World News: Engineers say miners could be free by early November

Initial estimates had suggested that it would take until at least Christmas to free the men, but engineer Rene Aguilar said a drill used to dig a hole to haul the men to safety had already reached a depth of more than 350 metres, halfway to where the miners were trapped after a rockfall 41 days ago.

Mr Aguilar said work was progressing well, but admitted a rescue was still weeks away.

He said the Schramm T-130, one of the two drills being used to bore shafts big enough to rescue the men, could reach the area where the miners are as early as this weekend, but added that the initial drilling would only create a pilot hole 13cm in diameter. Once it reaches the miners, the engineers will then have to haul the drill up to the surface and dig down again to widen the shaft, making it wide enough to allow the miners to be pulled to safety.

Part of the drill had broken off when it hit a piece of metal and got caught in the machinery.

Relatives of the miners had dubbed the T-130 "the machine of miracles".

Oil firms told to plug idle wells

The US is set to require oil companies to plug 3500 idle oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico in an effort to prevent future leaks.

The interior department is also expected to require companies to dismantle 650 unused oil and gas platforms.

Militants killed in air strikes

Missiles fired by suspected US drones have killed at least 15 militants in two strikes in Pakistan's north-west region.

The pre-dawn strikes on two compounds targeted militants in North Waziristan, a sanctuary for al-Qaida and the Taliban on the Afghan border.

Agents face drug charges

Three FBI special agents and one FBI intelligence analyst have been arrested over charges that they concealed their use of performance-enhancing drugs, including steroids.

US prosecutors charged the four individuals with lying on forms used to assess their fitness for duty by omitting that they had taken the drugs.

Deputy director Timothy Murphy said: "FBI employees must be held to the highest standards of ethical conduct."

Call to release Nixon testimony

A GROUP of historians is bidding for the release of Richard Nixon's grand jury testimony on the Watergate affair.

Nixon was interviewed for 11 hours in 1975, the first time a former US President had testified before a grand jury, but the transcript remains sealed from the public.

One dead as police fire on protesters

Kabul: At least one person was killed when police fired into the air to disperse angry anti-US protesters in the Afghan capital. At least nine people were injured in the protest over aborted plans by a US pastor to burn a copy of the Koran.Lagos: Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has declared his intention to run in elections next January. The president made an announcement on Facebook to undermine a rival campaign launch.