Australian miners freed

Australian miners freed
BEACONSFIELD, Australia -- Two Australian miners who survived for two weeks in a kennel-size cage trapped 3,000 feet underground walked out of the Beaconsfield Gold Mine early today and punched the air, freed by rescue crews drilling round-the-clock by hand. Hundreds of well-wishers gathered at the mine gates erupted in cheers when Todd Russell, 34, above left, and Brant Webb, 37, second from left, emerged, their head torches glowing in the pre-dawn light. The miners bear-hugged family and friends before clambering into two ambulances, still laughing and joking. Webb and Russell were buried after a small earthquake April 25 trapped the safety cage they were working in under tons of rock. Miner Larry Knight, 44, was killed, and today's rescue came hours before Knight's family planned to hold his funeral.
Routine HIV testing urged
ATLANTA -- Testing for the AIDS virus could become part of routine physical exams for adults and teens if doctors follow new U.S. guidelines expected to be issued by this summer. Federal health officials say they'd like HIV testing to be as common as a cholesterol check. The guidelines for routine testing would apply to every American ages 13 to 64, according to the proposed plan by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One-quarter of the 1 million Americans with the AIDS virus don't know they are infected, and that group is most responsible for HIV's spread, CDC officials said.
Blair: I'll choose when I go
LONDON -- Dismissing a noisy chorus from his own party demanding that he step down, and soon, Prime Minister Tony Blair insists that he will set the time and terms of his departure. After a series of Cabinet scandals ranging from the farcical to the serious, followed by last week's disastrous results in local elections, Blair is fighting for his political life. At his monthly news conference Monday, Blair said he would not yield to pressure from Labor MPs who are demanding that he lay out a timetable by the end of July for a "dignified, orderly and efficient transition" of power to Chancellor Gordon Brown.
Ex-Ney aide pleads guilty
WASHINGTON -- A former top aide to Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, pleaded guilty Monday in the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal, admitting he conspired to corrupt Ney, his staff and other members of Congress with trips, free tickets, meals, jobs for relatives and fund-raising events. The criminal investigation of Abramoff's lobbying operation has now claimed Abramoff and three former congressional staffers: Neil Volz on Monday, as well as Tony Rudy and Michael Scanlon, who both worked for former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas. Abramoff and the three former congressional aides are now government witnesses whose prison terms may depend in part on how cooperative they are with federal prosecutors in the investigation involving lawmakers, their aides and members of the Bush administration. "They're singing for their supper," Ney lawyer Mark Tuohey said. The lawyer said that many of the allegations regarding Ney are incorrect and that "the government has been sold a bill of goods by Mr. Abramoff."
Former S. African official is acquitted of rape
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- A man who once seemed in line to be South Africa's next president was acquitted of rape Monday in the country's most politically charged trial since the end of apartheid. Supporters erupted into boisterous celebrations, but former Deputy President Jacob Zuma still faces trial in July on separate corruption charges -- accusations supporters say were part of a conspiracy against him -- and his political future was in question. Trial testimony riveted the nation, focused attention on its high rate of rape and raised questions about Zuma's attitude toward women and whether ultimately he had the judgment to govern. His testimony about having unprotected consensual sex with an HIV-positive AIDS activist demonstrated an amazing ignorance about HIV transmission by a man who once headed South Africa's campaign against the virus.
Combined dispatches