TOKYO
Earthquake kills 3, injures at least 400
A strong earthquake jolted northwestern Japan this morning, killing at least three people and injuring more than 400 others. The quake flattened houses and triggered a fire at a nuclear power plant.
Sirens could be heard in hard-hit Kashiwazaki city. National broadcaster NHK said more than 400 people were hurt.
Three elderly women in Kashiwazaki died from the initial quake, an official at Kashiwazaki Central Hospital said on condition of anonymity.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake registered 6.7 magnitude. A series of aftershocks followed.
“I was so scared – the violent shaking went on for 20 seconds,” Ritei Wakatsuki told The Associated Press from Kashiwazaki.
At the Kashiwazaki nuclear plant, the fire in an electrical transformer was put out, and there was no release of radioactivity or damage to reactors, said Motoyasu Tamaki, a Tokyo Electric Power Co. spokesman.
Some 2,000 people in Kashiwazaki were evacuated from their homes, city official Takashi Otsuka said.
The quake buckled seaside roads and bridges, and one-yard wide fissures could been seen in the ground along the coastline.
TEHRAN
Iran warns U.N. not to add more sanctions
Iranian officials said Sunday that any further U.N. Security Council sanctions on the country could jeopardize its recent decisions to grant international inspectors greater access to nuclear sites and disclose information about past activities.
Iran last week announced a decision to allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, to monitor its heavy-water reactor and agreed on increased safeguards for its uranium-enrichment facility and to discuss unresolved questions about its past nuclear research.
But Iranian officials on Sunday said Iran’s acquiescence to IAEA requests was meant to stave off further U.N. action over its enrichment of uranium.
METAIRIE, La.
Vitter plans to return to Senate for votes
Sen. David Vitter, R-La., in seclusion since acknowledging dealings with an escort service, is returning to Washington for votes in the Senate, his office said Sunday.
The two-sentence advisory did not say when Vitter planned to return. On Friday, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., said he had traded e-mails with Vitter and expected his colleague to return to the Capitol by today.
Vitter has been out of the public eye since releasing a statement July 9 apologizing for a “very serious sin,” acknowledging his Washington phone number was among those called several years ago by an escort service.
TACOMA, Wash.
Suspension bridge longest built in years
Thousands turned out for opening-day festivities Sunday at the new mile-long Tacoma Narrows bridge, the longest suspension bridge to open in the U.S. in more than 40 years.
The party started with a 5K run and walk across the bridge, then state officials paid the first toll, crossing the bridge in a 1923 Lincoln Touring Car, the first to cross the original bridges, built in 1940 and 1950.
The deck later opened to pedestrians and is scheduled to open to traffic early today.
JERUSALEM
Scores of Palestinians turn arms in to Israel
Scores of battle-hardened Palestinians signed pledges to renounce violence against Israel and turned in their weapons Sunday, accepting the Israeli government’s first collective offer of clemency in 14 years for gunmen listed as wanted terrorists.
Israeli officials said the offer went out selectively, to 178 Fatah militiamen, in the expectation that they would join the regular Palestinian security forces and turn full attention to disarming the rival Hamas movement, the Jewish state’s intractable enemy.
By day’s end, Palestinian officials said they believed that all those on the clemency list had agreed to terms of the deal.
