 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
The world in brief
Compiled from Times wires Powerful quake hits Philippines, injures 3ZAMBOANGA, Philippines -- A powerful earthquake rocked the southern Philippines early today, waking up residents and causing widespread power outages. At least three people were treated at hospitals for cuts and bruises from falling objects in their homes in the city of General Santos, about 600 miles southeast of Manila, said City Council member Eduardo Leyson. The earthquake, with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8, struck around 5:15 a.m. and was centered about 150 miles southwest of General Santos, said Mylene Carlos of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology. Leyson said concrete fences around several houses in General Santos collapsed. A steel water tower that supplied water to 1,000 homes also collapsed. Fire in Hague cafeteria postpones Milosevic's trialTHE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Slobodan Milosevic's trial was postponed Tuesday after a fire in the cafeteria of the U.N. war crimes tribunal filled the corridors with smoke, prompting the evacuation of the building. Guards and security personnel escorted 800 staff members outside just before the 9 a.m. resumption of Milosevic's case. Four other war crimes cases also were postponed. Officials said the fire began in a deep fryer in the canteen and there was no suspicion it was intentional. The fire was quickly put out, and damage was restricted to the canteen area. No injuries were reported. Milosevic's legal adviser, Zdenko Tomanovic, said the former Yugoslav president was returned to his detention facility immediately after the alarm sounded. On the advice of doctors, pope cancels his scheduleVATICAN CITY -- Pope John Paul II is canceling several public appointments over the next two weeks on the advice of his doctors, the Vatican said Tuesday. Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said a painful, arthritic knee was forcing the pontiff to cancel his weekly general audience today and parish visits the next two Sundays. The pope, who turns 82 in May, has a grueling schedule of Holy Week ceremonies later this month, culminating with an Easter vigil and Easter Day celebrations. In his last public appearance Sunday, John Paul was short of breath at times as he read a homily from his window overlooking St. Peter's Square. He has suffered for years from symptoms of Parkinson's disease, including a hand tremor and slurred speech. Jaguars attack and kill employee at Vienna zooVIENNA -- Three jaguars attacked and killed an employee while she was preparing the animals' meal at a Vienna zoo on Tuesday. With visitors looking on, the jaguars entered an enclosure where the employee was working from a compartment where they were supposed to be contained. A jaguar bit the 21-year-old employee in the neck, killing her. The director of the Schoenbrunn zoo, Helmut Pechlaner, was injured by the jaguars after rushing to the enclosure to help the victim. Officials at the zoo suspected the jaguars burst into the cage through a hatch that had not been locked. Cruise ship employee falls overboard, is rescuedMIAMI -- A cruise ship employee who fell overboard was rescued Tuesday after treading water for at least 10 hours in the Atlantic, officials said. The 24-year-old Romanian woman was in stable condition and will remain on the Miami-based Norway under the care of a ship's doctor until it makes its next cruise call in the U.S. Virgin Islands, officials said. It wasn't clear how she fell. The ship was about 135 miles northeast of Great Inagua Island in the Bahamas.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
