China: 12 miners killed
BEIJING — A coal mine explosion has killed 12 people in northern China, while five other miners were killed and six trapped in an accident in the southwest of the country, state media reported Monday.
The official Xinhua News Agency said 12 miners were killed in Shanxi province when a pocket of gas was ignited. Four others survived.
Xinhua said another five were killed and six trapped underground at a coal mine in Yunan province also as a result of a gas explosion.
China's mining industry is the world's deadliest with most accidents blamed on poor safety as enterprises scramble to feed the country's insatiable demand for coal.
Israel: Construction
JERUSALEM — Israel announced on Monday that it would build nearly 700 housing units in Jewish areas of Jerusalem, on territory conquered in the 1967 war that the Palestinians claim for their future state.
The move was criticized by Washington and condemned by Palestinian leaders, who cited it as evidence that the Israelis were undermining efforts to restart peace talks.
The United States consistently condemns unilateral Israeli steps in East Jerusalem as harmful to peace efforts. On Monday, the White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, issued a statement opposing the new construction and urging the Israelis and Palestinians to resume peace talks.
China: Execution
URUMQI — China brushed aside international appeals Tuesday and executed a British man convicted of drug smuggling whose relatives say was mentally unstable and unwittingly lured into the crime.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown condemned the execution — China's first of a European citizen in nearly 60 years.
Shaikh, 53, first learned he was about to be executed Monday from his visiting cousins, who made a last-minute plea for his life. They say he is mentally unstable and was lured to China from a life on the street in Poland by men playing on his dreams to record a pop song for world peace.
Shaikh was arrested in 2007 for carrying a suitcase with almost 9 pounds of heroin into China on a flight from Tajikistan. He told Chinese officials he didn't know about the drugs and that the suitcase wasn't his.
Brazil: Needle surgery
SAO PAULO — Doctors have removed four more sewing needles from the neck of a 2-year-old Brazilian boy who was stuck with dozens by his stepfather in an alleged plot to spite his wife.
Doctors successfully operated on the toddler Monday in the northeastern city of Salvador. One of the four needles was dangerously close to his spine.
The boy was doing well following the three-hour surgery, Ana Neri Hospital spokeswoman Susy Moreno said.
Last week doctors removed 14 needles from the boy's intestines, liver and bladder, and in an earlier surgery they extracted four needles from near the toddler's heart and lungs.
Police have formally accused the stepfather, 30-year-old Roberto Carlos Magalhaes, of attempted murder. He recently said in a TV interview he tried to kill the child as revenge against his wife.
Police also formally accused Magalhaes' lover, 47-year-old Angelina Ribeiro dos Santos.
Venezuela: Accusation
CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez is accusing Colombia and the United States of plotting to set up a fake rebel camp on Venezuelan soil to discredit his government.
Chavez accused Colombia of preparing what he called a "false positive" operation, saying on Monday that it's feasible the neighboring country could build a makeshift camp in a remote location, then plant corpses and guns to make it look like a rebel camp had been discovered.
Both the U.S. and Colombia say the American troops are solely aiding Colombia to combat drug trafficking and guerrillas internally. They both have repeatedly denied planning to invade Venezuela.