Earthquake strikes off Vancouver

Earthquake strikes off Vancouver

VANCOUVER, British Columbia

A magnitude-6.4 earthquake struck Friday off the coast of British Columbia, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The quake struck at a depth of 14.3 miles about 173 miles west of Vancouver, the USGS said. The quake was initially reported to have a magnitude of 6.7 but was later downgraded by the USGS.

The quake’s epicenter was just off the west coast of Vancouver Island, south of Port Hardy.

Stephen Halchuck, a seismologist with Natural Resources Canada, said the quake lasted for 20 to 30 seconds and rattled buildings across Vancouver Island and the southwest portion of British Columbia.

Blackout a reminder of vulnerabilities

SAN DIEGO

A blackout that swept across parts of the Southwest and Mexico apparently began with a single utility worker and a minor repair job.

How it then rippled from that worker in the Arizona desert to southern California and across the border, plunging millions of people into darkness, has authorities and experts puzzled, especially since the power grid is built to withstand such mishaps.

However it spread, Thursday’s outage was a reminder that the nation’s transmission lines remain all too vulnerable to cascading power failures.

Hackers send fake terror alerts

NEW YORK

A hacker broke into the Twitter account of NBC News and sent out a handful of false tweets about a suspected hijacking and a plane attack at ground zero just days before the tenth anniversary of Sept. 11.

Staffers noticed the false tweets at around 6 p.m. Eastern time Friday, contacted Twitter and soon after had the account suspended.

Host Brian Williams then read a statement on air saying the reports were false.

A group calling itself Script Kiddies mentioned themselves in the tweets and appeared to be responsible.

By about 7 p.m., the account was restored and the false tweets removed. NBC is contacting authorities including the New York Police Department and the FBI about the incident.

Egyptians break into Israeli embassy

CAIRO

Protesters broke into the Israeli Embassy in Cairo on Friday and dumped documents out of the windows as hundreds more demonstrated outside, prompting the ambassador to rush to the airport to leave. The unrest was a further worsening of already deteriorating ties between Israel and post-Hosni Mubarak Egypt.

Egyptian police made no attempt to intervene during the day as crowds of hundreds tore down an embassy security wall with sledgehammers and their bare hands or after nightfall when about 30 protesters stormed into the Nile-side high-rise building where the embassy is located.

Daughter’s hands glued to wall

DALLAS

A 22-year-old mother was facing child-abuse charges Friday after police say she glued her toddler daughter’s hands to a wall, kicked her in the stomach and beat her over a potty-training issue.

Joselyn Cedillo, 2, was on life support with multiple internal injuries at a Dallas hospital Thursday, The Dallas Morning News reported. A hospital spokeswoman told The Associated Press she had no information on the girl Friday.

Associated Press