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From The Associated Press

Latest effort to locate Utah coal miners fails

HUNTINGTON, Utah—A microphone lowered into a fourth hole drilled into a collapsed coal mine showed no signs of six men trapped for nearly two weeks, another blow in a rescue effort that has killed three other people.

"We did not detect any signals from miners underground," said Richard Stickler, head of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.

With underground tunneling halted, officials had hoped a fourth hole drilled into the mine would finally offer clues to whether the men were alive 1,500 feet (450 meters) below ground.

Stickler said Saturday that a fifth hole was planned.

181 miners feared

dead in China

XINTAI, China—Rescuers raced Saturday to pump water out of two coal mines flooded by a rain-swollen river in eastern China, where 181 miners were missing and feared dead.

Water levels were rising, work areas were submerged and the miners “had only slim chances of survival,” the official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing Wang Ziqi, director of Shandong province’s coal mine safety agency.

Tourists in Caribbean

flee Hurricane Dean

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic—Alarmed tourists jammed Caribbean airports for flights out of Hurricane Dean’s path Saturday as the monster storm began sweeping past the Dominican Republic and Haiti and threatened to engulf Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.

Dean, a fierce Category 4 storm, was headed toward Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and the Gulf of Mexico. It was uncertain whether the storm might strike the Texas coastline late in the week.

The storm’s effects could be felt in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic.

Fire hits skyscraper near Ground Zero

NEW YORK—A huge fire ripped through an abandoned skyscraper next to the World Trade Center rebuilding site, killing two firefighters who were responding to the blaze.

Officers at the scene Saturday were preventing nearby residents from returning to their homes, telling them that authorities were concerned the former Deutsche Bank office building, vacant since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks six years ago turned it into a toxic nightmare, could fall. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that fear turned out to be unfounded.

The plume of gray smoke that trailed above the site of the World Trade Center raised concerns that toxic substances in the building could be spreading.

Bloomberg sought to reassure residents that the chemicals in the building likely did not present a significant health risk, saying air-quality tests so far showed no danger.

NASA orders shuttle

home 1 day early

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—NASA on Saturday ordered space shuttle Endeavour back to Earth a day early out of fear that Hurricane Dean might disrupt flight operations.

The shuttle is now scheduled to depart from the international space station on Sunday, and landing is set for Tuesday.

The astronauts had hurriedly completed a shortened spacewalk Saturday and were still cleaning up from it when the decision came down from mission managers.

Peru sends in army

to quell looting

PISCO, Peru—The government sent the army Saturday to stop looting fueled by rising desperation in earthquake-shattered Peru, where tens of thousands were without fresh water and shivering families huddled in makeshift shelters at the center of the devastation.

In a soccer stadium in the port city of Pisco, more than 500 people rushed a lone truck that ran out little packets of crackers, candy and toilet paper, screaming they had not eaten and accusing workers of keeping supplies for themselves.

As many as 80 percent of the people in quake-hit urban areas may not have access to clean water , said Dominic Nutt, part of an emergency assessment team in Peru for the aid agency Save the Children.

U.S. military deaths

in Iraq at 3,706

WASHINGTON, D.C. —As of Saturday, Aug. 18, at least 3,706 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes seven military civilians. At least 3,046 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military’s numbers.

The AP count is eight higher than the Defense Department’s tally, last updated Friday at 10 a.m.