Quake at Maluku, tsunami alert off

A strong 6.6-magnitude earthquake struck the eastern Indonesian province of Maluku early on Thursday, prompting a tsunami alert that was later lifted, the meteorology and geophysics office said here, reports AFP from Jakarta.

The earthquake, which struck at 2:58 am (0130 IST), was centred 275 kilometres southwest of Maluku province, some 10 kilometres under the seabed, a text message from the office said. A second message sent one hour later said that the alert had been lifted.

Security drill at JLo’s hospital

The Long Island hospital where singer and actress Jennifer Lopez is set to give birth is practising security drills as a preventive measure against kidnapping, reports IANS from Los Angeles. Tmz.com reports that sources at the North Shore Medical Centre say the hospital conducted a Code Pink drill last Friday. Code Pink is the code for locking down the hospital to prevent a kidnapping attempt.

Plane, chopper collide: 2 die

Two people died and two survived when a light plane and helicopter collided over the remote Outback of western Australia during a government cull of wild goats, police said on Thursday, reports AP from Australia. Both aircraft were involved in shooting wild goats in the mountainous Kennedy Range National Park, 700 km north of the west coast city of Perth.

50 rebels killed  in Lanka

Sri Lankan troops killed at least 50 Tamil Tiger rebels in the island’s northern side on Thursday, reports Reuters from Colombo.
Sri Lankan forces are trying to drive the rebels from their northern stronghold and bring an end to a 25-year civil war, but analysts say neither side will win and that the fighting will grind on.