Archive - Apr 6, 2010

• Dangerous gases halt rescue in West Virginia mine
• Explosion at West Virginia mine points to safety issues
• US outlines new nuclear policy
• Military video shows 2007 killing of Iraqis
• Mexicali hospitals brace for aftershocks
• Debate over health care goes to the state level

• Dozens more die in bomb blasts in Baghdad today as violence continues
• Simmering racial realities revealed at Terre’Blanche hearing
• FCC loses legal battle against Comcast over net neutrality
• Massive Maoist attack in India, 75 police killed
• US offers concessions to Brazil in cotton dispute, retaliatory taxes postponed
• Police violently beat back protesters in Kyrgystan

The death toll from an explosion Monday in a West Virginia coal mine has reached 25. The explosion took place at Upper Big Branch South Mine in Whitesville, West Virgnia. Today, officials had to suspend rescue operations because of unsafe levels of methane gas. Kevin Stricklin, from the US Mine Safety and Health Administration said that after the conditions are safe, the rescue team will re-enter the mine. Four miners are still missing.

To get some context for the situation We're joined by Jeff Biggers. He's the author of Reckoning at Eagle Creek: The Secret Legacy of Coal in the Heartland.

His article, “What Killed the Miners? Safety over Profits?” can be read here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/who-killed-the-miners-pro_b_5...

Today, Russia's foreign minister said that the arms control treaty with the US would move forward, but that Russia could withdraw from the deal if a US Missile defense system in Europe becomes a threat. President Obama had previously abandoned plans for a controversial defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic, but foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said other sites, including Romania, could be of concern. Still Lavrov said Russia share's President Obama's vision of a nuclear-free world.

A year ago in Prague, Obama outlined that vision and today, his administration unveiled its strategy for taking the first small steps towards that goal.  The policy halts U.S. development of new atomic weapons and reduces U.S. reliance on nuclear defense overall while intensifying global efforts to keep nuclear materials out of the hands of terrorists.  But some say it doesn’t go far enough. FSRN’s Matt Pearson reports.

A recently released military video taken from Apache helicopters in Baghdad shows the July 2007 killing of a dozen people, including a Reuters photographer and driver. The 38-minute video was posted by the website, Wikileaks, and also features the audio of soldiers as they open fire on a group of people in the street and later on a van, injuring two children. The video sheds new light on a shooting in which the military had previously maintained that those killed had all been armed. FSRN's Karen Miller has more.

To view the video: http://www.collateralmurder.org/

In Mexicali, Mexico, the city was spared major damage from Sunday’s 7.2 magnitude earthquake but some critical infrastructure was affected, including two hospitals. Patients have been moved to the lobby, driveways and other areas close to the exits for easy evacuation in case aftershocks get stronger. According to seismologists from Caltech, hundreds of aftershocks have hit the region and scores more could still come. From Mexicali, Dolores M. Bernal reports.