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5.8 Earthquake Jolts Japan's Chiba, No Tsunami Warning Yet

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So far no tsunami warning has been issued (Representational)
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Tokyo:
An earthquake of magnitude 5.8 on the Richter scale struck off Chiba Prefecture of Japan on Sunday morning.
The temblor occurred at around 9:27 am (local time), with its epicenter at a latitude of 33.7 degrees north and a longitude of 140.5 degrees east, and at depth of 50 km, Xinhua reported.
So far no tsunami warning has been issued.
Last week, a strong quake earthquake of 7.2-magnitude hit the coast of northeastern Japan at a depth of 60 km.
Japan lies along what is called the Pacific Ring of Fire, an imaginary horseshoe-shaped zone that follows the rim of the Pacific Ocean, where many volcanic eruptions and quake occur.
 
 
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news world 5.8 Earthquake Jolts Japan's Chiba, No Tsunami Warning Yet

So far no tsunami warning has been issued (Representational) Tokyo: An earthquake of magnitude 5.8 on the Richter scale struck off Chib...

Suspected Suicide Bomber At Indonesia Church Wounds Several

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Suspected Suicide Bomber At Indonesia Church Wounds Several" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-03/d4pmb3i8_indonesia_625x300_28_March_21.jpg" title="Suspected Suicide Bomber At Indonesia Church Wounds Several" /></div>
Video from the scene showed police had set up a cordon around the church
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Makassar:
A suspected suicide bomber blew up outside a Catholic church in the Indonesian city of Makassar on Sunday, wounding some people on the first day of the Easter Holy Week, police and a witness said.
The congregation had been inside the church on the island of Sulawesi at the time of the explosion, South Sulawesi police spokesman E. Zulpan told Reuters. He said it was unclear whether body parts at the scene were only from the attacker.
Father Wilhemus Tulak, a priest at the church, told Indonesian media that the suspected bomber tried to enter the church grounds on a motorbike, but had been stopped by a security guard. Ten people had been wounded in total, some of them seriously, he said.
Security camera footage showed a blast that blew flame, smoke and debris into the middle of the road.
Police did not say who might be responsible for the apparent attack and there was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Police blamed the Islamic State-inspired Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) group for suicide attacks in 2018 on churches and a police post in the city of Surabaya that killed over 30 people.
Makassar, Sulawesi's biggest city, reflects the religious makeup of Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority country with a substantial Christian minority and followers of other religions.
Gomar Gultom, head of the Indonesian Council of Churches, described the attack as a "cruel incident" as Christians were celebrating Palm Sunday, and urged people to remain calm and trust the authorities.
Indonesia's deadliest Islamist militant attack took place on the tourist island of Bali in 2002, when bombers killed 202 people, most of them foreign tourists.
In subsequent years, security forces in Indonesia scored some major successes in tackling militancy, but more recently there has been a resurgence of militant violence.
Makassar Mayor Danny Pomanto said Sunday's blast could have caused far more casualties if it had taken place at the church's main gate instead of a side entrance.
 
 
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news world Suspected Suicide Bomber At Indonesia Church Wounds Several

Video from the scene showed police had set up a cordon around the church Makassar: A suspected suicide bomber blew up outside a Catholi...

Global Condemnation Follows As Myanmar Sees Bloodiest Day Since Coup

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The spasm of violence came as the junta staged a major show of might for its annual Armed Forces Day.
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Yangon:
Defence chiefs from a dozen countries on Sunday jointly condemned the bloodbath in Myanmar a day earlier, when at least 90 people -- including several children -- were killed after security forces opened fire on protesters.
The newly imposed junta staged a major show of might for its annual Armed Forces Day Saturday as the deaths since the February 1 coup climbed to at least 423, according to a local monitoring group.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the generals ousted and detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, triggering mass protests demanding a return to democracy.
The defence ministers of 12 countries including the United States, Britain, Japan and Australia on Sunday condemned the Myanmar military's use of lethal force against civilians.
"A professional military follows international standards for conduct and is responsible for protecting -- not harming -- the people it serves," the rare joint statement said.
"We urge the Myanmar Armed Forces to cease violence and work to restore respect and credibility with the people of Myanmar that it has lost through its actions."
Mourners were expected to turn out for funeral processions across the country Sunday, after the bloodiest day since the putsch.
In the capital Naypyidaw Saturday there was a grand parade of troops and military vehicles, and junta leader General Min Aung Hlaing warned in a speech that acts of "terrorism" were unacceptable.
Violence erupted across the country with the military using live rounds in more than 40 townships across nine regions including the largest city Yangon, local monitoring group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said.
By sunset it was the deadliest day since the junta seized power, AAPP saying at least 90 people had been killed.
"Junta forces shot machine-guns into residential areas, resulting in many civilians, including six children between ten and sixteen-years old, killed," AAPP said.
"The fact the illegitimate military regime is targeting children is a grave act of inhumanity."
A reporter in Kyeikhto township, Mon state, was shot with a live bullet and suffered a leg wound, AAPP said.
- 'Harmful to state tranquility' -
Min Aung Hlaing once again defended the coup and pledged to yield power after new elections during his parade speech Saturday.
But he also issued a threat to the anti-coup movement, warning that acts of "terrorism which can be harmful to state tranquility and security" were unacceptable.
"The democracy we desire would be an undisciplined one if they pay no respect to and violate the law", he said.
Armed Forces Day commemorates the start of local resistance to the Japanese occupation during World War II, and usually features a military parade attended by foreign military officers and diplomats.
The junta announced that eight international delegations attended Saturday's event, including those of China and Russia -- with a state media broadcast showing Russian deputy defence minister Alexander Fomin in the audience.
Meanwhile, rebels in eastern Myanmar said they had been targeted in air strikes late Saturday, hours after the rebel group had seized a military base.
The move marked the first such air assault since the military seized power, against the Fifth Brigade of the Karen National Union (KNU) -- one of the country's largest armed groups, which says it represents the ethnic Karen people.
The junta did not immediately comment, and there was no official confirmation of any casualties.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
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news world Global Condemnation Follows As Myanmar Sees Bloodiest Day Since Coup

The spasm of violence came as the junta staged a major show of might for its annual Armed Forces Day. Yangon: Defence chiefs from a doz...

"Everything Tasted Like Cardboard": Covid Survivors On Sensory Loss

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="'Everything Tasted Like Cardboard': Covid Survivors On Sensory Loss" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2020-10/5tqlmueg_coronavirus-generic-october-2020-afp-650_650x400_24_October_20.jpg" title="'Everything Tasted Like Cardboard': Covid Survivors On Sensory Loss" /></div>
Sensory loss is estimated to affect 10 million people worldwide (Representational)
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New York:
Three days after testing positive for Covid-19, "everything tasted like cardboard," recalls 38-year-old Elizabeth Medina, who lost her sense of taste and smell at the start of the pandemic. A year later, she fears she will never get them back.
Medina consulted ear, nose and throat doctors and neurologists, tried various nasal sprays, and is part of a group of patients undergoing experimental treatment that uses fish oil.
To try to stimulate her senses, she puts copious amounts of spices on everything she eats, pours aromatic herbs into her tea and regularly sniffs a bracelet soaked in essential oils.
But her attempts have been in vain. Medina, a guidance counselor at a New York school, says she has lost many everyday pleasures she once enjoyed, including eating and cooking.
She says she has cried every day for months.
Medina is one of a growing number of people with lasting anosmia -- a poorly understood disorder that has become an underestimated consequence for many in the pandemic.
Most Covid-19 sufferers who lose the ability to taste or smell recover "within three or four weeks," according to Valentina Parma, a psychologist at Temple University in Philadelphia.
But 10 to 15 percent lose the senses for months, said Parma. She chairs the Global Consortium for Chemosensory Research (GCCR), which was formed at the start of the pandemic to study the problem.
'Long Covid'
Sensory loss is estimated to affect more than two million Americans and 10 million people worldwide, according to the expert.
Taste and smell are often seen as less essential than sight and hearing, and their loss is often considered as less serious than other effects of "Long Covid"; but they are a key part of socialization, says Parma, noting that "we pick mates based on smells."
Their disappearance, moreover, is frequently compounded not just by nutritional problems but by anxiety and even depression, Parma added.
Like other "anosmics," Medina found solace and solidarity in a support group organized by a hospital near her home.
Such groups have flourished on social networks. The AbScent group, formed as a charity in Britain in 2019, has seen its members on various platforms soar from 1,500 to more than 45,000 since the pandemic began, according to founder Chrissi Kelly.
On the organization's main Facebook page, the question that haunts Medina repeatedly comes up: "Will I ever regain my sense of taste and smell?"
At this stage, said Parma, "it is quite difficult to predict how things will evolve."
But there is one good indicator that anosmics are on their way to recovery: developing parosmia, when people's smells of familiar things are distorted, like smelling garbage while sniffing coffee.
Presently there is no known cure, and the only treatment recommended without reservation is to smell four different scents twice a day. According to Parma, this works in 30 percent of cases, but only after three to six months of practice.
Faced with this uncertainty, it's perhaps no surprise that the likes of AbScent's Kelly, who lost her taste and smell after a bout of sinusitis in 2012, and Katie Boateng, an American who lost the senses in 2009, have become near-celebrities.
They share their experiences, and push the medical community to intensify research and recognize the seriousness of their symptoms.
In 2018, Katie Boateng created the Smell Podcast, a mine of information and advice for her companions in misfortune.
Daily exercises
She is now part of a patient advocacy group that helps guide GCCR's research.
Although Boateng has given up hope of being cured herself, "I am still very hopeful that we can lead to research that can cure people in the future," she said.
While waiting for a medical breakthrough, many continue to perform their daily sniffing exercises, sometimes with the help of a coach, like Leah Holzel.
The food expert, who had lost her sense of smell from 2016 to 2019, has helped six people recover from anosmia since the start of the pandemic.
Many sufferers also cling to messages about improvements or healings that appear regularly on social networks, enjoying the camaraderie that the groups provide.
"It's almost exactly a year after I first lost my smell and taste and I'm pretty much okay now," Dominika Uhrakova, who lives in Southampton, England, wrote on AbScent's Facebook page.
"Hang in there, don't lose hope and I'm wishing you all best of luck," the 26-year-old added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
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news world "Everything Tasted Like Cardboard": Covid Survivors On Sensory Loss

Sensory loss is estimated to affect 10 million people worldwide (Representational) New York: Three days after testing positive for Covi...

Hope For Blocked Suez Canal Hinges On Rising Tide That Can Free Ship

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The MV Ever Given has been wedged diagonally across the span of the Suez canal since Tuesday
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Ismailia, Egypt:
The global economic troubles triggered by a giant container ship stuck in the Suez Canal worsened Saturday with the blockage of more ships carrying billions of dollars of goods. But hopes also grew that favorable tidal conditions could help free the Ever Given as a U.S. Navy team was expected to arrive this weekend to assist in the operation.
Meanwhile, Egyptian authorities publicly acknowledged for the first time that an initial investigation that found that the ship beached because of strong winds in a dust storm might not have been entirely accurate.
At a news conference Saturday, Lt. Gen. Osama Rabie, head of Egypt's Suez Canal Authority, said that such "a significant incident" typically has many causes.
"The weather was one reason, but maybe there was a technical error, or a human error," he said, adding that the probe into the grounding was continuing.
By Saturday, the potential for a full-blown economic calamity was palpable - the canal is a vital global portal, carrying 13 percent of all global trade via ships ferrying $9.5 billion in goods each day.
A total of 321 vessels - carrying crude oil, cars, livestock and other commodities - were stuck in a massive maritime traffic jam at both ends of the 120-mile waterway, as well as in the middle, according to Leth Agencies, the canal's service provider.
Two days ago, the number was 156.
A drive along the canal Saturday, between the cities of Ismailia and Suez, found scores of massive ships carrying containers and other cargo, some seemingly the size of the Ever Given, stalled in the waterway.
More than 100 additional ships in the Red and Mediterranean seas were en route to the canal, said analysts, though a growing number of vessels were being diverted around the southern tip of Africa as concerns grew that getting the Ever Given afloat again could take weeks.
The ship is wedged sideways in a single-lane stretch of the canal, stuck in sand and mud roughly four miles north of the waterway's southern entrance.
On Friday night, the ship's Japanese owner, Shoei Kisen, offered a bit of hope by suggesting that tidal movements over the next few days looked favorable enough for another attempt to dislodge the Ever Given. Yukito Higaki, the company's president, told reporters in western Japan that the ongoing dredging of the banks and sea floor to refloat the ship could be assisted by a high tide, which would raise the water in the canal and potentially help float the ship off the mud it's mired in.
On Saturday, 14 tugs were still trying to free the vessel, said Leth Agencies, noting unconfirmed reports by Egyptian media outlets that the ship's propeller and rudder had been freed by the salvage equipment, which includes a specialized suction dredger capable of shifting 70,600 cubic feet of sand an hour.
If the rising tide doesn't help free the vessel, Shoei Kisen said in a statement Saturday that it would consider removing its containers to reduce the vessel's weight and thereby help it float again.
Later Saturday, Hend Fathy Hussein, spokeswoman for the Suez Canal Economic Zone, wrote in a Facebook post that the ship's rudder had begun moving again.
"The locomotives are now full force and the ship is starting to operate its machines, but it hasn't been floating yet," she said.
Rabei, of the Suez Canal Authority, said in a statement late Friday night that the "complex technical process" could require "multiple attempts" to free the Ever Given, which was heading to the Netherlands when it grounded.
The statement came hours after the authority welcomed assistance from the United States to reopen the canal.
"We have equipment and capacity that most countries don't have and we're seeing what we can do and what help we can be," President Biden told reporters. The U.S. Navy plans to send a team of dredging experts to the canal to assess the problem as early as this weekend, CNN reported, citing Pentagon sources.
Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, which is responsible for managing the ship's crew and maintenance, said in a statement that there have been no reports of "pollution or cargo damage and initial investigations rule out any mechanical or engine failure as a cause of the grounding." Two more large tugboats were scheduled to arrive Sunday to assist in dislodging the ship, the company said.
The focus of the operations, it said, was to remove sand and mud from around the port side of the vessel's bow, which is stuck in the canal's eastern bank. High-capacity pumps, the company added, would be used to reduce water levels in the ship's forward void space and bow thruster room, making the vessel lighter and more maneuverable.
There are two canal pilots aboard to guide the ship through the canal. The 25-member crew - all Indian nationals - were safe and accounted for and remained onboard, "working closely with all parties involved to refloat the vessel," the company said.
On Saturday, more shipping companies appeared to be losing confidence that the canal would be unblocked soon.
"Vessel-tracking data shows evidence that container lines are starting to take the long routes around southern Africa on the backhaul to Asia, rather than wait for the Suez Canal to reopen," Lloyd's List Intelligence, a maritime analysis firm, said in a tweet.
The list included the Ever Given's sister ship, the Ever Greet, which was traveling from Malaysia to Europe and was diverted by either its Japanese owner or its Taiwan-based operating firm toward the Cape of Good Hope, according to satellite data.
The unprecedented bottleneck at or near the canal could strain global supply chains that are already stressed by the coronavirus pandemic.
On top of the need to shuttle raw materials to industrial manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies, shipping firms are grappling with extraordinary demand for consumer products, which has created a scarcity of empty containers.
The containers aboard many of the ships, with goods mostly from China, are destined for consumers in the United States and northern Europe.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
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news world Hope For Blocked Suez Canal Hinges On Rising Tide That Can Free Ship

The MV Ever Given has been wedged diagonally across the span of the Suez canal since Tuesday Ismailia, Egypt: The global economic troub...

"Very Chaotic Night": 2 Dead After Fight In US Turns Into Shootout

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One of the people killed was a woman, police said. (Representational image)
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Two people were killed and eight others were injured Friday night in Virginia Beach, in multiple incidents, including a physical fight that turned into a shootout, city officials said.
One of the people killed was a woman, and the other was a man who was shot by police in a separate incident, authorities said.
The woman was identified by police as Deshayla Harris, 28, of Norfolk, Va. Police said she was a bystander at the incident that led to her death.
The man who was shot by an officer was identified by police as as Donovon Lynch, 25, of Virginia Beach.
According to a police news release, the violence began in the 1900 block of Atlantic Avenue in the oceanfront resort area of the city when "a group of individuals were involved in some type of conflict that resulted in a physical fight."
"At some point during the physical altercation, several individuals produced firearms and began shooting at each other, resulting in numerous people being wounded," the release states.
Officers patrolling the area heard "multiple gunshots" about 11:20 p.m., police said, and when they arrived they found several gunshot victims.
Minutes later, Virginia Beach police officers heard more gunfire several blocks away, police said.
When they arrived at that scene, in the 300 block of 19th Street, they found Harris, they said. She died at the scene.
"It is not currently believed this shooting incident is currently related to the initial incident," police said in a release.
Police said an officer also encountered Lynch at the second scene. According to police, he man was armed with a weapon and an officer shot him. He also died at the scene.
Japharii Jones, president of the local Black Lives Matter group, BLM 757, said that he has been in touch with the family and that the man who police shot was not involved in the evening's violence and was not threatening police when he was shot.
"He approached the officer to say hello," said Jones, adding that he and others would be protesting.
Virginia Beach Police Chief Paul Neudigate told reporters at a news conference that police had encountered "a very chaotic night" at the beach. "Many different crime scenes."
Three men have been arrested in the first incident, which occurred in the 2000 block of Atlantic Avenue, the police said.
The three were identified by police as Ahmon Jahree Adams, 22, of Chesapeake, Va., Nyquez Tyyon Baker, 18, of Virginia Beach, and Devon Maurice Dorsey Jr., 20, of Virginia Beach.
Police said each was charged with felonious assault.
The investigation into the Virginia Beach shootings is ongoing, police said.
Police also said that an officer was injured "at some point during these three incidents," after being struck by a vehicle. The officer was treated at a hospital and released.
The officer involved in the shooting will be placed on administrative leave while the matter is investigated, the city said. Police said the officer is a member of the Special Operations division and has been with the Virginia Beach police for five years.
The attacks in Virginia Beach come just on the heels of the devastating mass shootings this month in Atlanta and Boulder, Colo., that killed 18 people combined.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
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news world "Very Chaotic Night": 2 Dead After Fight In US Turns Into Shootout

One of the people killed was a woman, police said. (Representational image) Two people were killed and eight others were injured Friday ...