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.