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Sarkozy Says Military Confrontation in Iran Would Be 'Catastrophic,' Urges Diplomacy
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Abe asked Nobutaka Machimura, 62, to return as foreign minister, a post he held under Koizumi, while former justice and foreign minister Masahiko Komura, 65, will return as defense chief, newly installed chief cabinet secretary Kaoru Yosano said.
Fukushiro Nukaga, 63, a former defense minister and supporter of a joint missile defense with the United States, will lead the Finance Ministry. Trade Minister Akira Amari kept his post in the new cabinet.
? BEIJING -- Two Chinese brothers clawed their way out of a collapsed coal mine after surviving underground for nearly six days, shocking grieving relatives who had burned money for the men's souls to use in the afterlife, state media said.
The China Daily ran a front-page story about the Meng brothers' survival, but official reports made little mention of a mining disaster in Shandong province that left 181 workers trapped in flooded coal shafts 10 days ago and presumed dead.
The brothers were trapped 35 to 40 yards from the mine entrance but clawed their way out with a pick. With no food and little water, they ate coal and drank urine, media reported.
The two emerged from the mine hours after grieving relatives went to its entrance Friday to burn ceremonial currency for the men's souls to use in the afterlife and left offerings of steamed buns, cakes and canned goods, the Beijing News reported. Rescue work was halted after experts said there was no chance that the brothers from Inner Mongolia had survived.
THE AMERICAS
? BOGOTA, Colombia -- Nine people, including four children, were killed at a farm where the owner had been threatened by guerrillas over extortion payments, police said. The killing was the second in a week attributed to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the country's largest guerrilla force.
? BOGOTA, Colombia -- Colombia said it has seized a private Caribbean island and hundreds of other properties worth about $400 million and allegedly used by a powerful cocaine trafficker to launder millions in drug profits.
Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia was arrested in Brazil on Aug. 7. He faces three U.S. federal indictments on drug and racketeering charges, and U.S. officials plan to seek his extradition.
Ramirez Abadia, 44, said in an interview on Brazilian television that his arrest will not affect drug trafficking. "From all the people who started with me in this business several years ago, there are only two or three left. The rest either died or were extradited," he said. "I'm in prison, but there are people replacing me, then there will be others. It will never end."
-- From News Services
