Quake rattles Papua New Guinea

Some parts of Papua New Guinea were without power Wednesday after a major earthquake rocked the area.

"I was at my desk when it hit," said Ella Hall in Lae, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) north-northwest of the quake's epicenter. "The house started to shake from side to side. I could hear glasses falling downstairs."

The magnitude 7.1 quake hit a remote mountainous region, but was well underground at a depth of 121 kilometers (75 miles), the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

Hall said it was her first "real quake" after experiencing tremors before.

Prices spike as butter shortage spreads through Norway

Norwegians are facing an unexpected wrinkle in their Christmas cooking plans. Butter supplies are scarce, and prices have skyrocketed.

A higher demand for butter as a result of low-carb diets and increased interest in natural, home-cooked meals is one reason for the shortage, according to Tine, the country's largest farmer-owned dairy cooperative.

A rainy summer reduced the quality of animal feed, decreasing milk production in Norway this year by 20 million liters (5.3 million gallons) compared with the same period last year, the cooperative said.

The Norwegian government has responded to the crisis by reducing tariffs on milk product imports, the country's agricultural authorities said.

Iraqi Official Tied to Iran Guard Corps at White House Meeting

An official tied to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps was part of the Iraqi delegation that visited the White House Monday for a meeting with President Obama, alarming some who say Iraq's growing ties to Iran are among the most worrisome aspect of a U.S. pullout.

Hadi Farhan al-Amiri, Iraq's current transportation minister, accompanied Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and several other top Baghdad advisers on the high-profile visit to Washington timed with the official wind-down of U.S. military involvement in Iraq.

But during the rule of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, Amiri served as a commander of the Badr Corps -- a group backed at the time by the IRGC, which has been linked to several attacks on western targets.

The inclusion of Amiri, first noted by The Washington Times, comes amid questions over whether Maliki's government will drift toward Tehran and away from Washington as U.S. troops leave the country.

Tunisia swears in new president

Tunisia has sworn in a new president, a milestone in the North African country that kicked off the dramatic year-long cry for freedom across the Arab world.

He is Moncef Marzouki, a secularist elected on Monday by an Islamist-dominated parliament, the Constituent Assembly. He will fulfill a more ceremonial role as the affairs of state are handled by the prime minister.

Marzouki is the founder of the center-left Congress for the Republic Party. He is well-known for his firebrand style and his opposition to the old regime.

The secular party has formed a coalition with the Ettakatol and Islamist Ennahda Party. Ennahda came in first to become the largest party in Tunisia's first democratic election since the ouster of former dictator Zine el Abidine Ben Ali.

The Congress for the Republic Party party came in second in the October elections, collecting 29 out of 217 assembly seats.

Marzouki was the only candidate because the nine other candidates for president did not gather the required 15 signatures from Constituent Assembly members.

U.S. Drone Crashes in Seychelles, Air Force Investigating

A U.S. drone has crashed in the island nation of Seychelles, an incident that comes just over a week after a U.S. drone went down in Iran.

The U.S. Air Force confirmed that the unarmed MQ-9 drone crash-landed at the Seychelles International Airport Tuesday morning.

"The cause of the incident is unknown and currently under investigation," the Air Force said in a statement.

According to the Air Force, the Seychelles government was "immediately notified," and the U.S. military is coordinating with Seychelles officials to coordinate "the removal of debris."

The drone that went down more than a week ago in Iran remains in Iranian hands. An Iranian military official said over the weekend that the country will not return the aircraft, as it considers the drone's presence a "hostile act." Iran's defense minister has called on the United States to apologize for the incident.