WASHINGTON (AFP) –
Japan’s foreign minister on Monday presented the United States with alternatives for a military base, hoping to resolve a row that has been a growing thorn in relations between the allies.

Japan‘s left-leaning government is hoping to gauge the US reaction to revising a 2006 agreement on the Futenma air base, which lies in a crowded area of the southern island of Okinawa and is opposed by many residents.

Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada held a closed-door meeting with Defense Secretary Robert Gates before heading to the White House to confer with James Jones, President Barack Obama’s national security adviser.

Okada later Monday was to hold more extensive talks with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton near Ottawa, where foreign ministers of the Group of Eight major industrialized nations are meeting.

The Pentagon said it was reviewing the ideas about Futenma, which Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s government first shared last week with the US ambassador in Tokyo, John Roos.

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NEW YORK – The operator of a crane that tilted and hit a 25-story building near Wall Street, sending debris plummeting to the ground and causing several evacuations, had his license suspended Sunday because he didn’t secure the crane properly, a Department of Buildings spokesman said.

Christopher Cosban “failed to leave the equipment in the safest position possible” at the end of the workday Saturday, buildings spokesman Tony Sclafani said.

While a final determination on the cause of the accident still has to be determined, Sclafani said it appeared the improper position of the crane contributed.

A search of the Department of Buildings’ Web site shows Cosban has a license that dates to April 2002 and expires in April 2012. A suspended license means Cosban is prohibited from operating cranes anywhere in the city, Sclafani said. Cosban faces an administrative hearing on the suspension.

An attempt to find a telephone number for Cosban turned up one listing. A message left at that number Sunday wasn’t immediately returned.

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BEIJING – Rescuers were scrambling Monday to save 153 workers trapped after a flood swept through a coal mine in northern China, the country’s work safety agency said.

Authorities had said Sunday night that 123 workers were missing after the Wangjialing Coal Mine in Shanxi province flooded Sunday afternoon. It wasn’t immediately clear why the number jumped to 153 overnight.

The State Administration of Work Safety said in a statement on its Web site early Monday that 261 workers were in the mine when it flooded and 108 were lifted to safety. Provincial work safety official were at the site and directing rescue efforts, it said.

The official Xinhua News Agency reported that President Hu Jintao ordered local authorities to “spare no effort” in saving the trapped workers.

Although China’s mine safety record has improved in recent years, the mining industry there is still the deadliest in the world, with blasts and other accidents common.

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BEIJING (Reuters) –
Rescuers were searching for more than 120 coal miners trapped when a pit under construction in north China‘s Shanxi province flooded on Sunday, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

About 123 people were trapped in the pit of the Wangjialing coal mine after underground water gushed in, though 138 miners escaped, Xinhua said, quoting provincial work safety officials.

The mine, sitting astride Xiangning county and Hejin city, covers about 180 sq km, Xinhua said, adding that the mining zone holds more than 2.3 billion tons of coal reserves, including nearly 1.04 billion tons of proven reserves.

The mine, affiliated to the state-owned Huajin Coking Coal Co. Ltd., is expected to produce 6 million tons of coal annually once put into operation, the agency said. It is a key project approved by the provincial government.

Strong demand for energy and lax safety standards have made China’s mines the most dangerous in the world, despite the government’s drive to clamp down on tiny, unsafe operations where most accidents occur.

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BEIJING (AFP) –
Some 123 workers were trapped when a vast coal mine being built in northern China flooded on Sunday, in the latest accident to hit the country’s notoriously dangerous mining industry.

Underground water gushed into the Wangjialing mine in Shanxi province where 261 people were working, and just 138 managed to escape, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

China’s coal mines are among the most dangerous in the world, with safety standards often ignored in the quest for profits and the drive to meet surging demand for coal — the source of about 70 percent of China’s energy. Chrono: Major accidents in Chinese mines

Xinhua earlier reported that 152 people were trapped but officials revised the number down. The exact number of people trapped was still being checked.

An official at the coal mine safety administration in Linfen city, where the mine is located, confirmed the accident and that men were trapped but declined to provide any further details.

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