TOKYO - Radiation leaking from Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant has been detected in nearby water, beef and even dead bodies left behind by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disasters.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company, which operates the plant, said radioactive iodine was detected in the groundwater beneath one of the reactors at levels 10,000 […]
DAMASCUS - Syria President Bashar al-Assad has announced a series of reform measures, including the formation of a committee to study the possibility of lifting the country’s 50-year-old emergency law, in an apparent bid to appease anti-government protesters.
The country’s state-run news agency, SANA said Thursday that the committee would complete its study by April 25.
Lifting […]
WASHINGTON - A new public-opinion poll suggests trouble ahead for President Barack Obama and indicates most Americans oppose U.S. military involvement in Libya.
The monthly Quinnipiac University poll found voters oppose U.S. involvement in Libya by a margin of 47 to 41 percent, even though 65 percent in the same poll favor the use of force […]
WASHINGTON - The top NATO military commander says Libya may need a foreign stabilization force if rebels supported by international airstrikes succeed in ousting the country’s leader, Moammar Gadhafi. U.S. Navy Admiral James Stavridis made the comment in an appearance Tuesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Admiral Stavridis says there has been no discussion at […]
TOKYO - Japan’s nuclear safety agency says radioactive iodine has been detected at more than 3,000 times the allowable level in the ocean near the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.
Officials said Wednesday that the water sample, with the highest levels yet recorded, was collected about 300 meters from the Fukushima plant, which has been leaking radiation […]
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama’s defense of limited U.S. military engagement in Libya appears not to have won over many congressional critics of his administration’s handling of developments in the northern African nation. The U.S. mission in Libya remains a contentious issue on Capitol Hill.
The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, John McCain […]
WASHINGTON - Authorities across Asia and the United States are reporting small amounts of radiation from Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, but they all say it poses no threat to public health.
China’s Environmental Protection Ministry issued a statement Tuesday saying low levels of radioactive iodine-131 have been detected along the country’s southeastern region, including Guangxi, […]
HIROSHIMA - Fears over the potential fallout from the crisis at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant have triggered painful memories in Japan of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings at the end of World War II. More than any other nation, Japan is only too familiar with the horrors of nuclear radiation. But survivors of the […]
TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Tuesday the country is on “maximum alert,” adding that the situation at the quake-damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant is “unpredictable.”
Kan made the comments in an appearance before parliament Tuesday to answer questions about the nuclear crisis.
Political theater?
The prime minister said his government is giving its complete attention […]
TRIPOLI - Forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi are reported to have pushed back rebels trying to advance west toward Gadhafi’s hometown and stronghold of Sirte.
Foreign journalists said an onslaught Tuesday by the pro-Gadhafi fighters forced the rebels to retreat farther east.
On Monday, pro-government forces drove the rebels back with heavy tank and artillery […]
TRIPOLI - Libyan rebel forces on Monday continued their westward push toward Moammar Gadhafi’s hometown of Sirte, where a key battle looms for the government stronghold.
Aided by international airstrikes, the rebels are advancing toward the capital Tripoli and have retaken areas given over to government troops before the West imposed a no-fly zone on March […]
SANAA - Officials in Yemen say a blast at an ammunition factory in the country’s south has killed at least 50 people.
Officials say the explosion occurred Monday at the weapons factory near the town of Jaar in Abyan province. The plant was overtaken the day before by Islamic militants.
Yemeni officials say militants also captured government […]
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration is defending its decision to intervene militarily in Libya, despite admitting that no vital U.S. interests are at stake in the country.
One day before President Barack Obama is to speak to the nation on U.S. efforts in Libya, Defense Secretary Robert Gates was asked if turmoil and bloodshed in Libya […]
DAMASCUS - Syrian protesters turned out Sunday demanding change in the face of violent reprisals from the government. But the government is blaming “armed gangs” for the violence.
Syrian officials say the “armed gangs” attacked civilians and government forces in Latakia, killing 12 people in the port city that has been rocked by demonstrations in recent […]
JERUSALEM - Tensions remain high on the Gaza border after an Israeli air strike killed two Palestinian militants and critically wounded a third.
Israeli aircraft attacked a Palestinian rocket squad in the Gaza Strip. The Islamic Jihad group said its fighters were targeted and their vehicle was destroyed.
The air strike was launched despite an announcement by […]
WASHINGTON - Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman vice presidential candidate on a major U.S. party ticket, has died. Ferraro’s unsuccessful 1984 campaign paved the way for future female candidates for national office.
Former congresswoman and vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro died Saturday in Boston, Massachusetts at the age of 75. She had battled blood cancer for […]
LONDON - Masked protesters clashed with riot police and attacked stores, banks and hotels in London Saturday, overshadowing an earlier peaceful protest by more than a quarter of a million Britons against government spending cuts.
Police said more than 200 people were arrested and dozens injured as protesters threw glass bottles, burning flares and other objects […]
TOKYO - Japan says levels of radiation contamination in water inside part of the Fukushima nuclear power plant have increased sharply. Workers at the plant spent the day Sunday on improvements to the water pumping system that is keeping the reactors cool.
The level of radioactive Iodine-134 in water in the basement of a turbine building […]
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama says the U.S. military mission in Libya is succeeding.
In his weekly broadcast and Internet address to the nation, Mr. Obama said Libya’s air defenses “have been taken out.” His speech was released Saturday, marking one week since the United States and its allies began military action to enforce a “no-fly” […]
WASHINGTON - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is headed to Cuba on Monday for a private visit.
Mr. Carter’s Atlanta-based Carter Center said Friday that the former president and his wife, Rosalynn, will be in Cuba at the invitation of its government. A statement said the couple will meet with President Raul Castro to discuss ways […]
TOKYO - The number of governments that have banned Japanese food imports due to fears of radiation contamination is growing. On Friday, China joined Singapore and the U.S. in halting some imported foods from radiation-affected areas of Japan. Other governments are expected to take similar precautionary measures as Japan struggles to contain the damage from […]
CAIRO - The handover of the no-fly mission to NATO could come as early as this weekend. But the decision does not allow for a quick exit by the alliance from the costly military operation.
NATO Secretary-General Andres Foch Rasmussen explained Friday that some operations will remain under the aegis of the Western coalition, as debate […]
WASHINGTON - Hundreds of Shi’ites in Saudi Arabia rallied in two towns in the kingdom’s eastern province of Qatif, where they demanded the release of prisoners and the withdrawal of Saudi troops from Bahrain.
Some demonstrators waved Bahraini flags on Friday as they took to the streets in a show of solidarity with Bahrain’s Shi’ite majority, […]
AUSTIN - The first human inhabitants of North America settled at least 2,500 years earlier than the people previously identified as the first Americans. So say archaeologists, who have unearthed a trove of stone artifacts belonging to the early Americans at an archaeological dig in central Texas, in the U.S. southwest.
The 1,600 ancient stone artifacts, […]
