New vest to help fire fighters, rescue workers keep cool

September 19th, 2009 KABUL - Two children were killed and three people were wounded Saturday when the explosive vest of a suicide bomber went off prematurely in Herat province of western Afghanistan, a police official said. "A suicide bomber, apparently going to target police and international forces, was killed as his explosive vest went off prematurely in a lane near a local market," police commander in western region Ekramuddin Yawor told Xinhua.

September 18th, 2009 WARSAW - Twelve miners were killed and some 16 were hospitalised with burns after a fire in the KWK Wujek Slask coal mine in southern Poland, media reports said Friday. Fifteen miners were seriously injured, TVN 24news broadcaster reported.

September 8th, 2009 ZHENGZHOU - A fire broke out Wednesday morning in a gold mine in central China's Henan province, trapping 13 miners including seven who had gone to rescue them, authorities said. The fire has not been brought under control, according to the city's coal mine industry bureau.

August 19th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Fire fighters in China were a little amused when they rushed in to rescue a woman's hand, which was jammed in the sewer of a toilet in a hospital. The woman, surnamed Zhang, was in the hospital visiting her sick husband, reports the China Daily.

August 16th, 2009 SAN FRANCISCO - Two wildfires in California continued to spread Saturday, after scorching more than 6,800 acres in the state. But fire officials said they were 30 percent contained.

August 3rd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The toll in a building collapse in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi has risen to 23, TV reports said Monday. Rescue workers have pulled out more bodies from the rubble of the five-storey building that collapsed in the Mithadar area of the city Friday night.

July 24th, 2009 LONDON - Researchers in Brazil have unravelled the mystery of the toucan's enormous beak, which has perplexed scientists since Charles Darwin, by finding out that it acts as a natural air conditioning unit for the bird. Darwin suggested that the toucan's beak was used as a sexual advertisement, while other scientists thought that it might be a specialist fruit peeler or visual warning system.

July 22nd, 2009 KARACHI - The death toll in Tuesday's building collapse has reached 13 with rescue workers recovering more bodies from the rubble on Wednesday. The four storey building, situated in a densely-populated neighbouhood of Liaquatabad in the central district of city, collapsed in the late hours on Tuesday.

July 12th, 2009 CHONGQING - Seven people were drowned in a flash flood triggered by rainstorms in southwest China, officials said Sunday. The incident took place at around 4 p.m.

July 4th, 2009 LONDON - Six people died Friday in a blaze that struck a 12-storey apartment house in south London. The dead included three children, rescue officials said.

June 23rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - A subway train derailed and collided with a second train Monday in the US capital Washington with at least one person killed and many injured, authorities said. The accident occurred around 5 p.m.

June 19th, 2009 MELBOURNE - In the latest UFO riddle to grip Australia, a flaming object has been spotted crashing into a mountain in central Queensland. The spectacle was initially treated as a possible plane crash but is now believed to be a meteor or space junk falling to earth.

June 6th, 2009 MEXICO CITY - At least 29 children were killed Friday in a fire at a day care centre in Mexico's northwest city of Hermosillo, officials said. The victims, aged three months to two years, had been staying in a day care centre next to a tire dealership that had caught on fire.

May 3rd, 2009 Sydney police rescue alleged burglar from rooftopSYDNEY — Emergency services mounted a three-hour operation involving a helicopter and a fire truck Sunday to retrieve a man who got stuck on the roof of a factory in Sydney that he was allegedly trying to rob, police said. New South Wales state police said they were called early Sunday to the joinery factory where the 53-year-old man was stuck on the roof, apparently unable to move because of the wet weather and steep angle.

May 3rd, 2009 Police rescue alleged burglar from rooftopSYDNEY — A man who got stuck on the roof of a factory he was allegedly trying to rob has been rescued by police after a three-hour operation. New South Wales state police said they were called early Sunday to a joinery factory, where a 53-year-old man was on the roof.