Strong quake shakes northern Philippines; no tsunami warning
Manila, Oct 25: A strong earthquake rocked the northern Philppines late on Tuesday, but officials said no serious damage was expected and no tsunami warning was issued.
The US Geological Survey said the magnitude 6.4 quake was centered 16.2 kilometers (10 miles) below the surface about 11 kilometers (7 miles) from Dolores on Luzon island.
The US Tsunami Warning System said no warning or advisory was issued.
The quake was felt across a wide area of northern Luzon, but the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said it did not expect any major damage.
The Philippine archipelago lies on the "Pacific Ring of Fire," a region along most of the Pacific Ocean rim where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur, making the Southeast Asian nation one of the world's most disaster-prone.
In July, a magnitude 7 earthquake set off landslides and damaged buildings in the northern Philippines, killing at least five people and injuring dozens.
A magnitude 7.7 quake killed nearly 2,000 people in the northern Philippines in 1990.
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Man kills woman lecturer, sets car ablaze; dies by suicide in Karnataka
Bengaluru (PTI): A 46-year-old man allegedly killed a woman lecturer by setting fire to the car with her inside, before dying by suicide; his severed body was found by railway police the next day, police said on Tuesday.
The deceased, identified as Ramanjinappa, a resident of Doddaballapura, was a contract worker in the tahsildar’s office, they said.
Police said the man, who was married and had apparently separated from his wife, was in an illicit relationship with a woman identified as Saroja, whose charred body was found inside a gutted car in an isolated area near the Bashetty Industrial Area in Doddaballapura taluk on the outskirts of Bengaluru.
Saroja was also married and had a son, police said.
According to police, on Saturday, the man allegedly borrowed a car from an acquaintance, claiming he had a medical emergency and needed to visit a hospital.
Citing preliminary investigations, a senior police officer said the man picked up the lecturer from a bus stop in Devanahalli. The two spent a couple of hours driving around Nandi Hills and nearby areas.
Later, they reached a secluded spot in Doddaballapura, where it is suspected that an argument ensued inside the car, following which he allegedly hit her on the head with a hammer, the officer said.
He then set the car on fire, reportedly using petrol, and is believed to have died by suicide thereafter, police said.
Locals who saw the burning car alerted the police and fire department, who rushed to the spot, extinguished the fire, and found the woman’s body completely charred inside the vehicle, the officer added.
His severed body was found near railway tracks in Bidadi by the railway police on Sunday, he said.
The motive and whether the crime was premeditated or impulsive are under investigation, he said.
Saroja’s husband filed a complaint accusing Ramanjinappa of killing her, police said, adding that a detailed investigation is underway to establish the exact sequence of events.
