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The rescue shaft will be lined with steel tubes to protect the miners Chilean President Sebastian Pinera has said he hopes 33 trapped miners will be brought to the surface by the end of next week.
Mr Pinera said rescuers were “very close” to getting the men out, and he hoped they would be freed before his planned trip to Europe on 17 October.
Drills digging to reach the miners have been making rapid progress, shortening the expected rescue timetable.
The men have now been trapped underground for two months.
“We are very close to rescuing them,” Mr Pinera said, without naming a precise date when the rescue attempt would start.
“I hope we can rescue them before I go to Europe, I want to share that moment with the miners.”
Last week the government said the rescue attempt would begin in the second half of October, having previously said it would start in early November.
But the three drills racing to reach the men are advancing rapidly.
President Pinera has taken a close personal interest in the rescue effort One escape shaft is now more than 460m (1509ft) deep, about 150m (492ft) short of an area of the mine that the men can reach.
Once the shaft is complete, it will lined with steel tubes to protect the men, an operation that could take several days.
Then a specially made rescue capsule, designed by the Chilean navy, will be lowered down.
The plan is for navy commandos to go down to assess the situation and help the miners use the rescue capsule.
It’s expected to take an hour to pull each of the trapped men to the surface.
Doctors say the miners have started exercising in preparation for the ride.
They are also getting training from public relations experts to help them cope with the attention of the world’s media once they emerge.
The miners have even begun to send prized possessions and mementos up to the surface using the small capsules, known as “doves,” in which they have been receiving supplies through narrow boreholes.
Miners’ relatives, who have been camping at the site for the last two months, are preparing a party to celebrate their rescue.
The men were trapped by a rockfall at the mine near Copiapo, about 725km (450 miles) north of the Chilean capital Santiago, on 5 August.
Rescuers had almost given up the search when they located the miners 17 days later.
They have survived being trapped underground for longer than any previous group.
As the rescue effort continued, other workers employed at the mine staged a protest on the surface, complaining that they had not been paid since the accident.
Chanting “there are more than 33 of us,” about 200 workers marched through the town of Copiapo to demand money they say they are owed.
The company which ran the mine has large debts, and is also facing lawsuits from the relatives of the trapped men.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Prime Minister David Cameron is facing criticism over child benefit cuts after Labour claimed Conservative welfare reform plans were “unravelling”.
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Swimming heats take centre stage while England face Wales in the women’s hockey at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
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The sewage is cleaned before it is turned into useful biomethane Householders in Didcot have become the first in the UK to use gas made from their own human waste and supplied via the national grid to heat their homes.
Up to 200 Oxfordshire homes will be using biomethane made from sewage they had flushed away three weeks earlier.
British Gas, Thames Water and Scotia Gas Networks now hope to roll out the process across the UK.
According to an EU directive, by 2020 the UK must ensure 15% of the energy it produces comes from renewable sources.
Martin Orrill, head of energy, technology and innovation at British Gas told the BBC News website supplying this type of gas through the national grid was a logical step in the UK’s bid to meet these targets.
He added that customers had no need to feel squeamish but should be proud of taking part in the unusual recycling effort.
“They will not notice any difference as the renewable energy source has no odour, and the infrastructure to deliver the gas is already in place,” he said.
The whole process should take about 23 days from flush to finish.
The practice of using anaerobic digesters – carefully managed bacteria – to turn faeces into a means of generating electricity is already well established across the country.
But the additional plant that British Gas has installed at the Thames Water sewage treatment works in Didcot cleans up the spare biogas that is produced and turns it into biomethane suitable for household hobs and in gas central heating.
Mother-of-two Kathryn Rushton, 45, is among the householders whose gas supply now comes from sewage.
She said: “I told my children about it and at first they wrinkled their noses but then they thought it was a great idea.
“I told my children about it and at first they wrinkled their noses but then they thought it was a great idea”
Kathryn Rushton Didcot residentWill we switch to gas made from human waste?
“It’s made from something we all produce and it’s renewable. We’re struggling to find sources of energy so we should use whatever we can. I’m definitely a supporter of this.”
Other energy firms including United Utilities and Ecotricity have also announced their plans to inject biomethane straight into the network at a later date.
United Utilities told the BBC it hoped its £4.3m scheme, which would cater for 500 homes in Manchester, would be in place by summer 2011.
Mr Orrill said this £2.5m project had been hastened by the prospect of renewable heat incentives – a Labour proposal that was intended to encourage suppliers to support renewable technologies by rewarding them.
He said the UK was renowned for having the “best gas grid in the world” and so was ideally suited to try out the technology.
John Morea, chief executive of Scotia Gas Networks, said the project involved “recycling at its very best” and the gas would be cleaned to the highest standards.
In a statement, Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne commended the project and said: “This is an historic day for the companies involved, for energy from waste technologies, and for progress to increase the amount of renewable energy in the UK.
Source: Thames Water
Last month Mr Huhne told MPs, that in the rush to put together a coalition deal between his party – the Lib Dems – and the Conservatives in May, he and Conservative Oliver Letwin “forgot” to include a reference to the incentives but said that it would be “an absolutely essential part” of meeting the government’s renewable energy targets.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change told the BBC the government was still committed to meeting its energy targets but the details of the incentive proposals were under review.
“Clearly there are benefits to the scheme, but we must also consider the impact of the cost, particularly given the financial constraints we must work within and the potential impact that funding options could have on vulnerable people,” she said.
But Mr Orrill remained optimistic. He said: “We’re nervous but confident that the government will make the right decision.
“If they don’t, then the demonstration process may have been for nothing and they would have missed an opportunity for the UK to make renewable gas on a commercial basis.”
Thames Water’s chief executive Martin Baggs agreed and said: “Every sewage works in Britain is a potential source of local renewable gas waiting to be put to use.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Prisoners in England and Wales should work a 40-hour week, says the Justice Secretary Ken Clarke.
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Michael Gove insisted the Building Schools for the Future initiative was poor value for money. Three councils have launched legal action over the coalition government’s decision to cut the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) initiative.
In July, Education Secretary Michael Gove’s shelved the £55bn programme, saying it was wasteful and inefficient.
Now Nottingham city and Luton borough councils, along with Waltham Forest Council, are seeking a judicial review.
A Department for Education spokesman said action had to be taken over BSF and funding was still available.
When the BSF scheme was halted, it meant rebuilding or improvement projects at more than 700 schools were cancelled.
Legal advice
Labour-run Nottingham City Council has lodged papers in the Leeds Administrative Court requesting permission to apply for a judicial review of Mr Gove’s decision to stop funding for Top Valley and Trinity schools and Top Valley Learning Centre.
“Our decision to take legal proceedings demonstrates our commitment to taking whatever actions are necessary”
David Mellen Nottingham City Council
The authority claimed it was contrary to the council’s legitimate expectation that the funding would be forthcoming after the outline business case for the three schemes was approved in February.
It also claimed the decision was irrational in arbitrarily using 1 January 2010 as a cut-off date for stopping funding of BSF projects and requested the court quash the decision so the schemes receive the funding expected.
David Mellen, the council’s portfolio holder for children’s services, said: “The council has explored a number of options in order to secure funding to carry out the planned remodelling of Top Valley and Trinity schools which have been stopped.
“We have sought counsel’s advice on whether to take legal action to resolve this dispute and our decision to push ahead with legal proceedings has not been taken lightly.”
‘Urgent demand’
He added: “Our decision to take legal proceedings demonstrates our commitment to taking whatever actions are necessary to overturn the decision.”
He also said the council would have preferred a negotiated solution but had received no response to requests to meet Mr Gove.
Officials added they were trying to minimise the cost of the legal proceedings by taking the action jointly with Luton council, which also had BSF projects stopped.
Labour-led Waltham Forest Council Council, in north east London, also launched legal action, saying the decision to pull the funding would have a “catastrophic effect” on pupils.
A Department for Education spokesman said: “We understand people’s disappointment but the BSF programme was wasteful, needlessly bureaucratic and seriously behind schedule.
“It would have been inexcusable to have continued with the programme. Ministers have been clear that the end of BSF is not the end of school rebuilding.
“That is why the government has launched a comprehensive review of all capital spending in schools so that money goes to those schools in most disrepair and to deal with the urgent demand for primary school places.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Five threatened species of bumblebee show signs of making a comeback in the South East, conservationists say.
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The government is handing the NHS in England £70m to improve the care of elderly people who are discharged from hospital.
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Conservative Douglas Carswell is joining forces with Green MP Caroline Lucas in a bid to give voters the option of proportional representation in May’s electoral reform referendum.
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Lutetia, the giant asteroid visited by Europe’s Rosetta probe in July, is covered in a thick blanket of dusty debris at least 600m deep.
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A Vatican official says the awarding of a Nobel prize to British IVF pioneer Robert Edwards was “completely out of order”.
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The chief executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) has offered his resignation, the BBC has learned.
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David Cameron said he wanted a full recovery of his party in Scotland Prime Minister David Cameron has challenged the SNP to have the “courage” to call an independence referendum.
Speaking at a Scots reception at the party’s conference in Birmingham, Mr Cameron said he was ready to fight the referendum should the SNP “ever call one” but added that it didn’t look likely that they would right now.
Mr Cameron also told Tory activists he was committed to bringing about a full recovery of his party in Scotland, but said there was a huge challenge ahead.
The party only has one MP and failed to increase its representation at the general election. The Tory leader has also asked Scottish party members to take on their opponents and win the argument about cutting the deficit.
Speaking about the independence referendum he said: “I will be on that campaign if they ever have the courage to call that referendum on the future of the United Kingdom but it doesn’t look like they do right now does it.”
Mr Cameron also dropped a heavy hint that the aircraft carrier currently being built on the Clyde will be completed, despite the upcoming defence cuts.
But speaking to BBC Scotland Mr Cameron refused to be drawn on whether a second ship would be built.
One of the carriers is already under construction at Govan with finally assembly due to take place at Rosyth.
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Insurance giant AIG will aim to raise about $15bn from investors when it sells shares in its Asian unit AIA, reports say.
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John Hawley raped the child after encouragement from Lennon A deputy head teacher who encouraged another man to rape a three-year-old girl has been jailed for seven years.
Patrick Lennon, 59, told John Hawley, 38, to sexually abuse the child while he and a third man, Phillip Skitt, 54, watched on a webcam.
Lennon, of Warwick Avenue, Crosby, Merseyside, pleaded guilty to a string of sexual offences at Liverpool Crown Court.
He is suspended from his job at all-girl Greenbank High School, Southport.
The court heard that Lennon contacted Hawley, 38, from Halliwell, Bolton, and Skitt, of Orrell Road, Wigan, over the internet.
Among the offences he admitted were two counts of encouraging or assisting Hawley to commit the attack on the girl in November 2008.
He also admitted six counts of possessing extreme pornography and 15 counts of making indecent images of children.
Hawley admitted child rape and was jailed for an indeterminate sentence for public protection (IPP) to serve a minimum of eight years.
Skitt admitted encouraging sexual abuse and received a prison term of eight years with three years on licence following his release.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.