London: With British PM Gordon Brown’s announcement that the UK’s general elections will be held on May 6, analysts for the BBC expect a conservative majority to coalesce around PM candidate and Tory leader David Cameron. “It’s the most important general election in a generation,” Cameron told to the BBC, echoing the “watershed moment” rhetoric employed not only by Brown, but the third party candidate, Nick Clegg, of the Liberal democrats. “It comes down to this,” Cameron continued, “You don’t have to put up with another five years of Gordon Brown.” Citing the gaping deficit accrued since Labor took control of parliament 13 years ago, both Cameron and Clegg criticize Brown’s economic policies, albeit for different reasons. Close competition amongst all three parties, however, has led some to fear that a hung parliament-where no party has majority- is imminent. West Virginia: Four miners remain missing after Monday’s fatal explosion in the Upper Big Branch coalmine near Montcoal, West Virginia claimed the lives of 25 workers. Owned and operated by the Massey Energy Company, U.B.B.’s safety record prior to the explosion was far from clean, with 53 safety violations from last month alone, and a huge legal settlement and E.P.A. violation fine looming from 2008. Don L. Blankenship, the mine’s chief executive, has angered some by maintaining that despite U.B.B.’s spotty history, the mine would have been shut down long ago if the Mine Safety and Health Administration had deemed it unsafe. “Violations are unfortunately a normal part of the mining process,” Blankenship said to West Virginia’s Metronews radio network. Blankship’s words, however, have done little but rankle public sentiment towards the company, and a federal investigation is pending.

Great Barrier Reef: Chinese coal freighter Shen Neng 1 is still aground with a punctured fuel tank on a section of the Great Barrier Reef this week, after straying 7 miles from its shipping lane last Saturday. According to the NYT, the freighter has 1,075 tons of heavy engine fuel aboard, and the Australian government is making a concerted effort to contain the spill. Described by Australia’s Green Party leader Bob Brown as an “environmental time-bomb”, the vessel is suspected to have taken an illegal shortcut while returning from a 72,000-ton coal pick-up on the Queensland coast. The Chinese government meanwhile has yet to make any official response.

Toronto: A team of Canadian researchers at McGill University has recently published a study claiming to have found the gene responsible for causing lung cancer, the Toronto Star reports. Present in two-thirds of the active smokers in their study, the gene, also known as the PI3K pathway, can be eliminated by a new drug currently under development. “This will allow future clinicians to triage smokers at risk for therapeutic intervention with a minimally invasive procedure,” said Canadian Institutes of Health Research scientist David Dankort.