Andrew Reiff

International

Summary- About 2700 safe from S. Africa mine

In Carletonville, South Africa, a mine shaft collapsed after a pressurized air pipe burst, crippling the main elevator and leaving more than 3000 miners trapped over a mile underground. Over 2700 miners have been rescued so far, around 20 hours after being trapped. The miners have been getting to the surface in a second, smaller elevator, that can only take about 75 people to the surface at a time. There was no food or water in the mine according to one worker, although food and water have been lowered to those workers remaining. The entire mine extends well over 2 miles deep into the ground, and the purpose is mining gold. Harmony Gold Mining Co, the company that owns the mine, is the second-largest gold-producing company in the world.

Opinion-

Wow this mine is huge! You can see a schematic and pictures of it here. I can see why they would need over 3000 workers to mine. One thing that is remarkable about this company is that they have never had any fatalities caused by mining accidents. It sounds as if this accident will not cause any either. This is an amazing track record for a South African company, I think. This was an honest mistake I believe, maybe the pipe was just old or it had defects, but good for the company for getting these workers out in less than 24 hours.

National

Summary- Craig vows to stay despite court loss

Senator Craig now is fighting the ruling that he does not deserve to redo his previous guilty plea in the airport sex sting operation, plus he will not resign his Senate seat like he vowed to do earlier in the year. He originally pleaded guilty to the charges, which included soliciting sex.

Opinion-

This idiot has probably done more harm to the ethics of the Republican party than any other one person. He has to resign from the party, he has to resign from his Senate seat, he has to disappear from the public eye. That's it, its what he must do. Come on he already pleaded guilty... now he is vehemently denying that any of the charges are true, when the cop was there, he knew what he was looking for and he found it in this guy. As to the Senator being framed... who would frame him? He is not known... not running for President... just joe republican senator from Idaho of all places. Its a disgrace... he has to resign. Hey at least he is not running again next year.