[Updated at 9:50 p.m.] Read the full CNN.com story
[Updated at 9:18 p.m.] The tsunami watches have been canceled for "all areas of the Indian Ocean," according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.
[Updated at 9:12 p.m.] Residents in Banda Aceh said they were without power.
Residents in coastal towns fled inland to higher ground just after the quake, according to a local radio station.
The tsunamis, in Banyak Island and Teluk Dalam, were small and not dangerous, measuring just under a foot high, said Fauzi, chief of the Indonesian Meteorological and Geophysics Agency. Fauzi goes by only one name, which is common in Indonesia.
[Updated at 8:20 p.m.] The quake triggered two tsunamis, according to the Indonesian Meteorological and Geophysics Agency.
There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The initial shaking, which reportedly lasted for at least three minutes, prompted scores of people to run out of buildings into open air, witnesses said.
"The quake was felt quite strong, maybe about three four minutes," said Dadik, the head of Simeulue police who goes by only one name. "I've ordered my staff to check if there's any damage or casualties, but apparently no damage reported so far."
Measurements of sea levels indicated that tsunami waves "may have been destructive along coasts near the earthquake epicenter," the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.
One registered tsunami measured close to a foot from peak to trough and was considered a small tsunami, said geophysicist Gerard Fryer with the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.
Indonesia announced the tsunami warning quickly, Fryer said, and officials at Indonesia's Meteorological and Geophysics Agency lifted it about two hours later.
An American detained in North Korea for illegally entering the country was sentenced to eight years of hard labor, North Korea's state-run news agency reported Wednesday.
Aijalon Mahli Gomes, 30, was sentenced in court Tuesday, according to Korea Central News Agency.
Rescue workers began drilling a hole Tuesday toward where they believe four miners may be located more than a day after a blast killed 25 others in a coal mine here.
"There's a sliver of hope, but we know that the odds are not in our favor," Governor Joe Manchin told CNN.
"Everyone's going to cling to the hope of a miracle," he told reporters. "That is the true agony of this."
Hours after insurgents killed dozens of people Tuesday in a new wave of bomb attacks in Baghdad, former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said he hopes to form a new government in two months after claiming victory in the country's March 7 elections.
"We need the (election) results to be officially announced by the Supreme Court, and then I guess it will take us in the range of two months to form ... I hope to form ... a government," Allawi told CNN's Christiane Amanpour.
Cuba has published photos of Elian Gonzalez, the boy who sparked a political battle with the U.S. in 2000, attending a gathering of the Union of Communist Youth.
Gonzalez, 16, appears in the olive-green uniform of the military school he attends, waving a Cuban flag, in photos posted on an official Cuban Web site, Cubadebate.cu.
A federal appeals court in Washington ruled on Tuesday that the FCC does not have the authority to stop Internet service provider Comcast from interfering with its customers' file sharing.
Tuesday's court decision is the latest volley in a legal fight dating back to 2007, when Comcast subscribers realized that the company was hindering their ability to use peer-to-peer applications like BitTorrent to swap files that consume large amounts of bandwidth.
A look at highlights from the day's business news:
Nasdaq, S&P at new 1-1/2 year highs
Financial shares rose in an otherwise tepid session Tuesday that nonetheless saw two of the major indexes - the Nasdaq and the S&P - finish at their highest levels in more than a year and a-half.
The S&P 500 index added 2 points, or 0.2 percent, closing at its highest point since September 26, 2008, when it topped 1,200. The Nasdaq composite rose 7 points, or 0.3 percent, ending at its highest point since August 15, 2008.
The Catholic Church on Tuesday announced that Archbishop Jose Gomez, who served in San Antonio for five years, will be the new archbishop of Los Angeles, the largest Catholic community in the United States.
Gomez, who was born in Monterrey, Mexico, will become one of the highest-ranking Hispanic Catholic leaders in the United States upon the retirement in 2011 of Cardinal Roger Mahony, the current leader of the three-county Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Los Angeles "is one of the great Catholic communities of the United States" and the world, Gomez said at a news conference Tuesday.
Seven miners who were killed in a West Virginia coal mine explosion Monday were identified by the state’s medical examiner.
They were identified as:Â
- Steven J. Harrah
- William R. Lynch
- Jason Atkins
- Benny Ray Willingham
- Carl Accord
- Deward Allan Scott
- Robert E. Clark
The miners’ families have been notified, according to the West Virginia State Department of Health and Human Resources.
Police arrested a 64-year-old Washington state resident for allegedly making death threats against Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.
A department statement said the suspect, identified as Charles Alan Wilson of Selah, Washington, made the threats in phone messages to Murray's office between March 22 and April 4.
Wilma Mankiller, the first woman to lead the Cherokee native American tribe, died Tuesday after a battle with pancreatic cancer, Cherokee leaders announced Tuesday. She was 64.
Mankiller served 10 years as principal chief of the Cherokee, the second-largest U.S. tribe, and became its first freely elected leader in 1987. President Clinton awarded her the Medal of Freedom, the highest U.S. civilian honor, in 1998.
Three teens accused in the bullying of a Massachusetts high school student who committed suicide pleaded not guilty to related charges Tuesday.
Sean Mulveyhill, 17, Kayla Narey, 17, and Austin Renaud, 18, were not present at Hampshire Superior Court in Northampton, Massachusetts. They entered their pleas through their lawyers.
Federal Reserve policymakers are worried that the economic recovery may lose steam going forward, despite recent moderate improvements, according to minutes from their recent policy meeting released Tuesday.
Though the latest data suggest an uptick in economic activity, Fed members believe that some sectors of the economy could stifle overall growth, the minutes from the March 16 meeting said.
[Posted at 4:32 p.m.] The death toll has risen to at least 93 people killed and another 93 people injured.
[Posted at 1:07 p.m.] Heavy rains and flooding in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Tuesday killed 54 people and injured at least 87, Maj. Ronaldo Nogueira of the Rio fire department told CNN.
The US and Czech flags inside Prague Castle where President Obama will sign a nuclear disarmament treaty with Russia on Thursday.
Here's a look at some of tomorrow's news events:
Obama goes to Prague
President Barack Obama leaves for Prague, Czech Republic, where he will sign the START treaty along with his Russian counterpart which will cut the two countries' nuclear weapons by about a third. Read more
One of our most popular stories Monday was one about footage posted online that showed two photojournalists killed in a 2007 attack by a U.S. helicopter gunship in Iraq being rescued when the gunship's crew fired on the van to which he was being carried.
We now have the full 17 minute video that you can watch it below. The video contains graphic content and user discretion is advised.
Attention scrabble players! Mattel, the company that produces the popular game, is changing the rules. It's allowing you to score points by spelling out proper nouns.
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