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WORLD IN BRIEF
3 Receive Life Sentences For Fatal Mine Explosion
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A Chinese court has sentenced three people to life in prison and handed jail terms to 14 others for their roles in a coal mine explosion that killed 105 miners late last year, the New China News Agency reported Monday.
Those sentenced to life included the manager in charge of production at the Xinyao Coal Mine and an investor in the mine in the northern province of Shanxi, where a gas blast tore through the shaft on Dec. 5.
At the time of the explosion, 128 miners were working when 60 were allowed. The company had increased output and expanded production to new coal beds without approval, the report said.
China's coal mining industry is the world's deadliest, claiming close to 4,000 miners last year.
Other managers at the mine were sentenced to jail terms of up to 20 years, and the company was fined about $26 million for illegal trade in explosives, illegal work on an unapproved coal bed and tax evasion.
kosovo
Serb Protests Mark Week of Independence
Kosovo marked its first week of independence with prayers and protests Sunday as outraged Serbs staged demonstrations in the nation's north and across Europe.
Refusing to let Kosovo secede from Serbia without a fight, as many as 1,000 protesters gathered briefly in the ethnically divided northern town of Kosovska Mitrovica in a seventh day of demonstrations denouncing Kosovo's independence.
They listened to a Belgrade rock band play on a stage decorated with a poster of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a sign reading: "Russia Help!" Moscow supports Serbia's resistance and has declared Kosovo's independence illegal.
Serbs also organized rallies Sunday in European cities including Vienna, Geneva and Brussels.
North Korea
Russian Cargo Ship And Crew of 25 Held
North Korean authorities were holding a Russian cargo ship with 25 people aboard Sunday after the vessel violated the sea border of the country, a Russian diplomat said.
