The number of dead and missing after the EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI st

JAPAN'S government struggled to contain an unfolding nuclear disaster at its Fukushima Dai-ichi power complex, about 240 kilometres (150 miles) north-east of Tokyo. After an earthquake of magnitude 9.0, the biggest in Japan's modern history, and the devastating tsunami it triggered, at least four of the complex's six reactors suffered damage, and there was some leakage of radiation. Radiation levels around the plant at times rose sharply, leading at one point to the evacuation of workers trying to control the disaster.



The number of dead and missing after the EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI stood at more than 14,000 by mid-week and was expected to climb. Around 500,000 people were rendered homeless and endured desperate conditions in temporary shelters, with no electricity and freezing weather.



A number of foreign embassies and firms withdrew their personnel from TOKYO. But the government insisted that the 35m people in the Tokyo area faced no immediate health threat. Emperor Akihito took the extraordinary step of appearing on television to express his concern.



In an opening salvo, U.S. and U.K. forces on Saturday unleashed around 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles against Libyan targets. The coalition missile strikes represented a dramatic escalation in turmoil that has swept across the Mideast and North Africa. Despite a United Nations resolution authorizing force against the regime, the colonel's troops penetrated deep into the city Saturday and heavily shelled the rebel capital's residential neighborhoods, threatening to snuff out the month-old Libyan revolution.



The disaster in Japan revived German concerns over NUCLEAR POWER. Angela Merkel announced a three-month moratorium on a plan to extend the lifespan of the country's 17 nuclear-power plants, and said that seven facilities built before 1980 would be temporarily shut. The European Union announced plans to test the safety of all nuclear plants in the 27 member states and China suspended approvals for new nuclear facilities.



RAYMOND DAVIS, a CIA contractor arrested in January in Lahore for murdering two local men he said he killed in self-defence, was released by a Pakistani court. Details of the deal that led to his freedom were not made public, but it involved the payment of blood money to the families of the men he killed. The case had led to a serious rift with America, which insisted Mr Davis enjoyed diplomatic immunity and should never have been detained.



A Christian serving a life sentence under PAKISTAN'S Islamic blasphemy law died in jail in Karachi. Officials said the man had a heart attack, but his family claimed he had been fit and healthy.
St Louis IT Service
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