortly after authorities responded to the scene, but later backtracked saying they could not confirm the presence of a sheen. Coast Guard chief petty officer John Edwards of the US Coast Guard earlier said that the platform, "was not actively producing any product." Mariner Energy also released a statement earlier saying no oil sheen was spotted.
Owen Edwards, the former director of BBC Wales and the first chief executive of Welsh language television station S4C, died on Monday at the age of 76. Edwards had suffered from Parkinson's Disease for over twenty years.
Edwards started his career with the BBC in 1950 as a broadcaster. He worked on regional news programmes and reported on such events as the Aberfan disaster. In 1961 he began presenting Heddiw (?Today?), the BBC's Welsh early evening news programme. He took a role behind the camera in 1966.
In a music-themed media event yesterday, Apple Inc. unveiled three new iPod portable music players, as well as an upgraded Apple TV system. Apple also announced updates for its iTunes software and iOS mobile operating system.
The annual event started at 10 a.m. PDT (1700 UTC) in the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, California. Apple CEOSteve Jobs, who led yesterday's keynote speech at the event, was dressed in his typical black long-sleeved shirt, blue jeans, and tennis shoes. He began by discussing new international Apple Stores, an update to the company's iOS mobile operating system, and the release of a new gaming app, Game Center. Jobs then turned his attention to what he called the "entrée" of the day.
Three Australian citizens and a New Zealander died when the chartered light aircraft in which they were travelling crashed on Misima Island off the coast of Papua New Guinea. The plane, a Cessna Citation with five people on board, is said by locals to have overshot the runway in poor weather, before crashing into trees and bursting into flames.
Research teams from the universities of Georgia and Glasgow discovered the mechanism the Trypanosome parasite evolved for "sleeping sickness" disease to circumvent the human immune system. Their study follows a recent African outbreak of the disease this parasite causes. The discovery is expected to help develop a cure preventing future deaths.
The 1998?2001 sleeping sickness epidemics in South Sudan, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Uganda caused tens of thousands of deaths. The parasites are spread by tsetse flies, which are more or less difficult to eradicate at the territory. It is considered one of the worst epidemics in the last five decades. As WHO reported, subsequent recent introduction of population screening in rural areas and distribution of more effective drugs had potentially reduced the number of death incidents. However, the main effect of these measures being a decrease in spreading of the parasite and not in decrease of the death rate, the researchers decided to tackle the puzzle.
On Monday, Australian telecommunications company Telstra has introduced dual carrier HSPA+ standard for broadband Internet business customers in the Next G network. This is the first time this technology is being introduced on national scale. The bandwidths the users can deploy increased into two to three times, with Telstra becoming the world?s fastest national mobile broadband service. The switch started with enabling the service for premium users. After some feedback, Telstra may expand the plan.
The higher speeds for wireless are intended to simplify and ease multitasking of users.
A gunman with something strapped to his chest?believed to be an "explosive device"?has taken at least one person hostage inside the Discovery Communications headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland. The man is reported to be named James Lee, who has posted an angry rant on a website demanding that Discovery take action over climate change, and was pictured in 2008 protesting against the company.
"Police are on high alert, positioning themselves behind columns, cars, anything that gives cover. All have their weapons drawn. From what we're seeing, everyone seems to be calm," said an eyewitness who was across from the building at the time. In a press conference at 2:30 P.M. (EST), a spokesman for police told the media that police were on scene and talking to the gunman, who has been described as an Asian male.
Starting today, it is illegal to manufacture or import 75W incandescent light bulbs in the European Union. The phaseout started last year when 100W light bulbs were outlawed. Bulbs of 60W will be phased out next year, and incandescent lighting of all types will be phased out in 2012.
The government of The Bahamas have announced that they have stopped accepting any new applications for oil exploration off their shores. The decision was made by the Ministry of The Environment.
An Estonian soldier has been killed in southern Afghanistan. Sgt. Herdis Sikka was on patrol with his unit in Helmand province when he was killed in an explosion. His death was announced by the Estonian Defence Ministry.
