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COPIAPO, Chile – Rescuers are lowering capsules containing rehydration tablets, glucose and oxygen down a long hole to 33 miners who surprised the world by staying alive while trapped a half-mile underground for 2 1/2 weeks.

Raising hopes further Monday, a second bore hole punched into the chamber where the miners are entombed and a third probe was nearing the spot, Mining Minister Laurence Golborne reported.

The hole that reached the miners Sunday will continue to be used to lower supplies, the second will be for communication and the third will provide ventilation, Golborne said.

Their ordeal, however, is far from over.

Full Story at CNN.com

Washington (CNN) — The North Korean government informed the State Department on Friday that it is holding a second American citizen who the North Koreans say entered the country from China, a State Department spokesman said.

The American, who has not been identified, was detained Monday for trespassing on North Korea’s border with China, state-run Korea Central News Agency reported Thursday. The incident is under investigation, according to the agency’s report.

Full Story at msnbc.com

BEIJING – China announced plans Thursday to cut its carbon emissions by up to 45 percent as measured against its economic output — a commitment from the world’s largest polluter that builds momentum ahead of a widely anticipated climate conference in Copenhagen next month.

The announcement comes a day after President Barack Obama promised the U.S. would lay out plans to substantially cut its greenhouse gas emissions at the summit.

Full Story atReuters.com

HONG KONG (Reuters) – China must be alert to any mutation or changes in the behavior of the H1N1 swine flu virus because the far deadlier H5N1 bird flu virus is endemic in the country, a leading Chinese disease expert said.

Zhong Nanshan, director of the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Diseases in China’s southern Guangdong province, said the presence of both viruses in China meant they could mix and become a monstrous hybrid — a bug packed with strong killing power that can transmit efficiently among people.

“China, as you know, is different from other countries. Inside China, H5N1 has been existing for some time, so if there is really a reassortment between H1N1 and H5N1, it will be a disaster,” Zhong said in an interview with Reuters Television.

“This is something we need to monitor, the change, the mutation of the virus. This is why reporting of the death rate must be really transparent.”