LA Times News

LA Times News

Japan nuclear crisis worsens as damage feared to reactor containment vessel

Posted: 14 Mar 2011 08:25 PM PDT

Tokyo Electric Power Co., which owns the Fukushima No. 1 (Daiichi) plant 140 miles north of Tokyo, said radiation levels at the plant were rising and that everyone who lives within 18 miles of the plant had been advised to stay indoors.

An explosion Tuesday at the Unit 2 reactor at a Fukushima power plant may have damaged the reactor's inner containment vessel, the most serious development yet in the ongoing crisis at the severely damaged facility.

Relatives search for Japan quake victims under chaotic conditions

Posted: 14 Mar 2011 06:03 PM PDT

Even houses and streets are gone after the quake and tsunami. Desperate family members go from one evacuation center to another.

The lists name survivors housed in evacuation centers, long printed lists hanging from bulletin boards in buildings that usually serve as culture halls, junior high schools and city government headquarters.

Kadafi forces hem in Misurata

Posted: 14 Mar 2011 04:09 PM PDT

Residents of the coastal city say Kadafi has imposed a sea, air and land blockade, with soldiers stationed on three sides. Doctors say they are running out of medicines for civilian patients.

Misurata is a picturesque seaside enclave with a reputation as Libya's wealthiest and most educated city. It also is one of the most prominent of the rebel-held territories in a country split into regions controlled by dictator Moammar Kadafi and a nascent opposition based in Benghazi.

Third explosion rocks Japanese nuclear power plant

Posted: 14 Mar 2011 07:53 PM PDT

Officials in Japan acknowledge that the radioactive fuel inside one of the damaged reactors at the crippled Fukushima power plant is in jeopardy of melting down. Meanwhile, the death toll rises.

Japan's nuclear crisis reached new heights as a third explosion rocked the crippled Fukushima power plant and officials acknowledged that the radioactive fuel inside one of the damaged reactors was in jeopardy of melting down.

One Japanese family ponders tsunami losses

Posted: 14 Mar 2011 04:55 PM PDT

Toshio Otomo, her children and grandchild come to Natori to look for their home, only to find 'it's gone.' Her son says it's time to walk away and start fresh, but for Otomo, 69, there are too many memories.

Toshio Otomo, 69, walked unsteadily over piles of rubble on hesitant legs, through caked mud, around a broken wall, in hopes of finding her home of 30 years. The home in which her two children were raised. The home whose garden held her beloved husband's grave. The home that contained so many memories, photographs and other keepsakes.

France's Nicolas Sarkozy seeks Group of 20 meeting on Japan

Posted: 14 Mar 2011 03:58 PM PDT

French President Nicolas Sarkozy calls on leading economic powers to gather next month and discuss the global consequences of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear threat that have plunged Japan, the world's No. 3 economy, into crisis.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called on leading economic powers to gather next month and discuss the global consequences of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear threat that have plunged Japan, the world's No. 3 economy, into crisis.

U.S. again warns Americans against travel to Japan

Posted: 14 Mar 2011 01:19 PM PDT

Reiterating a travel warning, the State Department urges U.S. citizens to avoid nonessential travel to Japan, and offers advice to those already there. About 1,300 American citizens are thought to be in the northeastern area that sustained the worst damage from last week's earthquake.

The U.S. government reiterated a travel warning for Japan on Monday, urging Americans to avoid visits to the earthquake-stricken nation and providing guidance to the thousands of them living and working there in the midst of nationwide disruptions.

Yemen expels 4 Western journalists

Posted: 14 Mar 2011 12:19 PM PDT

Officials in Yemen tell the four journalists, including Haley Sweetland Edwards, a freelance reporter working for the Los Angeles Times, that they are being expelled for national security reasons.

Four journalists were expelled from Yemen on Monday after reporting on unrest that included government forces firing on unarmed civilians.

Japan's nuclear problems pose little danger to U.S., Nuclear Regulatory Commission chief says

Posted: 14 Mar 2011 11:42 AM PDT

Gregory Jaczko, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, says there is 'a very low probability' of harmful radiation levels affecting any U.S. territories. Jaczko says the U.S. is providing technical assistance to Japanese officials in response to the crisis at Fukushima No. 1 (Daiichi) nuclear power plant.

The threat to the United States of a meltdown at a Japanese nuclear plant is minimal, the chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Monday.

Japan's nuclear crisis unlikely to lead to another Chernobyl, U.N. expert says

Posted: 14 Mar 2011 11:08 AM PDT

The design and structure of Japanese nuclear power plants are different from the Chernobyl facility that unleashed a cloud of radiation in 1986, says International Atomic Energy Agency. Director-General Yukiya Amano. The differences, he says, decrease the chances that the earthquake damage at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex would lead to a Chernobyl scenario.

Japan's earthquake-stricken nuclear facilities are unlikely to suffer the kind of catastrophic accident that occurred in Chernobyl 25 years ago, the Japanese director-general of the U.N.'s nuclear agency said Monday.

International aid to Japan continues to ramp up

Posted: 14 Mar 2011 10:37 AM PDT

Response to Japan's earthquake has come from more than 90 nations. Nations struggling to meet their own needs, such as Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, have sent money for emergency supplies. The U.S. aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan arrives in Japan to aid in relief efforts.

An international aid effort swelled Monday to help Japan deal with the trio of catastrophes that have mired the country in sorrow and fear.

Japan quake death toll climbs

Posted: 14 Mar 2011 09:53 AM PDT

As more than 1,000 bodies wash ashore in Miyagi prefecture, there are fears that the death toll from the devastating earthquake in Japan could top 10,000. The fate of tens of thousands of residents of the worst-hit areas remains unknown, officials say.

The enormity of the human toll from Japan's worst earthquake in recorded history pressed persistently into the consciousness of the island nation's rattled citizens as rescue workers extracted thousands more bodies from the coastal wastelands that were once thriving communities.

Risk of meltdown increases at Japan nuclear reactor

Posted: 14 Mar 2011 12:03 PM PDT

Fuel rods have been exposed to air at a third reactor at Japan's Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, sharply raising the risk of a meltdown, plant officials say. Three reactors are being cooled with seawater at the plant after its emergency cooling system failed.

The fuel rods at a third nuclear reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant have been fully exposed to air for short periods of time and at least partially exposed for more than three hours, allowing them to heat up and sharply raising the risk of a meltdown, according to officials of the Tokyo Electric Power Co., which owns the plant.

Libyan rebels brace for attack on Ajdabiya

Posted: 14 Mar 2011 08:36 AM PDT

An attack on Libya's Ajdabiya is anticipated as forces loyal to Moammar Kadafi bomb the city's outskirts. Insurgents launch a counterattack to regain the strategic oil city of Port Brega.

Streets were deserted and shops were closed Monday as rebels in Ajdabiya braced for an offensive by the Libyan army, which bombed the city's outskirts as it deepened its push into insurgent-controlled territory in the east.

Saudi Arabian, gulf forces enter Bahrain

Posted: 14 Mar 2011 08:03 AM PDT

More than 1,000 Saudi troops and 500 police from the United Arab Emirates take up positions around the island, apparently to help the Sunni royal family control protests by the nation's majority Shiite Muslims.

Hundreds of troops from Saudi Arabia and police officers from the nearby United Arab Emirates have entered Bahrain at the request of the ruling family, a move that further polarized the tiny island nation and marks the first time Arab nations have intervened in another country's affairs amid sweeping unrest in the region.

Japan's economy stumbling in wake of disaster

Posted: 14 Mar 2011 07:29 AM PDT

Stock indexes drop, and the central bank moves to put $183 billion into money markets to ease the pain as business activity falters.

The world's third-largest economy faltered Monday, the first full business day since Friday's devastating earthquake, with the Japanese stock market plunging and the country's central bank moving to inject $183 billion into money markets to try to stem the financial damage.

Afghan suicide bombing kills 33

Posted: 14 Mar 2011 06:39 AM PDT

The Afghan Taliban takes responsibility for the attack at an army recruitment center that kills mostly Afghan army volunteers. 42 are injured.

A suicide bomber killed at least 33 people at an army recruitment center in northern Afghanistan on Monday, underscoring the vulnerability of Afghan security forces as they struggle to assume more responsibility for safeguarding Afghans from Taliban insurgents.

Afghan suicide bombing kills 33

Posted: 14 Mar 2011 06:39 AM PDT

The Afghan Taliban takes responsibility for the attack at an army recruitment center that kills mostly Afghan army volunteers. 42 are injured.

A suicide bomber killed at least 33 people at an army recruitment center in northern Afghanistan on Monday, underscoring the vulnerability of Afghan security forces as they struggle to assume more responsibility for safeguarding Afghans from Taliban insurgents.

Pakistani officials won't rule on American's diplomatic immunity

Posted: 14 Mar 2011 05:45 AM PDT

CIA contractor Raymond Davis is accused of killing two Pakistanis who he says were trying to rob him. Authorities fear negative reaction if he is released.

Pakistani authorities on Monday balked at ruling whether CIA contractor Raymond Davis is immune from prosecution in a double murder case and instead put the matter in the hands of a Lahore trial court, a decision that will probably prolong the ongoing diplomatic crisis between the U.S. and Pakistan, a key ally in the war on terror.

Suicide bomber kills 33 at Afghan army recruiting center

Posted: 14 Mar 2011 04:19 AM PDT

Afghan officials say a suicide bomber has killed more than 33 people at an Afghan army recruiting center in the northern province of Kunduz.