Trapped miners in NZ believed ti be dead

The families have received the worst possible news.

Relatives of 29 trapped miners in New Zealand have been told there is no chance the men survived after a second explosion in a South Island coal mine.

Hope had been fading for the miners ever since surveillance camera footage showed the strength of a first blast on Friday.

The Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Key, said: “This is a national tragedy. A tragedy for the men’s families, for their workmates and friends, for their community and our nation. New Zealand is a small country, a country where we are our brothers’ keeper, so to lose this many brothers at once strikes an agonising blow.”

Some families are angry that rescuers did not enter the mine straight after the first explosion.

Laurie Drew, the father of one of the victims, said: “Well, the company has got what it wanted, they had the window of opportunity that Friday night and now the truth can’t come out because no one alive will be able to come out and tell the truth about what went on down there.”

Some families say straight after the first explosion the deadly mix of gases would’ve been consumed, making a rescue possible. But that is a theory rejected by officials.

Environment: The future's bright, the future's Tiger

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Chinese Premier Wen Jibao have vowed, along with other Asian leaders, to try to double the wild tiger population by 2022.

A mere 3,200 wild tigers roam the earth and those that do are under constant threat from poachers who supply tiger parts for traditional medicines and aphrodisiacs.

Vladimir Putin made it clear that conservation is a global concern:

“What everybody understands is that we not only deal with some specific animal, the tiger, this is all about our understanding, our global understanding, at the highest level, of the necessity to preserve our wildlife.”

Measures adopted to throw the big cat a lifeline include preserving tiger habitats and a global crackdown on poaching backed by Interpol and the United Nations.

If nothing is done the magnificent beast could be extinct by the end of the decade.

Korea crisis: US aircraft carrier heads for Korean waters

A day after North Korea’s artillery attack on a South Korean island, a US aircraft carrier is on its way to Korean waters.

Observers say the move is likely to anger Pyongyang and unsettle its ally China, which is facing growing pressure to deal with its neighbour.

South Korea has vowed to strike back if it suffers another North Korean attack, and the US says it is standing firmly behind Seoul.

US President Barack Obama said: “South Korea is our ally. It has been since the Korean war, and we strongly affirm our commitment to defend South Korea as part of that alliance.”

North Korea is accusing Seoul of worsening ties on the peninsula with what it calls “reckless military provocation”. The North says it opened fire because of military exercises carried out by the South; but Seoul denies that it fired towards the North.

Two South Korean soldiers were killed and the bodies of two civilians thought to have died in the attack have reportedly been found today.

Three other civilians were injured and dozens of others had to be evacuated from the island.

The artillery attack is being described as the heaviest in the region since the Korean war ended in 1953.

The international community has called for maximum restraint on both sides.

China and North Korea: Embarrass China says expert

In the past, North Korea could have expected some level of support from China. To gauge Beijing’s reaction to this latest incident, we are joined by the author and expert on Chinese affairs, Robert Lawrence Kuhn.

Nial O’Reilly, euronews:
Mr Kuhn, China has a very complex relationship with North Korea, how are we to decipher its response to these dramatic developments?

Robert Lawrence Kuhn:
This is not good news for China. The last thing they want is conflict on the Korean peninsula. There are so many problems that they have, with the economic crisis, with the change of leadership coming. They want stability and that’s not what they have. But why then do the leaders support North Korea in such a significant way? In the last several months, two of China’s senior leaders have been in North Korea giving support to the regime. So why is this the case? People in the West are baffled. I talked to many of my senior Chinese friends privately and they have very different opinions. The most important thing is to keep stability. What can happen if China does not support North Korea? The regime can collapse. If the regime collapses you have five to ten million people crossing over the border into China on the one hand. On the other hand, you may have a unification with the south, which will be a terrible embarrassment for China as well as creating a powerful and historic rival right next door to China on the border. In addition, there is a second issue and that is a sense of extreme nationalism that is a minority of the people, not so much the senior leaders, but there is pressure in the country not to go soft on things that are good for America.

Food: Michelin maestros offer metro meals  

The savoury smells of top class cooking wafted beneath the city of Paris yesterday when several Michelin star chefs took their skills down onto the metro. Commuters, normally rushing to work like automatons, had their senses awoken by the odour of cooking calamari, setting their taste buds adrooling. It was all in bid to “democratise“ haute cuisine for the general public.  Multi Michelin star chef Antoine Westermann welcomed the initiative. “It’s important to eat,” he said. “And if we can cook as professionals and enjoy ourselves, and then make a point of having the passengers leave the metro having eaten a little calamari, then I find that really amusing.” There were plenty of takers for the top class tasters and with French gastronomy regarded as part of the country’s cultural heritage, Michelin maestros want more people to dine out.

From: Euronews