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'Starquake' Cracks Star
geekroot's dad writes "Space.com is reporting that a huge 'starquake' releasing as much energy as our sun does in 250,000 years, has cracked a nearby neutron star. The magnetar produced the brightest explosion ever seen by man outside of the milky way. Although it is 50,000 light-years away, the blast was so huge it temporarily blinded some satellites and briefly altered Earth's upper atmosphere!"
You are thinking of Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs). They are actually much MORE violent events than this one, but also MUCH further away.
They are still being studied, and their causes are still somewhat ambiguous, but black holes are almost certainly involved. One theory, if I recall correctly is big bright short-lived stars in the early universse reaching the end of their life. The core of the star then collapses very suddenly, forming a black hole (in a regular supernova you get a neutron star) and the outer part of the star follows it in, and get heated and churned by the implosion, and then explodes out. Another theory is that a GRB represents the last moments a a neutron star falling into a black hole, or two neutron stars colliding to form a black hole.
These magnetar related events are much less energetic, but loads nearer.