Norway police: 'Eighty killed' in island shooting

At least 80 people died when a gunman opened fire at an island youth camp in Norway, hours after a bomb attack on the capital, Oslo, police say.

Oslo police are questioning a 32-year-old Norwegian man in connection with both attacks.

The man was arrested on tiny Utoeya island outside Oslo, where police say he opened fire on teenagers.

The earlier bomb attack killed at least seven people. The attacks are the worst Norway has seen since World War II.

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, whose Oslo offices were among those badly hit by the blast, described the attacks as "bloody and cowardly".

Hundreds of young people were attending a summer camp organised by the ruling Labour Party on Utoeya island.

Eyewitnesses described how a man dressed as a policeman opened fire indiscriminately.

Syrian protests draw deadly fire - At least 27 Dead !

Syrian security forces have killed at least 34 people, including an 11-year-old boy, according to witnesses, in the latest crackdown on anti-government protests.

Twelve people were killed in the central city of Homs, while 15 died in the town of Maaret al-Naaman, located near the western city of Idlib, activists said.

Two protesters were shot in the southern region of Deraa, one person was shot in the Damascus suburb of Daraya and one in the port city of Latakia.

Two more died in the eastern town of Deir Ezzor and one person killed in the central town of Hama.

The dead in Homs included two boys, named as Aiham al-Ahmad, 11, and 16-year-old Ahmad Bakr, witnesses said.

A witness told Al Jazeera they were shot when police officers opened fire on Friday, after their vehicle crashed into a wall and was attacked by protesters.

The attack took place after officers drove police cars into a crowd of about 2,000 demonstrators in an attempt to disperse them, a second witness said.

After hitting several protesters, one of the cars crashed into a wall, prompting the officers to jump out and open fire. Four other protesters were also killed, while at least seven others were wounded.

In a separate incident, three residents were killed when security forces attempted to storm a hospital in the al-Wa'r neighbourhood of Homs, according to a witness.

Locals responded by forming a human chain around the hospital, in an attempt to prevent the police arresting wounded protesters inside. The witness said some locals had shot at the police using handguns.

Al Jazeera is unable to verify the reports because of restrictions on reporting imposed by Syria's government.

Afghan suicide blast - 37 Killed & Nearly 40 Wounded so far !

A suicide attack on an army recruitment centre in North Afghanistan's Kunduz province kills 37 people and injures 40. Three children are among the victims of Monday's attack, one of the deadliest in recent months. A spokesman for the governor of Kunduz province, Mahboubullah Sayedi, confirmed the attack.












"There was a suicide attack at the army recruitment centre in Kunduz city," he said. The spokesman added: "Most of those killed were volunteers who wanted to join the army."


Last week, the Kunduz police chief was killed by a suicide bomber while out on patrol in the city, and the previous governor of the restive region was killed in an attack last October on a mosque where he was worshiping. Al Jazeera's Sue Turton, reporting from the capital Kabul, said the latest attack comes as armed groups fighting the Afghan government ratchet up their operations in the province.


source ; Al Jazeera

Tsunami-hit Japan - At least 427 are being killed - Confirmed but likely to rise over 1000 !

Twin disasters overwhelm Japan - Video - All Jazeera


At least 427 are confirmed to have been killed after one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded struck Japan, triggering a devastating 10-metre-high tsunami along parts of the country's northeastern coastline and triggered an emergency at two nuclear power plants as well.


Japanese media said on Saturday the death toll was expected to exceed 1000, most of whom appeared to have drowned by churning waters.


"The damage is so enormous that it will take us much time to gather data," a Japanese official at the national police agency said.


The towering wall of water, generated by the 8.9 magnitude earthquake, pulverised the northeastern city of Sendai, where police on Friday reportedly said that 200-300 bodies had been found on the coast. 


The wave of black water sent shipping containers, cars and debris crashing through the streets of Sendai and across open farmland, while a tidal wave of debris-littered mud destroyed everything in its path.


The northeastern Japanese city of Kesennuma, with a population of 74,000, was hit by widespread fires and one-third of the city was under water, according to Jiji news agency .


Radiation fears - Reactor cooling systems had failed !
- but no immediate health hazard -




Japanese authorities scrambled on Saturday to prevent nuclear accidents at two atomic plants where Japanese authorities scrambled on Saturday to prevent nuclear accidents at two atomic plants where reactor cooling systems failed, as it evacuated tens of thousands of residents.


Radiation 1,000 times above normal was detected in the control room of one plant, although authorities said levels outside the facility's gates were only eight times above normal, spelling "no immediate health hazard".


The two nuclear plants affected are the Fukushima No. 1 and No. 2 plants, both located about 250 kilometres  northeast of greater Tokyo.


A total of 45,000 people living within a 10-kilometre radius of the No. 1 plant were told to evacuate -- raising the number from the fewer than 6,000 people within three kilometres told to leave Friday.


Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan early on Saturday morning left on a helicopter ride to Fukushima to assess the situation at the plants operated by Tokyo Electric Power, and at other areas in the disaster zone.


When Friday's massive quake hit, the plants immediately shut down, along with others in quake-hit parts of Japan, as they are designed to do -- but the No. 1 plant's cooling system failed, the government said.


When reactors shut down, cooling systems must kick in to bring down the very high temperatures. These systems are powered by either the external electricity grid, backup generators or batteries.


This is key to prevent a "nuclear meltdown" and radioactive release.Japan's network of advanced nuclear power plants are designed to shut down as soon as the earth shakes in one of the world's most quake-prone countries, though a fire broke out in the turbine building of another nuclear plant in Onagawa., as it evacuated tens of thousands of residents.


Radiation 1,000 times above normal was detected in the control room of one plant, although authorities said levels outside the facility's gates were only eight times above normal, spelling "no immediate health hazard".


The two nuclear plants affected are the Fukushima No. 1 and No. 2 plants, both located about 250 kilometres  northeast of greater Tokyo.


A total of 45,000 people living within a 10-kilometre radius of the No. 1 plant were told to evacuate -- raising the number from the fewer than 6,000 people within three kilometres told to leave Friday.


Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan early on Saturday morning left on a helicopter ride to Fukushima to assess the situation at the plants operated by Tokyo Electric Power, and at other areas in the disaster zone.


When Friday's massive quake hit, the plants immediately shut down, along with others in quake-hit parts of Japan, as they are designed to do -- but the No. 1 plant's cooling system failed, the government said.


When reactors shut down, cooling systems must kick in to bring down the very high temperatures. These systems are powered by either the external electricity grid, backup generators or batteries.


This is key to prevent a "nuclear meltdown" and radioactive release.Japan's network of advanced nuclear power plants are designed to shut down as soon as the earth shakes in one of the world's most quake-prone countries, though a fire broke out in the turbine building of another nuclear plant in Onagawa.