Chile miners rescue: oldest miner freed

The oldest of the thirty-three miners, Mario Gomez, has been freed, dropping to his knees and bowing his head in prayer, while clutching the Chilean flag.

Mr Gomez, 63, the 9th miner hoisted to safety, was pulled up rom the ground and embraced by his wife, Lilianet Ramirez.

The most experienced of the group, he 1st entered a mine shaft to work at the age of 12. He's silicosis, a lung disease common to miners. After more than 2 months deep underground, the miners were cheering, punching the air and hugging their families.

"This is a miracle from God," said Alberto Avalos, the 1st rescued miner's elated uncle, who rushed to the rescue capsule as it arrived on the surface. As the sun rose over the gold and copper mine in Chile's northern Atacama Desert, nine men had been liberated from the abyss in a methodical rescue operation in which the 1st miner was brought to the surface shortly after midnight.

Rescuers, relatives and friends broke into jubilant cheers as the miners, one by one, emerged from the mine. Florencio Avalos, a father of two, was the 1st to emerge to breathe his 1st fresh air in 69 days after a claustrophobic ascent of around 2,050 feet (625 metres) through rock.

Hugged and kissed by relatives, the 31-year-old Avalos looked very healthy following a nearly 16-minute journey to safety. He was then embraced by President Sebastian Pinera as the surrounding crowd chanted "Chile! Viva Chile!" Next up was fellow miner Mario Sepulveda, whose whoops of joy resounded on the surface even before he arrived to the laughs of waiting relatives. He stepped out of the capsule with a yellow bag, reached in and pulled out souvenir rocks from below, and slapped one in Pinera's hand.

"I'm so happy!" Sepulveda yelled, grinning, punching his fist in the air and hugging everyone in sight. However, he also sounded a darkly serious note. "I've been with God and I've been with the devil," he later said in an interview, calling for deep change to protect workers rights.

Then came Juan Illanes, who called the trip to the surface a "cruise." Each of the men wore dark glasses to protect their eyes after spending so long in the dimly lit tunnel below.

Like wives on the surface who had their hair and nails done for the occasion, the men looked groomed and clean-shaven.

The miners have spent a record 69 days in the hot, humid bowels of the gold and copper mine in Chile's northern Atacama Desert since it caved in on August. 5. Rescuers expect to bring all the remaining men to safety over the next 2 days.

For the 1st 17 days of their ordeal, the miners were all believed to be dead. Their story of survival and the extraordinary rescue operation have captured the world's attention. After weeks of drilling a narrow shaft down to the miners and preparing the special capsules, the final stage began when a rescuer descended the shaft on Tues night. He was hugged by the waiting miners when he reached their tunnel deep in the mine, and he then took just minutes to buckle Avalos into the capsule and send him to the surface.

The men, who set a new record for the length of time workers have survived underground after a mining accident, have been exercising to keep their weight down for their ascent. Nervous wives, children, parents and friends waited on an arid, rocky hillside above the San Jose mine waiting for the men to be evacuated.

The specially made steel cages are equipped with oxygen masks and escape hatches in case they get stuck.

Rescuers were finally able to deploy the capsule, dubbed "Phoenix" after the mythical bird that rose from the ashes, after reinforcing part of the narrow escape shaft with metal casing to prevent rocks from falling and blocking the exit.

Engineers said the final stage of the rescue still has its risks but that the capsule was handling well in the shaft, and they expected a smooth extraction. Each man's journey to safety should take about 15 minutes. The capsule travels at about 3 feet (1 metre) per second, or a casual walking pace, and can speed to 10 feet (3 metres) per second if the miner being carried gets into trouble.

The miners can communicate with rescue teams using an intercom in the capsule. They'll then be under observation at a nearby hospital for two days.

Rescuers originally found the men, miraculously all alive, 17 days after the mine's collapse with a bore hole the width of grapefruit. It then served as an umbilical cord used to pass hydration gels, water and food, as well as letters from their families and soccer videos to keep their spirits up.

Medics say some of the men are psychologically fragile and may struggle with stress for a long time after their rescue.

Pinera ordered an overhaul of Chile's mine safety regulations after the accident.

Limera1n: Further iOS 1.4 untethered announced Jailbreak for iPhone 4, iPod touch, 4G and older devices Geohot

should iOS 2 Jailbreaks for the 4.1 version of Apple's operating system hit the market almost simultaneously. The hackers around the Cronic Dev Team announced for tomorrow, 10:10:10 at 10:00 a clock Jailbreak called green poison to which crack the iPhone iPod Touch 4 and the newest generation. Now also reports the hacker known Geohot of afresh jailbreak itself. Just a day later, on Monday, the hacker wants a iOS 1.4 Jailbreak for iPhone 4, iPod touch, 4G and Co. publish.

Just as green poison the jailbreak is untethered, it must not always be re-installed by personal computer when rebooting their mobile device. Limera1n how Geohot called his latest jailbreak is all IOS devices - even older generations of iPhone and iPod Touch - operate. This would make this jailbreak longer than the latest hack of Cronic.

Surprisingly, comes this news that Geohot via Twitter announced, therefore, above all, as it was announced only a few months to fully withdraw from the scene.

Many hackers, but also the community have with this news but not overly pleased. MuscleNerd from iPhone Dev Team said that the decision Geohot he can't understand, since Apple now has the opportunity to make both equal Jailbreaks via software update ineffective. This should, however, prove difficult, as green poison exploits a vulnerability of IOS with the newly A4-processors, which (according to current knowledge) can only be closed for hardware replacement.

iOS 4.1 isn't supposed to be geunlocked. All the hackers seem to wait for the release of IOS 4.2, before they'll submit an unlock is available. We'll keep this matter to date!

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Krystal Ball, congressional candidate in Virginia, calls raunchy photos leaked online 'sexist'

Politics is a dirty business, as one candidate for Congress in Virginia has learned after raunchy photos of her were leaked on the Internet on Tues.

Krystal Ball, an accountant running against incumbent GOP Rep. Rob Wittman, called the leak "outrageous" and "incredibly sexist."

"Of course, I'm embarrassed by these photos; that was the whole point of these political operatives when they put them up," she said in a statement. "But more than just embarrassed, I am angry!"

Ball said the photos, showing her wearing a Santa hat and simulating sex acts with her ex-husband, were taken at a costume party 6 years ago.

"This isn't a way to conduct a political campaign, and the people of the 1st District of Virginia and of the U.S. are disgusted by these kinds of tactics," she said. "It is sexist and it is wrong, regardless of political party."

The 28-year-old mother pointed fingers at her Republican rival.

"Yesterday, we started our 1st radio advertisements calling my opponent out for not debating the issues," she said in the statement. "A few hours later, this smear campaign started against me, posted by a blogger with close ties to my opponent's campaign and the local Republican party."

Wittman's campaign, however, has denied being involved in the leak of the racy photos.

"Rob is adamantly opposed to their display, and we have asked that they be removed so that we can continue to discuss the issues," his campaign manager, Casey Werderman, said in a statement.