Sun hurls strong geomagnetic storm toward Earth

WASHINGTON: The strongest geomagnetic storm in more than six years was forecast to hit Earth’s magnetic field on Tuesday, and it could affect airline routes, power grids and satellites, the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center said.

A coronal mass ejection – a big chunk of the Sun’s atmosphere – was hurled toward Earth on Sunday, driving energized solar particles at about 5 million miles an hour (2,000 km per second), about five times faster than solar particles normally travel, the center’s Terry Onsager said.

“When it hits us, it’s like a big battering ram that pushes into Earth’s magnetic field,” Onsager said from Boulder, Colorado. “That energy causes Earth’s magnetic field to fluctuate.”

This energy can interfere with high frequency radio communications used by airlines to navigate close to the North Pole in flights between North America, Europe and Asia, so some routes may need to be shifted, Onsager said.

It could also affect power grids and satellite operations, the center said in a statement. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station may be advised to shield themselves in specific parts of the spacecraft to avoid a heightened dose of solar radiation, Onsager said.

The space weather center said the geomagnetic storm’s intensity would probably be moderate or strong, levels two and three on a five-level scale, five being the most extreme. AGENCIES

US missile strike kills in North Waziristan

MIRANSHAH: A US unmanned plane on Monday fired missiles into a vehicle, killing four militants in Pakistan’s North Waziristan on the Afghan border, security officials said.
  
“A US surveillance plane fired two missiles into a vehicle and four militants were killed,” a senior Pakistani security official told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media. AGENCIES

Gaddafi forces killed 10,000 in Libya

TRIPOLI: Forces loyal to embattled Libyan ruler Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has killed at least 10,000 people during the ongoing fighting in the North African country, opposition says.

Libya’s National Transition Council said on Tuesday that another 30,000 were wounded and 20,000 more are still missing, AFP reported.

The revolutionary council, headed by Libya’s former Justice Minister Mustafa Abdel Jalil, plans to lead the country to an election.

Jalil was among the first high-profile Libyan figures to join protesters following Gaddafi regime’s brutal crackdown on the opposition. AGENCIES

Libya may be placing corpses at bombed sites: Gates

WASHINGTON: U.S. intelligence reports suggest that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s forces have placed the bodies of people they have killed at the sites of coalition air strikes so they can blame the West for the deaths, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said in a television interview on Saturday.

“We do have a lot of intelligence reporting about Gaddafi taking the bodies of the people he’s killed and putting them at the sites where we’ve attacked,” Gates said according to interview excerpts released by CBS News’ “Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer” program, which will air on Sunday.

A U.S.-led coalition began air strikes against Libya a week ago to establish a no-fly zone over the oil-exporting North African country and to try to prevent Gaddafi from using his air force to attack people rebelling against his rule.

Last week Libyan officials said nearly 100 civilians had been killed in the coalition strikes, but Western military officials at the time denied any civilians had been killed.

“The truth of the matter is we have trouble coming up with proof of any civilian casualties that we have been responsible for,” Gates said in the television interview.

Separately, the State Department praised the African Union for convening a meeting on Libya and said the group had an important role to play in resolving the crisis there.

“The United States commends the African Union for convening a meeting of the international community in Addis Ababa yesterday to discuss the situation in Libya. The African Union has an important role to play in the resolution of the Libyan crisis,” the department’s acting deputy spokesman Mark Toner said.

“We are especially grateful for the emphasis the African Union placed on the effective protection of civilians and the urgent need to extend humanitarian assistance to those affected by the violence,” he said. AGENCIES

Pak to compensate drone strike families

MIRANSHAH: Pakistan will pay compensation to the families of 39 people who died in a US drone strike in North Waziristan tribal area bordering Afghanistan, an official said Saturday.

Civilians and police were among those killed when missiles hit a compound in Datta Khel, 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan on March 17.

Tribal administration official Asghar Khan said a compensation package was ready for the victims” families. “Three hundred thousand rupees ($3,530) each will be paid to 39 families, while 100,000 rupees will be paid to six injured,” Khan said, adding that payments would commence from Monday.

Pakistan pays compensation to police and civilians who get killed in bomb blasts or terror attacks but this will be the first time that compensation has been paid to US drone attack victims.

Pakistan”s civilian and military leaders have condemned the strike, demanding an apology and an explanation from the United States.

Missile attacks doubled in the area last year to more than 100, killing over 670 people in 2010 compared with 45 strikes that killed 420 in 2009. Most have been concentrated in North Waziristan.

Huge tsunami kills hundreds in Japan, sweeps across Pacific

TOKYO: The biggest earthquake on record to hit Japan rocked the northeast coast on Friday, triggering a 10-metre tsunami that killed hundreds of people and swept away everything in its path, including houses, ships and cars.

The Red Cross in Geneva said the wall of water was higher than some Pacific islands and a tsunami warning was issued for almost the entire Pacific basin, although alerts were lifted for some countries, including Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand.

Up to 300 bodies were found in the coastal city of Sendai, media said. NHK television said the victims appeared to have drowned. The extent of the destruction along a lengthy stretch of coastline suggested the death toll could rise significantly.

Some 3,000 residents living near a nuclear plant in Fukushima prefecture, north of Tokyo, were told to evacuate but the government said no radiation was leaking. It said the evacuation was a precaution after a reactor cooling malfunction.

Other nuclear power plants and oil refineries were shut down after the 8.9 magnitude quake, while one refinery was ablaze. A major explosion hit a petrochemical complex in Miyagi prefecture after the quake, Kyodo said.

Political leaders pushed for an emergency budget to help fund relief efforts after Prime Minister Naoto Kan asked them to “save the country”, Kyodo news agency reported.

Stunning TV footage showed a muddy wall of water carrying cars and wrecked homes at high speed across farmland near Sendai, home to one million people and which lies 300 km (180 miles) northeast of Tokyo. Ships had been flung onto a harbour wharf, where they lay helplessly on their side.

The quake, the most powerful since Japan started keeping records 140 years ago, sparked at least 80 fires in cities and towns along the coast, Kyodo news agency said.

A ship carrying 100 people had been swept away by the tsunami, Kyodo said. One train was unaccounted for.

In Tokyo, residents who had earlier fled swaying buildings jammed the streets trying to make their way home after much of the city’s public transportation was shut down.

Electronics giant Sony Corp , one of the country’s biggest exporters, shut six factories, as air force jets raced toward the northeast coast to determine the extent of the damage.

The Bank of Japan, which has been struggling to boost the anaemic economy, said it would do its utmost to ensure financial market stability as the yen and Japanese shares fell.

“I was terrified and I”m still frightened,” said Hidekatsu Hata, 36, manager of a Chinese noodle restaurant in Tokyo, where buildings shook violently. “I’ve never experienced such a big quake before.”

The tsunami alerts revived memories of the giant waves which struck Asia in 2004. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued alerts for countries to the west and across the Pacific as far away as Colombia and Peru.

The earthquake was the fifth most powerful to hit the world in the past century.

There were several strong aftershocks. In Tokyo, there was widespread panic. An oil refinery near the city was on fire, with dozens of storage tanks under threat.

Around 4.4 million homes were without power in northern Japan, media said.

“People are flooding the streets. It’s incredible. Everyone is trying to get home but I didn’t see any taxis,” said Koji Goto, a 43-year-old Tokyo resident.

NHK television showed flames and black smoke billowing from a building in Odaiba, a Tokyo suburb, and bullet trains to the north of the country were halted. Thick smoke was also pouring out of an industrial area in Yokohama’s Isogo area. TV showed residents of the city running out of shaking buildings, shielding their heads with their hands from falling masonry.

TV footage showed boats, cars and trucks tossed around like toys in the water after a small tsunami hit the town of Kamaichi in northern Japan. An overpass, location unknown, appeared to have collapsed and cars were turning around and speeding away.

“The building shook for what seemed a long time and many people in the newsroom grabbed their helmets and some got under their desks,” Reuters correspondent Linda Sieg said in Tokyo. “It was probably the worst I have felt since I came to Japan more than 20 years ago.”

The U.S. navy said its ships had been unaffected by the tsunami and were ready to provide disaster relief if needed.

China offered to provide earthquake relief.

The quake struck just before the Tokyo stock market closed, pushing the Nikkei down to end at a five-week low. Nikkei futures trading in Osaka tumbled as much as 4.7 percent in reaction to the news.

The disaster also weighed on markets elsewhere.

GREAT KANTO QUAKE

The quake surpasses the Great Kanto quake of Sept. 1, 1923, which had a magnitude of 7.9 and killed more than 140,000 people in the Tokyo area.

The 1995 Kobe quake caused $100 billion in damage and was the most expensive natural disaster in history. Economic damage from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was estimated at about $10 billion.

Passengers on a subway line in Tokyo screamed and grabbed other passengers” hands during the quake. The shaking was so bad it was hard to stand, said Reuters reporter Mariko Katsumura.

Hundreds of office workers and shoppers spilled into Hitotsugi street, a shopping street in Akasaka in downtown Tokyo.

Crowds gathered in front of televisions in a shop next to the drugstore for details. After the shaking from the first quake subsided, crowds watched and pointed to construction cranes on an office building up the street with voices saying, “They”re still shaking!”, “Are they going to fall?”

Japan”s northeast Pacific coast, called Sanriku, has suffered from quakes and tsunamis in the past and a 7.2 quake struck on Wednesday. In 1933, a magnitude 8.1 quake in the area killed more than 3,000 people.

Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world’s most seismically active areas. The country accounts for about 20 percent of the world”s earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.

Huge tsunami slams coastal Japan after 8.9 quake

TOKYO: A massive 8.9 magnitude quake hit northeast Japan on Friday, triggering a 10-metre tsunami that swept away everything in its path, including houses, cars, farm buildings on fire and boats, media and witnesses said.

At least one person was killed in Fukushima prefecture, north of Tokyo where four million homes were without power. The quake caused many injuries, fires and a wall of water across the coast, prompting warnings to people to move to higher ground.

There were several strong aftershocks. In the capital Tokyo, buildings shook violently.

TV pictures showed a vast wall of water carrying the debris and even fires across a large swathe of coastal farmland near the city of Sendai, which has a population of one million.

Public broadcaster NHK showed flames and black smoke billowing from a building in Odaiba, a Tokyo suburb, and bullet trains to the north of the country were halted.

Black smoke was also pouring out of an industrial area in Yokohama’s Isogo area. TV footage showed boats, cars and trucks floating in water after a small tsunami hit the town of Kamaichi in northern Japan. An overpass, location unknown, appeared to have collapsed into the water.

Kyodo news agency said there were reports of fires in Sendai where waves carried cars across the runway at the airport.

The western prefecture of Wakayama ordered 20,000 people to evacuate after further tsunami warnings.

“WORST IN 20 YEARS”

“The building shook for what seemed a long time and many people in the newsroom grabbed their helmets and some got under their desks,” Reuters correspondent Linda Sieg said in Tokyo.

“It was probably the worst I have felt since I came to Japan more than 20 years ago.”

The Tokyo stock market extended losses after the quake. The central bank said it would do everything to ensure financial stability.

Passengers on a subway line in Tokyo screamed and grabbed other passengers” hands. The shaking was so bad it was hard to stand, said Reuters reporter Mariko Katsumura.

Hundreds of office workers and shoppers spilled into Hitotsugi street, a shopping street in Akasaka in downtown Tokyo.

Household goods ranging from toilet paper to clingfilm were flung into the street from outdoor shelves in front of a drugstore.

Crowds gathered in front of televisions in a shop next to the drugstore for details. After the shaking from the first quake subsided, crowds were watching and pointing to construction cranes on an office building up the street with voices saying, “They”re still shaking!”, “Are they going to fall?”
Asagi Machida, 27, a web designer in Tokyo, sprinted from a coffee shop when the quake hit.

“The images from the New Zealand earthquake are still fresh in my mind so I was really scared. I couldn”t believe such a big earthquake was happening in Tokyo.”

The US trendpk.comlogical Survey earlier verified a magnitude of 7.9 at a depth of 15.1 miles and located the quake 81 miles east of Sendai, on the main island of Honshu. It later upgraded it to 8.9.

A police car drove down Hitotsugi Street, lights flashing, announcing through a bullhorn that there was still a danger of shaking.

Japan”s northeast Pacific coast, called Sanriku, has suffered from quakes and tsunamis in the past and a 7.2 quake struck on Wednesday. In 1933, a magnitude 8.1 quake in the area killed more than 3,000 people. Last year fishing facilities were damaged after by a tsunami caused by a strong tremor in Chile.

Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world’s most seismically active areas. The country accounts for about 20 percent of the world”s earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.

Kadhafi seeks UN, AU probe into Libyan unrest

PARIS: Moamer Kadhafi said he wanted the United Nations or the African Union to probe the unrest rocking Libya and promised investigators free access, in an interview published Sunday.

The strongman, making his first such demand since the outbreak of violent protests against his rule and the ensuing bloody riposte, also warned that the unrest would spell disaster for Europe.

“First of all I would like that an investigatory commission of the United Nations or the African Union comes here to Libya,” he told the French weekly Le Journal du Dimanche.

“We will let this panel work unhampered,” he said, adding that he would be in favour of France “coordinating and leading” the probe body.

Shortly after the unrest broke out, Kadhafi”s son Saif al-Islam, long seen as a possible successor, said he wanted an independent domestic probe into the unrest.

On February 22, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Navi Pillay also called for an independent international investigation and an immediate halt to serious abuses committed by Libyan authorities.

Kadhafi underscored that the violence posing the greatest challenge to his more than four decade rule would have serious repercussions for Europe, which has been facing an uphill battle to stem clandestine immigration, especially from North Africa and Asia.

“Thousands of people from Libya will invade Europe,” he said, “and there will be no-one to stop them.”

Kadhafi repeated an oft-repeated charge that the revolt against his regime was being spearheaded by Al-Qaeda. (AFP)

Gaddafi complains lack of help in terror fight

PARIS: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said in a French newspaper interview released on Sunday that he was embroiled in a fight against terrorism and expressed dismay at the absence of support from abroad.

“I am surprised that nobody understands that this is a fight against terrorism,” the longtime autocrat of the North African oil-producing state told the Journal du Dimanche in excerpts of an interview due to be published later on Sunday.

“Our security services cooperate. We have helped you a lot these past few years. So why is it that when we are in a fight against terrorism here in Libya no one helps us in return?”

Gaddafi, who has ruled Africa’s fourth largest country since a 1969 coup, faces an unprecedented popular uprising that has seen rebel forces assert control over Libya’s east and loosen his grip in the west near the capital Tripoli.

Western leaders have denounced what they say has been Gaddafi’s brutal, bloody response to the uprising, and the International Criminal Court said he and his inner circle could be investigated for alleged crimes committed against civilians by his security forces.

Gaddafi, who spoke to journalists from his headquarters in Tripoli, said Islamic holy war would engulf the Mediterranean if the insurrection in Libya, inspired by successful pro-democracy uprisings in neighbouring Egypt and Tunisia, succeeded.

“There would be Islamic jihad in front of you, in the Mediterranean,” he said. “Bin Laden’s people would come to impose ransoms on land and sea. We will go back to the time of Red Beard, of pirates, of Ottomans imposing ransoms on boats.”

Gaddafi added that his government was “doing well” despite the armed turmoil and warned Europe against an influx of Libyan migrants to its shores if his foes drove him from power. AGENCIES

Heavy machinegun fire rocks Libyan capital Tripoli

Heavy automatic weapons fire erupted in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Sunday, the first such outbreak in Muammar Gaddafi’s main stronghold in a two-week-old insurrection against his 41-year-old rule.

Government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim denied any fighting was under way in Tripoli, saying the gunfire was staged to fete the army’s recapture of several cities from rebel forces.

It was unclear who was doing the shooting, which started just before daybreak, or what had caused it. Machine gun volleys, some of them heavy calibre, reverberated around central Tripoli along with ambulance sirens, pro-Gaddafi chants, and a cacophony of car horns as vehicles sped through the vicinity.

“These are celebrations because government forces have taken control of all areas to Benghazi and are in the process of taking control of Benghazi,” Ibrahim said, referring to Libya’s rebel-controlled second largest city situated in the far east.

State television reported that government forces had retaken the important coastal cities of Zawiyah and Misrata, to the immediate west and east of Tripoli, and were also heading for Benghazi, where the opposition National Libyan Council has set up a crisis committee, in a quest for foreign recognition.

The state television report provided no details and, with poor communication affecting all areas outside Tripoli, there was no immediate way to confirm the battlefield turnaround.

Rebel spokesmen could not be reached for comment. “I assure you, there is no fighting going on in Tripoli.

Everything is safe. Tripoli is 100 percent under control. What you are hearing is celebratory fireworks. People are in the streets, dancing in the square,” said Ibrahim, adding, however: “I would like to advise not to go there for your safety.”

Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim had told reporters late on Saturday that Zawiyah was “quiet and peaceful. “We hope by tomorrow morning life will be back to normal”.

Libya’s insurrection was inspired by generally peaceful uprisings that toppled despots in neighbouring Egypt and Tunisia and that have spread to other Arab nations with entrenched leaders and a deficit of democracy, good governance and jobs.

As of Saturday night, Libyan rebels were advancing from the east on Gaddafi’s hometown Sirte, around 500 km (300 miles) from Tripoli, and dug into positions in Zawiyah after withstanding two armoured assaults by government forces.

A tense calm settled over the western town of Zawiyah after nightfall on Saturday, with rifle-toting insurgents on rooftops and manning checkpoints on streets leading into the centre.

Before the state television report that Zawiyah had changed hands, the rebels said they were bracing for another tank and artillery attack by government forces on Sunday.

A doctor in Zawiyah, some 50 km (30 miles) west of Tripoli, said at least 30 people, mostly civilians, were killed during fighting on Saturday that wrecked the town centre, raising to at least 60 the death toll from two days of battles.

Almost 600 km (400 miles) to the east along Libya’s Mediterranean coast, insurgents said they took the town of Bin Jawad on Saturday, on the heels of seizing the oil port of Ras Lanuf, and were thrusting westwards towards Sirte.

Exultant after asserting control over much of the east of the vast oil-exporting North African state in a revolt against the flamboyant autocrat Gaddafi, some rebels said an assault on Sirte was imminent. AGENCIES

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