Taiwan Gas Blast: 20 People Dead, 270 Injured as Underground Gas Explosions Tear Through City

The five explosions tore up the streets leaving a scene of carnage.AFP / Getty Images

20 people are dead and 270 injured after a series of underground gas explosions in the southern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung.

Five fire fighters who were investigating the gas leaks in the municipality are among the dead.

Taiwan Premier Jiang Yi-huah said there were at least five explosions affecting an area of two to three square km.

The National Fire Agency said it is unclear what caused the explosions which began in the city's sewer system, however early reports suggest the blasts were caused by ruptured pipelines.

Several petrochemical companies have pipelines built along the sewage system in Chian-Chen district.

AFP / Getty Images

In a statement, the National Fire Agency added: "The local fire department received calls of gas leaks late Thursday and then there was a series of blasts around midnight affecting an area of two to three square kilometres."

Eye witnesses likened the force of the blast to a powerful earthquake. The explosions caused fires in nearby buildings and over turned cars, while smoke with a "gas-like smell" was seen coming out of drains.

Kaohsiung mayor Chen Chu confirmed the reports saying : "The gas explosions on Thursday night killed 15 people and injured 233 others. Our priority is to save people now. We ask citizens living along the pipelines to evacuate. Rescue efforts are still underway," she said, as she urged everyone to "follow the instructions of rescue teams at the scene, and avoid standing around and watching".

AFP / Getty Images

"The local government has already requested [gas suppliers] CPC and Hsin Kao Gas cut off the gas supply," she added.

Hundreds of soldiers, and fire fighters from neighbouring Tainan City and Pingtung County, have been deployed to assist with the rescue efforts.

Reports claimed emergency rooms in hospitals in Kaohsiung were packed with casualties. Officials have urged the public to stay out of affected areas while others took shelter at local schools.

The local government has set up an emergency response centre.

The incident comes just a week after a TransAsia Airways plane crashed in Taiwan during bad weather, killing 48 people.

'Hamas Terrorists' Aladdin and Jasmine Feature in Controversial Pro-Israel Cartoon Campaign

AleXandro Palombo's cartoon depicts Family Guy characters being held hostage by 'Hamas' terrorists(alexsandropalombo)

Popular Disney characters Princess Jasmine and Aladdin have been transformed into Hamas terrorists holding other cartoons such as Snow White and Cinderella hostage in a controversial pro-Israel campaign that has already caused an online backlash.

The original aim of the series about the war in Gaza by artist aleXsandro Palombo, who is known for his irreverent cartoon stunts, was for people to "meditate" on it but a writer for blog Jezebel has already deemed it a "fail of epic proportions".

"I meditated and the only feeling I could come up with is disgust," wrote Mark Shrayber, upon receiving the press release about the campaign.

One picture depicts Aladdin and Jasmine wearing Hamas-green dresses and a green headband with the Shahada in Arabic, holding hostage three characters from the Family Guy cartoon: Lois Griffin and the Jewish father-and-son Mort and Neil Goldman.

The poster reads "Stop Hamas" in the characteristic Disney Font. In another image, the Aladdin couple is seen holding hostage Ariel (The Little Mermaid), Snow White, Cinderella and Aurora (Sleeping Beauty).

AleXandro Palombo is known for cartoon stunts but is facing a backlash over this one(alexsandropalombo)

In the last picture of the series, other cartoons turned Hamas terrorists are shown, notably Bart Simpson, Lisa Simpson, Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Meg Griffin, Chris Griffin, and Alice in Wonderland.

"Terrorism is like cancer, something that you have to fight," said Palombo in his press release.

However, netizens flocked to Twitter to express their disapproval at what they considered an insensitive PR stunt over the Gaza tragedy.

alexsandropalombo

Erdogan: Israel 'Keeps Hitler's Spirit Alive' With Gaza Offensive

Turkey's Prime Minister and presidential candidate Tayyip Erdogan speaks during an election rally in Diyarbakir, southeast TurkeyReuters

Israel is "keeping Hitler's spirit alive" according to Turkish prime minister and presidential hopeful Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"What is the difference between what Nazis and Hitler did and what this Israeli administration is doing now?" the outspoken leader of moderate-Islamist AK Party said during a party meeting. "Israeli genocide is reminiscent of Hitler's holocaust because of acting with the same immorality as Hitler."

"Ottomans protected the Jewish people in the past. Don't you have any shame now? How immoral people are you?" he continued.

This is not the first time that Erdogan makes a controversial parallel between Israel and Nazi Germany. Earlier in July, he accused Israel of having "surpassed Hitler in barbarism".

Israel has advised its citizens against travelling to Turkey citing "the public mood" after attacks on Israeli embassies during protests in Istanbul and Ankara.

Erdogan is campaigning to be elected president in August election and has harshly criticised Israel's Operation Protective Edge, the military offensive against Palestinian Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 1,300 Palestinians, mainly civilians, and more than 50 Israelis, mainly soldiers.

Last week the New York-based lobby group American Jewish Congress slammed Erdogan for "inciting the Turkish population to violence against the Jewish people" and asked him to hand back an award that was granted to him for his Middle East peace efforts.

Erdogan said he would be "glad" to return the award.

"Take the award and stick it up your head," he said.

Turkey's ambassador to the US Serdar Kilic said Erdogan will continue criticising Israel's actions in Gaza.

"Attempts to depict Prime Minister Erdogan's legitimate criticisms of the Israeli government's attacks on civilians as expressions of anti-Semitism is an obvious distortion and an effort to cover up the historical wrongdoings of the Israeli government," Kilic said in a letter quoted by the Turkish news website Hurriyet.

US Hopeful of WTO Deal with India As Deadline Looms

US Secretary of State John Kerry (R) shakes hands with India's Finance Minister Arun Jaitley as US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker watches before the start of their meeting in New Delh.Reuters

The US has said it remains hopeful that differences between India and World Trade Organisation (WTO) members over a stalled global trade agreement could be resolved in time, with just hours remaining for the deal to be signed.

US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, accompanying Secretary of State John Kerry on an India visit, told news channel NDTV that she was "...hopeful that within the period of today...there is a common ground that is found."

Kerry and Pritzker, who met Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, tried convincing New Delhi to sign the WTO Bali trade deal, an unnamed source told Reuters.

Jaitley, however, reportedly repeated his country's principled stand: India has demanded that a deal be accompanied by a parallel agreement giving the subcontinent more freedom to subsidise and stockpile food grains for its impoverished population.

Deadline Looms

The Bali accord is tipped to inject $960bn (£569bn, €717bn) into the global economy and promises to cut red tape at customs the world over. The deal is expected to create 21 million jobs globally.

The WTO deal must be rubber-stamped in Geneva on 31 July.

A failure could prove disastrous for the WTO as it will stoke doubts about the organisation's negotiating powers.

India Justified?

Indian economists believe India's position is justified.

"I would go with [the Indian government's] stance given that 30% of [India's] population is below the poverty line and [the government] has to feed them," Charan Singh, economist and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Chair Professor of Economics at the Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Management (IIM) told IBTimes UK.

"70% of India's population survives on agriculture, which accounts for 14% of the country's GDP. India has to protect its rural sector and its farmers. [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi's model of governance in the Gujarat state was about strengthening the rural sector and the [2014 annual] budget has done the same.

"And given India's size, food security is very important," Singh said.

"India has suffered humiliation on food security in the past, during the 70s and during partition. Those scars remain and they have to be taken care of.

"[WTO members] were to discuss India's concerns post the Bali deal. Seven months have passed and I have not seen any development," Singh added.

Earlier, economist V Anantha Nageswaran, in a column published in the Mint, said that "...India is right to take the stance it has taken..."

"Anyone who has a basic understanding of option pricing will know that surrendering a policy option is like throwing away a deep out-of-the-money call option that is unexpired. It carries value. The policy optionality on what to do with India's food security needs and how to go about meeting those needs should rest with the government of India. It is not to be negotiated away in a multilateral forum.

"If India is holding up the trade facilitation deal as a quid pro quo for getting its way on the food security matter, that is fine as far as negotiations go. China issued an ultimatum to Britain on its prime minister meeting the Dalai Lama. Britain meekly obliged. Trade policy as much as foreign policy is not about being liked but about growing a spine..." Nageswaran wrote.

The December 2013 Bali world trade talks were part of a 12-year-old drive to expand multilateral free trade in sensitive areas such as agriculture. Negotiations first began in Doha, Qatar, in 2001.

Kurdish Oil Mystery Deepens as Ship Unloads Cargo in South China Sea

A worker walks on top of an oil tanker at Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan(Reuters)

A tanker carrying Kurdish oil has unloaded part of its cargo in the South China Sea, although the identity of the buyer remains a mystery.

The United Emblem Tanker had left the Turkish port of Ceyhan in June, carrying up to 1 million barrels of crude oil produced in Iraqi Kurdistan and exported by the autonomous region's government without permission from Baghdad.

It is one of three tankers that were loaded and sailed from Ceyhan in June.

A second tanker, the United Kalavrvta, has been anchored off the Texas coast for days amid a protracted legal dispute between Iraq and Kurdistan over the autonomous region's right to sell oil on international markets.

A US judge rejected a request from Baghdad that the US seize the tanker, saying that it was anchored outside of American territorial waters and did not fall under US jurisdiction.

The Kurdistan Regional Government filed a letter with the Texas court, stating that its sales of oil are in line with the Iraqi constitution.

Baghdad has launched a lawsuit against Turkey, accusing Ankara of assisting the Kurds to smuggle oil out of Iraq. It has threatened to pursue legal action against governments if they assist the Kurds with selling the oil.

A senior source at Marine Management Services said the ship-to-ship transfer involving the South China Sea cargo was sound, according to Reuters news agency.

The United Emblem tanker is "fixed to a legitimate charterer and performing legitimate operations", said Kostas Georgopoulos, as quoted by Reuters. He added that "the ship is still in international waters".

Reuters reported that the ship could have offloaded around half of its cargo onto another ship. The ships' destination remain unknown, as does the identity of the buyer.

Libya: Al-Qaeda-linked Militants Declare Benghazi an 'Islamic Emirate'

Fighters from the Benghazi Shura Council, which includes former rebels and militants from al Qaeda-linked Ansar al-Sharia, gesture on top of a tank next to the camp of the special forces in BenghaziReuters

The extremist group Ansar al-Sharia has declared Benghazi an "Islamic Emirate" after claiming total control of Libya's second largest city.

"Benghazi has now become an Islamic emirate," official spokesperson Mohammed al-Zahawi of the group told Radio Tawhid.

The al-Qaeda-linked radicals who rose to prominence during the uprising that overthrew dictator Muammar Gaddafi, was blamed for the attack on the US consulate in 2012.

The trend of proclaiming Islamic caliphates or emirates has gathered pace following the recent declaration of an Islamic State in Iraq spanning a region up to Syria by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis).

The Yemeni-based Al-Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the most powerful arm of al-Qaeda, has also expressed its intentions to declare eastern Yemen an emirate.

The latest announcement by the Ansar al-Sharia fighters in Libya has been dismissed by pro-government forces.

"The national Libyan army is in control of Benghazi and only withdrew from certain positions for tactical reasons. The claim that Benghazi is under the control of militias is a lie," Khalifa Haftar, a former army general who is aware of the latest developments, told Al Arabiya channel.

The emirate declaration comes a day after the Libyan militants comprising former rebels and Islamist fighters captured the army base in Benghazi killing dozens.

The police have so far found 78 bodies, mostly of soldiers, in Benghazi following the two-day fighting.

Chris Gunness: UN Official Weeps on Camera over Israeli Gaza School Shelling

UN official for Palestinian refugees Christopher Gunness has broken into tears as he described an attack by Israeli forces on a UN-run school in the Gaza Strip.

"The rights of Palestinians even their children, are wholesale denied... and it's appalling," Gunness says during an Al Jazeera Arabic broadcast, before tears well up in his eyes.

He then attempted to clear his throat and continue but just manages to whisper, "My pleasure" to the interviewer before starting to sob. The camera then pans away while Gunness can still be heard crying.

Gunness spoke after 17 people were killed and 90 wounded in the shelling of the Jabalia Elementary School. At least 1,364 Palestinians, mainly civilians, and over 50 Israelis, mostly soldiers, have been killed in fighting between Israel and Islamist militant group Hamas since 8 July.

He later tweeted that the Relief and Works agency was "overwhelmed" in Gaza.

"We have reached breaking point, our staff are being killed our shelters overflowing. Where will it end?"

He also commented on the crying episode:

Gunness claimed that the precise location of Jabalia Elementary Girls School in Gaza which housed 3,000 displaced Palestinians was communicated to Israeli army 17 times.

Israel insists that its troops did not strike UN facilities intentionally but only responded to Palestinian militants fire. The incident, however, is under review by the Israeli Defence Forces.

UNRWA commissioner-general Pierre Krahenbuhl condemned the attack as a "serious violation of international law".

"Last night, children were killed as they slept next to their parents on the floor of a classroom in a UN designated shelter in Gaza. Children killed in their sleep; this is an affront to all of us, a source of universal shame. Today the world stands disgraced."

Palestinians study a damaged classroom in a United Nations-run school used as shelters from Israeli bombardment(Reuters)

India's Tata Group to Invest $35bn Over 3 Years to Boost Global Status

Cyrus Mistry, chairman of Tata Group, smiles during the Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS) annual general meeting in MumbaiReuters

The Tata Group has announced a massive investment plan over the next three years in areas such as retail and defence, as the Indian conglomerate looks to boost its status as a global employer brand.

While outlining the group's vision for 2025 at an annual gathering of top executives of its group companies, Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry said the company will invest $35bn (£20.7bn, €26.1bn) over the next three years in four new areas – defence and aerospace, retail, infrastructure and finance.

Tata Sons is the holding group of more than 100 Tata companies including Tata Motors, Tata Steel and Tata Consultancy Services, with operations in more than 100 countries.

The group had combined revenues of $103bn for the fiscal year ended in March, with 67% coming from outside India.

"It is correct that the Tata group has outlined its strategy of nurturing group companies by leveraging the parenting advantage of the group centre, harnessing synergies to maximise the performance of companies and optimising its portfolio for sustained future performance. To carry forward this mission in the near term, the group has adopted a vision, to be achieved by 2025," a company spokesperson said in an email response to India's Economic Times.

As part of the vision, the company aims to be "amongst the 25 most-admired corporate and employer brands globally, with a market capitalisation comparable to the 25 most valuable companies in the world".

"Each Tata company will strive to outperform markets, sharply focussing on performance, strive for excellence for global competitiveness, seek to achieve global or national scale, and foster fledgling businesses with a sound evaluation of their growth potential," the spokesperson added.

The group's move comes as some of its key businesses struggle to perform amid weak domestic and international market conditions.

Tata Motors reported lower vehicle sales in recent months for the first time in 12 years, as consumers in India reduced spending amid soaring prices. In May, Tata Steel, which has global operations, reported a net loss for the fourth quarter, primarily due to weak market conditions in Europe.

Massive Gold Mine Discovered in China's Xinjiang Province

New discovery in China's Xinjiang province could have up to 200 tonnes of gold(Reuters)

Geologists have discovered a massive gold mine in China's restive Xinjiang province, according to state news agency Xinhau.

The new find, close to the border with Kyrgzstan, has proven gold reserves of 127 tonnes, Xinhua said. If the estimates are correct, the reserves could be worth around 40 billion yuan ($6.5bn, £3.8bn, €4.8bn.)

It the biggest gold mine discovered in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region to date.

Prospectors have explored Xinjiang for more than two decades, finding 21 gold ore belts in that time.

The Xinjiang Geology and Mineral Exploration Bureau's Cui Hongbin said 127 tonnes of gold reserves had been reported by June, as cited by Xinhua. The mine could potentially have a capacity of 200 tonnes of gold, said Cui.

Xinjiang Tongyuan Mining Limited led the exploration effort, according to reports in the National Business Daily newspaper.

The South China Morning Post reported that no mining companies have yet made a deal to explore the newly discovered gold.

The discovery is a rare success story in the exploration sector that has suffered in recent years. The mining industry has suffered from the global financial crisis, with companies slashing exploration budgets for nonferrous minerals by 29% in 2013.

Xinjiang Disorder

Xinjiang recently suffered a deadly outbreak of violence, as dozens were killed or injured when an armed gang attacked a police station on Monday.

While information is hard to come by in the tightly censored region, reports suggest that the gang targeted police officers and Han Chinese settlers in a deadly knife attack. Other reports suggest the violence occurred when police cracked down on Uighur Muslims observing Ramadan.

Campaigners for Uighur rights have said China's policies towards the ethnic group in Xinjiang are repressive.

US Confirms it Resupplied Israel with Weapons During Gaza Conflict

A huge fireball erupts following Israeli air strikes in the east of Gaza City(Reuters)

The US has confirmed it resupplied Israel with weapons and ammunition which could be used during the conflict in Gaza.

The news comes soon after the US condemned an attack on a United Nations (UN) school in Gaza in which at least 16 Palestinians were killed.

Since the 1990s, the US has kept a stockpile of arms inside Israel known as the War Reserves Stock Allies-Israel (WRSA-I), which Israel can use in emergencies.

On 20 July – 12 days after the Gaza strip conflict began - Israel made a request to withdraw 120mm mortar rounds and 40mm ammunition for grenade launchers, which was accepted by the US defence department three days later.

However, it is reported Israel did not cite an emergency as a reason for requesting the supplies which was granted so the US could replenish its stock.

"They didn't ask for it from there [WRSA-I] but we gave it to them so we could rotate our stocks," an anonymous defence official told Reuters.

Pentagon press secretary Rear Admiral Kirby confirmed the recent shipment of ammunition to Israel.

"The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to US national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defence capability," he said.

"This defence sale is consistent with those objectives."

He added: "Both munitions had been in WRSA-I stock for a few years, well before the current crisis."

Kirby told reporters how stocks which are kept in WRSA-I are "in excess to US requirements" as required by law and White House approval was not needed for the transaction as it was "strictly a sourcing decision".

Israel's embassy in Washington has declined to comment on whether the purchased weapons would be used in the current operation in Gaza.

The report of the weapons restock emerged as the White House condemned the shelling of a United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) school in which women, children and humanitarian workers were killed.

Bernadette Meehan, spokesperson for the White House's National Security Council, said: "The United States condemns the shelling of a UNRWA school in Gaza, which reportedly killed and injured innocent Palestinians – including children – and UN humanitarian workers.

"We are extremely concerned that thousands of internally displaced Palestinians who have been called on by the Israeli military to evacuate their homes are not safe in UN designated shelters in Gaza."

Meehan did not directly accuse Israel of the attacks, suggesting there were conflicting reports about the incident.

However, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said that "all available evidence" suggests that Israel was responsible for the "unjustifiable" attack.

The US has also criticised the stockpiling of weapons inside UN-run schools in Gaza, but officials have not confirmed whether rockets were inside the UNRWA school in Gaza.

"All of these actions, and similar ones earlier in the conflict, are inconsistent with the UN's neutrality," Meehan said. "This violence underscores the need to achieve a ceasefire as soon as possible."

Tesla and Panasonic Sign Gigafactory Agreement

Tesla's new Gigafactory will make the electric car manufacturer the world's largest lithium-ion battery producers.(Creative commons)

Plans for a so-called Gigafactory have taken a step closer to being realised after Tesla signed an agreement with Panasonic to construct what will be the world's largest lithium-ion (li-ion) battery factory.

It is estimated that the Gigafactory will be completed by 2020 at a cost of around $5 billion and will allow Tesla to generate its own in-house supply chain of battery packs for as many as half a million vehicles per year.

"The Gigafactory represents a fundamental change in the way large scale battery production can be realised," said JB Straubel, chief technical officer and co-founder of Tesla.

"Not only does the Gigafactory enable capacity needed for the Model 3 but it sets the path for a dramatic reduction in the cost of energy storage across a broad range of applications."

The agreement with Panasonic describes how Tesla will prepare, provide and manage the land, buildings and utilities, while Panasonic will manufacture and supply lithium-ion cells produced in the company's factories in Japan.

"We have already engaged in various collaborative projects with Tesla toward the popularisation of electric vehicles," added Yoshihiko Yamada, executive vice president of Panasonic.

"I believe that once we are able to manufacture lithium-ion battery cells at the Gigafactory, we will be able to accelerate the expansion of the electric vehicle market."

Construction vehicles at the possible Tesla Gigafactory site in Nevada.(Bob Tregilus)

Tesla has not revealed where the 10-million-square-foot factory will be located, however a recent report suggested that construction had already begun at the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center in Nevada.

Bob Tregilus, a renewable energy consultant and contributor at Transport Evolved, published photos that appeared to show construction vehicles working on the Reno site.

Ebola Outbreak: Australia and New Zealand Brace to Tackle Virus

Medical staff working with Medecins sans Frontieres put on their protective gear before entering an isolation area at the Ebola treatment centre in Kailahun, Sierra LeoneReuters

Health experts in Australia and New Zealand are preparing to tackle the deadly Ebola virus in case it reaches their countries.

Although health officials consider the risk of the virus reaching the Oceania region as low, they are closely monitoring the situation and have put in place contingency plans.

"May be we are a little bit lucky. We don't have huge traffic and travel between West Africa and New Zealand at the moment - but a theoretical risk is there. Just think about the 2009 [influenza] pandemic when we had students from Auckland to Mexico coming back; they carried the virus to New Zealand," said Sue Huang, virologist at the Institute of Environmental Science and Research.

She warned that if a traveller infected by the virus reaches New Zealand there is no safe place to test the bodily samples and isolate the virus.

"We will have to forward the sample to a reference lab overseas to deal with that if anything happens - the CDC [Centre for Disease Control and Prevention] in the US or may be Australia. We contacted people at the moment so we can prepare if anything happens," said Huang.

Chief of public health Darren Hunt said: "In the very unlikely event that New Zealand had cases of Ebola virus disease, the ministry would respond as it would to other emerging threats to health, through established protocols and processes such as the National Health Emergency Plan (NHEP)."

Fears of a global Ebola outbreak have risen after a virus-infected man was allowed to travel from Liberia to Nigeria, where he eventually died.

Precautionary measures in Europe

Several countries in Europe and Asia have announced precautionary measures.

The European Union has said the EU is ready to deal with the threat.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told the BBC: "At the moment we don't think any British nationals [abroad] are affected and we are fairly confident there are no cases in the UK. But it is a threat. It is something we need to respond to and we will be doing so through the Cobra mechanism."

At least 1,201 Ebola cases have been registered in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since March this year, according to the World Health Organisation, and the virus has so far claimed 670 lives.

Sony Delists Shares From London After 44 Years

Electronics giant Sony became the latest Japanese firm to delist its shares from the London Stock Exchange, due to lack of investor appetite.

"The trading volume of Sony's shares on the London Stock Exchange has been extremely low. Sony believes that this delisting would cause no substantial inconvenience to Sony's shareholders and investors," the company said in a stock exchange statement.

Other Japanese companies which have withdrawn from the exchange include Toshiba, Fujitsu and mobile carrier NTT Docomo. The companies blamed poor investor appetite in London for the move.

The company, which has been a LSE-listed entity for some 44 years, will apply to each of the UK Listing Authority and the London Stock Exchange for the cancellation of the listing of its shares of common stock, including depositary receipts representing such shares.

The delisting of Sony's shares is expected to take effect on or around 29 August. Meanwhile, Sony's zero coupon convertible bonds due 2017 will continue to trade on the exchange.

The company listed its shares on London stock exchange in 1970.

The shares will continue to be listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange, the company added.

Hurt by declining sales in a number of divisions, Sony reported a loss of $1.26bn for its latest fiscal year. The company earlier announced a restructuring which involves billions of dollars worth of asset sales among other cost cutting measures.

For the three months to June, the company reported a net profit of 25.7bn yen ($250m, £148m), up from 3.1bn yen in the previous year, helped by its gaming console division, where sales rose about 96%.

In addition, the results were boosted by a gain of 14.8bn yen on the sale of certain buildings and other assets.

Nevertheless, the company still expects a net loss of 50bn yen for the financial year ending in March 2015.

Hot Shots Photos of the Day: Divers' Faces, Belgian Floods, Eastbourne Pier Fire

Siro-A: Watch Japanese Techno Mime Group's Futuristic Performance

WWI 100th Anniversary: Historic Photos of Women Working During...

Hot Shots Photos of the Day: Leopard Cubs, Gaza Fireball,...

Gaza Crisis Pictures: Families Flee as Israel Reduces Symbols of...

Hot Shots Photos of the Day: River of Blood, Harry Photobomb,...

Eid Mubarak: Muslims Around the World Celebrate Eid al-Fitr, End...

The Northern Ireland Bog Snorkelling Championships in Pictures

Hot Shots Photos of the Day: Bog Snorkelling, Hitchhiking Robot,...

First World War Anniversary: Wartime Photos Superimposed on the...

Eid al-Fitr: Preparations Around the World for the End of...

Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy S5 Prime Confirmed As Smartphone Sales Drop

A Samsung executive has confirmed a new large screen smartphone and one using "new materials" will launch before the end of the year.Reuters

On Wednesday Samsung announced its most recent set of results which showed that smartphone sales had dipped 12% compared to the year before while profits from mobile were even worse hit, dropping 31%.

This all goes to show that the smartphone business, even for the company that dominates it, is tough.

However Samsung is not giving up. In an earnings call after the results were announced Kim Hyun-joon, a senior vice president at Samsung's mobile communications business, told reporters and analysts that the company was planning to launch two major new smartphones before the end of the year.

While Kim wouldn't go into more detail, it is almost certain that the two products he is talking about are the large-screen Galaxy Note 4 and a premium version of its Galaxy S5 set to be called either the Galaxy F or Galaxy S5 Prime.

Galaxy Note 4

The Galaxy Note 4 will be launched at the IFA trade show in Germany at the beginning of September and the company will be hoping its latest phablet will continue the success of the line which popularised the large-screen smartphone.

The Galaxy Note 4 will likely keep the 5.7in screen size of last year's model but boost the resolution - potentially to UHD quality (2560 x 1440).

Also expect to see the fingerprint sensor from the Galaxy S5 and the same colour options make the transition to the bigger phone while it is likely the Galaxy Note 4 will also use Qualcomm's Snapdragon 801 chip.

Galaxy S5 Prime/F

As for the Galaxy S5 Prime/F, the "new materials" Kim mentioned in the earnings call is likely a reference to the metallic construction widely rumoured to be used in the new premium smartphone.

A leaked image of the Galaxy S5 Prime/F @EVLeaks

Some analysts had predicted Samsung would ditch the plastic construction it is known for with its Galaxy S5 model earlier this year, but since that didn't happen, it looks like the company will launch an updated model to try and attract those customers who are put off by the cheaper-feeling S5.

The new phone would go head-to-head with the likes of the iPhone 5s and HTC One M8 in terms of design and use of premium materials and would help fill a gap in Samsung's portfolio.

A release date for this smartphone is not quite so clear, though Samsung could launch it alongside the Galaxy Note 4 in Germany.

Competition

Samsung sells hundreds of different types of smartphones, with screen sizes ranging from 3.5in to over 6in and has come to dominate the market by offering a product to fit every budget and need.

However with sales slowing and competition from Chinese companies increasing daily, the company will be worried about the future of its smartphone business, one which has been incredibly profitable for the electronics company.

The company said it was also planning to release new smartphones in the mid-to-low segment which will have enhanced specifications.

India Pune Landslide: Emergency Personnel Race Against Time to Find 150 Missing People

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel clear the debris from the site of a landslide at Malin village, in the western Indian state of MaharashtraReuters

Emergency personnel are racing against time to find more than 150 missing people who are feared trapped under mud and debris following a massive landslide near the western India city of Pune.

Most of the victims were asleep when the landslide struck.

Twenty-seven people have been killed so far in the landslide triggered by heavy rain in a remote tribal village.

Rescue personnel have been able to pull out alive only eight people from the debris of mud and rock.

The entire village, with a population of 700, has been swallowed by the landslide leaving only rocks and slush in the area.

"At least 44 houses were washed away... About 158 people were residing in these houses... Maharashtra government will support the residents of Malin village," said Prithviraj Chavan, chief minister of Maharashtra state, where the village is located.

Troops have been deployed to assist the local authorities in the rescue efforts which have been hampered by continuing heavy rain and difficult terrain.

"Approaching the area was very difficult. It took a lot of time for us to reach as rain and mud made it difficult," said Alok Avasthi, an official from the National Disaster Response Force.

The authorities estimate it could take another 48 to 72 hours for the rescue operations to be over.

More than 100 ambulances have been pressed into service at the scene of the disaster.

Long years of deforestation in the region topped by torrential rain have weakened the soil leading to the disaster, say environmental activists.

An NGO has said that forests were cleared to make way for cultivable plots under a government scheme.