Indonesian passenger ferry sinks with 228:Report

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Indonesian television says a passenger ferry with more than 200 people onboard sank in rough waters near Sumatra island.

Yasin Kosasih, a police chief in Riau province, says the Dumai Express 10 left on an inter-island voyage Sunday morning and reportedly sank in poor weather 90 minutes into the trip.

The passenger manifest says it was carrying 228 passengers including 15 children from the port of Batam to Dumai in Riau, Sumatra.

Local police spokesman Anggaria Lopes says dozens have been rescued and a search operation is ongoing.

Indonesian ferry accidents have killed hundreds of people in recent years. Boats are often overcrowded and safety regulations are poorly enforced.

List of 8041 NRO beneficiaries issues

ISLAMABAD: Government of Pakistan Saturday released the list of the beneficiaries of the National Reconciliation Ordinance on the directives of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani.

State Minister for Law Afzal Sindhu in a news conference here said that a total of 8041 people including 34 politicians, bureaucrats and three ambassadors took benefit from the ordinance.

On top of the list is the name of President Asif Ali Zardari while his several close associates, both political and bureaucratic, including Rehman Malik, Salman Farooqi and his brother Usman Farooqi and Hussain Haqqani are also included, he said.

The list, which also reflects a brief introduction of the cases dropped against each name under the NRO, also includes the name of serving and former ministers, federal and provincial secretaries, ex-chief secretaries, existing or former members of the national and provincial assemblies and others, he added.

The politicians that benefited from the ordinance include Nawaz Yousaf Talpur, Ex-MNA and former minister, Nusrat Bhutto, Ex-MNA and the PPP Secretary General Jehangir Badar, Ex-minister for commerce and Presently Defense Minister Ahmad Mukhtar, Ex-MNA Malik Mushtaq Ahmed Awan, Ex-MNA Rana Nazir Ahmed, Ex-MPA Mian M Rashid, Ex-MPA Tariq Anees, Ex-MPA Mian Tariq Mehmood Dina, Ex-Minister of education Sindh Agha Sirajuddin, Former Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao and Ex-Provincial minister Ghani-ur-Rehman, he said.

Ex-senator Haji Gulsher, Ex-Provincial Minister Habibullah Khan Kundi, Ex-MNA Mir Baz Muhammad Khan Khethran, Ex-Federal Minister Anwar Saifullah Khan, Ex-Provincial Minister Sardar Mansoor Laghari, Ex-Mayor Sargodha Ch Abdul Hameed, Ex-chairman Zila Council Lahore Ch Shaukat Ali, Ex-MNA Haji Kabir are also included in the list.

Haji Nawaz Khokhar late, Altaf Hussain, Babar Ghouri, Farooq Sattar, Saleem Shahzad, Dr. Ishrat-ul-Ebad, Ch, Haji Qadeer, Malik Mushtaq Awan, Mian Muhammad Rasheed, Mian Tariq Mehmood, Shoaib Bukhari are also included in the list of Politicians who took benefit from NRO.

Amongst Government servants and others, who had benefited from NRO and got themselves cleared from NAB cases include Ex-Additional Director General FIA and Presently Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Pakistan’s Ambassador in the US Husain Haqqani, Principal Secretary to the President Suleman Farooqi, Ex-Advisor to Prime Minister A R Siddiqi, Pakistan’s High Commissioner to UK Wajid Shams-ul-Hassan, Ex DG Intelligence Bureau Brig Imtiaz, Ex-MD Printing Corporation of Pakistan Pir Mukarram.

The minister said that the number of politicians who benefited from the NRO is very few. Out of total 8041 persons who benefited from the law 7793 belong to Sindh province, he said.

“The spouse of the prime minister was not among the beneficiaries of NRO,” the state minister said. The minister said that three diplomats, including Hussain Haqqani, Wajid Shams-ul-Hasan and AR Siddiqui also benefited from the law.

Sindhu said that total 71 cases including 31 murders and 11 attempts to murder against MQM chief Altaf Hussain were withdrawn under the Ordinance. Among other MQM members, one case of Dr Ishratul Ibad was withdrawn, 23 of Farooq Sattar, 5 of Babar Ghauri, one of MNA Noman Sehgal, 18 of Dr Imran Farooq, 21 of Shoaib Bukhari, 7 of Wasim Akhtar, 6 of Salim Shehzad, 12 of Kanwar Khalid Younis and 16 cases of Safdar Baqiri were taken back.

Answering to a question, he said, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani was honorably acquitted by the court.

The cases against politicians were constructed for political victimization, he said, adding that, Cases against PPP leadership were made during the period of Chief Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) Nawaz Sharif for that he has regretted the act.

It was also mentioned in the charter of democracy that most of the cases were constructed to victimize political opponents, he said. Cases made during the period of former President Farooq Leghari were also based on malafide intentions, he said.

Till 28 November, 2009, NRO is protected under constitution and it will lapse after 28 November, he said. Situation will get cleared after November 28. We will accept the verdict of Supreme Court on the issue, he said.

If any beneficiary of NRO found guilty will be dealt in accordance with the law, State Minister for Sindh said this while answering to a question. “We will accept the verdict of Supreme Court with open heart. We will accept the court decision even against President. We must live in the Present,” Sindhu added.

“The article 48 of the Constitution provides amenity to the President. President is symbol of federation. We must honor the office of President,” he said.

Beneficiaries of NRO may be politicians, may be bureaucrats will be dealt according to law, he said.

“We had pressure of NRO even before elections. It was misinterpreted and people were misguided on the subject during election campaign. We contested election under NRO. I do not have any moral pressure. Pressure should be on those who constructed baseless cases,” he said.

Readers may read the whole list of NRO beneficiaries at this website.

Coal mine blast kills 42 in China, 66 trapped

HARBIN, China:  Rescuers working in frigid cold and darkness tried to reach 66 people believed trapped a third of a mile (half a kilometer) underground after a huge gas explosion Saturday ripped through a coal mine in northern China, killing at least 42 people.

The pre-dawn blast at the state-run Xinxing mine in Heilongjiang province near the border with Russia is latest to hit China's deadly mining industry. Authorities say parlous safety is improving, but hundreds still die in major accidents each year.

Television footage showed smoke billowing out of the mine after the explosion went off, caused by a gas build- up. It caused a building to collapse nearby.

Some 528 miners were underground at the time. The State Administration of Work Safety said 389 of them managed to escape.

Of the rest, 31 miners were rescued, including six now in serious condition in hospital, China Central Television reported. Some 42 bodies have been recovered and rescuers were searching for 66 others still believed trapped in the mine.

CCTV displayed a diagram showing the miners trapped about a third of a mile (half a kilometer) underground. Footage showed that one entrance to the mine was blocked. Rescuers in orange suits and with breathing equipment were attempting to enter the mine through another entrance.

The massive blast cut power in the mine, as well as ventilation and communication links, hampering the efforts of the more than 300 rescue workers.

On land, where snow dusted the ground, overnight temperatures were expected to drop as low as minus 10 Celsius (14 Fahrenheit), according to the Central Meteorological Station.

Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang visited some of miners recovering in hospital Saturday afternoon.

The official Xinhua News Agency quoted Wang Xingang, one of those rescued, recounting how the blast inside the mine had briefly knocked him out.

The official Xinhua News Agency quoted Wang Xingang, one of those rescued, recounting how the blast inside the mine had briefly knocked him out.

"When I regained consciousness, I groped my way out in the dark and called for help," said the 27-year-old electrician.

China's mines are the world's deadliest, and the blast only underscores the difficulties the government faces in trying to boost safety in an industry which is vital to its vast population and booming economy. The country depends on coal to generate about three-quarters of its electricity.

Large state-owned coal mines, such as Xinxing, are considered safer than smaller, private ones.

Xinxing is located near the border with Russia, about 250 miles (400 kilometers) northeast of the provincial capital, Harbin. It is run by a major state-owned enterprise, according to the Web site of its owner, the Hegang city branch of the Heilongjiang Longmei Holding Mining Group. It says the Hegang branch has more than 88,000 employees.

In numerous telephone calls to the mine, officials refused to give any information about Saturday's accident.

The government has been cracking down on unregulated mining operations, which account for almost 80 percent of the country's 16,000 mines. It says the closure of about 1,000 dangerous small mines last year has helped it cut fatalities.

The average number of miners killed has halved, to about six a day, in the first six months of this year, the government has said. It blames failure to follow safety rules, including a lack of required ventilation or fire control equipment, for most of the deaths.

Major accidents persist. In the first nine months of this year, China's coal mines had 11 such incidents with 303 deaths. Gas explosions were the leading cause, the government said.

A blast at the Tunlan coal mine in northern China's Shanxi province in February killed 77 people in China's worst industrial accident in a year.

Egypt vows to be firm after World Cup defeat

CAIRO:  President Hosni Mubarak vowed on Saturday that Egypt will be firm in dealing with attacks on its nationals, amid hot tempers and a diplomatic spat with Algeria over a World Cup football showdown.

"Egypt will not be lax with those who harm the dignity of its sons," he told cheering MPs in parliament.

"The welfare of our citizens abroad is the responsibility of the country. We look after their rights and reject violations and transgressions against them," he said in his first apparent reference to the diplomatic row with Algiers.

The row has erupted between Algeria and Egypt since a bus carrying the Algerian football team was stoned in Cairo last week and Egyptians were attacked by Algerian fans in Khartoum and Algiers.

Egypt twice summoned the Algerian ambassador in Cairo and on Thursday recalled its envoy in Algiers.

The dispute broke out ahead of a crunch match staged in Cairo on November 14, after Egyptian fans had stoned a bus carrying the Algerian players on its way from the airport.

Egypt beat Algeria 2-0, leading to a play-off in Khartoum for a place at next year's World Cup finals in South Africa.

Busses carrying Algerian fans were stoned after the Cairo match and fans clashed outside hotels housing the Algerians, leaving at least 20 Algerian fans and 12 Egyptians wounded.

The attack led to reprisals in Algeria against Egyptian homes and businesses.

Protesters in Algiers attacked 15 offices of a local subsidiary of Egypt's Orascom Telecom, prompting the firm to evacuate its 25 Egyptian employees and their families, and twice ransacked the Algiers offices of EgyptAir.

After the play-off in Khartoum on Wednesday, won by Algeria, Algerian fans attacked busses carrying Egyptians who were heading to Khartoum airport for the return home.

The media of both countries have traded invective and circulated rumours of Egyptian and Algerian deaths despite denials by both governments.

In a rare public statement, Mubarak's elder son Alaa who was at the Khartoum game slammed the Algerian fans as "mercenaries" and said the Egyptian team had faced "terror" in Khartoum.

"There appears to be something strange in the composition of Algeria -- it has spite and malice towards Egypt," he was quoted by state news agency MENA as telling a television sports programme.

Reports of the attacks in Khartoum, which Egyptian Health Minister Hatem el-Gabali said lightly wounded 21 fans, enraged Egyptians.

An angry protest early on Friday outside the Algerian embassy resulted in clashes between demonstrators and riot police protecting the mission, leaving 35 policemen injured.

Algiers on Friday summoned Egypt's ambassador to protest at attacks on Algeria by the Egyptian media, APS news agency reported.

It said Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci had expressed "incomprehension and major concern" at what he called "the escalating media campaign" in Egypt.

"Big Bang" experiment advancing fast

GENEVA (Reuters) - After a year's delay, scientists at the world's biggest accelerator have restarted an experiment to recreate "Big Bang" conditions that had sparked suggestions the earth would be sucked in by millions of black holes.

Scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) have established circulating particle beams in both directions in the underground Large Hadron Collider, a step that is already beyond where the experiment stalled during a first attempt in September 2008, CERN spokesman James Gillies said.

The high-profile experiment, through which tiny particles are smashed in a bid to learn more about the birth of the universe, failed just nine days after it was launched due to a technical problem that took longer than expected to fix.

"We are further advanced now than where we were after five days of experiment last year," said CERN's Director for Accelerators Steve Myers, saying the extra year had allowed researchers to upgrade instrumentations and computer software.

Myers added that researchers had increased the sensitivity of the protections at the 10 billion Swiss franc ($9.82 billion) collider under the French-Swiss border.

"If anything happens, we would not have the same amount of damage we had last year," he said.

CERN, a 55-year-old organization that counts 10,000 scientists and technicians worldwide working on its research projects, has vigorously rebuffed any suggestion the ground-breaking experiment would cause the world to end.

CERN's Director General Rolf Heuer said getting the experiment re-started had been an "herculean effort."

"We've still got some way to go before physics can begin, but with this milestone we're well on the way," he said.

If things continue to progress at this speed, scientists may be able to accelerate particles at the highest energy level ever tested before Christmas, although high-energy collisions that may shed light on the secrets of the universe would only happen in the new year, Myers said.

The experiment will be fully under way when the particle beams will be smashed at high energy levels. This will most likely happen in January.

The next important step in the experiment will be low-energy collisions, expected in about a week from now, CERN said.