coal mines

Australia's economy accelerated at the end of last year but would slump in the current quarter due to record floods and a major cyclone that destroyed crops and inundated coal mines, the government said Wednesday.

A gas explosion ripped through one of New Zealand's largest coal mines Friday while dozens of workers were underground.

Five of them, dazed and slightly injured, stumbled to the surface hours later, and 27 were missing, officials said.

One contributor to global warming — bigger than coal mines, landfills and sewage treatment plants — is being left out of efforts by the Obama administration and House Democrats to limit greenhouse gas emissions.