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RABAT, Morocco - A minaret collapsed during Friday prayers at a crowded mosque in the old town of the historic Moroccan city of Meknes, killing 36 people and injuring 71, the official MAP news agency said. Officials blamed the accident on heavy rain that had weakened the minaret at the Bab Berdieyinne Mosque, according to a statement released by the Interior Ministry. King Mohammed VI sent the interior minister and religious affairs minister to Meknes, a UNESCO heritage city and one of Morocco's four imperial cities, some 60 miles east of the capital Rabat.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- A commercial Adam Air passenger plane with more than 100 people onboard lost contact with flight controllers Monday on a flight between Indonesia's Java and Sulawesi islands, officials said. Adam Air flight KI-574 was still missing more than five hours after the scheduled arrival time. A senior Transport Ministry official, Ichsan Tatang, said aviation authorities were gathering information from other flights which "might have picked up the plane's distress signal." Adam Air's chief executive, Gunawan Suherman, confirmed to The Associated Press that controllers had lost contact with Adam Air flight KI-574.

Magnitude 7.6 PAKISTAN Saturday, October 08, 2005 at 03:50:38 UTC Preliminary Earthquake Report U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center World Data Center for Seismology, Denver The following is a release by the United States Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center: A major earthquake occurred about 95 km (60 miles) north-northeast of Islamabad, Pakistan at 9:50 PM MDT, Oct 7, 2005 (Oct 08 at 8:50 AM local time in Pakistan). The magnitude and location may be revised when additional data and further analysis results are available. No reports of damage or casualties have been received at this time; however, this...

A major earthquake with a magnitude of at least 7.6 struck Pakistan on Saturday and was felt across the Indian subcontinent, shaking people out of their homes and sending them running into the streets. The quake was felt in the Indian, Pakistani and Afghan capitals, but there were no immediate reports of casualties. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) highlighted a large earthquake on its Website between Indian- and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir with a magnitude of 7.6. It described the quake as "major", saying it took place at 0350 GMT at a depth of 10km (6.2 miles). It was centred 95 km...

ISLAMABAD, Oct. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- A strong earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale rocked major Pakistani cities of Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar on Saturday morning, according to local TV reports. The quake shook buildings in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan, for about a minute at around 8:50 a.m. local time. It also shook northern India and part of Afghanistan as Xinhua reporters in New Delhi and Kabul said both the capitals felt the shakings of the quake. The India Meteorological Department said the earthquake's epicenter was in Pakistan. In India, the first tremor was felt at 9:25 a.m. Saturday in...

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