Deadly coal mine fire in northeastern China

© Greg Baker, AFP 
Workers sort coal on a conveyer belt near a coal mine in Datong, in China's northern Shanxi province on November 20, 2015

Article text by NEWS WIRES

A late-night fire at a coal mine killed 21 people and left one missing in the northeastern Chinese province of Heilongjiang, local authorities and state media said Saturday.

The fire at the Xinghua mine in the city of Jixi was brought under control on Saturday, and 21 bodies were recovered at the mine, owned by the Heilongjiang Longmay Mining Holding Group, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

The provincial work safety administration confirmed the incident and the death toll on Saturday.

A work safety employee who only gave his family name of Xing, as is customary with low-ranking Chinese bureaucrats, said rescuers were searching for the missing person.

Xinhua said 38 miners were working underground when an angle belt caught fire on Friday night and that 16 people were pulled out to safety.

Xinhua did not say what caused the fire.

This is the deadliest mine incident since April this year, when a water leak at a coal mine killed 21 people in the northern city of Datong in Shanxi province.

China's mines have long been the world's deadliest, but safety improvements have reduced deaths in recent years.

Last year, 931 people were killed in mine accidents throughout China, drastically down from the year 2002, when nearly 7,000 miners were killed.

Cameron to set out Syria strategy to MPs within days

Image copyright EPA

Prime Minister David Cameron is to set out his strategy for Syria's future and tacking the Islamic State group in the region before MPs this week.

The cross-party Foreign Affairs Committee said last month that British military action in Syria could not be extended without a "coherent" plan.

The PM's strategy will be followed by a push to convince MPs to allow military action in Syria, the BBC understands.

MPs voted against UK military action against the Syrian government in 2013.

But they did later approve British participationin air strikes against IS extremists in Iraq.

'Before Christmas'

The new push for Commons support for action in Syria will be aimed at MPs across the political spectrum.

The Foreign Affairs Committee report said "there should be no extension of British military action into Syria unless there is a coherent international strategy that has a realistic chance of defeating Isil (Islamic State)".

BBC political correspondent Iain Watson says the prime minister now believes he can answer the committee's concerns, and will set out a series of diplomatic, political and military proposals towards the end of the week.

However, there will be no rush to bring about a vote on military action, says our correspondent, with Downing Street sources saying they do not have enough promises of "definitive support" to ensure a clear victory at this stage.

But some Sunday newspapers, including the telegraph and the Times, report that a vote, followed by bombing raids in Syria, could come before Christmas.

The SNP remain opposed to such a move, believing the UN Security Council has not given specific legal authority for any action.

Hollande meeting

But privately, some Labour shadow ministers say they are willing to support the prime minister rather than their own more cautious leader Jeremy Corbyn if a convincing case is made for air strikes as an element in a wider strategy, said Iain Watson.

Mr Corbyn opposes UK forces joining allied air strikes against IS strongholds in Syria, but is under pressure to allow his MPs a free vote on the issue.

He has said Labour would support "every necessary measure" to protect people in the UK, but it was "vital" in a time of tragedy following the Paris attacks "not to be drawn into responses that feed a cycle of violence".

IS has claimed responsibility for the gun and suicide bomb attacks in the French capital on 13 November, which left 130 dead.

Image copyright PAImage caption

Lord Dannatt says Syrian refugees should be armed to fight against IS militants

Former defence secretary Liam Fox says Britain should not rule out sending ground troops into Syria as part of an international coalition.

Writing in the Telegraph, he said: "We may still require an international coalition on the ground, similar to that which forced Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait, if we are to rid ourselves of the Isil scourge."

Also in the Telegraph, Lord Dannatt, the former head of the Army, says Syrian refugees in border camps should be armed, trained and returned "to fight for their villages, towns and cities".

"It may sound harsh, but some of their blood should be shed in the attack on Isil before we even consider committing British ground troops to combat," he said.

On Friday, a UN Security Council resolution co-sponsored by the UK, which called on nations to "redouble and co-ordinate their efforts to prevent and suppress terrorist attacks" using all necessary measures,received universal approval.

Meanwhile, Mr Cameron will meet French President Francois Hollande in Paris on Monday to discuss the fight against terror.

Myanmar Kachin jade mine landslide 'kills 50'

Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage captionFreelance miners make a living by digging for raw jade stones in piles of waste rubble dumped by mechanical diggers

A landslide at a jade mine in northern Myanmar has killed at least 50 people, a witness has told the BBC.

The state of Kachin produces some of thebest jade in the world, but landslides are not uncommon.

Most of the dead are thought to be people who tried to make a living by climbing on waste material dumped from nearby mines, searching with their hands for fragments of discarded jade.

It's unclear what caused the collapse of the heap of waste material.

One local man told the BBC that he saw more than 50 bodies dug out of the debris on Saturday evening.

Dozens of huts at the site were also buried by the landslide.

Communications with this part of Kachin State are poor and details are hard to confirm.

Brazil dam toxic mud reaches Atlantic via Rio Doce estuary

Media captionA wave of sludge has travelled down the river

A wave of toxic mud travelling down the Rio Doce river in Brazil from a collapsed dam has reached the Atlantic Ocean, amid concerns it will cause severe pollution.

The waste has travelled more than 500km (310 miles) since the dam at an iron mine collapsed two weeks ago.

Samarco, the mine owner, has tried to protect plants and animals by building barriers along the banks of the river.

Workers have dredged the river mouth to help the mud flow out to sea fast.

The contaminated mud, tested by the water management authorities, was found to contain toxic substances like mercury, arsenic, chromium and manganese at levels exceeding human consumption levels.

Samarco has insisted the sludge is harmless.

Image copyrightReutersImage captionOil barriers were placed at the mouth of the Rio Doce to protect the vegetation from the mud before it arrives.Image copyrightReutersImage captionBird nesting sites along the Rio Doce near Linhares are likely to be badly affected by the mud.

In an interview with the BBC, Andres Ruchi, director of the Marine Biology school in Santa Cruz in Espirito Santo state, said that mud could have a devastating impact on marine life when it reaches the sea.

He said the area of sea near the mouth of the Rio Doce is a feeding ground and a breeding location for many species of marine life including the threatened leatherback turtle, dolphins and whales.

"The flow of nutrients in the whole food chain in a third of the south-eastern region of Brazil and half of the Southern Atlantic will be compromised for a minimum of a 100 years," he said.

Image copyrightReutersImage captionMachines have been working at the mouth of the river to widen it before the mud arrivesImage copyrightReutersImage captionLocal fishermen have been working to rescue fish before the mud arrives

The magazine Chemistry World quotes Aloysio da Silva Ferrao Filho, a researcher at the respected Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, as saying that the impact has been severe in the river itself.

"The biodiversity of the river is completely lost, several species including endemic ones must be extinct."

Samarco has erected 9km of temporary floating barriers similar to those used at sea during oil spills in the river to try to hold back the mud from river banks and to protect flora and fauna from the mud.

One concern is that because the mud is high in iron ore and silica it will set hard as concrete when it dries out.

At the mouth of the river, the company has been using heavy equipment to remove sand banks and dredge so that the mud, when it reaches the sea, can flow out as fast as possible and be diluted quickly.

It is the fish and turtle breeding season at this time of year. Local people have been helping get fish into tanks and have been collecting turtle eggs to incubate.

Image copyrightReutersImage captionA loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) has laid her eggs about four km from the mouth of the Rio Doce about to be flooded by toxic mud

In the meantime, Samarco says it is doing repairs on two other dams it uses to hold waste water which is says are at risk of collapsing.

Eleven people were killed and 12 are missing - presumed dead - in the disaster.

Samarco is owned by mining giants, Vale, from Brazil, and the Anglo-Australian company, BHP Billiton.

It has agreed to pay the Brazilian government 1bn (£170m; $260m) compensation.

The money will be used to cover the initial clean-up and to offer compensation to families.

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