Two airliners in near miss over Hong Kong

Two Hong Kong-bound flights carrying more than 600 people narrowly missed each other over the Asian city, according to officials, after pilots scrambled to react to warning signals.

A Cathay Pacific Boeing 777 arriving from New York and a Dragonair Airbus A330 from Taiwan were both told to hold off landing due to bad weather on September 18 but strayed into each other's path.

Airline officials said they were one nautical mile (2,000 metres) apart at the same altitude southwest of Hong Kong airport when the traffic collision avoidance system warning sounded.

The Dragonair pilot put his aircraft, carruying 284 passengers and 12 crew, into an immediate climb while the Cathay flight, with 299 passengers and 18 crew on board, descended to resolve the conflict.

According to Hong Kong's former civil aviation chief the two planes came within six seconds of impact, based on their distance and normal aircraft speed.

"The chance of a crash is absolutely high. The passengers really came back from hell," Albert Lam told The Standard newspaper.

A spokesman for Cathay Pacific, which also owns Dragonair, said that there had been a "loss of separation" but said: "There was no risk of collision and at no time was the safety of the flights compromised.

"At the closest, they were one nautical mile (2,000 meters) apart when abeam from each other with increasing vertical separation."

Both flights landed at the airport without incident, 14 minutes apart.

Cathay said the incident has been reported to civil aviation authorities and pledged to cooperate with the probe.

Shanghai subway crash injures dozens

A subway train in China's commercial center of Shanghai has smashed into the back of another train, injuring dozens of people.

Local reports say the accident Tuesday on Line 10, one of the city's newest lines, may have been caused by problems with the signaling system, similar to a crash in July on one of China's high-speed train lines.

Shanghai TV says more than 100 people were taken to hospitals for treatment. The exact number of injuries could not be immediately confirmed.

Shanghai, a city of 23 million, has rapidly expanded its subway system in recent years. Some lines have had problems with faulty signaling, doors not opening properly and poorly trained operators.

Deadly Storms in China Kill At Least 18

Violent thunderstorms have lashed parts of China's southern industrial heartland of Guangdong province, leaving 18 people dead and scores injured.

The provincial Civil Affairs Bureau says hail, rain and gale-force winds Sunday afternoon struck Guangdong's capital, Guangzhou, along with the nearby cities of Foshan, Dongguan and Zhaoqing.

The bureau said Monday that victims were struck by falling objects and collapsing walls and work sheds, with 155 people injured and 380 left homeless. About 2,500 acres (1,000 hectares) of crops were damaged.

The region is home to much of China's crucial export manufacturing sector, although there was no immediate indication of serious damage to assembly lines.

Google Blames China for Blocking Gmail

Access to Gmail homepage services has been intermittent.

Google News Updates! Google has accused the Chinese government of disrupting its email service Gmail and clarified that there were no technical issues with the service or the website from its end.

Gmail has been made inaccessible in China as a part of intensified Internet crackdown, reported The Associated Press. Google, in an official statement, noted, "There is no technical issue on our side; we have checked extensively. This is a government blockage carefully designed to look like the problem is with Gmail."

As per a Google spokesperson, China is the world's most populous Internet Market and users have been reporting about the intermittent access to Gmail since January. Users face major problems in accessing the Gmail homepage, sending emails and also the instant messaging.

The blockage is allegedly a the part of the existing web censorship in China and is more sophisticated since it doesn't block the service entirely but just makes it annoyingly intermittent.

In the past, Google's Gmail snooping issue and the cyber-attacks within China has soured the relations between the company and China. Now, this controlled disruption will certainly make Google think over its presence in China. The company has already moved its search engine domains for Chinese language from mainland China to Hong Kong.

As of now, the Chinese government hasn't responded to Google's allegation but we expect a denial as response soon.

China's economic growth in 2010

China's rapid economic growth slows further.

China's economy News Updates! China's rapid growth slowed in the latest quarter as Beijing steered its expansion to a more sustainable level, possibly cutting its contribution to a global recovery.

The world's second-largest economy grew 9.6 percent in the July-September quarter over a year earlier, official figures showed Thursday. That was down from the previous quarter's 10.3 percent but still by far the highest of any major economy.

Politically sensitive inflation edged up in September on higher food costs but incomes also rose strongly.

The growth decline might dent a global recovery as China's appetite for iron ore, factory machinery and other imports weakens. That might hurt the United States, Australia, Europe and other economies that are looking to relatively robust China to power exports.

"Short-term the slowdown means China will have less demand for goods from the rest of the world," said Alistair Thornton, China analyst for IHS Global Insight. "But long-term, the slowdown could be a benefit to the world economy because the Chinese economy cannot keep going at such a high pace and in such an unbalanced way."

Asian stock markets were mixed amid concern slower Chinese growth might mean less demand for raw materials and industrial components from neighboring economies.

Beijing is trying to restore normal economic conditions following a huge stimulus that helped China quickly rebound from the global crisis. Communist leaders want to guide growth to a manageable pace and encouraging Chinese consumer spending to rebalance the economy away from heavy reliance on exports and investment. Beijing's growth target for the year is 8 percent, while the World Bank is forecasting 9.5 percent.

September's inflation rate rose to 3.6 percent over a year earlier from August's 3.5 percent — above the 3 percent official target. Driving inflation higher was a 6.1 percent jump in food costs due to shortages of vegetables and other items.

Analysts say inflation should fall back as food supplies recover. Helping to offset higher prices, urban incomes grew 7.5 percent in the first nine months of 2010 over a year earlier and rural incomes rose 9.7 percent.

"Continued fast income growth means rising food prices are not a significant social or economic problem," said CLSA analyst Andy Rothman in a report.

The government, which has clamped down on bank lending and real estate investment, said the latest economic growth rate was in line with its efforts.

China's growth soared to 11.9 percent in the first three months of the year on a flood of stimulus spending and bank lending. But Chinese leaders worry growth overshot safe levels and are trying to cool a surge in housing costs and stock speculation.

"These data point to a soft landing for the Chinese economy," said Tom Orlik, an analyst in Beijing for Stone & McCarthy Research Associates.

Beijing triggered a fall in global markets this week with a surprise interest rate hike that analysts said might be aimed at curbing bank lending and encouraging consumer spending by paying more on savings.

"This is a signal that they are getting the ball rolling with meaningful policy changes in rebalancing," said Orlik.

The slowdown also was reflected in a sharp decline in China's explosive industrial growth.

The rise in factory output measured by added value fell to 13.5 percent in the latest quarter, down from the previous quarter's 15.9 percent and 19.6 percent in the first three months of the year.

Growth in spending on factories and other fixed assets also eased, rising 24 percent in September over a year ago, down from the 26.7 percent rate in the first eight months of the year.

A new five-year economic blueprint issued this week by the Communist Party's ruling inner circle reflects the emphasis on quality over quantity. It calls for "inclusive growth" that spreads prosperity to the countryside and urban poor who have missed out on China's boom.

"They feel they don't need these double-digit growth rates," said Thornton. "This could be the last year that we see double-digit growth, ever, in China."

Japan warns China on 'extreme nationalism'

Japan warns China against 'extreme nationalism'.

Japan China News Updates! apan has warned China that both nations must avoid stirring up "extreme nationalism" in their ongoing row over the detention of a Chinese sea captain.

The Japanese government said it wanted to use all possible channels to avoid any further escalation.

China responded by saying it would not meet Japanese leaders on the sidelines of a UN summit in New York this week.

Beijing has demanded the release of the skipper, whose boat hit two Japanese patrol vessels in disputed waters.

The BBC's Roland Buerk in Tokyo says Japan's government is trying to persuade China to take the heat out of the damaging row.

The Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshito Sengoku, said officials "should be careful not to arouse narrow-minded extreme nationalism", not just in China, but in Japan and other countries too.

Just hours later, the Chinese foreign ministry said a meeting between Premier Wen Jiabao and his Japanese counterpart Naoto Kan would be inappropriate.

The dispute began two weeks ago when a Chinese fishing boat collided with two Japanese patrol ships near uninhabited islands in the East China Sea which both countries claim, as does Taiwan.

The islands, which lie north of Taiwan and south of Japan's Okinawa prefecture, have rich fishing grounds and may have oil and gas deposits.

The boat's captain was arrested on suspicion of deliberately ramming the vessels.

When a Japanese court extended his detention on Sunday for a further 10 days, China severed senior level government contacts.

Meanwhile, 1,000 young Japanese due to travel to the Shanghai Expo this week were told by Beijing they were no longer welcome.

Striking a conciliatory tone, Mr Sengoku said regional growth depended on the relationship between Asia's two biggest economies.

But he said the case was a legal matter, and the government would have to win China's understanding of Japan's judicial and political system.

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Earthquake in China

Earthquake in China injures 11, damages houses.

At least 12 people were injured and hundreds of houses damaged when a moderate earthquake struck southwestern China today.

The earthquake, measuring 4.0 on the Richter scale, shook Ningnan county, Sichuan province, and neighbouring Qiaojia county of Yunnan Province, local authorities said.

"The earthquake left at least 11 people injured and damaged 300 to 400 houses in Qiaojia County," said Fang Zonghui, head of the county, state run Xinhua news agency reported.

Nobody was reported dead or missing.

The epicentre of the quake was located at 27.1 degrees north latitude and 102.9 degrees longitude, according to Sichuan's earthquake network centre.

In April this year, over 2800 people were killed and thousands injured in a massive earthquake in China's southern Qinghai province.

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Henan Airlines plane crashed in Lindu - China

Chinese jet misses runway and bursts into flames.

Chinese jet misses runway and bursts into flames; state media say 42 killed and 54 rescued.

Aviation officials at a relatively new airport in northeast China searched through debris Wednesday for clues to why a passenger jet crashed and burned while trying to land on a fog-shrouded runway, killing 42 people and injuring 54 others.

The Henan Airlines plane with 91 passengers and five crew crashed late Tuesday in a grassy area near the Lindu airport on the outskirts of Yichun. Five of those onboard were children, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said, and at least one, an 8-year-old boy, survived.

It was China's first major commercial air disaster in nearly six years. The plane's black box was recovered, Xinhua reported, but it is still not known what caused the accident.

The newly built Yichun airport sits in a forested valley and has operated for a year, and concerns about the safety of night landings there had been raised by at least one major airline.

China Southern Airlines decided last August to avoid night flights in and out of Yichun, switching its daily flight from Harbin to the daytime. A technical notice cited concerns about the airport's surrounding terrain, runway lighting and wind and weather conditions.

"Principally there should be no night flights at Yichun airport," said the notice from China Southern's Heilongjiang province branch that was posted online. An employee with the branch's technical office confirmed the notice's authenticity. He declined to give his name because he was not authorized to talk to the media, but said China Southern decided to cancel night flights at Yichun "for safety concerns. We're cautious."

The crash and fire were so severe that little of the fuselage remained, though the charred tail was still largely intact. China Central Television said eight of the victims were found 65 to 100 feet (20 to 30 meters) from the plane's wreckage in a muddy field.

The official Xinhua News Agency said officials had earlier reported 43 dead because one body was torn apart in the crash and had been counted as two. It said the pilot, Qi Quanjun, survived the crash but was badly hurt and cannot speak.

One of the dead was a Chinese with a foreign passport, according to Xinhua, but it did not give the nationality. It also said a passenger from Taiwan was hurt.

33 Miners trapped in Chile mine are alve

Miners trapped in Chile mine for 17 days are alive.

Thirty-three miners who have been trapped underground in a Chilean mine for the past 17 days are all alive, President Sebastian Pinera has said.

Rescuers heard hammering noises when they sent a new probe into the mine.

When the probe came back it had a note tied to it saying: "All 33 of us are fine in the shelter."

The men were working at a depth of around 700m (2,300ft) at the San Jose mine, near the city of Copiapo, when the rock above them collapsed.

Until Sunday, there had been no word from the miners and hopes for their survival had all but faded.

But it could take several months to drill a rescue shaft large enough to rescue the men.

Mr Pinera was at the mine on Sunday when he announced the breakthrough. Brandishing the miners' note for TV cameras he hailed the news saying:
Map of Chile

"It will take months to get them out. It will take time, but it doesn't matter how long it takes, to have a happy ending."

President Pinera said he had seen footage of the men waving at a camera inserted into their shelter through a small tube.

"They got close to the camera and we could see their eyes, their joy," he said.

The miners are reported to be 4.5 miles (7km) inside the gold and copper mine and about 700m vertically underground.

They have been trapped since 5 August when the main access tunnel collapsed.

According to Reuters news agency, the authorities said the men are in a mine shaft shelter about the size of a small flat and have limited amounts of food.

Rescuers plan to send narrow plastic tubes down the borehole with food, hydration gels and communications equipment, including cameras and microphones.
Jubilation

However, the chief engineer in charge of the rescue operation, Andres Sougarret, has warned that it will take at least four months and more powerful digging equipment to reach the men.

Read Full Story >>

Train fell into a river in China

Two carriages of a passenger train fall into a river in China.

At least two carriages of a passenger train fell into a river Thursday after floods destroyed a bridge in southwest China's Sichuan Province, state-run CCTV reported Friday, citing Chengdu Railway authorities.

It was not immediately known how many passengers were inside the carriages, which a firefighter said were swept 200 meters downriver. Local authorities said they were doing their best to carry out rescues.

The accident occurred in Guanghan at about 3:20 p.m. Thursday on the Shi-ting-jiang Bridge, part of the railway line that links Chengdu and Baoji, in northwestern Shaanxi Province.

Floods caused the bridge piers to collapse, which forced the train from its track, they said.

People aboard five other carriages were taken to safety.

The train was traveling from Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi, to Kunming, the capital of southwestern Yunnan Province.

China mudslide disaster

China mudslides kill more than 1,000;

More rain is expected Friday in northwest China's Gansu province, where the death toll from a massive mudslide continues to climb.

By Friday, the toll had risen to 1,156, with 588 still missing, state-run Xinhua news agency said.

Local residents believe that number is higher.

The downpour has been steady, impacting relief work and leading to fears there may be more mudslides.

Torrential rains triggered the mudslides Sunday.

The side of a mountain broke off in the night and tore through remote Zhouqu county, burying homes and ripping others apart. The path of the mudslide is covered in three and four stories of rock and mud.

Local health officials say the spread of disease is now a major public health concern in the county after health facilities and water resources were damaged, Xinhua reported.

A health ministry official told Xinhua that high temperatures can cause corpses and dead animals buried under the mud to decay.

Although wells have been dug up to ensure water supply, the ministry said sterilizing the water takes time.

China landslide death toll increases

China landslide: More than 700 people confirmed dead.

More than 700 people are now known to have died in a massive landslide in north-west China - making it one of the deadliest incidents so far in the country's worst flooding in a decade.

A frantic search is continuing for the more than 1,000 people still missing.

Buildings were hit by a wall of mud so mighty that buildings seven storeys high crumpled like paper.

He says rescuers are searching by hand in the remote, mountainous region.

A 52-year-old man was pulled alive from the rubble more than 50 hours after the disaster, and other rescue teams say they have heard "very faint" signs of life elsewhere, the state media reported.

But as the hours pass, hopes of finding survivors diminish, our correspondent says.

"Around me are relatives of missing people sitting dazed, shocked. Each of them has stories," he says.

One woman has lost her husband and three teenage children. Until she saw their bodies with her own eyes she did not want to believe it, he adds.

The death toll was revised upwards on Tuesday from 337, and officials say that figure is expected to rise in the coming hours and days.

The weather forecast over the coming days is for heavy rain, which could hamper humanitarian work.

The landslides in remote Zhouqu county, Gansu, were triggered by torrential rains that hit the area late on Saturday.

The thick layer of mud levelled an area 5km (3 miles) by 500m, Xinhua said.

Landslide debris blocked a river which then burst its banks, sending water, rocks and mud down several hillsides and on to homes.

Soldiers have blasted through the blockage on the Bailong river, lowering the water level of an unstable lake created by the landslide.

Thousands of people have been evacuated from downstream villages that could be engulfed if the natural dam bursts.

The landslides came as China was struggling with its worst flooding in a decade, with more than 2,100 people reported dead or missing and millions more displaced nationwide.

President Hu Jintao led a meeting of senior ministers on Tuesday on plans to handle the crisis, Xinhua news agency said.

More than 7,000 soldiers, firefighters and medical staff are now at the scene of the landslide.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has visited Zhouqu, urging rescue workers on in their efforts and comforting those affected.

Authorities have sent tents, food and water, but some supplies were reported to be running low because roads and bridges into the area have been destroyed.

Landslides and floods in China - Gansu

127 killed, 2000 missing in fresh landslides in China.

Flood fury continued to wreak havoc in China where 127 people were killed and 2,000 were missing after one of the worst landslides hit the remote Gansu province today, submerging a township inhabited by 1.3 lakh people, mostly Tibetans.

Flood waters with sludge and rocks from a blocked river on spate buried an entire village, devouring everything in its wake, including several multi-story buildings.

Hundreds of homes were toppled and several residents were still trapped in the Chengguan Township and several villages in northwest China's Zhouqu County in the Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu Province, official media reports said, quoting ruling Communist party officials.

"76 people were injured, while nearly 2,000 others in the county were still missing. About 45,000 people have been evacuated," Xinhua news agency said, quoting a statement from the provincial civil affairs department.

The Tibetan Autonomous region which has a population of over 1.3 lakh has been submerged by the landslides.

Sludge as thick as two meters was spread across some major roads in the county.

Many trapped residents were waiting for rescuers atop buildings, an official statement said, adding that a primary school and some governmental offices in the county were also damaged.

Thirty three percent of the people of the prefecture were Tibetans.

As soon as the news broke out, prime minister Wen Jiabao rushed to the spot while president Hu Jintao ordered all out efforts by the army and civilian forces to mount a massive rescue efforts to save people.

Wen has set up temporary headquarters for rescue work aboard a plane heading for landslide-hit Zhouqu County to coordinate the relief activities.

The tragedy occurred last night with torrential rains which led to the landslides, said Diemujiangteng, head of the county.

The Bailong River on the banks of which the township was built had overflowed and a large body of slow moving water engulfed the Chengguan township.

"Many people were trapped. Now sludge has become the biggest problem to rescue operations. It's too thick to walk or drive through," he said.

"It's very hard to locate the people washed away by floods. It's hard to say what their chances of survival are," he said.

Peng Wei, head of the county's fire department said, "the county is in a valley and the river runs through the middle."

Government figures issued before the fresh disaster had put the number of people killed or missing in the devastating floods in the country this year at over 2,000.

Google search working again in China

Google users in China were temporarily blocked from accessing the search engine, the company said Thursday, but the site was was once again working a few hours later.

A notice posted on Google's site had said all services other than Gmail were partially or fully blocked in mainland China. No further details were posted.

But later Thursday evening, a Google spokeswoman said in an e-mailed statement to CNNMoney.com that the issue had been resolved.

"Because of the way we measure accessibility in China, it's possible that our machines could overestimate the level of blockage. That seems to be what happened ... when there was a relatively small blockage. It appears now that users in China are accessing our properties normally," the spokeswoman said.

Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) and China have been at odds for months over censorship issues in the country. In January, Google said it was considering leaving China.

Two months later, Google moved its servers out of mainland China to Hong Kong and said it would stop censoring its search results in the country. Google redirected its Chinese users from google.cn to its Hong Kong site, google.com.hk, which offers uncensored search results.

Because Google was not hosting its search operations within mainland China, the company was not forced to acquiesce to China's censorship laws. As such, it was up to the Chinese government to block access to the results it deemed objectionable.

But earlier this month, Google said it had renewed its license with the Chinese government and would be allowed to continue operating in the country -- though the search giant did not make any concessions regarding censorship.

Google shares were down 1% in after-hours trading.

Explosion at China plastics factory

State media says an explosion at a factory in eastern China has injured about 100 people.

The official Xinhua News Agency says the Wednesday morning blast occurred at a plastics factory in downtown Nanjing city in eastern Jiangsu province.

Nearly 100 people were injured and rushed to the hospital, Xinhua said, citing witnesses and hospital sources.

No other details were immediately available.

China flooding

China flooding kills 701, worst toll in a decade.

More than 1,000 people have died or disappeared in severe flooding in China so far this year, and the heaviest rains are still to come, a senior official warned Wednesday.

This year's floods, which have caused tens of billions of dollars in damage already, have exacted the highest death toll since 1998, when the highest water levels in five decades claimed 4,150 lives.

With the typhoon season rolling in, Liu Ning, general secretary of the government's flood prevention agency, told a news conference authorities must ramp up preparations.

"Since 60 to 80 percent of the annual rain level occurs in June, July and August, we should be prepared to prevent and combat potential disasters," Liu said.

Tropical storm Chanthu is expected to hit China's southern island of Hainan and Guangdong province this weekend. Six to eight typhoons are expected this year.

Already, three-quarters of China's provinces have been plagued by flooding and 25 rivers have seen record-high water levels, Liu said.

State broadcaster China Central Television showed footage of soldiers and rescue workers searching through rubble and mud for survivors of a landslide in Ankang city in the northern province of Shaanxi, where 14 people have died and 35 remained missing as of Wednesday.

Footage from Shaanxi and the southwestern province of Sichuan showed flooded shops and homes, with buses and cars driving down water-filled streets. Some residents waded through knee-deep water to stock up at the local supermarket.

Flooding, particularly along the Yangtze River basin, has overwhelmed reservoirs, swamped towns and cities, and caused landslides that have smothered communities, including toppling 645,000 houses. The Three Gorges Dam faced its highest levels ever this week and water breached the massive dam.

"Although water levels in the upper stretches of the Yangtze River have surpassed that of 1998, the flood situation is still not as severe because the Three Gorges Dam has played a key role in preventing floods along the river this year," Liu said.

The waters have killed 701 people and left 347 missing. The overall damage totals 142.2 billion yuan ($21 billion), Liu said.

This year's torrential floods have hit farms especially hard, affecting 2.3 million acres (930,000 hectares) of crops, with more than 330 acres (133 hectares) destroyed by floods as of July 10, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Google asks US, EU to press China on censorship

Google Inc's top lawyer has said that the world's leading search engine is asking the US and European governments to press China to lift Internet censorship, describing it as an unfair barrier to free trade.

David Drummond on Wednesday told reporters that western states should defend the free trade in information with the same kind of rules that they use to complain of China's below-cost sale of products.

He said government talks are "the only way that it's going to change, that this tide of censorship or this rising censorship is going to be arrested."

The company sparred with Chinese leaders earlier this year when it stopped self-censoring its search results in line with Chinese rules after it said Chinese hackers had tried to plunder its software coding and hijack the Gmail accounts of human rights activists.

Since late March, Google has been redirecting search requests from mainland China to Hong Kong, which doesn't have the same restrictions.

"The cyber attack was sort of the final straw because we felt that it was increasingly hard to do business there in accordance with our values," Drummond said, describing the company as in danger of becoming "part of the same apparatus" of Chinese state censorship.

New China attack

7 children, 1 teacher killed in new China attack.

An attacker hacked seven children and one teacher to death Wednesday and wounded 20 others in a violent rampage at a kindergarten in northwest China's Shaanxi province.

The slaying marked the latest in a string of attacks on schools nationwide and came despite an ordered boost in security at school grounds.

Liu Xiaoming, deputy director of the propaganda department of Hanzhong city where the latest attack occurred, confirmed the deaths and injuries and said the attacker had killed himself afterward.

Now see 3-D movies without glasses

Now you can enjoy 3-D movies without glasses at your home itself.

The huge success of 3D movies like “Avatar”, “Clash of the Titans” and “Alice in Wonderland” has led scientists to explore possibilities of developing 3D technology that does not require glasses.

Japanese companies supplying 3D technology and services to Hollywood production houses have said they hope to see their goods having an impact on people’s day-to-day lives within the next few years, and that further development in the technology will lower prices and makes the experience affordable for commoners, Xinhua reported on Saturday.

However, before that happens, there are still a few problems that need to be solved. A ‘glasses-free’ 3D technology produced by a Japanese company has induced headaches, even if they were impressive.

The latest technology sends different signals to each eye, creating the illusion of 3D images, and a company representative has argued that future developments will lead to sharper images and less eye fatigue. “In may be five years, when the technology has further advanced and the price of the hardware has become more affordable, I think you will see 3D sets in households,” Kazuo Kaneyama was quoted as saying.

At present, the technology boasts of a 65-inch set at around 3 million yen ($32,000) - about three times more than the price of a 2D television of the same size.

There are also problems for people with visual impairment. If one eye is stronger than the other, then the 3D image will suffer.

“People with visual impairment will not be able to enjoy 3D using this technology,” Kaneyama said. Over the next few years, television sets are likely to be installed at exhibitions, department stores and on streets that grab our attention like never before, with the images seeming to jump out of the screens and at passers-by.

“I believe 3D is just around the corner,” said Kiyoto Kanda, representative of another company. “Photo frames that use the technology are already available at an affordable price, and other equipment is going to get cheaper in the near future.” With Hollywood already beginning to invest in fully developing 3D entertainment, opportunities to test out the new way of watching movies, sport and other programmes are likely to increase.

In Britain, a recent football game between Manchester United and Chelsea was made available in 3D. Though these experiments have used the glasses technology, people have not looked favourably at the idea of wearing uncomfortable glasses for two or more hours at a time, opening up huge potential for companies offering glasses-free technology.

114 miners rescued from flooded mine in China

Over 114 miners rescued from China's flooded mine

At least 114 of the 153 miners trapped in a flooded coal mine in China's Shanxi province for over a week were rescued Monday, an official said.

Rescuers are continuing the search for the 39 trapped miners, Shanxi Governor Wang Jun was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

The flood occurred around 1.40 p.m. March 28 after workers dug a hole into an abandoned pit filled with underground water at the Wangjialing coal mine in Xiangning county. When water gushed in from the pit, 261 workers were inside. Of them, 108 were able to get out while 153 others were trapped in the shaft.

Survivors with clothes covering their eyes were being lifted out by rescuers.

'It is a miracle in China's mining rescue history,' Luo Lin, head of the State Administration of Work Safety, said.

Scientific methods used in the rescue have ensured that the survivors were rescued alive after being trapped underground for a week, Shanxi Party chief Zhang Baoshun said.

Most of the survivors were brought out from a working platform, where rescuers had drilled a vertical hole. The hole ensured oxygen in the flooded pit and rescuers later sent down over 300 bags of glucose to the trapped miners.

'It is a miracle. It is all worth of our efforts without sleep for several days,' said Wei Fusheng, a white-haired rescuer, bursting into tears.

'I have two daughters and a son. I had to do mining work to earn money for them,' said a 45-year-old survivor taken to the Shanxi Aluminium Plant Hospital, which admitted 35 survivors Monday.

It was 'fantastic' to be up on ground again, a 27-year-old survivor said, adding that he heard applause when he was lifted out by rescuers.

Over the past week, about 3,000 rescuers and 300 experts have been mobilised for the rescue operation. Fourteen pumps have been pumping out water for the past six days, with an average of 2,500 cubic metres water being pumped per hour.

The accident is being termed as one of the deadliest coal mine accidents in the country since two mines flooded in Shandong province in August 2007, killing 181 people.