A powerful earthquake, which struck near the city of Padang on Indonesia’s Sumatra island on Wednesday, has killed between 100 and 200 people, but thousands remain buried in rubble, officials said on Thursday morning.

Priyadi Kardono, spokesman for the national disaster agency, gave the death toll of 100-200 in the city of 900,000. About 500 houses had caved in, according to officials in the area.

By Thursday morning there were still “thousands of people trapped in the rubble of buildings,” said Rustam Pakaya, the head of the health ministry’s disaster center in Jakarta.

The 7.6 magnitude quake hit Padang, West Sumatra, on Wednesday afternoon. With communications to the area cut, officials have struggled to get details of casualties and damage.

Reuters

• View Comments

General Motors Co will close Saturn and wind down its dealership network after a deal to sell the faltering brand to Penske Automotive Group collapsed, the automaker said on Wednesday.

The breakdown of a deal that had been widely expected to close this week will force some 350 Saturn dealerships to close and could cut thousands of auto retail jobs that would have been preserved under a plan by auto magnate Roger Penske.

Reuters

Well I’m glad we tax payers stepped in to stop GM from collapsing.

• View Comments

Al Qaeda has developed a new tactic that allows suicide bombers to breach even the tightest security.

Inside a Saudi palace, the scene was the bloody aftermath of an al Qaeda attack in August aimed at killing Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef, head of Saudi Arabia’s counter terrorism operations.

To get his bomb into this room, Abdullah Asieri, one of Saudi Arabia’s most wanted men, avoided detection by two sets of airport security including metal detectors and palace security. He spent 30 hours in the close company of the prince’s own secret service agents – all without anyone suspecting a thing.

How did he do it?

Taking a trick from the narcotics trade – which has long smuggled drugs in body cavities – Asieri had a pound of high explosives, plus a detonator inserted in his rectum.

CBS News

• View Comments

A magnitude 8.0 earthquake struck the Pacific near American Samoa, triggering towering tsunami waves that gushed over the island and leaving at least 99 people dead.

“I thought it was the end of the world,” said Dr. Salamo Laumoli, director of health services. “I have never felt an earthquake like that before.”

CNN

• View Comments

18 months in prison – for stealing a hot dog.

That’s the punishment for Antonio Judd of Worcester.

He grabbed the hot dog from another man in Elm Park in August, after pulling what appeared to be a gun on him.

It turns out it was a pellet gun.

Police reports say Judd began to devour the hot dog, spilling mustard all over his shirt.

WBZ – TV

• View Comments