Integrated news

6.4 magnitude earthquake hits off Crete

An earthquake measured at 6.4 magnitude was detected in the Mediterranean Sea 80 km west of the Greek island of Crete, according to the US Geological Survey. The center of the quake, which stroke at 1311 GMT on Saturday, was 15 km below the seabed. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

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13 killed, over 2 million without electricity as typhoon hits Philippines

At least 13 people, including some children, have been killed as Typhoon Nari hit the northern Philippines on Saturday. Four people were listed as missing. Over 2 million people have been left without power as the typhoon blacked out 37 towns and cities across the region. The typhoon ripped the roofs off of buildings, and caused landslides and falling trees. The typhoon season in the Philippines occurs mainly between June and October, with up to 20 major storms each year hitting the country. Typhoon Nari is the 19th big storm this year.

Bomb scare closes motorway between Dublin and Belfast

Police have dispatched explosive disposal teams to southern Belfast in Northern Ireland, following a bomb alert. The M1 motorway connecting Ireland with Northern Ireland has also been shut off. An undetonated explosive that British authorities said was going to be fired at a police station was found in the Northern Irish city of Derry on Friday.

North Korea threatens war following military drills by Japan, South Korea and the US

North Korea has again threatened "all-out war" against the US, calling on Washington to stop military drills and what it calls "nuclear blackmail." It comes after a two-day joint naval drill between Japan, South Korea and the US. Pyongyang called the drill a "serious military provocation," and vowed to "bury in the sea" the American carrier taking part in the exercise. “The United States must withdraw various measures aimed at isolating and strangulating us,” North Korea's National Defense Commission said, adding a call for the lifting of sanctions.

Attacker of Russian diplomat in Panama identified as Ukrainian

The man who stabbed a Russian vice-consul in Panama on Friday was a Ukrainian citizen, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry has confirmed. The attacker, who wounded Yevgeny Manilov in the parking lot of a business center where the Russian embassy is located, was arrested by police. The man, who was not identified, arrived in Panama about two months ago as a tourist, Ukraine said. Russian Ambassador Aleksey Ermakov said the attacker had previously visited the embassy and “did not look mentally stable.”

Taiwan records biggest heroin bust in 20 years

Taiwanese officials seized more than 22 pounds of heroin with a street value of $100 million on Saturday in the country’s largest drug bust in some 20 years. A total of 270 bricks of heroin and 530 pounds of ketamine were confiscated after an attempt to smuggle them in a cargo container in the southern city of Kaohsiung was intercepted, officials said. The heroin was thought to have been manufactured in Myanmar and transported to Taiwan via Vietnam. Drug busts are increasingly common in Taiwan. In 2012, some 176 pounds of heroin were seized, and seven people arrested. Under Taiwanese laws, those suspected of manufacturing, transporting or dealing heroin could face the death penalty.

Syria mortar attack kills child, injures 11 near weapon inspectors’ hotel

Two mortar rounds killed an eight-year-old child and wounded 11 others near Damascus, according to Syria’s SANA state news agency. The shells narrowly missed a school in the upscale Abu Roumaneh area on Saturday, a few hundred meters from the hotel where the team of international weapons inspectors are based. The mortar shells also damaged several shops and cars, SANA reported. Shell fire is a frequent occurrence on the outskirts of Damascus as the rebels attempt to topple President Bashar Assad’s government.

Suicide car bomb kills 3 in Afghanistan

A suicide bomber driving a car rigged with explosives killed three people outside a police station in Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan. Two policemen were among the dead, and more people are injured, according to local officials. US Secretary of State John Kerry is currently in the country for security talks with President Hamid Karzai.

​At least 21 dead in Vietnam firework factory blast

An explosion at a Vietnamese firework factory has killed at least 21 people and injured 98 others, AFP reported, citing a military rescue official. Most of the survivors sustained burns. The blast, which happened at a military owned-factory in the Thanh Ba district in northern Vietnam, could be heard from several kilometers away, local media reported. The number of victims would have been greater had the blast not occurred on Saturday morning, when fewer than usual people were working. The factory is the only one in Vietnam that produces fireworks, which are mainly used for New Year’s holidays and other festivities.

​Venezuela detains US oil survey ship in disputed waters

Venezuela is at loggerheads with its neighbor, Guyana, after a Venezuelan navy frigate detained an oil survey ship in waters contested by the two Latin American countries. Guyana protested after the RV Teknik Perdana was evicted from what Venezuela’ claimed were its territorial waters. The ship, used by Texas-based Anadarko Petroleum Corp on approval by Guyuna, was in disputed Atlantic waters west of Essequibo River. A century-long territorial conflict between the two countries worsened after the 2011 discovery of hydrocarbon reserves off nearby French Guyana.

US tourist train collided with truck, killing one and injuring 66

One person was killed and 66 were injured following Friday’s collision between a logging truck and a tourist train in West Virginia, officials have said. 18 people received serious injuries – three of them critical ones, emergency services director Jim Wise told the Los Angeles Times. The victims are currently in hospitals receiving treatment. Pocahontas County emergency services director, Shawn Dunbrack, said the accident happened around 1:30PM local time on Route 250, near Cheat Bridge between Pocahontas and Randolph counties. "We still have people on the scene trying to find out what's going on," Dunbrack told the Times, as state police investigates.

Typhoon Nari kills 5 in Philippines, moves onto Vietnam

Five people were killed and millions have been left without power by Philippine typhoon Nari, which struck the northern tip of the country early Saturday after hitting the east coast around midnight local time on Friday, the AFP reports. "One of the dead was a police officer awaiting deployment for rescue duties. He was buried in a mudslide," said Rey Balido, a National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council spokesman. Three others were crushed by falling trees, while another person was electrocuted by a loose power line, the spokesman added. A total of 37 towns experienced power outages, according to a regional civil defense office. This left 2.1 million people without electricity. The storm is now reportedly proceeding towards Vietnam. The Philippines is hit by approximately 20 natural disasters of such magnitude every year, mainly between June and October.

Afghanistan claims US botched intel operation after recent capture of Taliban leader

The Afghan government claims the recent interception by US forces of a convoy carrying a top Pakistani Taliban commander has botched a delicate recruitment operation of theirs. According to the Washington Post, Latif Mehsud of the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) was to act as mediator between the government of President Hamid Karzai and the Pakistani Taliban. But the US wanted him all to itself, as according to a US State Department’s statement, the group “vowed to attack the US homeland” and was behind the failed Times Square bombing of 2010. "The Americans forcibly removed him and took him to Bagram," a spokesman for President Hamid Karzai told the Post, in reference to a US base in the country. The US did not offer any further comment on the operation. This is the second attempt by the Karzai government to communicate with the Pakistani Taliban after another failed one in June.

​Spanish F1 reserve driver Maria De Villota dies at 33

Thirty-three year old Formula 1 reserve racing driver Maria de Villota died in a Spanish hotel Friday from what a post-mortem examination said were “natural causes.” The daughter of Formula 1 driver Emilio de Villota, she had a 12-year career in motor racing, and last year lost her right eye in a crash while testing for the Marussia team.

In a separate car accident, she suffered severe head injuries after colliding with a truck in the UK, but had been cleared to resume driving. Before joining Renault two years ago, De Villota competed in Spanish Formula-3 and the US Daytona 24-hour race.

At the time of her death, she was reportedly visiting Seville in southern Spain to promote her autobiography. Many Formula-1 team members and drivers expressed their shock and condolences to her family.

US forces capture senior Pakistan Taliban commander in Afghanistan

US forces captured a senior Pakistani Taliban commander, Latif Mehsud, during a military operation which intercepted a convoy in Logar province, Afghanistan, according to a US State Department announcement on Friday. Mehsud is identified as a senior commander in the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a group which claimed responsibility for an attempted bombing in Times Square, New York, in 2010. According to reports the capture, which took place several weeks ago, is said to have enraged Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai, as Afghan intelligence operatives had spent months attempting to recruit Mehsud as an interlocutor for peace talks between his government and the Taliban, reports the Washington Post. Mehsud was thought to be an influential commander, coordinating Taliban cells along the border on behalf of the group’s leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, who has become reclusive since a US drone strike killed his deputy in May.

​Russian diplomat stabbed in Panama, undergoes successful surgery

Russian Vice-Consul in Panama Eugene Manilov has undergone successful surgery after being stabbed in Panama, Itar Tass reports. Doctors said Manilov’s condition was not a cause for concern, Russia's ambassador to Panama Alexei Ermakov told the agency. According to the ambassador the incident, occurred on Friday morning in a building in the center of the capital of Panama, where the Russian diplomatic mission leases space. Manilov was allegedly attacked by a Ukrainian citizen, "who was drug intoxicated." The suspect was immediately apprehended and handed over to the police. Ermakov said that Panamanian authorities offered"all possible assistance and support" to the Russian Embassy and its staff after the incident.

FDA has suspended all routine safety inspections due to govt. shutdown

The US Food and Drug Administration suspended all routine food safety inspections starting on Oct. 1, the beginning of the government shutdown, an agency spokesman told The Huffington Post. Without full funding, the FDA only inspects facilities it believes "present an immediate threat to public health." Normally, the FDA strikes deals with states to use their employees for a certain percentage of inspections, yet those contracts were also eliminated upon the shutdown. The absent inspections by state workers and those skipped due to furloughed federal employees combine to make about 73 missed routine inspections nationwide per business day, The Huffington Post reported. The FDA has oversight over 80 percent of the US food system.