Strong earthquake in central Japan collapses homes, causes many injuries
The most severely affected area was the town of Hakuba, which had hosted events during the 1998 winter Olympics (Image courtesy of fox11online.com)
A magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck Japan on 22 November in a mountainous area of central Japan. The earthquake occurred near Nagano city at a depth of 10 km. The impacted area included a town west of Nagano called Hakuba, which hosted events during the 1998 Winter Olympics. Ten homes collapsed in the ski town, trapping nine people underneath, who have all been rescued. None suffered life-threatening injuries. Overall, at least 37 homes were collapsed in two villages, and 39 people were injured. The earthquake was felt throughout most of northern Japan, including Tokyo, 200 km northeast of Hakuba. Many houses also lost water due to ruptured pipes and two major roads were blocked off by landslides.
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Pope Francis says greed will destroy the world, urges world leaders to be more altruistic
Pope Francis speaks about just distribution of world’s economy for poor and hungry (Image courtesy of Getty Images)
At the Second International Conference on Nutrition in Rome, the Pope said “God always forgives, but the earth does not.” He argued that the world focuses too much on profit being priority at the expense the undernourished and impoverished. The Pope also denounced financial speculation, which is engaging in risky financial transactions in hopes of high return. He also credited the UN food agency and the World Health Organization with developing a framework for action in dealing with world hunger.
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Al – Shabaab terrorist organization attacks bus in Northern Kenya, killing 28 non – Muslims who were unable to recite Koran
Fighters of Al – Shabaab, Somalia’s Islamist group conduct military exercises (Image courtesy of AP images)
The bus was on its way to Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, when approximately 100 gunmen took the bus off the road. It is believed that they asked the 60 passengers to recite the Koran. They separated the people on the bus, shooting dead those who could not prove that they were practising Muslims. A statement on a website linked to the organization said that the attack was retaliation for security raids on mosques in Mombassa. Kenya’s Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government claimed that the attackers camp had been destroyed by the Kenya Defence Forces.
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Italy’s first female astronaut, Samantha Cristoforetti is bound for the International Space Station (ISS).
Female astronauts Cristoforetti and Serova pose for their pictures as astronauts soon to board the ISS. (Image courtesy of Post.)
Samantha Cristoforetti, Italy’s first female astronaut, and Elana Serova were sent into orbit from Kazakhastan this weekend. There, they will make up the second ever long term crew with two women. Cristoforetti, an Italian Air Force fighter pilot and captain, and Serova, an engineer, dodged most of all gender related questions from reporters. Cristoforetti stated “Space is what I do for work, and that’s what I think about it: It’s my work,” in a early September NASA interview. During a news conference, Serova was asked whether or not she would be wearing makeup and doing her hair in space. To that she responded “I have a question for you — why don’t you ask the question about Alexander’s hair?” referring to her male crew mate Alexander Samokutyaev. Nonetheless, the women will spend six months on the ISS serving to maintain the ISS, and carrying out studies.
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New Guinea, having 1 200 deaths from Ebola to date, is declared ‘stable’ by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Ebola treatment workers in New Guinea during the the construction of treatment centres in early March. (Image courtesy of The Columbian.)
Despite having a long road to recovery, some aspects have improved in other prefectures. In this recent outbreak, 5 400 have died; Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia were hit the hardest. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has further stated that if the world increases its response rate, the outbreak could end in a mere 6 months. This comes after the startling rate of new cases in Mali where six have died, and a seventh diagnosed.
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