Beijing

Mine explosion kills 25, leaves 141 trapped

An explosion tore through a coal mine in central China on Sunday, killing at least 25 miners and trapping 141 others in tunnels and shafts below without communications, the government said.

Some 127 workers managed to escape the state-owned mine, the Xinhua News Agency said, citing the State Bureau of Production Safety.

The blast rocked Chenjiashan coal mine in Shaanxi province at 7:20 a.m., when 293 workers were underground, Xinhua said. The explosion was centered around coal pits five miles from the mine entrance.

Most of the miners who escaped were working close to the entrance, Xinhua said, and many suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Jerusalem

Sharon: Israel willing to coordinate pullout

Israel is prepared to coordinate its pullout from Gaza with a new Palestinian government, officials said Sunday, a shift from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s concept of “unilateral disengagement” and a sign that cooperation may be restored in the post-Arafat era.

Security forces already are quietly cooperating with each other, Israeli officials said.

However, Palestinian and Israeli security sources said that beyond routine contacts at field commander level, no coordination was officially under way.

Pakistan

Nation test fires nuclear-capable missile

Pakistan test fired a new version of its medium-range, nuclear-capable missile early today, a government official said.

The senior defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the surface-to-surface missile had a range of 180 miles. “All the flight tests went well,” the official said.

It was the third test of the Ghazanvi missile. India has said technology for the missile came from China or North Korea in the 1990s.

It was Pakistan’s second major missile test in the past six weeks. On Oct. 12, Pakistan launched a Ghauri V missile, which has a range of 930 miles.

Romania

Runoff needed in presidential race

Exit polls showed no clear winner in Romania’s presidential election Sunday, forcing a runoff next month between a former ship’s captain with a populist message and a political veteran embodying the communist past.

The polls also showed that no party won a majority in the parliamentary election.

Although 12 candidates contested the presidency, the race was between Prime Minister Adrian Nastase of the left-wing Social Democratic party and Bucharest Mayor Traian Basescu, the former sailor.

The polls showed Nastase leading for the presidency with up to 43 percent of the vote, while Basescu was in second place with 35 percent.