The death toll following a massive tsunami that struck Indonesia on Monday has climbed above 600, with a further 33 people killed by a series of volcanic eruptions in central Java.
Rescuers, primarily working out of nearby West Sumatra, struggled to reach Indonesia's islands because a boat shortage, caused by the tsunami, is making it almost impossible to deliver supplies.
Mount Merapi erupted twice on Friday, and again yesterday following the major detonation on Tuesday.
Among those who died in Mount Merapi, a volcano of great spiritual significance to residents of the nearby city of Yogyakarta, was its guardian Mbah Maridjan, 81. On Thursday, he was buried in a lavish funeral attended by hundreds of people.
Flooding in the small West African nation of Togo has killed 21 people and affected more than 82,000.
Floods have hit a wide swathe of West and Central Africa this rainy season, killing more than 300 people and affecting 1.5 million.
Neighbouring Benin has been harder hit, with some 680,000 people affected, according to United Nations estimates.
Two volcanoes erupted on the far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, forcing flight diversions and blanketing a town with dust.
Ash clouds from the remote peaks - including Eurasia's highest active volcano, the Klyuchevskaya Sopka - which erupted on Thursday billowed up to 33,000 feet and spread east across the Pacific.
2 People who have died while 29 others are unwell after an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in Madrid
14,000,000 Age of a dinosaur found in Pakistan. The deinotherium was found in the village of Lava
52 Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners exchanged in 1986 for the gun of a missing Israeli airman
Wayne Rooney's gone to Dubai for his birthday. He must have been saving up for that all morning.
Hillary Clinton turned 63 years old yesterday. Bill put rose petals on the bed in a nice hotel and then phoned Hillary and wished her happy birthday
Former President George W Bush has a memoir coming out soon. Between this and Justin Bieber's book, this could be the biggest year ever for literature
Girls Aloud are playing at Anfield next month. The bookies are laying odds they will win 4-0.
The Vatican urged Iraq not to carry out the execution of Tariq Aziz, who's Catholic. We not only invaded the wrong Muslim country, we're hanging its Christian spokesman.
SOME of the most glorious - and bloody - moments in the history of warfare have come with men on horseback charging at the enemy.
Battles such as Waterloo and the infamous Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava have been immortalised on canvas and celluloid, while the most famous moment in Chilean history was Bernardo O'Higgins's charge at the Battle of Rancagua.
Industrial scale warfare was how things were done in?World War One, where the invention of the tank and the use of trenches spelt the end of the idea of horseback combat.
The middle eastern theatre of that war saw the widespread use of horses, however, and it was at the Battle of Beersheba that what has become known as the "last successful cavalry charge in history" took place.
The British commander, Edmund Allenby - who had recruited TE Lawrence (of Arabia) - was charged with taking Gaza back from the Turks. On the morning of 31 October 1917 he ordered an assault on Beersheba by The Australian 4th Light Horse Brigade, led by Lt-Col Murray Bourchier, of Irish descent.
The riders jumped the trenches and dismounted behind the line where they turned and fought the Turks with bayonets. The enemy quickly surrendered. One Australian, dazed after falling from his horse, woke up to find his five attackers with their hands up, waiting to be taken prisoner.
The taking of Beersheba, opening salvo in the Third Battle of Gaza, took place 93 years ago, on this day.
Eastern Cape police are looking for a 20-year-old man who allegedly killed his parents and wounded two others in Mooiplaas, South Africa over accusations of witchcraft.
The man allegedly stabbed his parents, aged 75 and 80, to death with a spear.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday informed the Bombay high court that there are 51,576 recorded cases of forged university degree certificates used for pursuing higher education and jobs in the state.
Police have revealed that All Blacks coach Graham Henry was let off a speeding ticket, despite being clocked at 31kph over the limit. Henry was caught on radar by an officer not qualified to use the equipment; other drivers escaped being ticketed as well.
President Robert Mugabe's former bodyguard, Cain Chademana, was reportedly killed by Aids, although foreign newspapers claim he was poisoned to stop him revealing First Lady Grace Mugabe's alleged affair with bank governor Gideon Gono.
Paul, 2, World Cup-predicting octopus, natural causes
Gregory Isaacs, 59, Jamaican reggae singer, lung cancer
Andy Holmes, 51, British Olympic gold medal-winning rower, Weil's disease
Joseph Stein, 98, American playwright (Fiddler on the Roof, Zorba)
Nestor Kirchner, 60, former President of Argentina, after a sudden heart attack
Paddy Mullins, 91, leading Irish racehorse trainer
James MacArthur, 73, US actor best known as 'Danno' in the TV series Hawaii-Five-O
Takeshi Shudo, 61, chief writer of Japanese anime hit Pokémon
Comments are moderated by our editors, so there may be a delay between submission and publication of your comment. Offensive or abusive comments will not be published. Please note that your IP address (204.236.235.245) will be logged to prevent abuse of this feature. In submitting a comment to the site, you agree to be bound by our Terms and Conditions
del.icio.us
digg
Facebook
Google
Subscribe to The Sunday Tribune’s RSS feeds. Learn more.
Get off to a profitable sports betting start today at sportsbetting.co.uk
Print
E-mail
