Sharp series of aftershocks strike New Zealand

September 7, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand

A sharp series of about 20 aftershocks rattled New Zealand’s earthquake-hit city of Christchurch overnight, and earthquake experts warned Tuesday that another powerful tremblor might hammer the region in coming days.

The weekend’s powerful 7.1-magnitude earthquake smashed buildings and homes, wrecked roads and disrupted the central city, though nobody was killed, and only two people were seriously injured.

The city center remained cordoned off by troops today, with only building owners and workers allowed in to begin clearing up the mess — with much of the center taking on the mantle of a ghost town.

More than 100 aftershocks, ranging from magnitude 3.2 to 5.4, have rocked the region since Saturday’s major quake.

Overnight, about 20 shocks including two of magnitude 5.4 rattled the city, and quake experts said aftershocks likely will continue for several weeks — and the worst of them may be yet to come.

Homicide attack on police station kills 17 officers and civilians

LAKKI MARWAT, Pakistan

A Taliban suicide bomber detonated a car in an alley behind a police station in a strategically important town in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, killing at least 17 police and civilians in an explosion that shattered the station and neighboring homes.

About 40 people were wounded in the attack in Lakki Marwat, which sits on the main road between Punjab province, Pakistan’s largest and most prosperous, and the North and South Waziristan tribal regions.

A Pakistani army offensive pushed many militants out of South Waziristan in October. The militants still control much of North Waziristan, where U.S. drone aircraft have been conducting a campaign of targeted killings.

Hours after the attack, officials said a suspected U.S. missile strike had killed three alleged militants in North Waziristan, home to the Haqqani network, a militant group battling U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Two Pakistani intelligence officials told The Associated Press that a missile hit a vehicle in the Datta Khel area on the Afghan border Monday evening. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information

Mass. woman chastised by Rep. Frank running against him in primary

BOSTON

Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank’s retort was an Internet sensation.

Questioned at a town hall last year about the “Nazi policy” of health-care reform, Frank told the speaker who made the comment that talking to her was “like arguing with a dining room table.” Fast forward to this year, the questioner, Rachel Brown, is challenging the 15-term Democrat’s re-election bid.

Brown said her exchange with Frank inspired her to run against him in the Democratic primary in the state’s 4th Congressional District.

“I didn’t realize at the time that if you had a better idea, you should take their seat,” said 29-year-old Brown, a devotee of economist Lyndon LaRouche.

N. Korea preps for political convention

SEOUL, South Korea

Huge posters plastered across the North Korean capital hailed the nation’s biggest political convention in 30 years as a historic event as the world watched Monday for signs that the country’s next leader was making his public debut.

Party delegates from all corners of North Korea were gathering in Pyongyang, state media said. Thousands practiced waving pink and red plastic flowers in a weekend rehearsal of celebrations at Kim Il Sung Square, China’s Xinhua news agency said.

The capital was festooned with posters urging North Koreans to “make this a festive event that will shine in the history of our country and people.” One North Korean professor told broadcaster Associated Press Television News the party meeting marked a “turning point” for the communist nation.

However, there was no confirmation Monday that the convention, slated to take place in “early September,” had begun, with the timing kept secret as is typical of the North Korean regime.

Twin mudslides bury bus, then would-be rescuers

GUATEMALA CITY

Searchers on Monday pulled more bodies from a mud-covered highway where back-to-back landslides buried bus passengers and people trying to save them. Yet more mudslides helped raise Guatemala’s official death toll to 45 after days of torrential rains.

Authorities said 25 people are confirmed dead and at least 15 are believed to be still buried beneath the debris in the village of Nahuala, where a first mudslide buried a bus and other vehicles, then a second one turned would-be rescuers into victims.

At least 20 others died over the weekend elsewhere as a tropical depression saturated the ground and set off more than a dozen landslides around the country, according to the national disaster agency. The most recent slide, on a highway in northern Guatemala, killed one person and injured 26 on Sunday.