Hundreds of victims of an earthquake that struck western China were cremated Saturday as necessity forced local Tibetans to break with centuries-old "sky burial" traditions.
About 1,000 monks were on hand on a mountain beside Jiegu, the hardest-hit area by Wednesday's earthquake, to chant Buddhist prayers as the bodies were set on fire.
While the cremation took place, rescue workers were still searching through rubble in this remote western region in a bid to find any remaining survivors, with officials saying the death toll had climbed to 1,144.
In this Monday, April 5, 2010 file photo, a ribbon of oil snakes away on the surface from the Chinese-registered bulk coal carrier Shen Neng 1, off the coast of Rockhampton, Australia. The coal carrier that ran aground and leaked about 3 tons of oil on the Great Barrier Reef was refloated Monday, April 12, 2010 after being stuck for more than a week.In this photo taken after the April 12 removal of the Shen Neng 1 and provided by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, a diver surveys damage to the reef after the Chinese coal carrier Shen Neng 1 ran aground on Australia's Great Barrier Reef on April 3 off Great Keppel Island. Along with the damage to the coral reef globules of oil believed to be from the ship are washing up on a nearby wildlife sanctuary, officials said Wednesday, April 14, 2010.
The master of a Chinese coal carrier that ran aground and cut a long gash in the Great Barrier Reef didn't alert Australian authorities to the crash for an hour and a half, investigators said Thursday.
A preliminary report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said the Shen Neng 1 slammed into the reef and shuddered to a halt just after 5 p.m. on April 3, but noted it was not until 6:40 that the master reported the grounding to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.
The gap in time — and whether it was reasonable — is just one factor the bureau will examine in its investigation. The crash left a two-mile (three-kilometer) scar on the reef, damaging a shoal so badly experts estimate it may need up to 20 years to heal.
The 47-year-old master, Jichang Wang, and 44-year-old chief officer, Xuegang Wang, appeared briefly in Gladstone Magistrates Court in Queensland state Thursday. Jichang Wang was charged with liability for a vessel causing damage in a marine park, an offense that carries a maximum 55,000 Australian dollar ($51,200) fine. Xuegang Wang was charged with being in charge of the vessel when it caused the damage, and faces up to three years in prison and a fine of up to AU$220,000.
Both men were granted bail, and Xuegang Wang was ordered to surrender his passport. The next hearing was scheduled for June 9, but the men are not required to appear. Neither has spoken about the crash or investigation of their actions.
Coral shredded the ship's hull, causing it to leak 2-3 tons of fuel oil. Most of the oil was dispersed by a chemical spray and did little or no damage to the reef itself, but officials said Wednesday they believe some has begun washing up on the beach of a wildlife sanctuary.
The crash happened after the crew decided to take a shortcut, and failed to correct course as planned, the transport bureau said in its report. By the time they realized they had drifted into a dangerous area and tried to turn, it was too late — the ship was already shuddering as it slammed into Douglas Shoal.
The bureau said it will focus part of its investigation on whether fatigue played a role in the crash, and will examine the company's work and rest policies.
The report noted the chief officer was at the helm when the ship ran aground, while the master was in his cabin tending to paperwork. The officer felt "very tired" shortly before the grounding, and had only slept around two and a half hours in the previous day and a half, the report said.
"There is no single contributing factor, there's a range of things," the transport bureau's chief commissioner Martin Dolan told reporters.
The Great Barrier Reef is a World Heritage site because of its gleaming waters and environmental value as home to thousands of marine species. The accident occurred in the southern tip of the reef, which is not the main tourism hub.
The Australian Federal Police said officers executed a search warrant on the ship on Wednesday. It was not clear what they were looking for.
The ship's owner, Shenzen Energy Transport, said last week it was cooperating with the investigation.
The 755-foot (230-meter) ship was successfully lifted off the reef Monday after crews spent three days removing its fuel to lighten it. Salvage crews later towed it to an anchorage area near Great Keppel Island, 45 miles (70 kilometers) away.
Before the ship was removed, tides and currents repeatedly pushed it along the reef, cutting a scar 1.9 miles (3 kilometers) long and up to 820 feet (250 meters) wide into the coral.
Paint from the hull, applied to keep marine life from growing on it, was smeared onto coral and plants. Certain paints contain chemicals to prevent growth, while others simply act as a barrier. Experts are analyzing paint samples to determine if it is the more toxic variety.
Thanks to revived book sales after he became president, Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, made $5.5 million last year. They paid about one-third of it in federal income taxes.
The Obamas gave $329,100 to charities in 2009. The president, who released his tax returns Thursday, also donated his entire $1.4 million Nobel Peace Prize award to 10 charitable groups. He never received the $1.4 million, and it was not included in his 2009 income.
Salvage team members and rescue workers put a part of a sunken naval vessel on a barge after they lifted it with a giant crane, off Baengnyeongdo island near the maritime border with North Korea, northwest of Seoul April 15, 2010.
South Korean Defence Minister Kim Tae-Young raised the possibility that a mine or torpedo may have hit the Cheonan
North Korea on Saturday denied involvement in the recent sinking of a South Korean warship that left 38 sailors confirmed dead and eight others still missing, claiming such suspicions have been fabricated by the South Korean government.
There has been growing speculation in the South that the ship had been hit by a North Korean torpedo, killing 46 sailors and raising fears it could trigger conflict on the divided peninsula.
South Korea, which has already brought some of the wreck to the surface, has said the blast that sank the vessel was caused by an external explosion.
Some 100,000 Poles filled Warsaw's main square Saturday for a memorial to the 96 people killed in a plane crash a week earlier, standing silent for two minutes before emergency sirens screamed and church bells pealed.
The crowd in Pilsudski Square waved white-and-red Polish flags with black ribbons of mourning affixed to them. A massive white stage, a large cross in the center, was flanked by oversized photos of the dead, including President Lech Kaczynski.
Thai anti-government protesters stepped up security at their base in an upmarket Bangkok shopping center on Saturday, a week after bloody clashes with security forces killed 24 people.
A failed attempt by security forces last weekend to flush thousands of anti-government protesters from the historic district of the capital erupted into the worse political violence the country has seen in two decades. At least 24 people were killed and 800 wounded.
A lingering volcanic ash plume forced extended no-fly restrictions over much of Europe on Saturday, as Icelandic scientists warned that volcanic activity had increased and showed no sign of abating — a portent of more travel chaos to come.
Although the ash plume has grown, a northerly wind was expected to allow enough visibility for scientists to fly over the volcano Saturday. Scientists want to see how much ice has melted to determine how much longer the eruption could spew ash. Because the volcano is situated below a glacial ice cap, the magma is being cooled quickly, causing explosions and plumes of grit that can be catastrophic to plane engines if prevailing winds are right.
People sing and dance after the suspect in the murder of white supremacist leader Eugene Terreblanche is led out of court in Ventersdorp, South Africa, Tuesday, April 6, 2010. Whites and blacks have faced off angrily in song in front of a heavily guarded courthouse where a teenager and another farm worker who allegedly confessed to killing a white supremacist leader in a wage dispute have appeared.
Supporter of slain white supremacist leader Eugene Terreblanche hold a placard reading, Afrikaners on the march to freedom, outside the court in Ventersdorp, South Africa, Tuesday, April 6, 2010. Whites and blacks singing competing national anthems from South Africa's racist past and its democratic reality faced off angrily Tuesday in front of a heavily guarded court preparing for the first hearing of a teenage boy and older farm worker who have allegedly confessed to killing the country's white supremacist leader.
Followers of slain Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) leader Eugene Terreblanche scuffle with police outside the courthouse in Ventersdrop, 140 km West of Johannesburg, South Africa, Tuesday April 6, 2010, as the two alleged killers are brought to court. Whites and blacks faced off angrily in song Tuesday in front of a heavily guarded South African courthouse before the first hearing of a teenager and another farm worker who have allegedly confessed to killing a white supremacist leader.
One of the suspects, center, with his face covered, in the murder of white supremacist leader Eugene Terreblanche, is lead out of the court by police in Ventersdorp, South Africa, Tuesday, April 6, 2010. Whites and blacks have faced off angrily in song in front of a heavily guarded courthouse where a teenager and another farm worker who allegedly confessed to killing a white supremacist leader in a wage dispute have appeared.
South Africa's governing party said Wednesday it has asked all its wings to stop singing controversial songs including one with lyrics that encourage people to shoot white farmers which some blame for the slaying of a white supremacist leader.
The African National Congress has rejected any link between the song and Saturday's killing of Eugene Terreblanche, but nevertheless made the decision at a meeting Tuesday as leaders seek to calm racial tensions and quell fears ahead of the first World Cup soccer tournament to be held in Africa.
Heroic: French tourist Julien Duret, right, hands Bridget Sheridan to her father David Anderson after they both dived into New York's East River to save her
This is the dramatic moment a two-year-old girl was plucked from an icy river after being rescued by her father and a total stranger.
Two-year-old Bridget Sheridan had fallen 20ft into New York's East River after slipping off a gangplank at the South Street Seaport museum.
French tourist Julien Duret immediately jumped into the water to rescue the little girl before she sank beneath the water and handed her to her father David Anderson, who had dived in after him.
Men carry an injured paramilitary soldier for treatment at Jagdalpur, in the eastern Indian state of Chhatisgarh, Tuesday, April 6, 2010. Maoist rebels launched a series of devastating attacks Tuesday on paramilitary forces patrolling the forests of eastern India, killing at least 67 troops in one of the deadliest insurgent strikes on the government.
Men carry an injured paramilitary soldier for treatment at Jagdalpur, in the eastern Indian state of Chhatisgarh, Tuesday, April 6, 2010. Maoist rebels launched a series of devastating attacks Tuesday on paramilitary forces patrolling the forests of eastern India, killing at least 67 troops in one of the deadliest insurgent strikes on the government.
India will push ahead with an offensive against Maoist rebels despite the death of 76 government troops in an ambush by insurgents in the east, the country's top security official said Wednesday.
The ambush in a dense forest Tuesday was the deadliest single attack on government fighters in the 43-year-old insurgency. It stunned Indians, highlighted the growing threat posed by the Maoists and showed that the rebels appeared uncowed by a government offensive aimed at crushing them.
Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram flew to the area Wednesday and laid a wreath near the coffins of the slain security forces.
He insisted the government would not back down.
"I think we should, while we grieve the dead, hold our nerve and continue to do what we are doing — namely to rid India of the gravest threat to internal security, which is the Naxalite threat," he said, referring to the Maoists by their nickname. "This is a long, drawn-out struggle. It will take two to three years, perhaps more."
The rebels, who have tapped into the rural poor's growing anger at being left out of the country's economic gains, are now present in 20 of the country's 28 states. About 2,000 people — including police, militants and civilians — have been killed over the past few years.
Last year, the government announced its "Operation Green Hunt" offensive aimed at flushing the militants out of their forest hide-outs. Both the insurgents and government forces have been accused of using violence and intimidation against local villagers to coerce their cooperation.
The government has said it is willing to talk with the rebels if they give up violence, but the rebels say there should be no preconditions for negotiations.
