A 7.6 magnitude earthquake just struck near the Iran-Iraq border (in Iraq, southeast of the city of As-Sulaymaniyah, according to US Geological Survey). Initial reports of damage in Baghdad and that the tremor was felt in Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia.
Prelim M7.2 earthquake Iran-Iraq border region Nov-12 18:18 UTC, updates https://t.co/QIaZuvWNXu
— USGS Big Quakes (@USGSBigQuakes) November 12, 2017
Malawi is bracing itself for an outbreak of the plague after the Daily Mail reports that deadly disease continues to spread across the island nation of Madagascar. At least 143 people have died and more than 2,000 others have been infected in Madagascar since an outbreak in early August this year which has now spread to its 10th African nation.
Malawi's health secretary confirmed the country is ready for any reported cases of the disease amid mounting concerns of Africa's 'porous borders'.
About a month ago, we noted reports from the French nuclear watchdog ISRN that a spike in airborne radioactivity had been detected in the air in Western and Central Europe: "Ruthenium-106 has been detected by several European networks involved in the monitoring of atmospheric radioactive contamination, at levels of a few milliBecquerels per cubic meter of air."
An oil pipeline in Bahrain exploded, and burst into giant fireball, as numerous videos posted on social media showed. According to the Saudi Gazette, an explosion caused a fire in an oil pipeline near Buri village. It adds that no injuries have been reported, and that civil defense teams are extinguishing the fire.
More from Al-bilad Press (google translated):
That didn’t take long.
Two days after Alphabet’s Waymo subsidiary announced that it would begin testing a fully autonomous taxi service on the streets of suburban Phoenix, Ariz. - provoking warnings from safety groups who claim Waymo’s own data show its cars are not yet prepared to safely operate on public roads - another self-driving shuttle service being tested in Las Vegas, Nevada created a local controversy when one of its shuttles collided with a human driver. And what's more, the accident occurred on the project's first day in operation.