A roundup of today's other world stories in brief
Gold mine cave-in traps four workers
QUITO– A cave-in at a small Ecuadorean gold mine trapped at least four workers yesterday and it was unclear whether they were alive, authorities said.
The night-shift workers were trapped about 150 metres below the surface after the cave-in early in the day in a coastal region near Peru. About 50 rescue workers were heading for the mine, run by the Minesadco company. – (Reuters)
World’s longest tunnel at 57km breaks through in Swiss Alps
SEDRUN– Swiss engineers drilling the world's longest tunnel broke through the last section of rock yesterday, crowning more than a decade of work.
The 57.1km (35.5-mile) rail tunnel under the Gotthard massif will enter service in 2017, taking some of the tens of thousands of tonnes of freight that crosses the Alps by road every day.
The project, costing more than 12 billion Swiss francs (€8.85 billion), has claimed the lives of eight workers.
More than 200 trains travelling at speeds of up to 250km/h will be able to pass through the tunnel each day and the amount of freight transported will nearly double to about 40 million tonnes per year.
It will help reduce the travel time between from Zurich and Milan by an hour to about two hours and 40 minutes. – (Reuters)
February elections for Kosovo
PRISTINA– Kosovo will hold early parliamentary elections on February 13th and put off EU-sponsored talks with Serbia for several months, the acting president said yesterday.
Jakup Krasniqi, caretaker president since Fatmir Sejdiu resigned last month, revealed the date after meeting major political parties in the former Serbian province, which declared independence in 2008. – (Reuters)