Schoolchildren wash their plates before having their free mid-day meal, distributed by a government-run primary school, at Brahimpur village in Chapra district of the eastern Indian state of Bihar July 19, 2013. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

Nepal’s Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai attends a cultural ceremony in Kathmandu on Saturday with Chief Justice Khilaraj Regmi (L) at his side.

The alliance members of Nepal’s ruling alliance FDRA discussing the proposal to form consensus government in Chief Justice Khila Raj Regmi.

Senior leaders of CPN UML participating in a meeting called to decide over the proposal to form consensus government in Chief Justice Khila Raj Regmi’s leadership at the party office in Kathmandu on Friday.

CHELYABINSK, Russia (Reuters) – More than 500 people were injured when a meteorite shot across the sky and exploded over central Russia on Friday, sending fireballs crashing to Earth, shattering windows and damaging buildings.

People heading to work in Chelyabinsk heard what sounded like an explosion, saw a bright light and then felt a shockwave according to a Reuters correspondent in the industrial city 1,500 km (950 miles) east of Moscow.
A fireball blazed across the horizon, leaving a long white trail in its wake which could be seen as far as 200 km (125 miles) away in Yekaterinburg. Car alarms went off, windows shattered and mobile phone networks were interrupted.
“I was driving to work, it was quite dark, but it suddenly became as bright as if it was day,” said Viktor Prokofiev, 36, a resident of Yekaterinburg in the Urals Mountains.
“I felt like I was blinded by headlights,” he said.
No fatalities were reported but President Vladimir Putin, who was due to host Finance Ministry officials from the Group of 20 nations in Moscow, and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev were informed.
A local ministry official said such incidents were extremely rare and Friday’s events might have been linked to an asteroid the size of an Olympic swimming pool due to pass Earth at a distance of 27,520 km (17,100 miles) but this was not confirmed.
Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said the meteorite was travelling at a speed of 30 km (19 miles) per second and that such events were hard to predict. The Interior Ministry said the meteorite explosion had caused a sonic boom.
Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said 514 people had sought medical help, mainly for light injuries caused by flying glass, and that 112 of those were kept in hospital. Search groups were set up to look for the remains of the meteorite.
“There have never been any cases of meteorites breaking up at such a low level over Russia before,” said Yuri Burenko, head of the Chelyabinsk branch of the Emergencies Ministry.
WINDOWS BREAK, FRAMES BUCKLE
Windows were shattered on Chelyabinsk’s central Lenin Street and some of the frames of shop fronts buckled.
A loud noise, resembling an explosion, rang out at around 9.20 a.m. (12:20 a.m. ET). The shockwave could be felt in apartment buildings in the industrial city’s center.
“I was standing at a bus stop, seeing off my girlfriend,” said Andrei, a local resident who did not give his second name. “Then there was a flash and I saw a trail of smoke across the sky and felt a shockwave that smashed windows.”
A wall was damaged at the Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant but a spokeswoman said there was no environmental threat.
Although such events are rare, a meteorite is thought to have devastated an area of more than 2,000 sq km (1,250 miles) in Siberia in 1908, smashing windows as far as 200 km (125 miles) from the point of impact.
The Emergencies Ministry described Friday’s events as a “meteor shower in the form of fireballs” and said background radiation levels were normal. It urged residents not to panic.
Chelyabinsk city authorities urged people to stay indoors unless they needed to pick up their children from schools and kindergartens. They said what sounded like a blast had been heard at an altitude of 10,000 meters (32,800 feet).
The U.S. space agency NASA has said an asteroid known as 2012 DA14, about 46 meters in diameter, would have an encounter with Earth closer than any asteroid since scientists began routinely monitoring them about 15 years ago.
Television, weather and communications satellites fly about 500 miles higher. The moon is 14 times farther away.
(Additional reporting by Natalia Shurmina in Yekaterinburg and Gabriela Baczynska in Moscow, Writing by Alexei Anishchuk and Timothy Heritage, Editing by Michael Holden)

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – England’s opening batsmen Alex Hales and Michael Lumb made a mockery of the New Zealand bowling attack to guide the visitors to a 10-wicket win in their third Twenty20 international and a 2-1 series victory on Friday.
After England’s bowlers restricted New Zealand to 139 for eight, Hales blasted 80 off 42 balls while Lumb scored 53, including a six to win the match and bring up his half century, as the pair pushed England to victory in just 12.4 overs.

Much of England’s damage was done in the fifth over when Ian Butler lost his composure and sprayed the ball all over the wicket, yielding five wides, four leg byes and three further boundaries by Hales.

Hales then took to Mitchell McClenaghan in the 11th over, blasting four successive deliveries for six, four and two more sixes, to race to the victory target on the drop-in pitch at Wellington Regional Stadium.

Martin Guptill had anchored New Zealand’s innings, scoring 59 runs off 55 balls, but was forced to work the ball around rather than attack as wickets kept falling at the other end.

Guptill tried to force the pace at the end of New Zealand’s innings but was dismissed in the penultimate over to end any chance of the hosts posting a score in excess of 150.

England’s frontline pace bowlers were much more aggressive than in the second match in Hamilton and bowled short of a length, hurrying the New Zealand batsmen into mistimed pull and hook shots with the ball skying into the outfield.

Captain Stuart Broad finished with three for 15 from four overs, while Jade Dernbach also took three for 36, while Steve Finn was bristling aggression as he conceded just 18 runs from four overs.

England won the series after taking the first match in Auckland by 40 runs, while New Zealand won the second in Hamilton by 55 runs.

The first game of the three-match one day series will be in Hamilton on Sunday. (Editing by Peter Rutherford)

Some students affiliated to various student organizations shout slogan against the Bhattarai led Maoist government to protest the hike in LPG gas cylinders on Wednesday, Feb 13, 2013.

Acrobats of the Hungarian ‘Golden Power’ team perform on the circus floor of the Grand Circus of Budapest on January 11, 2013 . AFP PHOTO / ATTILA KISBENEDEK

Skiers are seen on a cable car above the fog on December 1, 2012 in the Titlis mountain above Engelberg, Central Switzerland. AFP Photo / Fabrice Coffrini

A woman dressed as a mermaid dives in a show pool at the Duesseldorf fairground during the Boot fair International Boat Show on January 23, 2013. (AFP Photo / Patrik Stollarz)