48 missing, 5 dead in China landslide
ALXA LEAGUE, China -- Rescuers with backhoes and bulldozers dug through tons of earth and rubble Thursday for 48 people missing after a landslide buried an open-pit mine in northern China. State broadcaster CCTV reported that the confirmed death toll in the disaster rose to five.
Conditions in the area remain dangerous, and the search had to be suspended for several hours because of a second landslide at the facility in Inner Mongolia's Alxa League.
On Thursday afternoon, more than a dozen bulldozers, trucks, SUVs and fire engines were seen passing through a remote police checkpoint about 15 miles southwest of the mine.
Nearly all personnel were stopped by police and checked for entry approvals before being allowed to proceed along the road leading to the mine.
A police officer said only those with government approval would be allowed access to the area. She said people living close to the mine had been sent to stay in a nearby town.
Security was also tight at another checkpoint in the neighboring region of Ningxia, 9 miles east of the mine, with dozens of officers inspecting every vehicle that sought to pass in either direction.
Rescuers used heavy digging equipment and cameras that could snake down into the debris, along with thermal imagers and equipment to detect vital signs, Chang Zhigang, the head of the rescue operation, told reporters Thursday.
Activist's slaying probed in Mexico
MEXICO CITY -- Authorities in western Mexico said Thursday they are investigating the killing of an indigenous anti-logging activist, the latest in a round of murders and disappearances in the region.
Prosecutors in the violence-plagued state of Michoacan said Alfredo Cisneros was shot to death earlier in the week in the Purepecha indigenous village of Sicuicho.
Cisneros was a local leader and an anti-logging activist, and a member of the community land council. The indigenous communities of Michoacan have fought for years against mining and illegal logging that target the pine and fir forests of the mountainous region. Loggers often clear-cut trees to plant avocados, a highly lucrative export crop in Michoacan.
The killing came just over a month after two community anti-mining activists disappeared in another part of Michoacan. Their bullet-ridden vehicle was found on a roadway.
The Supreme Indigenous Council of Michoacan said in a statement that Cisneros "was an untiring defender of the forests, and the collective rights and lands of Sicuicho."
Hostage released in Papua New Guinea
CANBERRA, Australia -- Kidnappers have released a woman who was held for several days in a remote area of Papua New Guinea, and security forces are continuing to negotiate for the freedom of four other hostages, police said Thursday.
The woman, a Papua New Guinean citizen whose name has not been disclosed, was released to police on Wednesday, Deputy Police Commissioner Philip Mitna said in a statement.
Police confirmed on Monday that a kidnapping had occurred in the poor South Pacific island nation but did not say when it began.
A foreigner and three Papua New Guinea university students are still being held by several kidnappers near Fogoma'iu Village in the remote Highlands region, police said.
The foreigner is a New Zealand citizen who lives in Australia and works as an archaeologist at an Australian university, according to media reports. The New Zealand and Australian governments have declined to comment.
The kidnappers have made a ransom demand, according to media reports. Kidnapping for ransom is an uncommon crime in Papua New Guinea, a tribal society of 9 million people who are mostly subsistence farmers.
N. Irish officer recovering after shooting
LONDON -- A senior Northern Ireland police officer was in critical but stable condition in a hospital after two masked men shot him after he coached a children's soccer team, authorities said Thursday.
A dissident Irish Republican Army splinter group is suspected of shooting the detective Wednesday night after a children's soccer session at a sports complex in Omagh, about 60 miles west of Belfast. Three men were arrested Thursday on suspicion of attempted murder.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland named the wounded officer as Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell, a well-known officer who has led investigations into murders, organized crime and dissident paramilitary groups.
The leader of the police force, Chief Constable Simon Byrne, called the shooting "a brazen and calculated attack."
"Our thoughts are with John and his family as he fights for his life in hospital today," Byrne told reporters.
Assistant Chief Constable Mark McEwan said two gunmen attacked Caldwell as he put soccer balls into the trunk of his car, accompanied by his young son. Caldwell had just coached an under-15s soccer team.
The force said three men, ages 38, 45 and 47, were arrested and being questioned at a Belfast police station.
In this image taken from official surveillance camera footage run by China's CCTV, dirt moves down the side of a hill at an open pit mine in Alxa League in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023. An open pit mine collapsed in China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Wednesday, killing several people and leaving dozens missing, state media reported. (CCTV via AP)
In this aerial photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, rescuers work at the site of a collapsed open pit coal mine in Alxa League in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023. An open pit mine collapsed in China's northern Inner Mongolia region on Wednesday, killing multiple people and leaving dozens more missing, state media reported. (Bei He/Xinhua via AP)
Police officers stand at a checkpoint along a road leading to the site of a collapsed open pit mine in Alxa League in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023. An open pit mine collapsed in China's northern Inner Mongolia region on Wednesday, killing multiple people and leaving dozens more missing, state media reported. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Police officers talk to a truck driver at a checkpoint along a road leading to the site of a collapsed open pit mine in Alxa League in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023. An open pit mine collapsed in China's northern Inner Mongolia region on Wednesday, killing multiple people and leaving dozens more missing, state media reported. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Police officers gesture to a truck at a checkpoint along a road leading to the site of a collapsed open pit mine in Alxa League in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023. An open pit mine collapsed in China's northern Inner Mongolia region on Wednesday, killing multiple people and leaving dozens more missing, state media reported. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this image taken from video footage run by China's CCTV, rescuers gather at the site of a mine collapse in Alxa League in northern China's Inner Mongolia, Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023. An open pit mine collapsed in China's northern Inner Mongolia region on Wednesday, killing several people and leaving dozens missing, state media reported. (CCTV via AP)
In this aerial photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, rescue vehicles are parked near the site of a collapsed open pit coal mine in Alxa League in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023. An open pit mine collapsed in China's northern Inner Mongolia region on Wednesday, killing multiple people and leaving dozens more missing, state media reported. (Lian Zhen/Xinhua via AP)
A truck is stopped at a checkpoint leading to the site of a collapsed open pit mine in Alxa League in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023. An open pit mine collapsed in China's northern Inner Mongolia region on Wednesday, killing multiple people and leaving dozens more missing, state media reported. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Forensic investigators from Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) work Thursday at the sports complex in the Killyclogher Road area of Omagh, Co Tyrone, Northern Ireland. (AP/PA/Liam McBurney)