Tornadoes kill five in US Midwest

Tornadoes have hit a large swathe of the US Midwest, killing at least five people in Oklahoma, officials say.Twisters were also reported in Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska as the storm front swept east.The deaths occurred before dawn in the town of Woodward, Oklahoma, after warning sirens failed to sound, officials said. A tornado there caused extensive damage, mainly in the west of the town. At least 29 people were injured.The National Weather Service had forecast further tornadoes early Sunday morning, with concern they could strike as people slept.

Officials feared people would not hear warnings as they slept and said that it was more difficult for weather spotters to track the funnel clouds overnight.

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Rescue teams searched rubble for people trapped or wounded in Woodward, where high winds damaged homes, uprooted trees and brought down electricity lines, the Associated Press reported.

A block of flats was also damaged by the twister, after residents were caught by surprise as the storm sirens had failed to sound, Reuters news agency quoted the local mayor as saying.

This thing took us by surprise," Keli Cain, spokeswoman for Oklahoma Emergency Management, told the agency. "It's kind of overwhelming."

"They're still going door to door and in some cases there are piles of rubble and they are having to sift through the rubble," one of Ms Cain's deputies, Michelann Ooten, told AP.In Iowa, a tornado destroyed large parts of the town of Thurman, on Saturday, but there were no major injuries, the NWS said.

"It lasted three to four minutes probably - what seemed like an eternity," one man from Thurman told the broadcaster ABC."The next thing I know, the house was shaking and I could feel it lifting and it was over that quick," another man said.
Another twister caused widespread power outages and other damage in the city of Wichita, Kansas, according to Associated Press. The roof of a hospital in Creston, southwest of Des Moines, was damaged, but patients and staff were not hurt, AP reported.
Tornado experts had said that storms on Saturday could be a "life-threatening event".

US tornadoes have already killed at least 39 people in 2012.

An outbreak of deadly twisters hit the states of Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Georgia and Alabama in early March. At the start of April the Dallas-Fort Worth area was badly hit, with hundreds of flights being disrupted but no-one injured or killed.

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8.9 magnitude quake rocks Indonasia, tsunami warning issued

2:42 pm: Tsunami warning issued in 28 nations.
2:40 pm: Tremors felt in Bangalore, Ooty and Bhubaneshwar as well.

2:35 pm: According to USGS, at 1:39 AM Pacific Daylight Time on April 11, an earthquake with preliminary magnitude 8.7 occurred off the west coast of northern Sumatera, Indonesia .
2:30 pm: Mild tremors felt in Chennai, Kolkata and Guwahati after earthquake in Indonesia
2:20 pm: Tsunami warning issued
2:15 pm: 8.9 magnitude quake rocks Indonasia.

Damage assessment begins after Fiji floods

Fiji's government is sending teams to assess damage caused by days of severe flooding that killed at least five and forced thousands out of their homes.

A state of emergency was declared in the South Pacific nation on Sunday.
Authorities feared the worst on Monday with a tropical cyclone bringing more rain and strong gales, but the worst appears to be over, says Information Secretary Sharon Smith-Johns.
The survey teams will also distribute food rations in affected areas.
''We have also organised teams to make aerial assessments which will happen today. As of yesterday we had dispatched two boats,'' Pajiliai Dobui, director of the disaster management centre, DISMAC, told Fiji Broadcasting Corporation.
Some Fijians had begun returning to their homes, as the rain stopped and waters began to recede, said Ms Smith-Johns.

Some 8,000 people have been taking shelter in evacuation centres on the largest island of Viti Levu for days as the floods have cut off water and electricity to some areas.
Thousands of tourists - many of whom are Australians - were also left stranded in the country when flights were cut off over the weekend.
They are expected to be able to leave Fiji today as flights resume, Australian media reported.
Fiji's Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, who has been visiting affected areas, has called for a solution to the country's flooding problems, saying that this was ''three to four times worse'' than the last devastating flood in 2009.Flooding in January this year in the Pacific island nation left at least six dead.
''We have to make some hard and fast decisions on what to do with infrastructure, with our rivers and our dredging together with a whole lot of other issues so we don't continue to get bogged down every time there is heavy rain," he said.

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Romney hopes to bag Wisconsin in a primary hat-trick

Mitt Romney is aiming for a triple primary victory as voters in Wisconsin, Maryland and Washington DC pick a Republican presidential candidate.

the former Massachusetts governor is hoping to knock main rival Rick Santorum out of the race so he can sew up his party's nomination. Opinion polls suggest Mr Romney is leading in Wisconsin and Maryland. But Mr Santorum does not seem ready to bow out of the race to become the challenger to President Barack Obama.

'Crushing dreams'

Mr Romney cannot score a decisive blow against Mr Santorum on Tuesday, he will try to do so in the former senator's home state of Pennsylvania, which holds its primary on 24 April.

As of Monday, Mr Romney had 568 of the 1,144 delegates needed to clinch the Republican nomination at the party's convention in August, according to an Associated Press tally.
Mr Santorum was far behind with 273 delegates, while Newt Gingrich had 135 and Ron Paul 50.

Rick Santorum says he has done well despite Mr Romney's "overwhelming money"

Mr Romney's campaign was given a boost last week in the Midwestern state of Wisconsin by an endorsement from local congressman and budget committee chairman Paul Ryan.
Mr Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, campaigned with Mr Ryan on Monday in Green Bay, Wisconsin, at a building supply company.
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Colombia's Farc rebels release hostages

Colombia's leftist Farc rebels have released their last 10 police and military hostages.

The captives were collected from the jungle by a Brazilian military helicopter and flown to safety.They were welcomed by their relatives at the city of Villavicencio and given medical checks before being flown on to the capital, Bogota. President Juan Manuel Santos welcomed the releases but said the gesture by the Farc was "not enough".
Television pictures showed the former hostages waving and punching the air as they got off the helicopter at Villavicencio. All had been held for more than a decade after being captured in combat by the insurgent group.
Welcome to liberty, soldiers and policemen of Colombia," Mr Santos said at the presidential palace.
"Freedom has been very delayed but now it is yours, to the delight of the whole country."
But he said the releases and the Farc's promise to stop kidnapping for ransom were "not enough" and that the hundreds of civilians still being believed to be held must also be freed.
"The country and the world demand the release of all the hostages," he said, adding that his government would continue its policy of confronting armed groups. "When the government believes there are enough guarantees to begin a process that leads to the end of the conflict, the country will know it," he said.

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Oil firms warn of disruptions in fuel supply

State-owned oil companies on Monday warned of disruptions in fuel supplies if they are not allowed to raise petrol price or compensated for the Rs 48 crore per day loss they incur on selling fuel below cost.

“The situation is very critical. We are losing Rs 7.67 per litre on petrol and after adding 20 per cent sales tax, the desired increase in rates in Delhi is Rs 9.20 per litre,” Indian Oil Corp (IOC) Chairman R.S. Butola told reporters said.

“Our 93 per cent of cost of production is on account of crude oil, which we have to import. If we don’t earn revenues from fuel sales, we would not be able to buy crude oil and if we are unable to buy crude, there will be fuel supply disruptions,” he said.

IOC and other oil PSUs, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum are losing Rs 48 crore per day on sale of petrol, whose pricing was decontrolled by the government in June 2010.

But the government hasn’t allowed the oil companies to hike petrol price.

“This is a peculiar scenario where the central government earns Rs 14.78 on every litre of petrol sold (in excise duty) and states governments get anything between Rs 10 to 20 a litre. But the oil companies are not allowed to earn anything,” Mr. Butola said.

Oil PSUs have asked government to make good the losses they incur on selling petrol if retail selling price of the fuel are not to be increased. Also, they have demanded a cut in the excise duty on petrol.

“We had clearly told the government that if these demands are not accepted, then oil companies will have no option but to raise petrol prices,” he said. “We haven’t so far heard from the government.”

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