Dosens dead in an attack of Shiite mosque in Kabul

A suicide attack here that left dozens of Shiite worshipers dead was apparently conducted by a militant group with a history of ties to Pakistan’s main intelligence service, a connection that threatened to escalate tensions in Afghanistan just as the United States plans its exit.

The bombing and a second attack on Shiites in northern Afghanistan killed at least 60 people, including a U.S. citizen, making Tuesday one of the deadliest days for civilians in the decade-long war. The strikes were highly unusual because they targeted members of Afghanistan’s Shiite minority, which was persecuted during the Taliban’s reign but which has not been a focus of insurgent bombings since the Taliban fell in 2001.

The Taliban denied any role in Tuesday’s attacks. But a spokesman for the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-i-Jhangvi called a station operated by Radio Free Europe to assert responsibility. If the claim is true, it would mark the first time that the group, which has ties to al-Qaeda, has carried out a major attack in Afghanistan.

Fukushima guilty of world's worst sea contamination

A new report shows the Fukushima disaster is responsible for the world's worst nuclear sea contamination.

During the peak of Chernobyl, the Black Sea was registering 1,000 becquerels per cubic meter of water - at Fukushima's peak, it was 100,000 becquerels.

Scientists first believed the ocean would dilute it, but Al Jazeera has learned that dangerous concentrations of radioactive caesium remain.

After the accident, radioactive substances spewed out by the quake-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant have likely spread to western Japan and Hokkaido, according to a team of Japanese, U.S. and European scientists.Their findings were published in the Nov. 14 online edition of the Proceedings of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

Japan’s science ministry said radioactive contamination spread only as far west as the areas near the border between Nagano and Gunma prefectures. However, it conceded there was a possibility, albeit small, of contamination west of that line.

Monday, (December, the 5) the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said that around 45 tonnes (45 cubic meters) of water contaminated with radioactive substances caesium and iodine had likely run into the ocean from a gutter into which water had leaked from a condensation.

According to TEPCO manager, the leaked water contained 16,000 becquerels per litre (16,0000,0000 becquerels per cubic meter) of radioactive cesium 134 and 29,000 becquerels (29,0000,0000 becquerels per cubic meter) of cesium 137, surpassing government safety limits by 267 and 322 times respectively.

Power plant workers used sand bags as an emergency way to prevent further leakage, but it could take up to three weeks to know the real amount of leaked radioactive water.

Local media reports said the contaminated water may also contain other radioactive substances such as strontium, known to cause bone cancer in humans.

Greece suspended international mail delivery

Greece suspended international mail delivery on Wednesday after several parcel bombs addressed to French, German and Italian leaders were discovered along with others targeting foreign embassies, including the Russian, Swiss and Bulgarian missions.

A package addressed to German Chancellor Angela Merkel reached her Berlin offices on Tuesday, when another for Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was found on a courier plane forced into an emergency landing in Italy.

A similar package was found addressed to French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday in Athens in a campaign that has caused no serious injury and Greek authorities have linked to far-left Greek extremists.

Greece on Tuesday halted mail deliveries to foreign destinations for 48 hours as authorities struggled to deal with the wave of booby-trapped packages, most made to look like a parcel of books.

The deadly Indonesian volcano erupted Wednesday

Indonesia's lethal active Merapi volcano erupted Wednesday, after spewing lava and smoke for more than a week. The volcano's first blast came a day after a major earthquake hit the country, triggering a tsunami and killing hundreds

The deadly Indonesian volcano erupted Wednesday with its biggest blast yet, shooting searing ash miles into the air as soldiers hastily evacuated villages and emergency shelters.
One scientist warned the worst may be yet to come.

Women screamed and children cried as they were loaded into trucks while rocks and debris rained from the sky. Several abandoned homes were set ablaze and the carcasses of incinerated cattle littered the scorched slopes.

Serbia: At least two killed after 5.6-magnitude quake

An earthquake struck Serbia early Wednesday, killing two people, wounding dozens and inflicting substantial damage on the city of Kraljevo where electricity and other services were cut, reports said.

The 5.6-magnitude quake hit at 1:56 am (0056 GMT) with its epicentre 10 kilometres (six miles) north of Kraljevo in the centre of the country, the Serbian seismological institute said.

B92 television reported that emergency services in Kraljevo treated dozens of wounded.

The city was badly damaged, Tanjug reported. It was plunged into darkness as power was cut while phone lines and water supply were also severed.

The Kraljevo hospital was also damaged, notably its operating theatres.

The quake was felt across the country, including the capital Belgrade about 150 kilometres north of Kraljevo.

Indonesia: Mount Merapi's eruptions and tsunami killed more than 400 people

The number of dead in the remote Mentawai islands rose to 370 Thursday, after assessment crews reached more villages and inlets that were inundated by waves following Monday's 7.7-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Indonesian Sumatra. Hope was fading that many of the 300 or more people still missing would be found alive, as relief crews continued to find corpses scattered across roads and coastal areas. Some bodies likely were swept away to sea, officials said.

Local Indonesian authorities hold a funeral for victims of Mount Merapi's first eruption even as a second is underway.

Meanwhile, on Indonesia's more heavily populated island of Java, the volatile volcano Mt. Merapi began erupting again, two days after it killed at least 33 people. There were no immediate reports of new injuries or damage from Thursday's clouds of hot ash. Many residents in the area had already been evacuated, with many now living in temporary refugee camps.

Maridjan, Mount Merapi's spiritual guardian dies in Indonesia eruption

Mas Penewu Surakso Hargo, better known as Mbah Maridjan ("Grandfather Maridjan")was the spiritual guardian[2] or "gatekeeper" of the Indonesian volcano Mount Merapi. For 33 years, Maridjan spoke to Mount Merapi, appeasing its unpredictable spirits by throwing offerings of rice, clothes and chickens into the volcano's gaping crater.

Many villagers took his word -- not that of government officials or seismologists -- as the last on when it would erupt. And the 83-year-old did appear to predict the volcano's latest eruption, which killed 33 people this week, but did not heed the warning himself.

His rigid body was found Wednesday, prostrate on the ground in the typical Islamic prayer position and caked in heavy white soot.

When he was 50, Maridjan inherited the position of "key holder" of the mountain from his father, receiving the official appointment from the sultan of Yogyakarta.

He was believed by many to have the ability to speak directly to the mountain and led ceremonies every year to hold back its lava flows by throwing rice, clothes and chickens into its dome.

Many villagers saw him as a hero, believing him over government officials and seismologists when it came to determining Merapi's danger levels. But he was a constant source of frustration for those tasked with overseeing evacuations.