A magnitude 6.2 earthquake late on Friday rocked northeast Afghanistan close to the nation’s borders with Pakistan and Tajikistan, leaving at least 30 people injured, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.
The earthquake, which measured 203.5km deep, struck about 280km northeast of the Afghan capital Kabul at 11:44pm, the USGS said on its Web site.
Kabul residents rushed out of their homes and buildings on what was a bitterly cold night amid fears of aftershocks, a reporter said, while the earthquake also caused buildings to sway in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
A reporter said the earthquake appeared to continue for more than 30 seconds, while Twitter users as far away as New Delhi said they felt its impact.
Though there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties in Afghanistan, at least 30 people were injured as a result of the earthquake in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, a hospital spokesman said.
In October, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake ripped across Pakistan and Afghanistan, killing about 400 people and flattening buildings in rugged terrain that impeded relief efforts.
For many in Pakistan, October’s quake brought back traumatic memories of a magnitude 7.6 earthquake that struck in October 2005, killing more than 75,000 people and displacing about 3.5 million.
Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, which lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.
In Nepal an earthquake in April and a strong aftershock in May killed more than 8,900 people.
James Watson — the Nobel laureate co-credited with the pivotal discovery of DNA’s double-helix structure, but whose career was later tainted by his repeated racist remarks — has died, his former lab said on Friday. He was 97. The eminent biologist died on Thursday in hospice care on Long Island in New York, announced the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he was based for much of his career. Watson became among the 20th century’s most storied scientists for his 1953 breakthrough discovery of the double helix with researcher partner Francis Crick. Along with Crick and Maurice Wilkins, he shared the
OUTRAGE: The former strongman was accused of corruption and responsibility for the killings of hundreds of thousands of political opponents during his time in office Indonesia yesterday awarded the title of national hero to late president Suharto, provoking outrage from rights groups who said the move was an attempt to whitewash decades of human rights abuses and corruption that took place during his 32 years in power. Suharto was a US ally during the Cold War who presided over decades of authoritarian rule, during which up to 1 million political opponents were killed, until he was toppled by protests in 1998. He was one of 10 people recognized by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in a televised ceremony held at the presidential palace in Jakarta to mark National
US President Donald Trump handed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban a one-year exemption from sanctions for buying Russian oil and gas after the close right-wing allies held a chummy White House meeting on Friday. Trump slapped sanctions on Moscow’s two largest oil companies last month after losing patience with Russian President Vladimir Putin over his refusal to end the nearly four-year-old invasion of Ukraine. However, while Trump has pushed other European countries to stop buying oil that he says funds Moscow’s war machine, Orban used his first trip to the White House since Trump’s return to power to push for
LANDMARK: After first meeting Trump in Riyadh in May, al-Sharaa’s visit to the White House today would be the first by a Syrian leader since the country’s independence Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived in the US on Saturday for a landmark official visit, his country’s state news agency SANA reported, a day after Washington removed him from a terrorism blacklist. Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted long-time former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad late last year, is due to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House today. It is the first such visit by a Syrian president since the country’s independence in 1946, according to analysts. The interim leader met Trump for the first time in Riyadh during the US president’s regional tour in May. US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack earlier
RSS