before the explosion. >> and those citations have been the concern of our investigative reporter brian ross, who is in new york tonight. he spent the day looking into it. brian? >> reporter: diane, this is a big company with many mines, record profits and a criminal record for willfully violating federal safety laws. massey says its workers are taught safety first, but recent court cases suggest otherwise. >> it was surprising how much evidence there was of a general disregard for safety of coal miners. >> reporter: over the last year, there has been a surge of federal safety violations at the upper big branch mine, many described as flay gant and repeated. 548 citations in 2009. 122 so far in 2010. almost daily citations related to proper ventilation of the dangerous accumulation of coal dust. >> that's a red flag. it's going to say, wait a minute, something's gone wrong here. >> reporter: federal mine safety officials said today that even with the continued problems over the last month, the law did not allow them to shut the mine down. >> you're asking if i had the ability to shut a mine

our chief investigative correspondent brian ross has tonight's report. brian? >> reporter: terry, tonight, authorities continue to hold out some slim hope that four miners who are unaccounted for may have somehow survived the horrendous underground blast. otherwise, it was a day of very grim news. 25 dead and many troubling questions about why a mine with serious and repeated safety issues was still operating. the scene at the mine is quiet tonight. recovery efforts ended because the buildup of methane gas made it unsafe for anyone to go back into the mine. but with many of the families not yet knowing whether their loved ones are among the dead or the still missing, there is an agonizing hope for a miracle. >> everyone's going to cling onto that hope of a miracle that if there's one miracle, two, three or four, that one of those miracles are their husband or their dad or their brother. that is the true agony of this. >> reporter: the power of yesterday's explosion, however, makes survival highly unlikely. it happened deep inside the upper big branch mine at th

job as a youth minister, despite the crimes, diane, and that's the edge of this. >> all right, brian ross, thanks to you. >>> and still ahead on "world news," an american mother returns her 7-year-old adopted son to russia, alone. was he really a threat? >>> sarah palin fires up another crowd, and her latest sparring partner, the president himself. >>> and, on a kind of arab version of "american idol," astonishing defiance from behind a veil. and she's our "person of the week." it always happens. i buy plants, i bring them home, and then...i water too little... too much... or i just forget. but look. ths is doing fine. why? it's planted in miracle-gro moistue control potting mix. it holds 33% more water... than ordinary potting soil, releasing it as plants need it, no when i get around to it. and there's miracle-gro plant ood mixed in. so you get miracle-gro results... i like that. [ female announcer ] new and improved miracle-gro ! moisture control potting mix. success starts with the soil. laxatives? i've tried all these. this one's grtty. clearly, miralax is the one for me. it relieves

his role may have been far more complicated than that, as our chief investigative correspondent brian ross reports. brian? >> reporter: cynthia, with growing questions about the role of pope benbenedict, there is n attention to his handling of probably the most e agree jous, notorious case of them all, involving a priest with powerful connections inside the vatican, who was also a drug addict and a pedophile. for years, despite repeated allegations that the father sexual by abused young men, poem john paul ii continued to call him an important leader of catholic youth. >> he was a revered figure in the vatican. he also had the advantage of being the greatest fund-raiser of the modern church. >> reporter: the father was the founder of a little known but well financed catholic order called the leon their reaps of christ. >> he used money the way some politicians do in spreading it liberally to buy support, both for himself and his religious order. >> reporter: jason barry first broke the story of the father in 1997, and has tracked what he says is a decades long trail of cash and gifts to to

not that naomi campbell wants the talk about it brian ross has our report. >> they're hearing evidenceut one of the bloodiest massacres in recent time. now the involvement of two celebrities has put a bright light on some serious allegations. in the film "blood diamond" an enormous uncut diamond is at the certainty of the plot. >> that diamond could be priceless. we split it. you get your family. >> reporter: the fill system a ficti fictional version of a real life tragedy. it left thousands dead or maims in sierra leone. >> if i were not here. >> reporter: behind it all, say prosecutors, was this man, charles taylor. once the president of liberia. accused of using the blood diamonds to ferment the violence. >> they made possible the continuation of the conflict but they profited charles taylor. >> reporter: now on trial in the hague for crimes against humanity -- >> i am not guilty. never happened. never. >> reporter: supposedly the diamonds were given to him if a mayonnaise jar. >> i'm supposed to be a scum bag with diamonds in a mayonnaise jar. >> reporter: in a bizarre twist. prose

brian ross, abc news, new york. >> and as somebody pointed out in that story it's not just swimming. we hear these stories involving other teens in other athletics, that sort of thing. but it's especially disgusting i think because if these allegations are true, these are persons in a position of trust. during formative years. it's really awful. >> i know, makes your stomach turn. >> it does. >>> coming up, remembering an actress who is unmistakably southern. >> how dixie carter looked for laughs while breaking new ground in television. you're watching "world news now." recently, i got a letter from a woman who told me she took all of her money out of the bank and put it into a shoe box. what was she thinking? you know what i told her? "put it back into the bank now." listen, if your bank is insured by the fdic and you stay within the coverage limits, your money is 100% safe. a lot safer than a shoe box. how true. visit myfdicinsurance.gov today, because the more you know, the safer your money. >>> a "designing woman" has tried. dixie carter passed away yesterday after battling cance

brian ross, abc news, new york. >>> all right, and now to understand the dangers of working in a mineomeone who's actually been there. >> joining us this morning from his home in fairmont, west virginia, is mike o'halley, a retired mine ventilation engineer and underground foreman joining us this morning on skype. thanes for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> i want to take a look at pictures of your former workplace. i know you were telling us 35 years, you did sort of similar work. what kind of a situation leads to this sort of flammable situation that we are seeing now in west virginia? >> well, to be honest, therere so many checks and balances and regulations that are in effect right now, in my opinion, in a normal day's work, if everyone are doing their jobs and things are going along normally, then it's very unusual for this kind of situation to arise. >> mike, i think you called it a perfect storm of events that would have to take place. let's talk about the buildup of methane gas. how do you go about ventilating that in a coal mine like this? >> mines of this type use lar

as abc news chief investigative correspondent, brian ross reports, there is little proof that massey followed through on that promise. >> reporter: it has a checkered safety record. federal safety records show that this mine alone has had three fatalities over the last 12 years. and in the last year, there are reports of a spike in violations by federal safety officials. six violations alone this year. one just last week. >> the ceo of massey energy, is a controversial figure himself. don blankenship donates lavishly to west virginia candidate hess favors. and he's spent thousands to influence members of the west virginia supreme court, who voted in his favor in a case he had before the court. >>> again, the latest update, at least 25 miners have been killed. abc news has a team of reporters headed to the scene in west virginia. we will have the very latest on this tragedy coming up at 7:00 on "good morning america." >>> in other news, president obama unveils a new policy on nuclear weapons today. it reduces america's nuclear arsenal and limits when they could be used. mr. obama's po

we turn to brian ross. he reported extensively for "nightline" on controversiies fr massey energy company. what can you tell us about their safety record? >> this is the sixth largest mining company in the country based on production and it has a checkered safety record. federal safety records show this mi alone has had three fatalities over the last 12 years and in the last year, there are reports of a spike in violations by federal safety officials, six violations alone this year, one just last week. some of them repeat, almost all of them involving issues with ventilation, which prevents explosions from cold dust. as well this company over the years, other subsidiaries have had serious safety issues, the company last year paid out $4.2 million in civil and criminal fines for another mine fatality that killed two people. >> that's a safety record of the company. of course they don't have any indication at this point what caused this explosion, but what about massey's ceo, a controversial guy, don blankens

brian ross is here with the unfolding drama tonight. brian? >> reporter: well, diane, one of the most controversial cases handled by the pope involved a pedophile priest who has since been found to have sexually abused more than 20 young boys. today, there are new allegations about the priest who founded a prominent church order and his relationship with those certain top vatican officials. for years, under pope john paul ii, the allegations against father marciel macial were ignored inside the vatican, and in fact, the pope regularly praised macial. behind the scenes, according to a new report by author jason barry, was a steady stream of cash and gifts to key vatican officials from maciel. >> he used money as a means to buy friendship, to buy support and to protect himself should the day come, as it did, when he would be publically accused. >> reporter: father maciel has easy access to cash as the founder of a well financed, highly conservative church order called the legionaries of christ. >> how was he able to do that for so long? >> repor

allegedly tried to blow up a passenger jet over detroit with explosives hidden in his underwear and brian ross has the video. >> reporter: the tape produced by al qaeda shows a group of about two dozen menened at a desert training camp believed to be in yemen. firing range targets include a british star. among those firing umar farouk abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old who left yemen in december for his christmas day suicide mission. later in the video abdulmutallab delivers what appears to be a farewell statement, perhaps aimed at possible recruits. the enemy is in your lands with their armies, the jews and the christians and their agents, citing a package of the koran, he said god said if you do not fight back, elpunish you. of greatest interest are the others in the video who trained with abdulmutallab. the man he said will carry out the next round after tacks. >> what the government will probably do is show this tape to abdulmutallab in prison and ask him to identify people on the tape. >> reporter: the u.s. apparently knew of the existence of this camp. the al qaeda video shows an unmanned ai

brian ross, abc news, new york. >> just bizarre how inherent it is in the culture.that women would put opium on their breast to breast-feed their children to calm them down. it's truly something that they're dealing with from birth on. >> it gives you an idea how entrenched it must be in part of their culture, that they don't think there's something wrong with that as well. >> right. >> it will be much more from the state department when they release more findings into the problem in afghanistan. >>> stick around, "morning papers" straight ahead. >>> "world news now" delivers your "morning papers." >> if you watched the show yesterday we had a bit of a milestone. >> yes, we did. >> willis celebrated something very exciting. 31 years at abc and he never took a day off. >> no sick days. >> sorry, excuse me. >> he didn't get any awards. >> no, he didn't. willis, we got you something. >> something had to be done about this. >> oh, lord. >> so johnny i., our other cameraman, made him an award with some sort of lettering machine. >> special detail to attention, his name i

brian ross broke the story. he's here with more now. >> reporter: in addition to a first-time look at the so-called underwear bomber was trained, this new tape may also provide important clues in the hunt for other terrorists who were trained with him to carry out similar attacks. the tape produced by al qaeda of the arabian peninsula, shows a group of about two dozen men at a desert training camp believed to be in yemen. the firing range targets include a jewish star, the british union jack, and the initials u.n. and among those firing umar farouk abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old nigerian, who left yemen in december for his christmas day mission. later in the video, abdulmutallab delivers what appears to be a farewell, martyrdom statement, perhaps aimed at possible recruits. citing the koran, he says, if you do not fight back, god will punish you and replace you. but of greatest interest to u.s. officials are the others in the video that trained with abdulmutallab, the men he said would carry out the next attack.

brian ross. >> up next, john dean poland's booktv for a 3 our in-depth interview. >> among europe ten books, in the book you compare barry goldwater to harry truman. house so? >> he is one of those guys whose positions have gotten forgotten, and he has become viewed by partisans on both sides as somebody who was really a straight shooter, who told the way it was, who had the respect of a wide spectrum and as history has passed, regardless of whether you agree or disagree with him at the time, you look at him now as somebody who really had the best interests of the country in mind and spoke his mind and that has a certain charm and well -- good reception with the average voter's. there's a nice comparison. >> admired for his principles. is there someone on the national stage today to the barry goldwater? >> i am looking for him. i am not sure there is. there are people who speak their mind but he became a unique figure in american politics because of his outspokenness and he took a very unpopular position at the time. conservatism was very young when he started the movement and made it

. >> brian ross is part of the investigative unit for abc news. what is new in here? >> there's a lot knew about the relationship between bernie madoff and ruth and what drove him to do it and when it started and his total lack of remorse. and who else was likely involve. he didn't do this alone despite claims that he did. >> did mrs. bernie madoff have a row? >> they started in the early 1960's. she was still keeping the book the day he was arrested and she didn't know directly. she was certainly long for the ride. unlike an them to bonnie and clyde. anyone who didn't buy guns was part of the scheme. >> did you see that the story will continue with more trials? >> it is the layers of the onion being done peeled. i recommend the failure of the federal government. as investigators were after bernie madoff again and again from 1992 on they always missed him. and their defense is they were inexperienced and incompetent but i don't know if that is a satisfying answer. >> as head of the investigative unit one was the first time you heard of bernie madoff? >> the night he w