International Briefs

Oxford 'blackout'

LONDON (CMC):

Two weeks after Jamaica's 2010 Rhodes Scholar, Alecia Johns, jetted off to Oxford University to read for a master's degree, the elite institution has come under fire after revealing that it only admitted one black Caribbean student last year.

Almost 90 per cent of the more than 3,000 students the English university recruited last year were white. Just five black Caribbean students were given places at Oxford in 2008, CMC reported.

Suggestions have now been made that ethnic quotas should be introduced so more black and Pakistani students are given the chance to attend some of the elite universities in England.

Extradition stayed for Trinis

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):

Two Trinidadian businessmen and United National Congress financiers have been granted a conservatory order blocking their extradition to the United States, the Trinidad Express newspaper reported yesterday.

Ishwar Galbaransingh and Steve Ferguson are wanted in the US to face charges of money laundering and fraud.

The order means that the planned extradition, which was to take place today, has been stayed until the appeal court hears and determines the case being made by the men.

The matter was adjourned to October 27 when the appeal is expected to be heard.

Hope slim for China miners

YUZHOU, China (AP):

Frantically working rescuers feared the 11 Chinese miners trapped by a deadly gas blast may have suffocated or been buried by coal dust, as loved ones kept a vigil on Sunday and the death toll rose to 26 with five more bodies recovered.

The Chinese mine drama unfolded as the world still was celebrating Chile's successful rescue of 33 miners trapped for more than two months. Chinese media had detailed coverage as the Chilean men emerged to cheers.

Du Bo, deputy chief of the rescue headquarters, told the state-run Xinhua News Agency that hopes that the others were still alive after Saturday's early-morning blast were slim.