Tsunami warning after strong quake off Indonesia
October 25, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
JAKARTA: Earthquake monitoring agencies issued a tsunami warning on Monday after a powerful tremor measuring more than 7 on the Richter scale under the sea off the west coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra island.
The U.S. Geological Survey measured the quake at 7.5, and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said a local tsunami watch was in effect but a wider tsunami threat was not seen.
Indonesia’s earthquake agency also issued a tsunami warning. It said the quake hit 78 km northwest off South Pagai, one of the Mentawai islands, at a depth of 10 km. The agency measured the quake at 7.2.
There were no immediate reports of any casualties from the earthquake or any subsequent tsunami.
In December 2004, a tsunami caused by an earthquake of more than 9 magnitude off Sumatra killed more than 226,000 people.
It was the deadliest tsunami on record. AGENCIES
Magnitude 7.2 quake hits off Indonesia
September 29, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
WASHINGTON: A magnitude 7.2 quake struck off Indonesia, just one minute after a strong 6.6 tremor hit a few miles north, the U.S. Geological Survey reported on Wednesday.
The USGS said the second quake, which hit at 2:11 a.m. on Thursday (1711 GMT on Wednesday), was only 7.6 miles (12.3 km) deep and centered 68 miles (109 km) northwest of Dobo, in the Aru Islands, very close to the first quake.
It was not immediately known whether the quake caused any damage or casualties.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the quakes did not trigger an ocean-wide tsunami warning but could cause local tsunamis that could be destructive along the coasts located within a few hundred miles (km) of the epicenter.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and is prone to earthquakes. AGENCIES
Magnitude 7.2 quake hits off Indonesia
September 29, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
WASHINGTON: A magnitude 7.2 quake struck off Indonesia, just one minute after a strong 6.6 tremor hit a few miles north, the U.S. Geological Survey reported on Wednesday.
The USGS said the second quake, which hit at 2:11 a.m. on Thursday (1711 GMT on Wednesday), was only 7.6 miles (12.3 km) deep and centered 68 miles (109 km) northwest of Dobo, in the Aru Islands, very close to the first quake.
It was not immediately known whether the quake caused any damage or casualties.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the quakes did not trigger an ocean-wide tsunami warning but could cause local tsunamis that could be destructive along the coasts located within a few hundred miles (km) of the epicenter.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and is prone to earthquakes. AGENCIES
Strong 7.4 quake hits New Zealand near Christchurch
September 3, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
WASHINGTON: A strong earthquake of 7.4 magnitude hit New Zealand, just 4 miles (7 km) southeast of Christchurch, in the middle of the night local time, the U.S. Geological Survey said on Friday.
There were no immediate tsunami warnings. USGS earlier said the quake measured 7.3 magnitude.
The center of the quake was 41 miles (66 km) deep and it struck at 1635 GMT.
Christchurch, on the east coast of the South Island, is New
Zealand’s second-largest city with a population of about
342,000 people.
“No destructive widespread tsunami threat exists based on historical earthquake and tsunami data,” the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said. AGENCIES
Israel warns Lebanon but also seeks calm along border
August 4, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a public warning to Lebanon on Wednesday, saying it would face a “vigorous” Israeli response in the event of more unrest on their shared border.
But at the same time as Netanyahu”s office published his comments, which put the Lebanese government in the same category as the militant Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, Israeli, UN and Lebanese military officers were working behind the scenes to douse the flames.
“I want to make it clear to Hamas, and also to the government of Lebanon which we see as responsible for the violent provocation against our soldiers; do not test our resolve to defend Israel”s civilians and soldiers,” Netanyahu said.
Israel”s key ally, the United States, backed Israel”s contention that its troops were carrying out routine work on their own side of the frontier on Tuesday when they were subjected to an unprovoked attack by Lebanese soldiers.
“The firing of the Lebanese armed forces was wholly unjustified and unwarranted,” State Department Spokesman Philip Crowley said.
Netanyahu”s comments were made in a Hebrew-language statement distributed to media in writing and on video.
Tuesday”s firefight, the deadliest confrontation on Israel”s northern border in four years, took the lives of an Israeli colonel, two Lebanese soldiers and a Lebanese journalist.
Major 7.0-magnitude quake hits Papua New Guinea
August 4, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
SYDNEY: A major 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Papua New Guinea on Thursday, the US Geological Survey said, but no tsunami warning was issued.
The quake hit New Britain island at 8:01 am local time (2201 GMT Wednesday) at a depth of 54 kilometres, USGS said.
The epicentre was 145 kilometres (90 miles) east of Kandrian, on New Britain, and 570 kilometres (350 miles) east of Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, based in Hawaii, said there was no threat of a widespread destructive tsunami as a result of the quake.
UN says aid to Gaza should be delivered by land
July 23, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations said Friday that groups seeking to deliver aid to Gaza should do so by land, after Israel warned it would intercept two ships seeking to break a blockade of the Palestinian enclave.
“There are established routes for supplies to enter by land. That is the way aid should be delivered to the people of Gaza,” UN spokesman Martin Nesirky told a press briefing.
“Our stated preference has been and remains that aid should be delivered by established routes, particularly at a sensitive time in indirect proximity (peace) talks between Palestinians and Israelis,” he added.
He made the comments after Israel served notice its forces would prevent a planned Lebanese aid flotilla from reaching the Gaza Strip.
“We have received information in recent days about a plan to send a new flotilla to break the blockade around Gaza,” Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Israeli television.
Three major quakes rattle Philippines
July 23, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
MANILA: Three major quakes measuring between magnitude 7.3 and 7.4 hit the southern Philippines early Saturday, seismologists said, but there were no reports of damage and no tsunami warning was issued.
The underwater quakes struck at a depth of between 575 and 605 kilometres (350 and 375 miles), just over 100 kilometres southwest of Cotabato, in Mindanao, said the US Geological Survey.
The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said no destructive tsunami was generated by the quakes, the first of which hit at 6:08 am (2208 GMT Friday).
“It was kind of mild,” said Monisa Tulawie, a staff member at the Cotabato city mayor”s office, who told AFP she felt one of the quakes.
Other residents contacted by phone were unaware of what had happened, saying they had not been woken by the tremors.
“We have received no reports of damage or casualties,” said local fire official Marlon Macapili of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, a self-ruled area that includes four provinces around Cotabato.
Seismologist Wilmer Legaspi of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the quakes were too deep to cause substantial surface damage, although flimsy structures could be vulnerable.
michael ealy
June 2, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
After releasing a post-prison track titled “I’m Back”, T.I. has debuted another new song. Called “Yeah Ya Know (Takers)”, this material will likely be included in his upcoming movie “Takers” in addition to his new album “King Uncaged”.
The track comes from production hands of DJ Toomp and Smash Factory. “Prison ain’t change me, it made me worse. Right, ‘Pac? If I want it, I’ma come get it. I ain’t asking for it – I’mma take it. We takers,” T.I. said in the song outro.
“King Uncaged” is going to be made for purchase in United States on August 17. Meanwhile, “Takers” which also stars Matt Dillon, Paul Walker, Idris Elba, Michael Ealy, Chris Brown and Zoe Saldana is expected to open in theaters across the country on August 20.
jirga
June 2, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
The multi-pronged attack started within minutes of Karzai beginning his opening address to some 1,600 dignitaries gathered for the conference, known as a peace jirga, in a huge tent pitched on a university compound in the city.
The Taliban, which had earlier threatened to kill anyone who took part, claimed responsibility for the attack in a phone call to The Associated Press.
Karzai was hoping that the jirga would bolster him politically by supporting his strategy of offering incentives to individual Taliban fighters and reaching out to the insurgent leadership, despite skepticism in Washington on whether the time is right for an overture to militant leaders.
About 10 minutes into his speech, Karzai was briefly interrupted by an explosion outside, which police said was a rocket fired from the west of the Afghan capital. Karzai heard the thud, but dismissed it, telling delegates, “Don’t worry. We’ve heard this kind of thing before.”
Soon afterward, an AP reporter nearby heard a loud explosion and saw smoke rising from a second apparent rocket attack that struck about 100 meters (yards) from the venue.
AP reporters gathered at a hotel near the venue to cover the conference via video link heard bursts of gunfire to the south of the venue.
Police officer Kamaluddin said a suicide bomber detonated explosives a few hundred yards (meters) from the tent, and that shooting between insurgents and Afghan forces was being reported. The only reported casualty was the bomber.
Security forces were rushing through the area and helicopters were flying overhead.
Some insurgents were shot, but reports were unclear as to how many, said a spokesman for international forces in Afghanistan, Lt. Col. Joseph T. Breasseale.US President Barack Obama has said he wants to start drawing down troops from mid-2011.
After the election of a chairman and two deputies, delegates will be divided into 28 groups, each with a spokesman to present their ideas to the general forum.
The jirga is expected to end on Friday with a declaration on what steps should be taken to end the insurgency, what groups should be included in the process and how they should be approached.
