Category Archives: Breaking News

Breaking news and latest news updates

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NATO takes stern steps to stop Pro-Gadhafi forces’ suppression in Libya

Gadhafi’s supporters continue to suppress rebels in Libya. They are being assaulted in the cities which rebels had taken under their control—Misrata and Zintan. Allied forces and NATO are continuing their attacks to stop Gadhafi supporters’ torture against rebellions. Tripoli witnessed continuous explosions and anti aircraft fire on Wednesday.

According to the reports NATO has brought its warships off Libya Coast with UN arms embargo. NATO is also trying to impose flight restrictions on Libya following the declaration of no-fly-zone. The reports regarding NATO forces’ attack came after Gadhafi’s fierce criticism against the international military actions against his supporters.

Gadhafi recently reiterated his promise to fight against the unrest by the rebels and interference from international communities.

The Libyan president declared in a public appearance that the country is ready for the battle. He further said that it would not matter for Libya whether the battle was short or long and Libya was ready to give reply.

Gadhafi fledged international forces for their military attacks on his supporters and efforts for implementing no fly zone over Libya. He stated that it was a crusade against Islam religion. The speech was broadcast live by a state television channel in Libya.

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U.S. stocks fall down over panic on Japan radiation, Libya conflict

U.S. stocks fall down over panic on Japan radiation, Libya conflict

U.S. stocks fall down over panic on Japan radiation, Libya conflict

The havoc of Japanese Nuclear radiation has put U.S. stocks market in a drain. Falling for the second week, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index has received its biggest jerk in last few months since August. The reasons behind continuous drop in the index are cited Japan’s nuclear crisis as well as unrest and violence in the Middle East.

Fearing that nuclear radiations from Japanese plants might reach US Coast and mainland, people drew back money from the share market leading to continuous drop in the regional stocks. The global economy is already trumping down due to continuous surge of unrest and political crisis subsequently in Egypt, Libya, Bahrain and in Saudi Arabia.

Federal Reserve’s statement over strength of US banks to boost dividend had led some optimism and stocks have gained recently. Ceasefire in Libya also boosted the minute surge however it again slumped down and General Electric Co. (GE) lost 5.5 percent, this led to further decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Utilities jumped down by 4.3 percent, meanwhile the Japanese firm Tokyo Electric Power Co. continued struggling to control over the looming radiation crisis in nuclear plants.

Experts call it a dramatic week in the Stocks world. They estimate further meltdown of Japanese market. Probability of war in Libya, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are going to bring another tsunami in world but this time certainly in the investment world.

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Minneapolis evacuated following gas line explosion

Minneapolis evacuated following gas line explosion

Minneapolis evacuated following gas line explosion

South Minneapolis witnessed a shooting of fireballs due to a gas line explosion Thursday morning. However, the authorities stated that this was a natural explosion and evacuation of the area was also just a precautionary measure. There have been no news of any injury yet and people are still being evacuated.

According to TV channels reporting the incident flames were seen shooting high in the sky in the mid of Interstate 35W and Highway 62, at 60th Street and Nicollet Avenue.

The video footage also revealed that there were towering fireballs flying in the air, but the officials called it safe.

The blast occurred on Thursday morning in a residential cum industrial area. Emergency team is supervising the situation.

According to Kevin Gutknecht, an official from the Minnesota Department of Transportation on the incident did not occur at Interstate 35W, rather just north of the Highway 62 to avoid distraction to drivers on the road. The flames died out after 30 minutes of the explosion, when the officials closed the gas line.

Under the precautionary evacuation, three Minneapolis public schools, an apartment and a church near the incident location have been evacuated.

There was panic among the residents over the explosion as they feared it might be an atom bomb dropped over the area.

The fire has also damaged some of the power lines, street lights, electric supply poles and vehicles in the adjacent area however there has been no casualty due to the explosion.

People panicked as on Sept. 9 in San Bruno, Calif, a similar natural gas explosion had caused sparking of huge fireball killing eight people. The explosion destroyed dozens of houses near the San Francisco Bay.

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China Assists Japan Following Friday Earthquake, Tsunami

China Assists Japan Following Friday Earthquake, Tsunami

China Assists Japan Following Friday Earthquake, Tsunami

Many Chinese nationals are stranded in Japan’s worst affected areas by Friday earthquake. China has taken initiative to evacuate its citizens from the quake areas.

China’s embassy in Japan revealed that they would evacuate Chinese nationals from the areas that might be affected by the damages in nuclear reactors and other surrounding areas.

However, the embassy clearly denied the chances of any radiation being emitted by the nuclear reactors due to damage of cooling system following the quake and tsunami. Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection is continuously supervising the developments at Fuushima Number One Plant, where the cooling system failed after Tsunami.

So far on Tuesday morning the Chinese nuclear safety agency has not detected any abnormal radiation from the reactors.

There was a fear that radiation might spread through winds over the Pacific Ocean and China May remain on the safer side, stated Chinese Meteorological Administration.

There was a slight increase in radiation level in Russia on Tuesday; however it stayed under normal levels, stated Russian authorities.

South Korea also stated that the radiations have remained under normal level so far; however it is taking precautionary measures by keeping vigil over incoming passengers at Incheon airport.

South Korean authorities added that according to the weather forecast, westerly and north-westerly winds were expected to blow to Japan very soon.

China has taken immediate initiative by sending rescuers and aid assistance to Japan after the devastating earthquake of magnitude 8.5 at Rictor scale and tsunami last Friday. President Hu Jintao  and Premier Wen Jiabao expressed deep concerns and sympathy  to Japan despite unfriendly relations with Beijing.

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Anti-Government Protesters Demonstrate in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Bahrain

The wind of revolution has engulfed entire Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Bahrain following Egypt, Tunisia and many other nations in the Middle East region.

Thousands of people demanding ouster of the current autocratic regime in Bahrain protested against the suppressive rule. It is been more than a week with violent protests and clashes between opponents of Saudi Arabian government and security forces. The protestors are demanding release of the people who are detained by the police without any charges.

More than a hundred people are estimated to have been injured after security forces used tear gas and batons against the protestors while they were marching to close down the financial center of Manama. The demonstrators threw stones and gas canisters over the security forces in return.

In Yemen, the security forces had to fire against the demonstrators demanding overthrow of autocratioc government. Seven protestors were killed while many others were injured in the clashes.

People Demonstrate in Saudi Arabia Against Government

People Demonstrate in Saudi Arabia Against Government

The United States strongly condemned security forces’ actions in Yemen and Bahrain and urged the governments of the two nations to initiate peaceful talks with opposition groups.

In Saudi Arabia too, thousands of people demonstrated against imprisonment of their relatives by the security persons without any reason. The demonstrators rallied in front of the Interior Ministry demanding immediate release of the people detained, however, there have no violence so far.

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Massive earth quake causes panic in Japanese Nuclear Plants

Friday earthquake devastated Japan

Friday earthquake devastated Japan

Following the Fierce earthquake on Friday, Japan declares states of emergency for five nuclear reactors.

The aftermath of earthquake resulted in loss of cooling abilities at two power plants. Thousands of workers and residents have been evacuated from the adjacent areas.

At the Fukushima Daiichi plant’s Unit 1, workers struggled hard to control melting and decrease temperature and pressure in the reactors. The Friday earthquake that had a 8.9 magnitude and following tsunami  led to power cuts and disabled all emergency generators, which failed the entire cooling system of reactors.

Around 3,000 people living within a sphere of two miles were evacuated initially however the sphere of evacuation was raised to 10 kilometers when experts feared that radion level might spread more.

It is first time ever in Japan’s history that the government has declared a state of emergency at a nuclear plant. Initially only the Daiichi unit — was declared in emergency zone but after few hours, the Tokyo Electric Power Co., lost its cooling ability. It operates 6 reactors at Daiichi in Northeast Japan.

Therefore now more than 14000 people have been evacuated living near these two plants. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency diesel generators are dysfunctional due to flooding by tsunami; this is why the cooling systems have failed.

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Shuttle Discovery Docks with Space Station for the Final Time

Shuttle Discovery Docks With Space Station for Final Time

Shuttle Discovery Docks With Space Station for Final Time

NASA reported that the space shuttle Discovery docked with the International Space Station successfully on Saturday. The docking was riddled with a series of problems and that has pushed the crew’s schedule.  The express logistic carrier now will be installed only on Sunday.

Hatches linking the shuttle to the station opened on Saturday at 4:16 pm and there was a welcome ceremony followed by a safety briefing. The shuttle Discovery is on a 11 day mission and will deliver a storage module, a rig and some spare parts to the six occupants of the space station.

The mission is headed by Steve Lindsey.

Interestingly the shuttle took off on Thursday afternoon from the Kennedy Space center, but not before the count down was forced to be stopped at five as there was a ‘computer problem’. The journey was not without problems. Four pieces of foam were noticed flying from the shuttle after it took off. NASA scientists didn’t foresee any problems from foams at that altitude. However, two astronauts aboard the shuttle have taken pictures of the thermal protection system for scanning for ruling out any damages.

The astronauts will move several items brought in the logistic career. A space walk is scheduled on Monday. During this, astronauts Alvin Drew and Steve Bowen will perform several operations including the installation of a power extension cable. The shuttle crew will attach a permanent module – Leonardo – to the space station.

The shuttle Discovery has so far carried crew members. It has circled the Earth 5,628 times spending 352 days in the orbit. It is sad that this will be its last mission.



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Novak Djokovic Crushes Roger Federer at the Dubai Tennis Championship

Novak Djokovic defeated Roger Federer

Novak Djokovic defeated Roger Federer

Novak Djokovic defeated Roger Federer to win the finals of the Dubai Tennis Championship title. The Serbian took a little over one hour to finish the match in straight sets 6-3, 6-3. This is Djokovic’s third victory at the tournament. The 23 year old world ranked two players denied Federer his fifth title here.

This defeat is the second one for Federer at the hands of Djokovic after the first loss taking place in the semis of the Australian Open. Federer is still ahead in their head to head matches with a tally of 13-8.

Djokovic knew that he was to be at the top of his game and give his best. He was very happy with his performance. He was very focused and served to his satisfaction.

Federer squandered a nice chance to win as he was leading 3-1 in the second set of the match, but then lost five games. Federer felt that he started bad in the match and it was finished fast before he could bounce back as it happens with many three setter matches.

He felt that he was never in the game actually. In such games even though you may get a lead but it never really works out.

Djokovic feels that he is a different player this year in comparison to last year. The serve was missing last year and this year it is there taking his game to a higher level. In contrast Federer made a number of unforced errors and lost the match.

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Cutting Back on Meat Reduces Chances of Getting Cancer

Cutting Back on Meat Reduces Chances of Getting Cancer

Cutting Back on Meat Reduces Chances of Getting Cancer

It is believed that being a vegetarian is more beneficial for health. However, those who are meat eaters should watch out how much meat they are consuming.  The Department of Health in England advises people to eat less than 70g of red or processed meat a day to reduce the risk of cancer.

Bowel cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK and every year 36,000 are diagnosed with bowel cancer. Out of them, 16,500 people die every year. Eating 100-120 grams of red and processed meat everyday increases the chances of bowel cancer by 20-30 percent.

This could be prevented if people restricted their red and processed meat consumption levels to 70g or less. This means you should not consume more meat than what is contained in three rashers of bacon or two sausages.

But critics have pointed out that iron deficiency is an issue which meat eaters could experience when they cut back on red meat. Iron deficiency could cause dizziness, anemia and result in behavioral problems. The new meat eating limit will not cause iron deficiency.

Prof. Sally Davies interim Chief Medical Officer of England favors the cutting back on meat. She is not against the consumption of an occasional steak, but recommends limiting daily consumption of red and processed meat.

Chief executive of Beating Bowel Cancer Mark Flannagan welcomed the report saying that people can eat red meat in moderation.

Dr Rachel Thompson, its deputy science head of the World Cancer Research Fund advises to keep processed meat to a bare minimum of the 70g limit. The Fund recommends on avoiding processed meat completely.

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Obama’s Ex-Staff Rahm Emanuel Wins Chicago Mayoral Vote

Rahm Emanuel

Rahm Emanuel, President Barack Obama’s ex chief of staff has grabbedChicago mayoral seat on clearing a threshold of 50% vote.

Emanuel had won almost 55% of the vote with this he has left his rivals far behind.

Gery Chico, who headed Former Chicago School Board, stood second in the elections with 25% votes followed by City Clerk Miguel del Valle and ex-senator Carol Moseley Braun.

Tuesday’s vote was dominated by the Democrats in absence of any Republican candidate. Emanuel will replace Richard M. Daley for the post o Chicago mayor.

Daley became a mayor of Chicago in1989. His father also held the same post from 1955-76. The two Daleys have been longest serving mayors in Chicago so far.

Emanuel showed his capability to win the elections from the very beginning of his poll campaign in November as he has been a key aide to Obama. However it is true that he was not well known in his native city Chicago despite serving three terms in the Congress.

His intense campaigns including speeches at 357 stops and 229 community locations, schools, churches and subway stations brought fruitful results in making a place in the heart of Chicago people.

Emanuel also used his connections with the President Obama and Clinton to advertise himself and attack his rivals.

Emanuel also defended himself against the charges of not being a legal resident of Chicago that would defy his candidacy for the mayor’s run. Key issues on which he defeated his opponents were ways to tackle with city’s $654 million deficit and reforms in pension system and administration to curb crimes.