Strong 6.6-magnitude quake hits off Indonesia
Jakarta, Jan 6: A strong 6.6-magnitude earthquake struck off the Indonesian coast early Monday, sending residents running out of their homes, but no tsunami warning was issued.
The quake hit at a depth of 60 kilometres (40 miles) under the Molucca Sea, some 175 kilometres north northwest of the city of Ternate, according to the USGS.
There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties and Indonesia's geophysics agency did not issue a tsunami alert.
"We felt the quake and some people got out of their house but there was no real panic. There is no damage in my area," said a man from Ternate called Budi, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.
Bani Nasution, a man who was in the city of Manado when the quake struck, told AFP: "I ran out of my house and so did other people here, but we've all returned to our houses now." A series of aftershocks also rocked the area.
Indonesia is still reeling from a deadly tsunami at the end of December triggered by an erupting volcano in the middle of the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra islands that killed more than 400 people.
The vast Southeast Asian archipelago is one of the most disaster-hit nations on Earth due to its position straddling the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, where tectonic plates collide.
The tsunami was Indonesia's third major natural disaster in six months, following a series of powerful earthquakes on the island of Lombok in July and August and a quake-tsunami in September that killed around 2,200 people in Palu on Sulawesi island, with thousands more missing and presumed dead.
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Minor boy strangled to death for ransom in UP's Sultanpur
Sultanpur (PTI): A debt-ridden neighbour allegedly kidnapped and murdered an 11-year-old boy boy at Sultanpur, police said on Wednesday.
The accused, Asif alias Sonu, demanded a ransom of Rs 5,00,000 for releasing Osama alias Sahil to repay his debts, Kotwali police station SHO Naradmuni Singh said.
"The incident took place in the Gandhinagar locality of Sultanpur. The victim's father, Mohd Shakeel, said his son went missing on Monday night after he left to attend a wedding procession. Despite searches, there was no trace of the child," the SHO said.
On Wednesday morning, Osama's body with strangulation marks was found at the residence of the accused whom the police arrested, he said.
Asif, who lives in the same neighbourhood as the victim, exploited the trust built between the two families to carry out the crime, the officer said.
The killing of the minor boy has triggered outrage in the area with the residents demanding stringent punishment for the accused.
The victim's family has called for death penalty for Asif.
