Magnitude 7.0 quake hits Japan

TOKYO (AP) ? A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.0 struck under the sea several hundred miles south of Japan on Sunday, shaking buildings in the capital, but officials said there was no danger of a tsunami.

The quake struck near the uninhabited island of Torishima in the Pacific Ocean, 370 miles south of Tokyo, and its epicenter was about 230 miles below the sea, the Meterological Agency said.

The agency said there was no danger of a tsunami.

Buildings in the Tokyo area shook but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. Express trains in northern and central Japan were suspended temporarily for safety checks but later resumed.

No abnormalities were reported at power plants in the region, including the crippled nuclear power plant hit by the March earthquake and tsunami, public broadcaster NHK reported.

Northeastern Japan was devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11 that left nearly 20,000 people dead or missing. Japan, which lies along the Pacific "Ring of Fire," is one of the world's most seismically active countries.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com. USA TODAY is now using Facebook Comments on our stories and blog posts to provide an enhanced user experience. To post a comment, log into Facebook and then "Add" your comment. To report spam or abuse, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box. To find out more, read the FAQ and Conversation Guidelines.?

Source: http://rssfeeds.usatoday.com/~r/usatoday-NewsTopStories/~3/jJJNKUyBfLc/1

lady liberty the rum diary addams family in time statue of liberty gold rush alaska gold rush alaska

NASA's GRAIL spacecrafts enter Moon's orbit, set to map its gravitational field in March

Way back in September, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory sent a duo of Lockheed Martin-produced spacecraft toward one of its favorite test subjects, the Moon, as a part of its GRAIL mission -- Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory. Now, nearly four months later, the administration has announced that the GRAIL-A and -B twin crafts have planted themselves within our Moon's orbit. According to NASA, they're currently in "a near-polar, elliptical orbit with an orbital period of approximately 11.5 hours," and it plans to execute more "burn maneuvers" in the coming weeks to shorten that time frame to less than two. By March, the research crafts will be positioned in a "near-polar, near-circular orbit" 34 miles above its surface, at which point they'll begin surveying its gravitational pull, by using radio signals to determine the distance between both units.

With this information, NASA hopes to better understand how gravity works, both above and below the Moon's surface, by detailing the findings in a high-resolution map. NASA also says that scientists can utilize it to get further insight into how our planets formed. Notably, both spacecraft feature a MoonKAM (Moon Knowledge Acquired by Middle school students), that will allow students request pictures of specific areas the lunar surface for later study. Best of all, using NASA's "Eyes on the Solar System" web app, you'll be able to follow the paths of both spaceships in detail. You'll find full details about the GRAIL mission at the source links below.

NASA's GRAIL spacecrafts enter Moon's orbit, set to map its gravitational field in March originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Jan 2012 14:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  NASA (1), (2), Eyes on the Solar System  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/5suzBmYvAAY/

bcs rankings week 13 bcs rankings week 13 philadelphia marathon rhodes scholar cranberry sauce recipe mls cup amas 2011

Merkel says Europe must cooperate more for euro to succeed (Reuters)

BERLIN (Reuters) ? Europe must cooperate more closely if it wants the euro to succeed as its shared currency, and it still has a long way to go to overcome its sovereign debt crisis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in her New Year's Eve address.

She said that she would do everything in her power to strengthen the euro, but that this would only work if Europe learned from its mistakes.

"A common currency can only really be successful if we in Europe cooperate more than we have done," Merkel said in a pre-recorded televised address to be broadcast on Saturday.

"Europe is growing together in the crisis," she said, according to an official copy of her speech.

"The path to overcoming this remains long and won't be free from setbacks, but at the end of it, Europe will emerge stronger from the crisis than it went into it."

Merkel also said that while the German economy was doing well, next year would "without a doubt be more difficult than this one."

Germany recovered swiftly from the 2008/09 financial crisis, but growth has eased in the last few months and many economists are now forecasting a mild slump for Europe's bulwark economy.

(Reporting by Sarah Marsh; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111230/bs_nm/us_eurozone_germany_merkel

gunsmoke papelbon papelbon anita hill penn state football schedule carrier classic j edgar hoover

College Basketball Roundup: Indiana Knocks Off No. 2 Ohio State

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

Source: www.nytimes.com --- Saturday, December 31, 2011
Victor Oladipo scored the go-ahead basket on a fast-break layup with 36 seconds left as No. 13 Indiana upset No. 2 Ohio State, 74-70. ...

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/sports/ncaabasketball/college-basketball-roundup.html

butterball turkey fryer yale harvard dan henderson oregon ducks oregon ducks oregon football lana turner

Ethiopian, Somali troops take key city

Ethiopian troops and Somali government forces have seized control of a key Somali city after battling Islamist rebels on the outskirts, leaving at least 18 dead, sources said.

The city, Beledweyne, lies some 30 kilometres from the Ethiopian border in the Hiran region of central Somalia.

"The fighting started this morning after our forces supported by the Ethiopian military attacked the enemy's positions on the outskirts of Beledweyne," Bare Abdulahi, a Somali government security official, said on Saturday from the scene.

"They lost in the battle and we have penetrated into their barracks killing nearly 20 of their fighters before taking control of the city. The Somali government forces alone entered the city and they are securing it now," he added.

"We have counted around 18 dead bodies, most of them the combatants, some of them have died outside the city and others are lying in the streets of Beledweyne," Mohamed Moalim Osmail, an elder in the city, confirmed to AFP.

"I saw some Somali government troops accompanied by armed trucks belonging to the Ethiopian forces, they have entered the city and the fighting has stopped now", Abdirahman Isa, another witness, said.

The al-Qaeda-linked Shabab rebel movement denied having been defeated in the city.

"The enemy tried to destroy the frontline barracks of the mujahideen fighters but they lost in the battle, we killed many of them and the mujahideen fighters have retreated back from some positions in order to reorganise their strategy", Abu Musab told reporters in Mogadishu.

Residents said that several hundred Ethiopian troops on November 19 crossed into Hiran and another region of central Somalia Galgudud, but Addis Ababa, which invaded Somalia in 2006 with US backing, dismissed the reports as "absolutely not true".

The 2006 invasion sparked a bloody uprising and Ethiopia's troops pulled out three years later after failing to restore order in its lawless neighbour, which has lacked a functioning government for two decades.

Hardline Shabab insurgents control much of southern Somalia, but are also battling both the Western-backed government in Mogadishu and Kenyan troops in the far south, who crossed the border in mid-October to attack rebel strongholds.

Kenya on Saturday said it would circulate photographs of 15 people the Kenyan police say can provide information on the Shabab.

Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe told journalists the 15 - nine Kenyans, two Asians and four Somalis - are believed to have left the Somali port of Kismayo recently and said "some are believed to be in Kenya already .. with the intent of engaging in criminal activities".

Most of the Kenyans in the group are believed to have resided in Nairobi and in the Kenyan coastal resort of Mombasa before leaving for Somalia around one year ago.

Source: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/8397098/ethiopian-somali-troops-take-key-city

tracy mcgrady tracy mcgrady mash alec baldwin kicked off plane alec baldwin kicked off plane mumia mumia