political news

At least 38 miners have been killed in three separate accidents in China's notoriously dangerous coal mines, according to state-run media.

Twenty eight people died after an electrical cable caught fire inside the Xiaonangou mine in Shaanxi province, the Xinhua news agency reports.

Police have arrested the mine's owner.

Eight miners died in an accident in Henan province, while two others were killed in Hunan, Xinhua says.

Thirteen miners remain trapped underground in a separate incident in Gansu province in the north west.

Rescuers retrieved five bodies from the Shaanxi mine on Sunday morning, Xinhua said.

An investigation is currently under way.

China's vast coal mining industry is considered one of the most dangerous in the world.

According to official figures, 2,631 coal miners died in 1,616 mine accidents in China in 2009, down 18% from the previous year.

The country gets more than two-thirds of its electricity from coal.

Most accidents are blamed on failures to follow safety rules, including a lack of required ventilation or fire control equipment.

But independent labour groups say the figure could be much higher, as accidents are covered up to prevent mine closures.

President Obama says he has had what he called blunt talks with President Hu Jintao of China on the issue of the sinking - allegedly by North Korea - of a South Korean warship in March.

Mr Obama said he understood China's position of restraint as regards its neighbour.

But, he said, restraint was different to what he called "willful blindness".

North Korea has denied it was responsible for the sinking of the warship, the Cheonan.

Its foreign ministry has instead issued a statement saying the country would be preparing a new level of nuclear deterrent in response to US "hostility".

The United States wants China to support a resolution in the United Nations Security Council condemning North Korea.

Speaking at a press conference after the G20 meeting Mr Obama said he hoped President Hu would recognise the incident was an example of North Korea overstepping the line.

International investigators said the South Korean warship had been hit by a North Korean torpedo.

The Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan told reporters he has also asked China to issue a "necessary" condemnation of the sinking.

On Saturday, the US president had said North Korea must be "held to account" for the sinking of a South Korean warship.

He said he stood with South Korean leader Lee Myung-Bak, and condemned Pyongyang's "irresponsible behaviour".

The G8 leaders had issued a statement condemning the attack on 26 March that caused the loss of 46 lives.

The statement also expressed the G8 leaders' "gravest concern that the nuclear test and missile activities carried out by the Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea have further generated increased tension in the region and beyond, and that there continues to exist a clear threat to international peace and security."

North Korea said on Sunday that the investigation which blamed it for the ship attack was all "fabrication and lies".