Massive Earthquake Jolts Myanmar, Tremors In Kolkata, Guwahati, Patna

All India | Edited by Abhinav Bhatt | Updated: April 13, 2016 23:15 IST

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After earthquake on India-Myanmar border, strong tremors were felt in Kolkata, Guwahati and Patna. (PTI photo)

New Delhi: 

Highlights

1. Strong tremors in Aizawl, Kolkata; buildings being evacuated
2. Tremors also felt in Chennai, Patna and Delhi
3. Land based earthquake; no danger of tsunami

Huge tremors were felt in Kolkata after a whopper of an earthquake of 6.8 magnitude hit the areas on the India-Myanmar border. Strong tremors were reported in Guwahati and Patna, mild ones were felt in Chennai and Delhi.

The earthquake hit at 7.25 pm and at a depth of 134 km. No damage has been reported so far from Guwahati. (Did you feel the quake? Post here)

"The epicenter is in Myanmar, some 100 km off the India-Myanmar border. Since the quake occurred at a depth of 134 km, the impact could be felt at a large distance," JL Gautam, Operations Head at the National Centre for Seismology, said.

People blew conch shells on some streets in Kolkata to sound alarm and alert residents of high-rises, said some eyewitnesses. (See pictures)

"It took us a few seconds to realise what was happening, but the shake was pretty evident. So we rushed out immediately," said a resident of Kolkata.

Cracks were reported in some Kolkata buildings, while the city's Metro was suspended for a few minutes.

All the northeastern states are categorised under zone V in the country's seismological map and are considered highly vulnerable.

 

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Strong 6.4-magnitude earthquake hits Japan, no tsunami alert

A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 struck southern Japan on Thursday, but there was no danger of a tsunami or any immediate reports of casualties or damage.
Japan's Meteorological Agency said the quake hit at 9:26 p.m. (1226 GMT) and was centered in the Mashiki town in the Kumamoto prefecture.

The agency said there's no danger of a tsunami.
Footage on Japan's NHK national television showed a signboard hanging from the ceiling at its local bureau violently shaking.
Kasumi Nakamura, an official in the village of Nishihara near the epicenter, said that the rattling started modestly and grew violent, lasting about 30 seconds.
"Papers, files, flower vases and everything fell on the floor," he told a telephone interview with NHK. He said there were aftershocks.
The extent of the damage is not immediately known.
The U.S. Geological Survey put the preliminary magnitude at 6 and said the quake was 23 kilometers (14 miles) deep.

 source:intoday.in

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Paris attacks suspect possessed papers on German nuclear research centre

Hans-Georg Maassen, head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency told that printouts of articles from the internet and photos of Juelich chairman Wolfgang Marquardt had been found in Abdeslam's apartment.

Salah Abdeslam, a prime suspect in the Paris attacks, had documents about the German nuclear research centre Juelich in his apartment in the Molenbeek area of Brussels, a group of German newspapers reported on Thursday.
Juelich is near the Belgian border and atomic waste is stored there. The center said in a statement there was no indication of any danger and that it was in contact with security authorities and nuclear supervisors.
The Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND) group cited sources within the parliamentary control committee, whose meetings are confidential, as saying Hans-Georg Maassen, head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency (BfV), had told the nine-person committee at the end of March that Abdeslam had the documents.
It said Maassen had told the committee, which is in charge of monitoring the work of German intelligence agencies, that printouts of articles from the internet and photos of Juelich chairman Wolfgang Marquardt had been found in Abdeslam's apartment.
RND said it was unclear whether Maassen had passed this information on to the chancellery or the interior ministry.
It said several members of the Bundestag lower house of parliament and a terrorism expert at the BfV said they knew of this information and Maassen had confidentially informed them.
Neither the BfV nor the BND foreign intelligence agency were immediately available for comment when contacted by Reuters.
Abdeslam, who born and raised in Belgium to Moroccan-born parents, was arrested on March 18 in the Belgian capital and four days later, suicide bombers killed 32 people in Brussels airport and a rush-hour metro train.
Concerns that Islamist militants are turning their attention to the nuclear industry's weak spots have risen since the Brussels attack.source:intoday.in

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Seattle woman dismembered in own home after online date

A man authorities say dismembered a mother of three in her suburban home and then dumped her body parts in a Seattle recycling bin was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder. In addition to murder, John Charlton is also charged with theft of a motor vehicle for allegedly taking 40-year-old Ingrid Lyne's vehicle, which was found in downtown Seattle Monday night.
Charlton remains in jail in lieu of $2 million and is due to appear in court April 27. He faces at least 28 years in prison if convicted.
Aldo Wednesday, authorities formally identified Lyne's remains. The King County Medical Examiner's Office said Lyne died of "homicidal violence," but did not say how she was killed or when. Police on Monday arrested the 37-year-old Charlton, who had recently started dating Lyne.
Authorities say he killed her, then drove her head, an arm with a hand, a lower leg and a foot from suburban Renton to Seattle this weekend and dumped them. Gordon Hill, Charlton's public defender, has said no forensic evidence links Charlton to the crime.
Lyne had planned to go on a date to a Mariners baseball game Friday night, friends said, and a neighbor told detectives she had been dating a man named John. Lyne was reported missing Saturday morning when her ex-husband arrived to drop off their kids and found she wasn't home.
Charlton told authorities the couple had been dating for about a month and they attended the baseball game and then returned to her house, but he was so intoxicated he couldn't remember what happened.
Charlton said he ended up spending the night on a street in Seattle but couldn't recall how he got there. He had injuries to his lips and chin, scratches on his chest and abrasions on his forehead and hand, police said.
Seattle detectives discovered a 15-inch pruning saw near the bathtub at Lyne's home Sunday and an empty box of plastic garbage bags identical to the type from the recycling bin that contained the remains, court documents say.
Charlton's ex-girlfriend told police that Charlton stayed at a shelter in Seattle but spent the night at her place about two days a week, according to charging documents.
She said he was a "mean drunk" but never assaulted her. On Saturday, he was supposed to come to her house in the morning to help with yard work, but he didn't show, instead texting her "something had come up."
He arrived around 10:30 p.m. and told the woman he had been robbed when she noticed his injured lip, according to court documents.
Police also said Charlton seemed "rather nonchalant" during an interview and appeared annoyed when asked about Lyne's disappearance.
Along with a criminal history spanning six states, Charlton's parents sought a restraining order against him in 2006, saying he had taken the movie "Hannibal" - about a serial killer - from a shelf and told his mother she should watch it and "beware."

 source:intoday.in

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Visa fee hike discriminatory, targeted at Indian IT firms: Jaitley tells US

India has expressed concern over the hike in visa fee by the US, saying it is "discriminatory" and largely affects Indian IT professionals.

PTI

Washington, April 14, 2016 | UPDATED 18:56 IST

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India has expressed concern over the hike in visa fee by the US, saying it is "discriminatory" and largely affects Indian IT professionals.
During a bilateral meeting with US Trade Representative Ambassador Michael Froman, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also underlined the need for early conclusion of Totalisation Agreement which would benefit Indians working in America.
Referring to the visa issue, he spoke about "India's concern over the hike in the H-1B and L1 visa fee, which is discriminatory and in effect is largely targeted at Indian IT companies".
Last year, the US Congress imposed a special fee of up to USD 4,500 on H-1B and L-1 visas - popular among Indian IT companies -- to fund a 9/11 healthcare Act and biometric tracking system.
While agreeing on the USD 1.1 trillion spending Bill, Congressional leaders decided to impose a special fee of USD 4,000 on certain categories of H-1B visas and USD 4,500 on L-1 visas.
Jaitley expressed India's keenness in early conclusion of a Totalization Agreement with the United States, a finance ministry statement quoting him said.
As per Industry estimates, Indian professionals contributed more than USD 25 billion to the US Social Security during the last decade, without being able to retrieve their contributions.source:ntoday.

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