The US Geological Survey says the magnitude-5.8 temblor struck on Saturday off the east coast of the North Island at a depth of 20 kilometers (12 miles).

New Zealand is prone to earthquakes. In February 2011, a strong quake in Christchurch killed 185 people and destroyed much of the city’s downtown area. Still people are very much in terror as after tsunami incident most of people think of that disaster. But as per the weather department there is nothing of this type is on the predictions.

Some 50,000 people have been ordered to evacuate from disaster-hit areas, the report said, adding that some 20 people have been reported missing. Local authorities say the number of those killed and missing is expected to rise.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has promised full relief efforts to help those affected by the disaster. ”I have heard that this is a record for heavy rainfall. We will take effective measures,” he said at a parliament session Thursday.

It revealed that almost half (45%) of applicants from Myanmar would have been refused visas if they had been interviewed. The figure for India was 29%, and 38% for Bangladesh , the home office said

Al-Assad’s interview with German broadcaster ARD aired as the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria reported another 60 people killed in the country Sunday. It also came the same day U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the Syrian regime’s days are numbered. Noting a number of recent defections from the regime, Clinton said, “the sand is running out of the hourglass.”

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon added Sunday that the situation in Syria has deteriorated significantly and become more militarized. “Appalling” human rights violations continue, he said, and the killings and violence have turned even more sectaria

Desmonte Leonard’s last address was at a residence in Montgomery, and authorities said they believe he returned to the city after gunfire erupted late Saturday in Auburn, about 50 miles away. Two former Auburn football players were among the dead and a third was injured.

More than three dozen local police, state agents and federal marshals were searching for Leonard, 22, who records show faced two previous charges involving guns.

“We don’t have reason to believe he is outside the city,” said Sgt. Regina Duckett, a spokeswoman for the Montgomery Police Department.

Kyushu is one of Japan’s most nuclear-reliant utilities and has asked users to save electricity this summer.

It had expected the new No.2 unit at its Karita plant to get online by mid-June after being idled since March 2010.

All of Japan’s 50 reactors have been shut for maintenance since last year’s Fukushima crisis, and it is not yet clear when Kyushu’s reactors restart even though Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda held an extraordinary news conference on Friday, aimed at easing safety concerns and bringing the first two units on line.

Prime Minister Noda said he has decided that two idled reactors run by Kansai Electric Power Co, the most advanced units in the country’s revised safety-check process, must be restarted to protect jobs and avoid damage to the economy. (Reporting by Risa Maeda; editing by Jason Neely)

The current rates charged are threatening the viability of pharmacies and other businesses, according to the Irish Pharmacy Union.

The IPU has said that “in light of the additional income generated by the household charge and the planned property tax”, a major review of rates should begin.Ray Hogan, chairman of the IPU’s business steering group believes the rates are unfair because they are not based on an ability to paY

Ynet News reports that the missile test resulted in hundreds of calls to Israeli police stations. The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that the missile test originated in the Astrakhan region in central Russia and was spotted in several other countries along the way, including Armenia, Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.

Dollar’s 15-year-old daughter alleged her father grabbed her by the throat in the family’s home on Sandy Creek Road in Fayette County, pushed her to the ground and then beat her with his shoe, according to the incident report. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is not identifying the girl because she is a minor.The lone witness to Friday morning’s altercation, Dollar’s 19-year-old daughter Alexandria, confirmed her sibling’s account, telling deputies their father “put both hands around her sister’s neck and choked her for about five seconds,” the incident report said.

Exuberant, diverse crowds filled the Place de la Bastille, the iconic plaza of the French Revolution, to fete Hollande’s victory, waving French, European and labor union flags and climbing its central column. Leftists are overjoyed to have one of their own in power for the first time since Socialist Francois Mitterrand was president from 1981 to 1995.

“Austerity can no longer be inevitable!” Hollande declared in his victory speech Sunday night after a surprising campaign that saw him transform from an unremarkable, mild figure to an increasingly statesmanlike one.

Sarkozy is the latest victim of a wave of voter anger at government spending cuts around Europe that have tossed out governments and leaders over the past couple of years.

In Greece, a parliamentary vote Sunday is seen as critical to the country’s prospects for pulling out of a deep financial crisis felt in world markets. A state election in Germany and local elections in Italy were seen as tests of support for the national government’s policies.

Hollande promised help for France’s downtrodden after years under the Sarkozy, a man many voters saw as too friendly with the rich and blamed for economic troubles.

Hollande said European partners should be relieved and not frightened by his presidency.

“I am proud to have been capable of giving people hope again,” Hollande told huge crowds of supporters in his electoral fiefdom of Tulle in central France. “We will succeed!”

Hollande inherits an economy that’s a driver of the European Union but is deep in debt. He wants more government stimulus, and more government spending in general, despite concerns in the markets that France needs to urgently trim its huge debt.

While some market players have worried about a Hollande presidency, Jeffrey Bergstrand, professor of finance at the University of Notre Dame, said it’s a good thing that Hollande will push for more spending throughout Europe to stimulate the economy.