5 miners are dead and 11 others trapped after an accident at a coal mine in Gansu.

The miners have become trapped after the cable carrying a locomotive broke early this morning at the mine in the city of Baiyin, sending the 32 miners on the lift at the time tumbling down the roughly 30-degree angled shaft some 150-meters.

16 of the miners have since been pulled from the mine.

All are suffering various injuries, the extent of which remains unclear.

Meanwhile, rescuers are digging a new tunnel in an effort to try to reach 11 miners trapped since Saturday morning in a mine in Heilongjiang.

The rescue operations are being hampered by carbon monoxide in the shaft.

 

 

Compatriots across Taiwan Strait should work together to protect sovereignty: FM

 

China's Foreign Ministry is calling on people on Taiwan to work together to protect national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The comments come on word a group of fishing boats from Taiwan is sailing to the Diaoyu Islands.

The Foreign Ministry says both sides of the Strait should jointly safeguard the overall and fundamental interests of the Chinese nation.

Maritime surveillance ships from the mainland are continuing to patrol the waters around the Diaoyu Islands.

Dozens of fishing boats form Taiwan are reportedly heading towards the Diaoyu Islands to try to assert the island's fishing rights.

Reports have been suggesting the boats may try to land on the Diaoyu Islands.

 

 

A-share Market Capitalization Decreases Nearly CNY 1 Tn YTD

 

New stats from industry research group Winds is suggesting total market capitalization of the A-share market here in China decreased by some 993-billion yuan through the first 8 months of this year.

Setting aside new stock issues, the A-share market in Shanghai and Shenzhen has lost 1.16 trillion yuan in market value so far this year.

That's almost equal to the net profit of all the listed companies through the first half.

Resource stocks and banks have been the biggest losers so far this year.

 

 

Total Assets in Banking Industry Increase CNY 100 Tn over the Past Decade

 

China's banking regulator is reporting total assets in the banking industry in this country have increased by some 100-trillion yuan over the past decade.

The China Banking Regulatory Commission says total assets in the country's banking sector have hit 123-trillion yuan through the first 7 months this year.

Back in 2002, total banking assets accounted for just 23.7 trillion yuan.

Total assets have grown at an annual rate of more than 17-percent over the past ten years.

 

 

Egyptian court sentences 14 Islamists to death over attack charge

 

An Egyptian court has sentenced 14 Islamists to death for their attack on Egyptian security forces in the Sinai Peninsula this past year.

The court has also sentenced another four Islamists, all of whom belong to the hard-line Islamist group Al-Tawhidwa al-Jihad, to life in prison.

The country's top cleric has given his approval to the sentences.

The attacks in June of last year left 7 dead, including one civilian.

16 other police officers were hurt in that attack.

The Egyptian armed forces have intensified their patrols of the Sinai this year, following the deadly attack on the Rafah checkpoint last month which left 16 soldiers dead.

 

 

Turkish gov't motions for extending authorization to stage cross- border operations

 

The Turkish government has submitted a motion to the national parliament to extend authorization for continued cross-border raids into northern Iraq.

The motion would extend the Turkish military's authorization to continue the cross-border raids into northern Iraq in its continued battle against Kurdish rebels.

The Turkish government's own authority for its raids into northern Iraq is due to expire in around 3-weeks time.

Kurdish rebels have been using northern Iraq as a rallying point for guerilla-style raids into Turkey for the past few years.

 

 

FBI to investigate police officer's fatal shooting of double-amputee

 

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has been called in to investigate the fatal police shooting of a mentally-ill double amputee in Texas.

A police officer in Houston shot and killed the man after being called to a disturbance at the group home he was staying in.

The officer in question shot the victim in the head, saying he didn't realize the wheelchair-bound man was only brandishing a pen.

The same officer reportedly shot and killed another man who allegedly came after him with a knife 3-years ago.

 

 

CIS says Belarus election democratic, legal

 

The Confederation of Independent States has issued a new statement, saying the weekend elections in Belarus were 'fully in compliance' with national legislation.

The head of the CIS monitoring mission in Minsk says the weekend elections for the Belarussian House of Representatives shows the 'high maturity' of the electorate in the country.

The CIS assessment of the elections runs counter to the view held by Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which is describing the elections as neither free or impartial.

The OSCE says many of the potential candidates for the 109 seats in the Belarussian lower house have been jailed since 2010.

 

 

Dead panda cub had liver abnormality: U.S. zoo

 

A necropsy of the infant panda that died at the US National Zoo in Washington, DC has discovered a liver abnormality in the cub.

However, the zoo keepers are not pointing to the abnormality as the cause of death.

The post-mortem of the week-old infant has shown it didn't suffer any trauma.

Experts also say the cub's heart and lungs appeared to be working well.

They also say the cub had been nursing.