Bomb blast killed 2 near Iranian Embassy in Iraq
At least two people killed & five others wounded when a car bomb exploded near the Iranian Embassy on Sunday. The blast occurred during morning rush hour in a parking lot across the street from the Embassy. Two civilians were killed & the wounded included three Embassy guards.
The bombing underscores military warnings that insurgents remain a dangerous threat despite recent security gains that have pushed the number of Iraqi civilian casualties to their lowest levels in more than four years.
Earthquake rocked eastern Indonesia
An earthquake of magnitude 5.5 struck the eastern regions of Indonesia on Sunday. The epicenter of this earthquake was at Maluku provincial capital of Ambon, some 194 km from the Indonesian capital. There were no reports of any damage or casualties.
Indonesia sits on a vulnerable zone called “the Pacific Ring of Fire” where the two continental plates meet. This causes frequent earthquakes & volcanic eruptions.
Top Al Qaeda leader killed in missile air strike
A leading Al Qaeda trainer has been killed in Pakistan in a missile strike by US-led forces in Afghanistan. Abu Suleman al-Jazairi, explosives expert involved in a range of European terrorist networks, was killed in the last few days. 45 years old Al Jazairi, considered director of external operations for Al-Qaeda, killed along with at least 15 others when the house in which he was staying in Pakistan’s Bajaur tribal district was hit by a missile fired from a Predator, ….
Read More: Top Al Qaeda leader killed in missile air strikeSix killed after Landslides in Colombia
At least six people have been killed & 20 missing after landslides in Colombia following torrential rains in Medellin, Colombia’s second largest city. Some 20 people were buried under the rubble of their homes. The destroyed homes were in a poor neighbourhood on a hillside where 16 people were injured.
Infrastructure, roads, power lines & agriculture have suffered damage. According to meteorologists, the rainfall could persist for another two weeks.
Earthquake struck Taiwan
An earthquake of magnitude 6.4 struck northern Philippines & southern Taiwan on Sunday. The earthquake was struck at a shallow depth of 22 kilometres under the seabed in the Philippines’ Batan Islands region.
The epicenter of the earthquake was centered 29 miles below the Pacific Ocean’s surface about 140 miles south of the island of Lanyu. That’s about 180 miles southeast of the capital, Taipei.
There were no immediate reports of any casualties or damage & no tsunami warning was issued. Taiwan’s ….
Ansar Burney deportation: Govt ordered probe
The Home Ministry has reacted to the shocking deportation of Ansar Burney by ordering a probe into the entire matter. The preliminary report of Foreigners Regional Registration Office has already been submitted to the Ministry. The report, claims that Burney was deported, as his papers were not in order. Ansar Burney had arrived in India to participate in an anti-terrorism conference in New Delhi.
On Saturday, the Home & Foreign Secretaries discussed the matter, which has become a major embarrassment for ….
Ansar Burney: “I am shocked at the behaviour of Indian Govt”
The leading Pakistani Human Rights activist who was “deported’ on Friday to Dubai from the New Delhi airport has on Saturday expressed deep shock over the entire episode. For Ansar Burney, who has been an ace campaigner for the release of Indian death row prisoners Kashmir Singh & Sarabjit Singh in Pakistan, it came indeed as rude shock.
Ansar Burney said, “I really do not know what’s happening, they did not let me talk to anyone & asked me to ….
Plane crashed killed 7 in Tegucigalpa
A jet owned by Central America’s TACA airlines slid across a runway & onto a road as it tried to land at Tegucigalpa airport killed seven killed & wounded 80. The plane was an Airbus A-320 carrying 124 passengers plus crew & was flying a Los Angeles-San Salvador-Tegucigalpa route. The plane skidded off the runway, crashed down a 20-meter embankment, plowed across a road & broke into three pieces.
Among the dead was Nicaraguan Harry Brautigam, the president of the Central ….
Ansar Burney deported back to Dubai
The leading Pakistani Human Rights activist Ansar Burney has been deported back to Dubai on Friday night. Burney, who was the Human Rights Minister in the interim government in Pakistan, was deported back from the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi by an Emirates Airways flight at around 2030 hours because of a “look-out” notice against him.
Home Ministry officials, however, could not say who had issued the notice against Burney & in what connection. Sources in the Ministry of ….
Nepal national flag installed at Palace gate
A day after the country embraced republican rule, Nepal’s national flag has been installed at the main gate of the Narayanhiti palace belonging to sacked King Gyanendra in place of the royal flag. Over a dozen persons were injured during clashes that erupted after thousands of people gathered in front of the palace shouting anti-King slogans, where demonstration was banned. Trouble started when the police baton charged & fired tear gas cells on the people. However, tension ended after the ….
Read More: Nepal national flag installed at Palace gateEarthquake struck Iceland
An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 struck southern Iceland on Friday (IST), reportedly causing injuries & damaging roads & buildings. The epicentre of this earthquake was about 50 km from east-southeast of the capital, Reykjavik & was about 10 km below the Earth’s surface.
It was unclear exactly how many people were injured or the severity of their injuries. A hospital in a town near the epicenter was also reported damaged & some wings have had to be evacuated.
Tropical storm Alma lashed Central America
A tropical storm Alma has hit land along Nicaragua northwest corner, near the city of Leon. The National Hurricane Centre in Miami on Thursday said that the storm hit land at midday.
It has knocked out power, forced evacuations & flooded low-lying areas of Central America’s Pacific coastline. Maximum sustained winds are near 100 kph but the storm was expected to weaken as it moves inland over Honduras.
Forecasters had predicted the storm might strengthen to a hurricane before hitting land. Hurricane ….
Helicopter crash killed several in Panama City
A helicopter has been crashed into supermarket in a busy Panama City neighbourhood in which several killed & injured. Mayor Juan Carlos Navarro said visiting Chilean military officers were aboard the helicopter. He said that the crash caused “a considerable number of mortal victims.”
The helicopter, belonging to Panama’s National Air Service, crashed in the neighbourhood of Calidonia on Thursday, starting a fire. Civil aviation sources said that at least 12 people were aboard the aircraft, including three crew members. Firefighters ….
“Carol Burnett” star Harvey Korman passes away
Harvey Korman the Legendary comedic actor has passed away on Friday (IST). He was 81 years old. The actor, possibly best known for his stint on the “The Carol Burnett Show” & in the film “Blazing Saddles”, died at UCLA Medical Center after suffering complications from the rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm four months ago.
Burnett was devastated by the news, but she has not yet released a statement. He is survived by his wife & four children
Ali Larijani elected speaker of Iran parliament
Ali Larijani, leading conservative & former nuclear negotiator, has been elected as speaker of Iran’s new parliament. Larijani won 232 votes out of a total of 263 ballots cast in parliament, which has a total of 287 members. Larijani is an unwavering conservative who nonetheless belongs to a growing group of hardliners critical of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
One of the top conservative figures in Iran, Larijani has held posts including top nuclear negotiator, state broadcasting chief, culture minister as well as ….
24 killed as bus plunges off cliff in South Africa
At least 24 people have been killed after a bus plummeted off a cliff & crashed into a river in a mountainous region of South Africa on Tuesday. Three were children, aged 1, 3 & 7, among the killed. More bodies might be trapped underneath the bus, which was lying on its roof in shallow water.
The police are waiting to remove the damaged bus until after it has been examined by a mechanical expert. The bus, which belonged to a ….
Aftershocks rocked China again
Two aftershocks struck China on Tuesday in which 63 people injured more than 4,20,000 homes collapsed. The aftershocks struck the southwest town of Qingchuan in Sichuan Province & neighboring Ningqiang in Shaanxi Province.
In total, authorities reported four aftershocks in the area Tuesday, all of them above 4.5 magnitude. The two recent aftershocks at 5.4 & 5.7 magnitudes, citing the China National Seismological Network. The U.S. Geological Survey said that they measured 4.5 & 5.0 magnitude. The earlier aftershocks registered at ….
Violent clashes killed 12 in Mexico
At least 12 people have been killed in violent clashes in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, police said today.
Violent clashes claims lives of 12 people, seven police officers & five civilians on Tuesday. The police officers were killed as they chased a group of armed men who had killed three young men on a street corner in the city of Culiacan.
In Tuesday’s incident, the alleged killers barricaded themselves inside a house and fought police from there. Security forces finally entered ….
Director Sydney Pollack passes away
Hollywood Producer-director Sydney Pollack passed away on Monday local time at his home in Los Angeles. He was 73 years old. The cause of death was cancer, said a representative of the family. Pollack’s illness came to public attention after he withdrew in August 2007 as the director an HBO television movie for unspecified health reasons.
Among Mr. Pollack’s survivors are daughters, Rachel & Rebecca & his wife, Claire Griswold, who was once among his acting students. The couple married in ….
Powerful storms killed 8 in Iowa & Minnesota
Severe powerful storms rumbled across the Iowa and Minnesota on Monday (IST), in which at least eight people killed & dozens of homes damaged.
Iowa Homeland Security administrator Dave Miller said that seven of the dead were killed by a tornado in northeast Iowa — five from Parkersburg, 80 miles northeast of Des Moines & two from nearby New Hartford. At least 50 injuries were reported.
A tornado also struck just to the east in the nearby town of Dunkerton & elsewhere ….