Australia's first saint to be canonised

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• Australia's first saint to be canonised
• Miner Reygadas: I've been born again'
• Flash floods kill four in Cambodia
• Japan hopes upgraded Haneda airport to lure more foreigners
• China mine accident leaves 20 dead, 17 trapped
• G20 accord on currency elusive, S.Korean bank says
• Chile's rescued miners mum on nightmare experience
• Bill Clinton stumps for ex-foe Brown in California
• Time, like all good things, may come to an end
• Rescued Chilean miner is torn between two lovers
• Gold miners trapped in Ecuador
• At least 30 Chinese coal miners trapped
• US moves to avert China clash, but nods to pre-election ire
• All but two Chile miners back home
• Philippines on alert for late-season typhoon
• Busan bids to become hub of Asian film world
• Smell, close your eyes, remember: chefs teach kids to taste
• Aussie dollar breaches parity with US
• Ford to sell most of stake in Mazda
• At least 30 Chinese coal miners trapped

Australia's first saint to be canonised Posted: 16 Oct 2010 12:50 AM PDT Australia's first saint - a 19th-century nun who was briefly excommunicated is to receive official recognition.

Miner Reygadas: I've been born again' Posted: 16 Oct 2010 12:24 AM PDT Omar Reygadas was the 17th man to be freed from a mine in Chile in an operation that drew the world's attention.

Flash floods kill four in Cambodia Posted: 15 Oct 2010 11:49 PM PDT PHNOM PENH, Saturday 16 October 2010 (AFP) -- Four Cambodians including a four-year-old boy have been swept to their deaths in flash flooding in recent days as heavy rains battered the country, officials said Saturday. read more

Japan hopes upgraded Haneda airport to lure more foreigners Posted: 15 Oct 2010 11:48 PM PDT TOKYO, Saturday 16 October 2010 (AFP) -- The full-fledged opening of Tokyo's Haneda airport to international flights will bring more foreign travellers, the transport minister said Saturday as Japan pushes ahead with efforts to promote tourism. read more

China mine accident leaves 20 dead, 17 trapped Posted: 15 Oct 2010 11:47 PM PDT BEIJING, Saturday 16 October 2010 (AFP) -- A China coal mine accident killed 20 miners and left another 17 missing underground Saturday, the government said, in the latest tragedy highlighting appalling safety conditions in the nation's mines. read more

G20 accord on currency elusive, S.Korean bank says Posted: 15 Oct 2010 11:45 PM PDT SEOUL, Saturday 16 October 2010 (AFP) -- A senior official of host South Korea has said leaders of the Group of 20 would at best agree on a vaguely worded accord on defusing currency disputes at their summit next month, a report said Saturday. read more

Chile's rescued miners mum on nightmare experience Posted: 16 Oct 2010 12:06 AM PDT COPIAPO, Chile (Reuters) - Chile's 33 miners began their first weekend above ground since a rescue that gripped the world, but were keeping silent on many of the hellish details of their 69-day ordeal trapped deep in the earth.

Bill Clinton stumps for ex-foe Brown in California Posted: 16 Oct 2010 12:06 AM PDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton took to the stump on Friday night in support of former rival Jerry Brown as the two men publicly buried the hatchet ahead of the Nov. 2 election for California governor.

Time, like all good things, may come to an end Posted: 15 Oct 2010 03:51 PM PDT WASHINGTON: The end of the world as we know it cannot be avoided, but it can be predicted, according to a group of astrophysicists who see a 50% chance of the final countdown ending in 3.7 billion years. "Time is unlikely to end in our lifetime, but there is a 50% chance that time will end within the next 3.7 billion years," according to the team of US and Japanese scientists, who are challenging a long-standing theory of the universe. While scientists have long concluded that the universe is expanding, and will do so for an infinite period of time, the researchers say the very rules of physics suggest that "an eternally inflating universe" is far from given. "The point of this paper is to show that certain methods and assumptions that have been widely used by physicists for years -- most prominently, the use of a time cutoff in order to compute probabilities in an eternally inflating universe -- lead to the conclusion that time will end," Raphael Bousso of the University of California, Berkeley, said. "In other words, the time cutoff, which we may have thought was just a calculational tool, actually behaves like a physical event, whether we like it or not," said Bousso, lead author of the study published on arXiv.org Current theories of the universe begin with the "Big Bang," which cast our living space into being some 13.7 billion years ago in a massive explosion. Since then, theorists have assumed the universe will simply continue to expand forever, but have also used a theoretical expiration date to help calculate the laws and rules of physics. But Bousso and his colleagues says the discipline simply cannot have it both ways. He cautioned however that the complex thought experiment and calculations proposed by the research could not be used to draw definitive conclusions. "It's very important to understand that we are not saying that we are certain of the conclusion that time will end (though we cannot rule out that it may be correct)," he wrote. Crazy-sounding thing But he said even if the theory was false, discovering why that was the case would help scientists better understand the universe. "In science, this kind of reasoning is often valuable: you realise that your reasonable-seeming theory predicts something that sounds crazy, so you have to come to grips with that," he said. "Either you have to abandon the theory, or you have to understand why the crazy-sounding thing may not actually be so crazy." For astrophysicist Charles Lineweaver, of Australian National University's Mount Stromlo Observatory, Bousso's conclusions are simply incorrect. "Bousso's average life of a universe is a set time, only because that's what happens when you introduce a cutoff point to get a reasonable probability," he told ABC Television. "It's a statistical technique being taken probably too seriously," he added. But Bousso said he and his team had not invented or introduced anything. "These cutoffs have been used by many leading physicists for years," he told AFP. "We merely pointed out that it's not such an innocent thing to do. "The cutoff on time is inevitably physical and hence requires a physical justification. It cannot be considered a mere mathematical trick." - AFP

Rescued Chilean miner is torn between two lovers Posted: 15 Oct 2010 03:48 PM PDT By Maria Lorente SCENE COPIAPO: After being trapped in a Chilean mine with 32 men for more than two months, miner Yonni Barrios faces a pair of welcome home parties: one held by his wife, the other by his girlfriend. Barrios, who at 50 has a full head of hair and the looks of an aging screen star, has been married for 25 years to Marta Salinas, 56. She is roasting meat to welcome him back and has invited neighbours. But just down the block in the same humble Copiapo neighbourhood of Juan Pablo II lives Barrios's girlfriend Susana Valenzuela, 50, who is also roasting meat with neighbors. Barrios became famous as one of the miners trapped for more than two months deep inside the San Jose copper and gold mine in August. He was the 21st miner to be hauled to the surface in the Phoenix rescue capsule on Wednesday. Since Barrios had some basic medical knowledge he became the de factor medic to the trapped miners, giving them shots against tetanus and diphtheria and offering basic health counseling. Once news that Barrios had a girlfriend came out, he made headlines as the "Casanova Nurse". Ahead of the welcome home party Valenzuela's home was decked out with balloons emblazoned with the Chilean flag. She had also posted some hand-written signs. "That miner is mine (watch out)," read one sign. "I love my Tarzan. Welcome to your home with your Jane," read another. At the door, a dolled-up Valenzuela showed an AFP reporter photocopies of her picture in a German newspaper. "Look, I've come out all over the place!" she cried. "He is a superman," the self-described "coquette" gushed. Valenzuela and Barrios's wife clashed weeks earlier when both claimed to be the woman Barrios was pining for as he sat trapped in the northern Chilean mine. In the end, when Barrios was winched to the surface and left the rescue capsule, he went straight into his lover's arms. Technically married Yet Salinas said that when her husband was trapped in the mine he sent her notes thanking her for her support. "Marta, I give you thanks for being there offering support, because when I have nowhere to go you welcome me, and now that I'm locked up here you are waiting for me up there," read one letter. "He never wanted to legally separate," Salinas said. Salinas said that while Barrios was trapped underground she had plenty of time to reflect -- and she concluded that she would not get back together with him. Though Barrios and Salinas are still technically married, they have been separated for years. Valenzuela said that the miner has been living with her for the past two years -- and she doesn't mind that her man is still married to the woman up the block. "He can't marry me either, even if he wanted to," she said, because she never completed her own divorce, a long and complicated process in Chile. Salinas said that Barrios was trying to have it both ways by sending her the letters. "He wants to have his cake and eat it too," chimed in a visiting neighbour. "I have nothing to rescue from our marriage. One has to be a good loser," Salinas said, tired at having her personal life dragged out before the global media. The TV news is on, and her rival Valenzuela is being interviewed. Salinas observes in silence, then turns to her neighbour. "What do you think of this Susana?" she asks. "Hey Marta, don't pay attention. It's all a show for the press," she said. In the end, Barrios entered Valenzuela's home late yesterday for a party that was a low-key affair, as about a dozen friends and relatives cheered and chanted "Chi, chi, chi, le, le, le!" Barrios, visibly exhausted, smiled from the window and lifted a glass of champagne to the well-wishers. - AFP

Gold miners trapped in Ecuador Posted: 15 Oct 2010 11:02 PM PDT A tunnel has collapsed in a gold mine in southern Ecuador, trapping four miners 490 feet (150 meters) underground

At least 30 Chinese coal miners trapped Posted: 15 Oct 2010 02:45 PM PDT BEIJING: At least 30 miners were trapped underground in a central China coal mine after an accident today in the latest mishap to strike the country's notoriously dangerous mining sector, state media said. The mine in the city of Yuzhou in Henan province was hit by a "gas outburst", Xinhua news agency said, adding that a rescue operation was under way. The brief dispatch gave no other details. Last year 2,631 Chinese miners were killed, according to official statistics, but independent labour groups say the true figure is likely to be much higher as many accidents are believed to be covered up. The high fatality rate is generally blamed on inefficiency and corruption in the sector, with coal mining particularly accident-prone. The government has repeatedly vowed to shut dangerous mines and strengthen safety but the accidents continue with regularity as mine operators work to pump out the coal on which China relies for about 70% of its energy. - AFP

US moves to avert China clash, but nods to pre-election ire Posted: 15 Oct 2010 09:49 PM PDT WASHINGTON, Saturday 16 October 2010 (AFP) -- The United States' complex trade relations with China were laid bare Friday as Washington struggled to balance pre-election anger at home with efforts to give US firms a fair shake against Chinese rivals. read more

All but two Chile miners back home Posted: 15 Oct 2010 09:48 PM PDT COPIAPO, Saturday 16 October 2010 (AFP) -- Thirty-one of the 33 miners rescued in Chile were back home Friday after doctors gave them the all clear to pick up their lives again, as gruesome details of their underground suffering emerged. read more This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Philippines on alert for late-season typhoon Posted: 15 Oct 2010 09:47 PM PDT MANILA, Saturday 16 October 2010 (AFP) -- Philippine civil defence officials on Saturday put the country's north on notice for a typhoon that could hit the area early next week. read more

Busan bids to become hub of Asian film world Posted: 15 Oct 2010 09:46 PM PDT BUSAN, Saturday 16 October 2010 (AFP) -- Asia's largest film festival signed off this week with a promise to make the South Korean port city of Busan not only the hub of Korean cinema but of the entire region. read more This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Smell, close your eyes, remember: chefs teach kids to taste Posted: 15 Oct 2010 09:45 PM PDT PARIS, Saturday 16 October 2010 (AFP) -- Chef Frederic Simonin dangles a fragrant green bunch of dill in front of a classroom of schoolkids in a multi-ethnic corner of Paris: "And what about this? Any idea what it is?" read more

Aussie dollar breaches parity with US Posted: 15 Oct 2010 09:37 PM PDT SYDNEY, Saturday 16 October 2010 (AFP) -- The Australian dollar punched through the 1.00 US dollar mark overnight for the first time since it was floated, as the greenback continues to comes under pressure and talk of a global currency war heats up. read more

Ford to sell most of stake in Mazda Posted: 15 Oct 2010 09:34 PM PDT TOKYO, Saturday 16 October 2010 (AFP) -- US carmaker Ford Motor has decided to sell the bulk of its 11 percent stake in Japan's Mazda Motor and invest the money instead in emerging markets, reports said Saturday. read more

At least 30 Chinese coal miners trapped Posted: 15 Oct 2010 09:33 PM PDT BEIJING, Saturday 16 October 2010 (AFP) -- At least 30 miners were trapped underground in a central China coal mine after an accident Saturday in the latest mishap to strike the country's notoriously dangerous mining sector, state media said. read more

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