World/Nation Briefs April 5, 2010

9 rescued after 179 hours in flooded Chinese mine

XIANGNING, China - Nine miners were pulled to safety early Monday after spending more than a week trapped in a flooded coal mine in northern China, a rescue that had seemed beyond hope for days before crews heard someone tapping from deep underground.The first survivor was brought to the surface at 40 minutes past midnight Monday, 179 hours after the Wangjialing mine filled with water. A crowd of rescue workers, miners and security workers outside the entrance of the mine shaft clapped as the miners were carried out.

The nine men were among 153 trapped since March 28 when workers broke a wall into a water-filled abandoned shaft. China Central Television said more miners could still be alive, but did not give any details.State television showed the miners wrapped in blankets, placed in ambulances and rushed to a hospital where teams of doctors and nurses had been standing by for several days. Reporters who did not belong to state media were prevented from getting close to the site.

As they were taken into the hospital in Hejin city, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the mine, the miners' eyes were covered to shield them from the bright lights. Some were hooked up to intravenous drips.

Obama economic adviser predicts more job growth

WASHINGTON - A top adviser to President Barack Obama predicts positive job growth, but also says there's a "big hole" in the economy from job losses due to the recession.

Christina Romer, who heads the White House Council of Economic Advisers, says the latest jobs report shows solid employment growth even though temporary workers were a large part of the gain.About 162,000 jobs were added in March, the most created in nearly three years. But unemployment remains at 9.7 percent.

Romer says consumers still face "a lot of head winds" from the financial crisis with debt and credit difficulties making stronger job growth more difficult.Romer appeared Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Report: 2nd Moscow suicide bomber was teacher

MOSCOW - The second Moscow suicide bomber may have been a 28-year-old school teacher from the southern province of Dagestan, a Russian newspaper reported Sunday, quoting the woman's father as saying he recognized her in a photograph.

Rasul Magomedov told Novaya Gazeta that an acquaintance sent him a photograph of the subway suicide bomber that has been widely circulated on the Internet."My wife and I immediately recognized our daughter Maryam," the newspaper quotes him as saying. "The last time my wife saw our daughter she was wearing the same red scarf as in the photograph."

Magomedov said his daughter, Maryam Sharilova, disappeared the day before the March 29 bombings that shocked Moscow, though he has no idea how she got to the city from their home in southern Russia.The attack by two female suicide bombers killed 40 rush-hour commuters and wounded at least 121.

Defense Minister prepares Germans for Afghan 'war'

BERLIN - Germany's defense minister on Sunday for the first time referred to military operations in Afghanistan as a war, while he promised to investigate a friendly fire clash that left six Afghan soldiers dead.Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg broke a government taboo on the politically charged word, preparing Germans to expect more fighting by telling reporters: "Even if not everyone likes it, regarding what happens in parts of Afghanistan, one can colloquially refer to it as war."

German politicians have stopped short of using the word to refer to military operations in Afghanistan for fear of generating even more public opposition to a mission that is already deeply unpopular.Some 4,000 German soldiers control the relatively peaceful north of Afghanistan, and 39 German soldiers have died in Afghanistan in the last nine years. Parts of the north have recently proven more volatile.

- The Associated Press