Mine explosion leaves 105 dead

BEIJING - A gas explosion tore through a coal mine in northern China early yesterday, killing 105 miners, a government website and the official New China News Agency reported. The blast occurred about midnight at a mine in Linfen city in Shanxi Province. The official Xinhua News Agency said 120 were in the mine, up from the previously reported 111. Xinhua reported yesterday that some 15 miners were rescued or escaped. Authorities launched an investigation into the latest tragedy in an industry that claims about 5,000 lives each year. (Washington Post)

MEXICO CITY - Police raided clandestine sawmills near a threatened nature reserve where Monarch butterflies nest in the winter, arresting 45 people and confiscating enough illegally logged wood to fill 600 heavy trucks, the government said yesterday. Illegal deforestation in and around the reserves threatens the butterflies, which rely on the forest cover to protect them from the cold, high-altitude winds. Huge numbers of Monarchs died during a cold snap in 2002. About 600 police and environmental agents raided 19 mills Wednesday in the western state of Michoacan. (AP)

VATICAN CITY - A long-missing Michelangelo sketch for the dome of St. Peter's Basilica, possibly his last design before his death, has been discovered in the basilica's offices, the Vatican newspaper said yesterday. The sketch, drawn in blood-red chalk for stonecutters who were working on the construction of the basilica, was done by the Renaissance master in the spring of 1563, less than a year before his death, L'Osservatore Romano reported. "The sureness in his stroke, the expert hand used to making decisions in front of unfinished stone, leave little doubt, the sketch is Michelangelo's," the newspaper said. (AP)