WELLINGTON (NEW ZEALAND), Jan 20: A strong earthquake rattled New Zealand’s lower North Island including the capital Wellington today, although there were no immediate reports of major damage or injuries.
The United States Geological Survey reported the magnitude 6.3 quake struck at 3:52 p.M. Local time, about 38 kilometers northeast of the town of Masterton. Many Wellington residents were at home because it was a public holiday in the region.
A giant eagle sculpture in Wellington’s airport, placed there to promote director Peter Jackson’s movie trilogy “The Hobbit,” fell from its overhead perch to the floor.
New Zealand lies on the Pacific’s “Ring of Fire,” an arc of earthquake and volcanic activity that stretches around the Pacific Rim.
An earthquake in the city of Christchurch in 2011 destroyed much of the downtown and killed 185 people. (AGENCIES)

LONDON, Jan 20: Al-Qaeda is training hundreds of British people fighting in Syria to become jihadists and urging them to carry out attacks when they return home, according to an interview with a defector published in today’s Daily Telegraph.
The defector, known as Murad, from the hardline Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) said other recruits from Europe and the US were also being trained to make car bombs before being sent home to form terror cells.
“They talked often about terrorist attacks,” he said of his former ISIS instructors.
“The foreigners were proud of 9/11 and the London bombings. The British, French and American mujahideen in the room started talking about places that they wanted to bomb or explode themselves in Europe and the United States.
“The American said he dreamed of blowing up the White House,” he told the newspaper.
He called the teachings of ISIS, which grew out of Al-Qaeda’s affiliate organisation in Iraq, “very hardline”.
Britain’s intelligence services estimate that around 500 British fighters are currently in Syria, and fear they will return radicalised.
Police today charged two 21-year-old men from Birmingham, central England, with travelling to Syria to carry out acts of terrorism. (AGENCIES)