The Indonesian Centre for Volcanology has issued a third-degree warning on the possible eruption of the Merapi volcano in densely populated central Java, local media reported on Friday.
Merapi is one of the most active and dangerous volcanoes in Indonesia and has produced more lava flows than any other volcano in the world. It has been active for 10,000 years and has registered eruptions on average every four years. The volcano's activity has been rapidly increasing, accompanied by tremors and frequent lava spills.
A 5.8-magnitude quake shook central Chile late on Wednesday, swaying buildings in the capital Santiago, but causing no damage, emergency officials said.
The quake's epicentre was offshore in the Pacific Ocean 196 miles west-southwest of Santiago and at a depth of 4.2 miles, the US Geological Survey said.
Typhoon Megi raced through southeast Asia last week, leaving 26 people dead in the Phillipines, where it forced 55,000 from their homes, and three in southern Japan.
The typhoon also lashed Hong Kong and Taiwan where helicopters had to rescue 400 tourists trapped on a coastal highway by massive rockslides unleashed by the torrential rains.
The storm dumped a record 42 inches of rain in northern Taiwan, where 11 people died.
A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck the Gulf of California on Thursday, sending shockwaves that were felt 680 miles away in San Diego. The tremor was centred 100 miles offshore from the town of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
Toyota vehicles recalled worldwide over potential brake fluid and fuel-pump problems
Homes Jewish settlers on the West Bank have started since the end of a building ban on 26 September
Amount in interest earned by the €127m Euromillions winner who failed to claim the prize for two weeks
ON 26 October 1960, a short paragraph appeared in the Soviet press announcing the death of war hero Mitrofan Nedelin. The communique stated that he had died in an air crash but no other details were given.
The economical statement hid one of the worst disasters in the history of the USSR, when an R-16 rocket exploded on its launch pad and killed at least 120 soldiers and scientists, perhaps as many as 150.
The incident happened in Baikonur Cosmodrome during the development of the Soviet R-16 intercontinental ballistic missile.
Nedelin was in charge of the project, which was expected to produce a successful launch in time for the 7 November anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution.
The rocket was 30 metres long and three metres in diameter, weighing 141 tons. A ruptured fuel line should have ensured the launch was delayed, but Nedelin was impatient and left the observation area to oversee repairs. He sat in a truck parked next to the launch site and would have been one of the first killed when the rocket exploded, engulfing the workers in a fireball of burning fuel.
An Italian news agency reported some weeks later that there had been a rocket explosion, which was confirmed five years later by a captured spy. However it was not until the era of perestroika that the Soviet authorities acknowledged the truth: that Nedelin and 120 others had died in the Baikonur explosion in 1960, 50 years ago on this day.
In three weeks Californians will vote on whether to legalise marijuana. Which means that three weeks and one day from now thousands of stoners will say, 'Oh crap, that was yesterday?'
(Jimmy Fallon)
If you're trying to scare a president by throwing a book at him, you're one president too late
(David Letterman)
A very joyous week. A week where the whole world was watching a bunch of men trying to climb out of a hole they dug for themselves ? but enough about the Democrats. Lets talk about those Chilean miners
(Bill Maher)
The Liffey Valley kangaroo was working in the hotel, I believe. I hear he was working as a bouncer
(Ciaran Lynch TD)
Wayne Rooney wants to play in a different league next season. Liverpool are expected to put in a bid then
(Sickipedia)
Three Spanish tourists spent three hours picking up human waste around Queenstown after police found them defecating after stopping their campervan in a residential street. The three "volunteered" for the work rather than face a court appearance.
Anti-apartheid campaigner Professor Kader Asmal has hit out at President Jacob Zuma's planned media curbs, saying fear of prosecution could push papers to "self-censorship that could be more effective than outside censorship".
An Ottawa police sergeant is facing criminal assault charges after a sports-field altercation. The incident happened in the stands during a youth lacrosse tournament. The off-duty officer grabbed the arm of a man taking pictures of him.
The Gurez area of Kashmir has recorded a 90% decline in potato production this season.
Experts and officials blame "late blight disease, untimely snow and incessant rains"; farmers attribute the decline in production of potato to government "apathy".
Tom Boswell, 83, US star of 'Happy Days' and 'Father Dowling'
Eyedea, 28, American rapper and musician
Barbara Billingsley, 94, US actress (June Cleaver in 'Leave It to Beaver')
Farooq Leghari, 70, Former president of Pakistan
Ariane Foster, 48, who as Ari Up led seminal all-woman punk band the Slits
Bob Guccione, 79, American publisher and founder of Penthouse
Loki Schmidt, 91, German environmentalist, wife of Helmut Schmidt
Eva Ibbotson, 85, Austrian-born English author of books for children
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