Magnitude-6.6 quake shakes Japan

Magnitude-6.6 quake shakes Japan

NEW YORK

A magnitude-6.6 earthquake shook the east coast of Japan off Honshu early this morning, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. No tsunami warning was issued, and no damage or casualties were immediately reported.

The quake was shallow, at 22.6 miles beneath the surface, the USGS said.

The USGS said the quake hit some 67 miles southeast of Hachinohe, in Honshu, Japan, and about 356 miles northeast of Tokyo.

Rescue workers find 4th miner dead

LONDON

Rescue workers found the body of a fourth miner in a flooded coal mine in south Wales on Friday, dashing hopes that the last trapped miner would be found alive as a close-knit community was forced to confront the kind of tragedy it thought it had left long in the past.

South Wales chief constable Peter Vaughan called the unfortunate outcome of the search-and-rescue operation “the one that none of us wanted,” because police had held out hope of finding some of the miners alive. It is Britain’s worst fatal mining accident in years.

Officials don’t know what caused the accident at the Gleision Colliery near Swansea, in south Wales, an area once synonymous with coal mining, but where the industry all but disappeared since Britain’s labor strife of the 1980s.

No gunman found at Air Force base

TUCSON, Ariz.

The commander of an Air Force base in southern Arizona said Friday that no gunman or weapons were found after officials locked down the facility after unconfirmed reports of a gunman.

Col. John Cherrie, commander of the Davis- Monthan Air Force Base on the outskirts of Tucson, said that officials were satisfied the sprawling base was safe after a “floor-by-floor, room-by-room” search.

Cherrie, who had a two-minute news conference to discuss the five-hour lockdown, didn’t answer questions from reporters.

The lockdown at the sprawling facility was prompted by reports of someone with something that looked like a weapon, said Tech Sgt. Russ Martin.

Gadhafi loyalists beat back assault

SIRTE, Libya

Moammar Gadhafi’s fighters beat back an attempt by Libya’s new government Friday to crush remnants of the old regime, forcing revolutionary troops into retreat in the mountains and turning Gadhafi’s seaside hometown into an urban battlefield of snipers firing from mosques and heavy weapons rattling main boulevards.

The tough defense of the holdout towns of Sirte and Bani Walid displayed the firepower and resolve of the Gadhafi followers and suggested Libya’s new rulers may not easily break the back of regime holdouts.

Two accused of re-enacting movie

DENVER

Two men are accused of engaging in a disturbing re-enactment of the movie “Weekend at Bernie’s” after authorities say they drove around town with a dead friend in the car, running up a bar tab on his account and eventually using his ATM card to withdraw $400 at a strip club.

Robert Young, 43, and Mark Rubinson, 25, have been charged with abusing a corpse, identity theft and criminal impersonation.

It’s unclear how Jeffrey Jarrett, 43, died, but the men are not charged in his death. The coroner said toxicology tests were pending. Young and Rubinson are free on bond but couldn’t be reached to comment Friday.

Associated Press