Strong earthquake hits northeast Japan, no tsunami

A strong earthquake registering magnitude 6.2 has struck off Japan’s northeastern coast, but there was is risk of a tsunami. There were no immediate report of injuries or damage from the temblor.

Japan’s Meteorological Agency says Thursday’s quake was centered off the coast of Ibaraki, about 140 miles (220 kilometers) east of Tokyo. It had a depth of 6 miles (10 kilometers).

The agency says there is no danger of a tsunami from the quake.

Nearly 20,000 people died or were left missing across Japan’s northeastern coast after a massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11. The disaster damaged a nuclear power plant, forcing another 100,000 people to leave their homes because of a radiation threat.

UBS ‘rogue trader’ arrested in London

Police in London’s financial district have arrested a 31-year-old man in connection with a massive loss reported by Swiss bank UBS.

City of London police said the man was arrested at 3.30 a.m. on Thursday on suspicion of fraud by abuse of position. His name was not released.

UBS said earlier Thursday that a rogue trader caused it an estimated loss of $2 billion, and warned that it could report a loss for the entire third quarter as a result.

UBS said it discovered that unauthorised trading by one of its staff has caused an estimated loss of $2 billion, and warned it could result in a loss for the entire third quarter

Rupee gains 9 paise against dollar

Overcoming its initial weakness, the rupee on Thursday broke its eight-session-long losing streak closing higher by 9 paise at 47.55/56 against the U.S. currency following firm equity markets and a weak dollar overseas.

Fresh dollar selling by exporters and some banks as well as slowdown in capital outflows too supported the rupee rise.

In an active trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic unit opened a tad lower at 47.65/66 per dollar from previous close of 47.64/65.

It touched a low of 47.95 in late morning trade following some weakness in local stocks after opening firm.

Later, the rupee bounced back in line with smart rebound in equities and concluded at 47.55/56.

In last eight sessions, the rupee had lost 185 paise or 4.04 per cent.

“Yesterday RBI had intervened into the market thus appreciating the rupee from its opening. The same scenario is seen today and possibility of RBI’s intrusion at near 48-mark cannot be ruled out completely,” India Forex Advisors CEO Abhishek Goenka said

Petrol price hiked by Rs. 3.14 a litre

State-owned oil companies on Thursday hiked petrol price by Rs. 3.14 per litre as a fall in rupee increased the cost of importing the raw material (crude oil).

Petrol price in Delhi will be hiked by Rs. 3.14 a litre to Rs. 66.84 per litre with effect from Thursday midnight , a top official at a state-run fuel retailer said.

The current price of Rs. 63.70 per litre corresponds to crude oil price of about $103 per barrel. But crude today is at $110-111 per barrel. This difference coupled with rupee declining to two-year low of 48 to the U.S. dollar necessitated an increase in retail price, he said.

This is the second hike in four months. Oil companies had last hiked petrol price by Rs. 5 per litre on May 15.

New York flight diverted after ‘suspicious’ behaviour of three

A flight from New York to Phoenix was diverted to Missouri on Wednesday after three passengers on board behaved in a “suspicious” manner.

The three passengers were taken off the U.S. Airways flight after it landed in St Louis, Missouri where the police took them in, the Transportation Security Administration said.

“U.S. Airways Flight 457 from John F Kennedy International Airport to Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport diverted to Lambert - St Louis International Airport at the request of the flight crew, due to suspicious behaviour exhibited by three passengers,” the TSA said in a statement.

The plane was swept and cleared for flight, it added.

The incident comes a couple of days after F-16 fighter jets were scrambled to escort two U.S. flights after their crew were unnerved by two of its passengers spending a long time in the plane’s lavatory on September 11.

The planes landed without incident in Detroit and New York and the six passengers who exhibited “suspicious behaviour” were released without charge after being questioned.

Kabul attack over, assailants killed

The Afghanistan government says the two-day insurgent assault in the heart of Kabul has ended and all the attackers have been killed.

The Interior Ministry says the area around the building where attackers had been holed up is now safe.

The head of the police unit overseeing the operation says that the last six attackers were killed inside the building at a major traffic circle in the Afghan capital.

Abdul Ghafar Sayedzada says there are no remaining insurgents alive in the structure.

He says Afghan security forces are now on the roof of the building after a slow clearing operation that lasted into early morning on Wednesday.

Intel plans smartphone foray with Google

With an aim to expand its presence in the computing world, technology giant Intel on Wednesday announced that it has partnered with Google for accelerating its foray into the smartphone market by the first half of 2012.

It has also promised to bring power-efficient and affordable ‘Ultrabooks’, a sleeker and lighter version of laptops, to the market this holiday season.

Announcing a new partnership with Google for accelerating its smartphone business foray, Intel president and CEO Paul Otellini said he was hopeful of Intel’s technology-based smartphones being launched in the market by the first half of 2012.

One in six Americans living below poverty line: Census

One in six Americans are now living below poverty line, the Census Bureau said in a report, reflecting the adverse impact of economic crisis on common man.

“The nation’s official poverty rate in 2010 was 15.1 per cent, up from 14.3 per cent in 2009 — the third consecutive annual increase in the poverty rate,” Census Bureau said in its report.

“There were 46.2 million people in poverty in 2010, up from 43.6 million in 2009 — the fourth consecutive annual increase and the largest number in the 52 years for which poverty estimates have been published,” it said.

These findings are contained in the report ‘Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2010.’

The government defines the poverty line as income of $22,314 (about Rs. 10 lakh) a year for a family of four and USD 11,139 (about Rs. 5 lakh) for individual

Car bomb kills 13 outside Iraqi restaurant

A car bombing on Wednesday morning killed 13 people and wounded scores of others in southern Iraq as the blast went off outside a restaurant where local police were having breakfast, officials said.

It was not immediately clear how many police were among the dead.

The blast, shortly before 8 a.m., also wounded 41 people, said Dr. Zuhair al-Khafaji of the Hillah hospital, where the wounded and dead were taken. The explosion happened just south of Hillah, in the town of al-Shumali, about 90 kilometres south of Baghdad.

A police official at the scene put the death toll at 11 and confirmed 41 were wounded. Meanwhile, a roadside bomb targeting a security patrol in western Iraq killed two soldiers and wounded nine others, two officials said. That blast took place near the town of Habbaniyah, 80 kilometres west of Baghdad.

Train collision: Chitheri wakes up to tragedy

Nine persons were killed and 100 others injured when a speeding passenger train rammed into a stationary train here, leading to derailment of five coaches.

The Chennai Beach-Vellore Cantonment Mainline Electrical Multiple Unit (MEMU) train rammed into the Arakkonam-Katpadi passenger from behind as it was waiting for a signal at Chitheri station, about 90 km from Chennai, around 9:40 p.m. on Tuesday night, police and railway officials said.

Wayward penguin Happy Feet missing in action

The wayward penguin known as “Happy Feet” has gone missing in the ocean south of New Zealand. There’s a slight chance scientists tracking the bird may hear from him again — if he’s still alive — but it could take years.

The emperor penguin’s satellite transmitter went silent on Friday, just five days after experts released the aquatic bird into the Southern Ocean about a quarter of the way down to Antarctica.

NATO airstrikes pound pro-Qadhafi targets

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) warplanes have pounded targets in a number of key strongholds of support for fugitive dictator Muammar Qadhafi.

The alliance said on Tuesday that airstrikes struck one radar system, eight surface-to-air missile systems, five surface-to-air missile trailers, one armed vehicle and two command vehicles a day earlier near Qadhafi’s hometown of Sirte.

The NATO also said it struck six tanks and two armoured fighting vehicles in Sabha in the southern desert.

Those two cities, along with Bani Walid, are the primary bastions of Qadhafi loyalists remaining in the country more than three weeks after revolutionary forces captured Tripoli.

Libyan fighters launched an assault on Friday on Bani Walid, but the offensive has stalled in the face of fierce resistance.

NATO airstrikes pound pro-Qadhafi targets

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) warplanes have pounded targets in a number of key strongholds of support for fugitive dictator Muammar Qadhafi.

The alliance said on Tuesday that airstrikes struck one radar system, eight surface-to-air missile systems, five surface-to-air missile trailers, one armed vehicle and two command vehicles a day earlier near Qadhafi’s hometown of Sirte.

The NATO also said it struck six tanks and two armoured fighting vehicles in Sabha in the southern desert.

Those two cities, along with Bani Walid, are the primary bastions of Qadhafi loyalists remaining in the country more than three weeks after revolutionary forces captured Tripoli.

Libyan fighters launched an assault on Friday on Bani Walid, but the offensive has stalled in the face of fierce resistance.

Taliban attack U.S. embassy, NATO in Kabul

Explosions and gunshots were heard in the centre of the Afghan capital on Tuesday, a police official said.

“A series of explosions have been heard followed by gunshots. We are looking into the incident,” Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Stanikzai said.

The explosions and shots were heard near the US embassy and headquarters of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

“Our comrades have attacked several government, diplomatic, intelligence and US embassy buildings in Kabul,” Zabiullah Mujahid said by phone from an undisclosed location.

“They are using different types of weapons, including suicide vests, machine guns, a new weapon called “82” which is shot like an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade).” Witnesses said the attackers had taken over a 13-storey building under construction in the Abdul Haq Square, next to ISAF and the embassy.

Dhoni gets Spirit of Cricket Award, Tendulkar misses out

Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the Spirit of Cricket Award while iconic batsman Sachin Tendulkar missed out the Cricketer of the Year honour at a glittering ICC Awards function on Monday night.

Dhoni was chosen for the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award for his fine gesture of recalling Ian Bell after the England batsman was run out under controversial circumstances during the second Test at Trent Bridge in July.

Tendulkar, who was named Cricketer of the Year in 2010 when the awards function was held in Bangalore, missed out this time.

England’s Jonathan Trott won the top award after beating competition from his national team-mate Alastair Cook and South Africa’s Hashim Amla, besides that of Tendulkar.

India’s opening batsman Gautam Gambhir also missed out the ODI Player of the Year Award which was won by Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara.

Acute coal shortage looms large on power sector

At a time when the Power Ministry is struggling to achieve revised capacity addition target for the XI Plan, a report has warned that continued coal shortages and environment hurdles could lead to ‘major default' in loans by private power producers to the tune of Rs.1.35-lakh crore.

According to a report prepared by Britain-based International Energy Consultancy, Mercados Energy Markets India for Association of Power Producers (APP), the banking sector has an exposure of about Rs.2,92,342 crore to the power sector. The APP includes big time companies such as Reliance Power, Tata Power, Essar Power and Adani Power.

U.S. fighter jets escort two flights after alerts

U.S. Air Force fighters were scrambled and escorted two civilian flights one to New York and other bound for Detroit after passengers spent “an extraordinary time in the bathroom”, mirroring the heightened precautions in force following a terror alert.

Two F-16 fighters escorted and shadowed the flights until they landed safely at New York’s Kennedy Airport and Detroit’s Metropolitan Airport after the crew of the two flights sounded an alarm, reporting suspicious activity on board, CNN reported.

Three passengers were taken off in handcuffs from the Frontier Airline’s flight from Denver as it landed in Detroit, but no charges were filed, the channel reported quoting airport spokesman Scott Winter.

Death toll in Syria unrest at least 2,600: U.N.

The United Nations’ top human rights official says the death toll from six months of unrest in Syria has reached at least 2,600.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay says the figure is based on “reliable sources on the ground.”

Ms. Pillay spoke on Monday at the opening of a three-week meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The council last month held an urgent meeting on Syria at which it voted overwhelmingly to demand that Syria end its bloody crackdown against anti-government protesters.

TN Govt’s laptop scheme to be implemented this week

The ambitious free laptop scheme of the Tamil Nadu government, under which 68 lakh laptops are to be distributed to government-aided higher secondary school and college students, is all set to roll this week.

Under the scheme, a poll promise of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa that will be launched on September 15, the government will distribute 9.12 lakh laptops this year and the balance in the next four years

NASA launches twin satellites bound for moon

Twin satellites blasted off aboard a rocket Saturday on a mission to unveil the inner secrets of the moon, the US space agency NASA said.

The Grail spacecraft launch at 9.08 am aboard a Delta II rocket from an Air Force base adjacent to NASA’s facilities at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The blastoff had been postponed twice due to bad weather on Thursday and Friday.

The two small Grail spacecraft - which are about the size of washing machines - will fly in formation above the moon’s surface to map its gravity.

Palaeontologists aim to resolve riddle of dinosaur playground

The find in Germany of the tracks of the 1.4-metre-tall dinosaur from the Troodontidae family is the first of its kind in Europe. A highly realistic model of the dinosaur will soon be on show in the museum in Hanover, the capital of the state of Lower Saxony, where they were found some four years ago.

Torsten van der Lubbe has grown particularly fond of the birdlike creature. When weather allows he is on his knees in the sandstone quarries of Obernkirchen looking for tracks, which he then photographs using a special procedure that creates three-dimensional models

Paramakudi police firing: toll rises to seven

With two more persons succumbing to injuries at a hospital, the death toll in the police firing on a stone-pelting mob of Dalits, who indulged in violence following detention of their leader John Pandian, has risen to seven, police said on Monday.

Two persons identified as Teerpukani and Vellaichamy succumbed to injuries late on Sunday night.

Officials have suspended bus services to the rural areas in the sensitive districts, including Ramanathapuram, Madurai, Sivaganga and Virudhunagar as a precautionary step.

Jayalalithaa directed to appear before Karnataka court on October 20

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa was on Monday asked by the Supreme Court to appear personally on October 20 before a Karnataka trial court, adjudicating a disproportionate assets case against her.

A bench of justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma, however, left it to the trial court judge to decide on her plea for being examined at a separate building, other than the regular court, in view of security considerations.

U.S. launches massive manhunt for three terror suspects

U.S. intelligence agencies and security forces are currently on a massive manhunt for three men believed to be planning massive terror attacks in America to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

The manhunt was launched following “credible and specific” information that the trio would be carrying out terrorist attacks with explosive laden vehicles in cities like New York and Washington, which has forces authorities to elevate the threat level nationwide.

U.S. intelligence agencies and security forces are currently on a massive manhunt for three men believed to be planning massive terror attacks in America to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
The manhunt was launched following “credible and specific” information that the trio would be carrying out terrorist attacks with explosive laden vehicles in cities like New York and Washington, which has forces authorities to elevate the threat level nationwide

Actor Kanthimathi dead

Actor Kanthimathi, an artist known for her powerful performances in Tamil films, passed away here on Friday after a prolonged illness. She was 65.

Tyres burst as plane lands in Goa

One hundred and eight passengers and seven crew members on board an Air India flight from Kuwait had a miraculous escape when both nose wheel tyres burst as the aircraft landed at the Dabolim Naval airport in south Goa on Tuesday morning.

Sources at the airport said the incident happened at 7.53 a.m. when the Airbus 320 headed for the end point of the runway after landing. The pilot diverted the aircraft to a nearby taxiway. No passenger on board flight AI 937 was hurt, nor did the aircraft suffer any damage

Texas fires kill 4, destroy more than 1,000 homes

One of the most devastating wildfire outbreaks in Texas history left more than 1,000 homes in ruins Tuesday and stretched the state’s firefighting ranks to the limit, confronting Gov. Rick Perry with a major disaster at home just as the Republican presidential contest heats up.

More than 180 fires have erupted in the past week across the rain—starved Lone Star State, and nearly 600 of the homes destroyed since then were lost in one catastrophic blaze in and around Bastrop, near Austin, that raged out of control Tuesday for a third day.

China will help further mankind's welfare: White paper

China's peaceful development will manifest its global impact over time, says the white paper on China's development issued on Tuesday by the Information Office of the State Council.

The path of peaceful development is a new path of development which China, the biggest developing country in the world has embarked upon. Its success calls for both the untiring efforts of the Chinese people and understanding and support from the international community, “China' s peaceful development has broken away from the traditional pattern where a rising power was bound to seek hegemony,” says the white paper.

NEWS AND IMAGES ARE FROM THE HINDU WEBSITE.

Twin suicide bombing in Pakistan kills 19 people

A pair of suicide bombers attacked the house of a top military officer in the southwestern city of Quetta on Wednesday, killing his wife and 18 other people, at least eight of them soldiers, authorities said.

Police said they were investigating whether the strike was revenge for the recent arrests of three top al-Qaida suspects in the city, an operation that was assisted by the CIA.

Nine killed, 50 injured in blast outside Delhi High Court

Terror struck Delhi when a powerful bomb blast ripped through a crowded reception area at the entrance to the High Court this morning killing nine people and injuring atleast 50.

The explosive device was suspected to kept in a briefcase outside the High Court compound between Gate No. 4 and 5 and went off at around 10.15 a.m. when 100 to 200 litigants were waiting to get passes to enter the premises.

Syrian city under siege as U.N. urges action

Syrian soldiers opened fire in the restive city of Homs on Tuesday and armoured vehicles rolled through its streets, activists said, as the United Nations Secretary-General urged the world community to take action on Syria.

Ban Ki-moon delivered some of his strongest statements yet condemning the violence, saying President Bashar Assad must take “bold and decisive measures before it’s too late.”

“It’s already too late, in fact,” Mr. Ban said in New Zealand, where he was attending a meeting of Pacific leaders. “If it takes more and more days, then more people will be killed.”

The U.N. says 2,200 people have been killed since the Syrian uprising began in March, inspired by the revolutions sweeping the Arab world. But nearly six months later, the unrest in Syria has descended into a bloody stalemate with neither side willing to back down.

Strong quake rattles west Indonesia, one killed

A powerful earthquake jolted western Indonesia early Tuesday, killing a boy and sending panicked residents fleeing from homes, hotels and even a hospital.

The magnitude-6.6 quake hit about 1 a.m. (1800 GMT Monday), waking people in towns and villages across Sumatra island’s northern tip. It was centered 100 kilometres southwest of the city of Medan and 110 kilometres beneath the earth’s crust, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was too far inland to generate a tsunami.

Manmohan Singh arrives in Dhaka

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday arrived here on a two-day visit aimed at further strengthening India’s relations with Bangladesh.

Dr. Singh, his wife Gursharan Kaur and a high-level delegation were accorded red-carpet welcome when their special aircraft landed at the Shahjalal International Airport.

Delhi Court to hear Amar Singh's bail plea on September 8

Cash-for-vote scam: Amar Singh, two ex-BJP MPs sent to jail

In a dramatic turn of events, Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh was on Tuesday arrested in connection with the 2008 cash-for-vote scam when he appeared before a local court after initially claiming that he was too ill to attend proceedings.

Sreeramulu resigns

Sulking over the denial of a Cabinet berth, B. Sreeramulu, a former Minister and close aide of the Reddy brothers, announced his resignation from the Karnataka Assembly on Sunday

Bomb hoax call delays flight

A Bahrain-bound Jet Airways flight from here was delayed by over two hours on Sunday following a bomb threat call received by the airlines' call centre.

Jet Airways flight 9W 592, which was to take off at 7-20 pm, was rescheduled after completion of all the necessary security checks, the company said in a statement here

Illegal gun factory unearthed

Police have unearthed an illegal mini-gun factory and seized weapons from near the Koda ground area here.

Acting on a tip-off, police raided the house of Md Islam Andhera and unearthed the illegal gun factory on Saturday night, police said.

One pistol and 90 semi-processed pistols were seized after the raid.

The owner of the factory has fled

Elephant kills 3 in tea estate

Three persons were killed by an elephant in Itakhuli Basti of the Monabari Tea Estate in Sonitpur district of Assam on Sunday, official sources said.

It is the second such incident in the tea estate in the last two months.

The elephant was separated from a herd that came down from Arunachal Pradesh.

The animal brought down the tin-roof of a house and trampled to death its owner Rajkumar Bag and his neighbours Lakhinder Keot and his wife Bela Keot.

A similar incident took place in July last in the tea estate, claiming the lives of five people

Arrested Janardhana Reddy brought to Hyderabad

Gali Janardhana Reddy, former Karnataka Minister and his brother-in-law B.V. Srinivasa Reddy, Managing Director of one of the mining companies owned by the Gali brothers, were brought here by a special team of the Central Bureau of Investigation, led by Joint Director V.V. Lakshminarayana.

Mumbai airport runway reopens after four days

After remaining shut for four days, the main runway of the Mumbai airport was on Monday reopened after a team of engineers towed away a Turkish Airways’ Airbus 340 aircraft, which got stuck in the mud when it skidded off the tarmac, airport officials said.

“The Turkish Airways’ plane TK-740 was towed away at 1:17 am,” the airport spokesperson told PTI, adding that the runway has been “handed over” to ATC at 6:51 am for operation.

McDonald’s begins showing calories on menus in U.K.

About 1,200 McDonald’s restaurants in the U.K. will this week begin displaying the calorie count of each food and drink item on their wall-mounted menu boards, as part of a government-led program to fight obesity and promote healthier eating, the chain said Sunday.

McDonald’s already puts calorie information on its Web site and the back of its tray liners, but this is the first time the figures will be displayed prominently in its restaurants outside the U.S.

Airstrike in Yemen kills seven

Witnesses say a Yemeni warplane has bombed a mosque in a southern town overrun by militants, killing seven people.

Fighters with suspected links to Yemen’s al-Qaeda offshoot took over Jaar in April and another nearby town a month later. The militants have taken advantage of the turmoil that grew out of massive anti-government demonstrations this year to expand their reach.

Typhoon Talas brings more misery to Japan

Rescuers and search parties scoured central Japan on Monday as the death toll from the worst typhoon to hit the country in seven years climbed to 26, adding more misery to a nation still reeling from its catastrophic tsunami six months ago

2G scam: Supreme Court to go through TRAI report

The Supreme Court on Monday said that it would like to go through the TRAI report which said that there was no loss to public exchequer in the allotment to 2G spectrum during the tenure of former Telecom Minister A Raja.

A bench of justices G S Singhvi and H L Dattu made a query in this regard with the CBI which said it was an inter-departmental communication and would place that report before it in a sealed envelope.

Tendulkar out for four weeks, to miss ODI series

The absence of batsman Sachin Tendulkar from the ODI series will come as a huge blow for the struggling Indian team.

Sachin Tendulkar was ruled out of the entire ODI series against England because of a toe injury, dealing a massive blow to a struggling India, which has already been laid low by a spate of injuries to key players.

Tendulkar was carrying this injury for quite a while, but the problem aggravated just before the opening match of the five—match series at Chester—le—Street on Saturday

President accepts Soumitra Sen’s resignation as Calcutta High Court judge

Bolt leads Jamaica to 4x100 world record

Jamaica's Usain Bolt throws the baton into the air as he celebrates winning the Men's 4x100 Relay final and setting a world record at the World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea on Sunday.

In one whirlwind week, Usain Bolt turned the biggest disappointment of his career into another golden show capped with a world record that even he long believed was not within him this year.

Artist Jehangir Sabavala passes away

Jehangir Sabavala, an artist whose career spanned over 60 years, passed away Friday morning after battling lung cancer for two years