Explosions in Congo kill 200, including 4 Chinese

BRAZZAVILLE - Around 200 people, including four Chinese workers, have been killed and many more injured in a series of explosions in Brazzaville, the capital of Congo Republic, according to a senior...

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Monk guards remains of unknown tsunami victims

YAMAMOTO — Hundreds of the 19,000 people killed by Japan’s horrific quake-tsunami remain unmourned, their bodies never claimed because there is no one left to notice they have gone. But one Buddhist...

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Five killed in Kotabaru flood

KOTABARU, S Kalimantan, March 5 — A flood swept through Kotabaru in South Kalimantan province on Sunday, leaving five people dead. The overflowing of Baharu river following more than three hours of heavy rains resulted to flooding. Three of the victims, identified as Irham (13), Iqbal (13), and Husein (13), were found stuck on a bridge near the Kotabaru police resort, Sugeng, a member of the task force of the Kotabaru regional disaster mitigation body, said. The other victim was identified as Wawan (27). He was found dead beneath a bridge after being carried away by floodwaters as far as three kilometers, he said. Wawan, a member of the task force, fell and was carried away by floodwaters while trying to rescue other victim, he said. Wawan was believed to have worn no life vest so he was easily carried away by floodwaters. "The last fatality, identified as Dedi (13), was found at the Kemakmuran fish market in Kotabaru at noon," he said. Earlier,...

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Oregon missing-persons cases get assist from medical examiner's office: new online forms for DNA samples

CLACKAMAS -- The State Medical Examiner's Office has posted two new forms on its website in hopes of tipping the odds in missing-persons cases. Dr. Karen Gunson, state medical examiner, said the office is partnering with the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification, a state-of-the-art facility that offers free DNA analysis. The new online forms, which must be submitted by families of missing persons or by police, were designed to speed up the process of getting scientifically solid information. "Because the Oregon State Police Forensic Services Division doesn't perform DNA analysis on missing person cases, our office put the required forms online to help facilitate the successful submission of DNA samples to the center's lab," Gunson said. "We hope having these forms online can help the center, families and investigators bring closure in cases that sadly ended in someone's death." In 2008, Oregon's Missing Persons...

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Families oppose 9/11 remains at memorial museum

NEW YORK (AP) - March 4, 2012 (WPVI) -- Families of Sept. 11 victims on Sunday called for congressional hearings to establish federal protocols on how to handle human remains after disasters like the terror acts that took thousands of lives in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. At a news conference near the Sept. 11 memorial, family members spoke days after Pentagon officials revealed that partial remains of several victims were incinerated by a military contractor and sent to a landfill. The families said they oppose a plan to place unidentified human remains of the New York victims in an underground repository at bedrock they say "desecrates" the memory of their loved ones. "Are our loved ones' remains marketable?" asked Rosaleen Tallon, sister of firefighter Sean Tallon, who died in the 2001 attack. "They're using them to market trinkets." She held up a gift keychain inscribed with "No Day Shall Erase You From the Memory" - the...

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