Earthquake strikes Indonesia; 13 dead
JAKARTA, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- A strong earthquake struck Indonesia Wednesday, killing at least 13 people, injuring 18 others and damaging several older buildings, witnesses said.
The earthquake, centered about 150 miles from Jakarta, initially was categorized at 7.4 magnitude before being downgraded to 7 by geological officials, CNN reported.
Rescue officials said the 13 deaths occurred at various locations in Western Java province. Details about the deaths weren't immediately available.
At least 18 other people were injured in Jakarta, Health Ministry spokesman Rustam Pakaya said.
In Tasikmalaya, a city on the island of Java, officials said several older buildings were damaged and people panicked in the streets because of the lack of electricity, a witness told CNN. Tasikmalaya is about 88 miles from the quake's epicenter.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said a tsunami watch went into effect and quickly expired.
Hurricane Jimena buffets Mexico's Baja
MIAMI, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Pacific Hurricane Jimena's winds and rain were buffeting the Mexican Baja Peninsula Wednesday with 105 mph winds and rain, U.S. forecasters reported.
At 2 a.m. PDT, a hurricane warning was in effect for the peninsula from Agua Blanca northward to Punta Abreojos on the west coast and from La Paz northward to Mulege on the east coast.
Forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said the center of Jimena was about 65 miles south-southeast of Cabo San Lazaro. The storm was moving toward the north-northwest at nearly 13 mph and a decrease in forward speed was expected in the next day, forecasters said.
"On its forecast track, the center of the storm was expected to be ... near or over the central peninsula Wednesday night and Thursday," the center said.
Wind gusts of 125 mph were reported early Wednesday as more than 5,000 people waited in government shelters, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Hurricane force winds were extending outward as far as 50 miles from the center and tropical storm force winds extended outward as far as 140 miles.
There was no immediate report of injuries or damage.
Car bomb rocks Athens stock exchange
ATHENS, Greece, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- A car bomb rattled the Athens Stock Exchange Wednesday, damaging the building, setting eight vehicles afire and wounding a security guard, police said.
The blast occurred about 40 minutes after a device exploded outside a government building in Thessaloniki in northern Greece, The New York Times reported. The explosion caused minor damage but no injuries.
Both attacks Wednesday were preceded by anonymous warning calls to police and an Athens newspaper, officials said.
No one immediately claimed responsibility, but police and counter-terrorism officials said they suspected the Athens explosion was set by Revolutionary Struggle, a far-left militant group that initiated a rocket attack on the U.S. Embassy in the Greek capital two years ago.
"There does not appear to be any link between the two attacks," national police spokesman Panayiotis Stathis said. "We suspect the Thessaloniki hit was by a local militant group.
"The Athens bourse attack is far more serious."
Officials at the exchange said trading would proceed as normal in both Greece and Cyprus, which share the same trading platform.
Locals: Karzai brother took ballot boxes
KABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai's brother shut down polling places in a district where the local leaders supported his opponent, the area's governor says.
Delaga Bariz, governor of the Shorabak district of the southern city of Kandahar, told Wednesday's Washington Post that the president's half brother Ahmed Wali -- the leader of the Kandahar provincial council and the most powerful man in southern Afghanistan -- closed all 45 of the district's polling places after tribal leaders threw their support to Karzai's opponent, Abdullah Abdullah.
Bariz alleged aides to Wali confiscated the ballot boxes and later stuffed them with 23,900 ballots, all marked for Karzai.
"Not a single person in Shorabak District cast a ballot -- not a single person," Bariz told the Post. "Mr. Karzai's people stuffed all the ballot boxes."
The newspaper said the allegations are the most serious of hundreds of complaints filed in Kabul over the conduct of the Aug. 20 election. Afghan Electoral Complaints Commission said Tuesday that the number of fraud complaints had reached 2,615.
The Post said the official election tally so far gives Karzai 46 percent of the vote to Abdullah's 33 percent with slightly less than half of the ballots counted.
Libya warned Britain about Megrahi release
LONDON, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Libya warned if the convicted Lockerbie bomber died in prison it would be "catastrophic" for Libya's relationship with Britain, officials said.
The warning was revealed in official documents released Tuesday, The Times of London reported. The files suggested the government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown did not pressure Scottish officials to release Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi.
Megrahi, diagnosed with terminal cancer, was freed last month on compassionate grounds and flown to Libya. The release provoked an angry response in the United States from officials and relatives of those who died when a Pan Am plane flying from London to New York exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland.
One memo involved Abduloti Alobidi, the Libyan minister for Europe, and Bill Rammell, the British foreign office minister.
"Mr. Alobidi confirmed that he had reiterated to Mr. Rammell that the death of Mr. Megrahi in a Scottish prison would have catastrophic effects for the relationship between Libya and the U.K.," the note said.
