Tropical storm Aere kills 15 in Philippines

Fifteen people were killed and nearly 70,000 people were forced from their homes as tropical storm Aere pummelled the Philippines

The death toll from Aere, which hit on Sunday, jumped from nine, with six more people reported killed in floods, landslides and road accidents, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Centre said. However, after two days of heavy rains across the main island of Luzon, the storm had weakened and was exiting the northern Philippines this morning, according to the national weather bureau.

"The storm is moving away from the country in a north, northeast direction,adding it was expected to move close to Japan's south-west coast by Thursday. It said Aere's maximum sustained winds had fallen to 65km/h, from 85km/h on Sunday. The disaster agency said that nearly 70,000 people had been forced to leave their storm-hit homes on Luzon, and the initial estimate of damages to the farming sector was more than $US2.7 million.

Osama had some sort of support network in Pakistan: Obama

Osama bin Laden, who lived in a compound in Abbottabad for six years, had "some kind of support" infrastructure inside Pakistan and this aspect needs to be investigated, US President Barack Obama has said. His comments came as his top security advisor said there was no evidence so far that the Pakistan Government knew about the al Qaeda chief`s presence in the country.

"We think that there had to be some sort of support network for bin Laden inside of Pakistan," obama said. The US called on government of Pakistan to conduct an investigation into how Osama was able to live so long in a military cantonment area of Pakistan, in an affluent suburb of Islamabad. We don`t know whether there might have been some people inside of [Pakistan`s] government, people outside of government, and that`s something that we have to investigate and, more importantly, the Pakistani government has to investigate," Obama said.

Al-Qaida aspired to attack US train on 11/9/2011

Al-Qaida considered attacking U.S. trains on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, according to an initial look at DVDs, computers and other documents seized at the raid on Osama bin Laden's home.

The information about a possible train plot is the first intelligence revealed from the trove of material found in the attack on bin Laden's compound. Officials said they found what they call "aspirational" items — things al-Qaida operatives were interested in trying to make happen. A government advisory obtained by NBC News and sent Tuesday to the rail industry said that as far back as February 2010, al-Qaida was contemplating "an operation against trains at an unspecified location in the United States on the 10th anniversary" of the 9/11 attacks.

One option, the advisory said, was trying to tip a train by tampering with the rails so that the train would fall off the track at either a valley or on a bridge. Such an attempt would probably only work once, the material in bin Laden's house said, because tilting or tampering with the rails would be spotted, the advisory said. Other material mentions a desire to target big mass-transit hubs, an interest long understood because of the history of al-Qaida attacks on rail targets in Spain, the United Kingdom and India.

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Arunachal CM’s body recovered, Union Cabinet to meet today

After a five-day long intense search, the Army with the help of locals, recovered the body of Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu from a place between Kyela and Lobothang in the mountainous region of the state on Thursday morning.

Confirming the development, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram informed newsmen that Union Cabinet is all set to meet in New Delhi at 11.30 am today to discuss the current political situation in the state and to possibly elect a new leader.

“The body of Arunachal Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu and four others have been recovered and the government is making all necessary arrangements to bring the bodies to Tawang,”. The meeting is expected to be attended by central ministers – V Narayanaswamy, Mukul Wasnik, and Bijoy Krishna Handique. Two senior All India Congress Committee leaders would also attend the meeting.

Pakistan's president denies harboring bin Laden

Pakistan's president starved of proposals his country's security forces may have wrapped in cotton wool Osama bin Laden previous to he was killed by American forces, and said their collaboration with the United States helped locate the world's most wanted man.

Asif Ali Zardari said, though, that Monday's operation in opposition to bin Laden was not conducted with Pakistani forces — confirms accounts by U.S. officials that Islamabad was not involved in the raid and did not even know in relation to it until it was over.

His comments in a Washington Post view piece Monday were Pakistan's first official retort to the doubts by U.S. lawmakers and other critics, which could further sour relations stuck between Islamabad and Washington at a crucial point in the war in Afghanistan.

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Al Qaeda No.2 Zawahri most likely to succeed bin Laden

Egyptian born doctor and medical doctor Ayman al-Zawahri is al Qaeda's second-in-command probable to do well Osama bin Laden subsequent his killing in a firefight with U.S. forces in Pakistan. Zawahri has been the brains at the back bin Laden and his al Qaeda network, and at times its most public face, continually disapproving the United States and its allies in video messages.

In the latest monitored by the SITE astuteness Group last month, he urged Muslims to fight NATO and American forces in Libya. "I want to direct the awareness of our Muslim brothers in Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and the rest of the Muslim countries, that if the Americans and the NATO forces enter Libya then their neighbors in Egypt and Tunisia and Algeria and the rest of the Muslim countries should rise up and fight both the private army of Gaddafi and the rest of NATO," Zawahri said.

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Osama bin Laden, the face of terror, killed in Pakistan

The most prominent face of terror in America and beyond, Osama Bin Laden, has been killed in Pakistan, U.S. officials said Sunday night. Bin Laden was the leader of al Qaeda, the terrorist network behind the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. U.S. officials said that their forces have the body of bin Laden.

The enormity of the destruction -- the World Trade Center's towers devastated by two hijacked airplanes, the Pentagon partially destroyed by a third hijacked jetliner, a fourth flight crashed in rural Pennsylvania, and more than 3,000 people killed -- gave bin Laden a global presence.

The Saudi-born zealot commanded an organization run like a rogue multinational firm, experts said, with subsidiaries operating secretly in dozens of countries, plotting terror, raising money and recruiting young Muslim men -- even boys -- from many nations to its training camps in Afghanistan.

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Rescue efforts transition to recovery in hard-hit Alabama

Hopes of finding trapped survivors dwindled Friday evening in Alabama, the epicenter of storms that obliterated neighborhoods and towns and claimed scores of lives across the South. Gov. Robert Bentley, speaking in Birmingham, said the long road to recovery will now begin. "We've gotten past the rescue stage," Bentley said. "We have begun the recovery stage."

Earlier Friday, President Barack Obama toured rubble-strewn neighborhoods in Tuscaloosa, declaring the devastation brought by a series of powerful storms and tornadoes was beyond anything he had ever seen. The storms killed at least 326 people in six states and left entire neighborhoods in ruins. Obama promised expedited federal aid to states affected by the tornadoes.

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Indonesia Earthquakes Kill 3, Cause Panic

A series of powerful earthquakes rattled Indonesia on Wednesday, killing three people, triggering landslides and demolishing dozens of homes. A tsunami warning sent panicked residents fleeing buildings to high ground. The 7.0 magnitude quake was centered 18 miles beneath the ocean floor and 125 miles off the northern coast of Papua province, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It was accompanied by a series of strong aftershocks, the highest measuring 6.4.

More than 20 houses collapsed in Serui, a town in Yapen district, sparking fires in at least seven places, said police spokesman Lt. Col. Wachjono, who like many Indonesians uses only one name. Two bodies were pulled from beneath the rubble. "Police and rescuers are still searching for other victims in remote areas," he said. Hundreds of people ran out of their homes, said Yan Pieter Yarangga, a resident from the town of Biak. Fearing a tsunami, people fled beaches and some raced for high ground. "I ran too, I was afraid there would be a second quake," he said.

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Japan launches massive search for missing tsunami victims

Some 25,000 Japanese troops are fanning out on the wreckage-strewn northeastern coast Monday in a massive search for thousands of bodies still missing from last month's earthquake and tsunami. Backed by dozens of boats and aircraft, the soldiers are scouring the region for remains swept to sea or buried under masses of rubble.

The operation is the third intensive military search for bodies since the disaster that killed up to 26,000 people. Some 12,000 remain missing and are believed dead. Monday's search is an all-out effort to recover any remains for their families. The soldiers are combing through the rubble and navy boats and divers are searching the waters up to 12 miles (20 kilometers) off the coast.

Robots report high radiation levels in damaged reactors

Remote-controlled robots and workers controlling them have recorded high levels of radiation inside and around two reactor buildings at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, safety officials said Monday.

The U.S.-built robot probes measured radiation doses as high as 57 millisieverts inside the housing for reactor No. 3 and up to 49 millisieverts inside the No. 1 reactor building, Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency reported. Levels found between the double doors of the airlocks of the reactor buildings were much higher -- 270 millisieverts in the case of reactor No. 1 and 170 millsieverts in No. 3, the agency said.

By comparison, the average resident of an industrialized country receives a dose of about 3 millisieverts per year. Emergency standards for plant workers battling the month-old nuclear disaster limit their annual exposure to 250 millisieverts, while a CT scan produces just under 7 and a chest X-ray delivers a one-time dose of about .05 millisieverts.

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Strong quake shakes buildings in Japan’s capital

A strong earthquake of magnitude 5.8 hit central Japan on Saturday morning, according to the US Geological Survey. The quake, which shook buildings in Tokyo, struck at 11:19 am (0219 GMT), 83 kilometres (52 miles) north of the capital and at a depth of 20 kilometres, the USGS said.

Operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said the tremor did not disrupt the emergency crews who are working around the clock to cool crippled reactors at a nuclear plant hit by a devastating earthquake and tsunami last month. That earthquake - the biggest ever recorded in Japan -- struck on March 11, triggering a huge tsunami and leaving 13,591 people dead, with another 14,497 still unaccounted for.

Tens of thousands of people lost their homes, while many others were forced to evacuate after a series of explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant sent radiation spewing into the air.

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Mohandas Pai, Infosys Technologies' HR director resigns from board

Infosys' director incharge, Human Resource and Administration, Mohandas Pai resigned on Friday from the board of the company with effect from June 11, 2011. Infosys' board of directors will meet on April 30 to finalise plans for the company's leadership as chairman NR Narayan Murthy retires in August 2011.

Former Microsoft India head, Ravi Venkatesan was appointed as additional director on the board. In the middle of its biggest management transition ever since Infosys was founded, the company is aiming for a larger share of revenue from retail, banking and healthcare customers by shifting the roles of leaders handling multiple business units.

Pai had been in a finance role as Chief Financial Officer of Infosys since 1994, and later took responsibility for the critical functions of human resources and education. He is also a well-known public face and has been part of various committees such as the Kelkar committee for reforming direct taxes and is currently on the SEBI board.

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Japan nuclear disaster tops scale

Japan's prime minister vowed to wind down the month-long crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant "at all costs" Tuesday after his government officially designated the situation there a Chernobyl-level nuclear accident.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan said he wants the plant's owner, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, to produce a timetable for bringing the disaster to an end, "and they will be doing that soon." And a day after his government warned that thousands more people would need to be evacuated from the surrounding region, he pledged to provide jobs, housing and education for those uprooted by the accident.

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Fresh nuclear fears hit Asian shares

Asian shares slid on Tuesday as Japanese stocks were hit by renewed concerns over Japan’s nuclear crisis while an IMF report on the global economy sent commodity prices lower, affecting resource stocks in the region. The MSCI Asia Pacific index fell 0.6 per cent, the most in a week, after Japan raised its assessment of the Fukushima nuclear accident to the most serious level on a seven-step international scale, equivalent to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

Tokyo expanded the evacuation zone in the north-eastern part of the country after powerful aftershocks sparked renewed anxiety one month since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami killed more than 13,000 people and caused widespread damage. The Nikkei 225 average was trading 1.1 per cent lower and Tokyo Electric Power, which operates the crippled Fukushima plant, tumbled 6.8 per cent. Sony was off 2.5 per cent and Toyota Motor was down 1.5 per cent. Tohoku Electric Power dropped 2.6 per cent after power was cut in some areas following the magnitude 7.1 aftershock on Monday.

In Sydney, materials and energy producers lost ground amid concerns that higher oil prices might dampen economic growth. The S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.6 per cent. Alumina fell 2.5 per cent and BHP Billiton retreated 1.2 per cent after recent gains while Fortescue Metals lost 1.3 per cent. But Westpac Banking advanced 1 per cent after the Australian Financial Review reported that the bank was planning to bid for British asset manager Henderson Group.

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Magnitude 6.6-quake jolts Japan coast

Fires burned in northeastern Japan Monday evening after a powerful earthquake rattled the region, sending a landslide into Iwaki City, authorities said. A preliminary estimate put the quake's magnitude at 7.1, which was later lowered to 6.6, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. A series of smaller quakes continued to shake the region. Residents in Tokyo also felt the jolts. A tsunami warning issued by Japan's Meteorological Agency was later canceled.

Monday's initial quake was centered about 164 kilometers (101 miles) northeast of Tokyo, or about 50 kilometers (31 miles) southwest of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Workers at the plant were asked to evacuate for a time, but later returned to resume their efforts to cool the troubled nuclear facility. The Tohoku Electric Power Company said 220,000 households and businesses in Fukushima were without power after Monday's quake, which came a month after a deadly magnitude-9 quake and tsunami devastated the island nation.

Japan set to extend nuclear evacuation zone

Japan plans to extend the evacuation zone around its crippled nuclear plant because of high radiation levels, local media reported Monday, with engineers no closer to regaining control of six reactors hit by a giant tsunami one month ago. Concern at Japan's inability contain its nuclear crisis, caused by a March 11 earthquake and tsunami, is mounting with Prime Minister Naoto Kan's ruling party suffering embarrassing losses in local elections Sunday and neighboring China and South Korea voicing criticism. Engineers at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant north of Tokyo said Sunday they were no closer to restoring the plant's cooling system which is critical if overheated fuel rods are to be cooled and the six reactors brought under control. They are hoping to stop pumping radioactive water into the ocean Monday, days later than planned.

Four weeks after the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl quarter of a century ago, the government was moving to extend a 20 km evacuation zone due to high levels of radiation, the Asahi newspaper reported. The government has so far refused to widen the zone, despite being urged to by the International Atomic Energy Agency and countries like the United States and Australia advising its citizens to stay 80 kms away from the plant.

South Korea schools shut over radioactive rain

Many South Korean schools have cancelled classes as officials scrambled to quell fears that rain contained radioactive material from Japan's stricken nuclear plant. More than 130 primary schools and kindergartens in Gyeonggi province surrounding the capital Seoul cancelled or cut classes today after rain began falling on orders from the provincial education office. An office spokesman called it part of "preemptive measures for the safety of students". The office had told schools on Wednesday to cancel or shorten classes due to "growing anxiety among students and parents over conflicting claims on the safety of radiation exposure". Schools in remote areas, where students have a long walk to class, were particularly encouraged to cancel activities. At schools which stayed open, teachers were advised to suspend outdoor activities.

Complaints from parents mounted on the website of Seoul city's education office, which refused to cancel classes and called for a calm response to the fears. "Please order class cancellation. I'm worried to death about my kid and can't sleep," said one posting. Education authorities in North Chungcheong province south of Gyeonggi postponed football, baseball and other sporting events. Concern grew in the nation closest to Japan after the weather agency said on Monday that radioactive material from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant may be carried to the peninsula by south-easterly winds. The amount of radioactive material contained in the rainfall is too tiny to pose any health threat, the prime minister's office said today, calling for education offices to refrain from "making parents nervous".

Air Force to cut 22 general officer jobs

The Air Force will lose 22 general officer billets and will have eight of its top scientist positions downgraded as part of wide-ranging cuts by the Pentagon aimed at shrinking the size of the military budget. A 48-page memo written by Defense Secretary Robert Gates provides further detail in his drive to free up $178 billion over the next five years.In the memo, dated March 14 but not yet publicly released, Gates lists an array of cost-cutting measures — from reforming the intelligence budget to slashing 1,000 contractors over two years from the Missile Defense Agency. The Air Force issued a statement declaring its support for “efficiency efforts.”

“This review was part of a comprehensive review of Service, [Office of Secretary of Defense], Defense Agencies, and Combatant Command staffs,” Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Todd Vician said. “It built upon previous initiatives, and demonstrates commitment to proper stewardship of the mission and resources entrusted to the Air Force. A reduction or elimination doesn’t signify less emphasis on the affected organization’s mission or importance to the Air Force.”

6.7-magnitude quake strikes off Indonesia

Indonesia-Apr 4: Hundreds of residents fled an Indonesian port town for higher ground today when an earthquake struck south of Java with a magnitude estimated by US seismologists at 6.7. The epicentre in the Indian Ocean was 24 km miles deep, the US Geological Survey said, after initially estimating it at 10 km underground, and 277 kilometres south of the Javanese coast. Indonesian seismologists put the magnitude at 7.1 and issued a tsunami warning, saying the tremor had the potential to cause a killer wave and asking recipients of its public alert SMS to warn others of the danger. The warning was later cancelled. When the quake struck hundreds of residents in the seaport town of Cilacap fled inland and to higher ground by motorbike, car and on foot, an AFP reporter said. "They were all panicking and shouting ''quake, quake''," the reporter said. Suharjono, the technical head of Indonesia''s Meteorology and Geophysics Agency, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, said shaking from the tremor had been felt in Pangandaran and Cilacap districts in Java. "This quake roused people from their sleep," he said. "We have not received any reports of damage or casualties so far." The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre had said that there was no risk of a widespread destructive wave, but there was a "very small possibility of a local tsunami". The earthquake epicentre was 241 km from the remote Australian territory of Christmas Island, and seismologists said the tremor was felt there, but no tsunami warning alert was issued for Australia. "We had reports from there that they felt it," Geoscience Australia seismologist David Jepson told AFP, adding that it was described as a "moderate type quake".