Libyan government troops advance on oil town

RAS LANUF, Libya— Government troops seeking to dislodge rebels from Libya’s coast advanced on an oil town on Monday amid accelerating humanitarian efforts to prevent worsening civilian suffering and a mass refugee exodus.

The United Nations and the European Union are dispatching fact-finding missions to the north African nation, where reports by residents of attacks on civilians by security forces have triggered a war crimes probe and provoked global outrage.

The resilience of Muammar Gaddafi’s troops in the face of protests which started in mid-February and their ability to counter-attack on a key coastal road has raised the prospect that this OPEC nation is heading for months of bloodshed.

“It’s clear the government feels a sense of momentum on its side,” said military analyst Shashank Joshi, an associate fellow at Britain’s Royal United Services Institute.

“Government forces have more mobility than the rebels thanks to airlift and a decent amount of road transport. “That’s blunted by the fact that we are seeing extremely poor fighting skills by government forces, and reasonably competent fighting by the rebels.”

The rebels have called for U.N.-backed air strikes against what they say are African mercenaries used by Col. Gaddafi to suppress an uprising against his 41-year-old strongman rule.

The government says it is fighting against al-Qaeda terrorists and maintains that its security forces have targeted only armed individuals attacking state institutions and depots.

Witnesses said government forces advanced on the rebel-held oil port of Ras Lanuf 600 kilometres east of Tripoli in a counter-attack that forced residents to flee and rebels to hide their weapons in the desert.

The army was moving down the strategic Mediterranean coastal road east of the recaptured town of Bin Jawad, heading towards Ras Lanuf which is about 60 kilometres away and which has a major oil complex, witnesses told Reuters.

“I went to Bin Jawad and about 20 kilometres beforehand I saw Gaddafi forces, a large truck and army vehicles, and a fighter jet, they were coming slowly in this direction,” Ahmed al-Araibi, a driver, told Reuters.

“I saw army trucks ahead, I was about 20 km away (from Bin Jawad),” said Khalifa Saad, another driver. While another witness said there were several trucks heading to Ras Lanuf.

Residents of Ras Lanuf, fearing assault by army forces, were leaving in cars laden with belongings on Monday and rebels said they had moved weapons into the desert for safekeeping.

As the rival combatants prepared to resume battle, the authorities launched an appeal to the rebels in the east for dialogue, in the clearest overture yet to their opponents.

Jadallah Azous Al-Talhi, a Libyan prime minister in the 1980s who is originally from eastern Libya, appeared on state television reading an address to elders in Benghazi.

He asked them to“give a chance to national dialogue to resolve this crisis, to help stop the bloodshed, and not give a chance to foreigners to come and capture our country again.”

In the West, after what residents said was fierce fighting on Sunday with artillery, rockets and mortar bombs, rebel forces announced they had fought off Col. Gaddafi’s forces in the towns of Zawiyah, to the immediate west of Tripoli, and Misrata to the east.

If rebel soldiers were able to push their fitful advance westwards, Misrata could be a stepping stone to reaching the capital, Tripoli, Col. Gaddafi’s principal powerbase.

As the conflict escalated in Libya, U.S. crude oil rose to a 2-1/2-year high on Monday.

U.S. crude for April rose as much as $1.90 to $106.32 a barrel, the highest price since September 2008, heightening concerns that high energy prices may derail the global economic recovery. The U.S. government reiterated that it could tap its strategic oil reserves to safeguard economic growth. The U.N. chief on Sunday demanded an end to“indiscriminate” attacks against civilians in Libya and warned Tripoli anyone who violates international law will be brought to justice.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke with Libyan Foreign Minister Musa Kusa on Sunday and told him that Tripoli must“uphold their responsibility to protect the country’s citizens and to heed the Libyan people’s legitimate aspirations.”

Ban appointed former Foreign Minister of Jordan, Abdelilah Al-Khatib, as a special envoy to Libya“to undertake urgent consultations with the authorities in Tripoli and in the region on the immediate humanitarian situation,” Ban’s press office said. Gaddafi, in a French newspaper interview released on Sunday, said he was embroiled in a fight against terrorism and expressed dismay at theabsence of support from abroad. “I am surprised that nobody understands that this is a fight against terrorism,” the longtime autocrat of the North African oil-producing state told the Journal du Dimanche in excerpts of an interview due to be published later on Sunday. “Our security services cooperate. We have helped you a lot these past few years. So why is it that when we are in a fight against terrorism here in Libya no one helps us in return?”

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Sunday that what he called a UK diplomatic team that had been seized in the eastern city of Benghazi had now left Libya.

The Sunday Times earlier reported a British Special Air Service (SAS) unit had been captured during a secret diplomatic mission to make contact with opposition leaders backfired.

“They (the rebel army) did capture some British special forces. They could not ascertain if they were friends or foes. For our safety we are holding them and we expect this situation to be resolved soon,” a rebel source in Benghazi said earlier.

RUSI analyst Joshi said the episode might offer a propaganda boost for Gaddafi, who was likely to portray it as evidence that the revolt was foreign-inspired rather than indigenous.

© Thomson Reuters 2011

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Britain, France push Libyan no fly zone: 'There is a feeling of urgency now'

UNITED NATIONS— Britain and France could put a resolution to the UN Security Council this week demanding a no-fly zone over Libya to counter Muammar Gaddafi's offensive against rebels, diplomats said.

While the conflict is intensifying, the UN body is braced for a new diplomatic tussle over military action. Britain’s foreign minister has insisted that there must “a clear legal basis” for the zone and set other conditions.

“You should expect something on Libya this week,” one UN diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity. “There is a feeling of urgency now.”

“There are elements of a text ready which can be distributed to the council. It could well be this week,” said a diplomat from another council nation.

“It depends if there are triggers on the ground. If there are gross human rights violations or mercenaries are brought in.”

Britain and France have made the most aggressive calls among western powers for a no-fly zone to hamper Col. Gaddafi’s offensive. The United States has said it is studying the possibility while warning of the major military operation it would entail.

The UN Security Council unanimously passed sanctions against the Gaddafi regime and ordered a crimes against humanity investigation on February 26. Any new move toward military action is likely to face tough resistance from China, Russia and other members of the 15 however.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague said the Libyan rebels had “explicitly” asked for action to prevent Col. Gaddafi’s air attacks but that “many conditions should be attached” to any no-fly zone.

“At the UN Security Council we are working closely with partners on a contingency basis on elements of a resolution on a no-fly zone, making clear the need for regional support, a clear trigger for such a resolution and an appropriate legal basis,” Mr. Hague told the British parliament.

“There should be a demonstrable need that the whole world can see, there must be a clear legal basis for such a no-fly zone and there must be clear support from the region, from the Middle East region, from the North African region as well as from the people of Libya themselves,” he said.

“I think those are the necessary conditions for such a no-fly zone to be created.”

Arab League secretary general Amr Mussa supported a no-fly zone when he spoke to French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe in Cairo on Sunday, French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said in Paris.

“Mr. Musa confirmed the support of the Arab League for a no-fly zone,” Mr. Valero said.

The strong support from Arab and African nations helped sway Russia, China and others behind the assets freeze and travel ban against Col. Gaddafi and 15 other members of his family and regime.

Russia and China, which traditionally oppose military sanctions, may resist stronger measures so soon after the last vote, diplomats and experts said.

Russia, China, Britain, France and the United States are permanent members of the Security Council who can veto any resolution.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week called the no-fly zones “superfluous” and said international powers should concentrate on the existing sanctions.

China’s foreign ministry also indicated last week that the Beijing government was cool to military action.

India, which is also a member of the Security Council, has also indicated opposition to no-fly zones, though diplomats said it could be swayed if the Libya fighting worsens.

The council is to be briefed on the turmoil in North Africa on Tuesday from UN under secretary general B. Lynn Pascoe.

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Spending up in areas where Tories vowed to tighten belts: watchdog

OTTAWA— The federal government is letting spending climb in key areas where the Conservatives promised to tighten their belts, says Parliament’s budget watchdog.

The government recently revealed its overall spending is projected to fall $10.4 billion this fiscal year, a drop of four per cent from the previous year. But the government’s administrative and personnel costs are expected to continue to rise, Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page said in a report released Tuesday.

Page’s office dug into the government’s so-called main estimates, which break down Ottawa’s spending plans for 2011-12.

The Conservatives pledged in their last budget to review the administrative costs incurred by federal departments and agencies. The results are supposed to be laid out in the next budget, which is due March 22. The review is part of the government’s plan to return to a balanced budget by 2016.

Page found the cost of“internal services” — spending on communications, human resources, information technology and financial management — are projected to increase $235 million.

The government also froze the operating budgets of departments in last year’s budget.

But Page notes personnel costs are expected to rise one per cent this year.

He suggests members of Parliament“may wish to seek further details” about whether the government’s planned savings can be realized, given that personnel costs are still rising.

Some reports on the government’s estimates focused on the impact of the Conservatives’ stimulus-spending program winding down this spring.

But Page points out only two of the 10 biggest changes in departmental spending can be attributed to the end of the massive stimulus package.

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Wisconsin assemby puts final seal on anti-union bill

MADISON, Wis.— Wisconsin lawmakers, after three weeks of angry protests, gave final approval on Thursday to Republican Governor Scott Walker’s plan to curb the union rights of public workers.

Walker promised to quickly sign the bill into law, ending a three-week Wisconsin standoff that ignited a national political struggle over efforts by several budget-strapped state governments to rein in the rights of unions.

Protesters inside the state Capitol in Madison shouted“Shame! Shame!” as the Republican-led State Assembly approved the bill on a 53-42 vote after three hours of debate. All but four Republicans voted to approve the plan.

Wisconsin’s Republican-led Senate had outflanked Democrats’ boycott to pass the heart of Walker’s plan on Wednesday night, sending it to the assembly. Democrats promised there would be a political price to pay for the action.

Challenges to the bargaining rights of state and local workers are also being weighed in Indiana, Ohio, Idaho, Tennessee, Kansas and several more states— some of which saw Republicans sweep to victory in November.

The confrontation with unions could be the biggest challenge to labor since then President Ronald Reagan fired striking air traffic controllers nearly 30 years ago.

Republicans say the measures are needed to gain control of deficit-ridden budgets. Democrats and their union backers say Republicans are ramming through union-busting proposals.

Some 10,000 protesters surrounded the Capitol building during the debate, with a large crowd gathering underneath Walker’s window noisily accompanied by drums.

Capitol police briefly closed the building and hauled away some protesters— amid chants of “This is Our House” — which postponed the start of the assembly’s debate for a short time.

“It’s still like the first day of the protests here,” said Karin Kinsley, 52. “Energetic. Hopeful. Crowded. Loud.”

The AFL-CIO called for its members to rally on Thursday in support of public sector workers, saying Senate Republicans and Walker had exercised“the nuclear option to ram through their bill attacking Wisconsin’s working families in the dark of night.”

In Indiana, more than 8,000 workers converged on the statehouse to protest legislation Democrats say targets public school teachers and others, including a provision that public employees would not have to pay unions dues. Democratic House members have left the state to prevent votes on the bills.

STAKES ARE HIGH

The stakes are high for labor. More than a third of U.S. public employees such as teachers, police and civil service workers belong to unions while only 6.9 percent of private sector workers are unionized. Union membership has been on the decline for decades and fell last year to 11.9 percent of U.S. workers from 12.3 percent.

Action to weaken unions, who are traditionally a Democratic constituency and key source of the party’s campaign funds, would threaten prospects for Democrats including President Barack Obama’s re-election in November 2012.

Some protesters spent the night in the capitol in spite of a judge’s ruling they must clear out — as the state Senate stripped out the financial elements of Walker’s proposal. The move allowed a vote without missing Democrats, who had fled the state to deny Republicans in the chamber a quorum.

Walker has insisted the limits are needed to help the state’s cash-poor municipalities deal with a projected $1.27 billion drop in aid over the next two years from the state. Wisconsin is struggling to close its own $3.6 billion budget gap.

In a separate maneuver, Wisconsin officials hope to delay for a month a March 15 deadline to restructure some outstanding bonds that the governor says would save $165 million.

“We have shown we can have passionate debate. We are civil in the state of Wisconsin. We respect the law,” Walker said, but he expressed concerns about outside influences coming into the state to create disturbances.

“The intensity of the protests are making it difficult to even get around into the Capitol,” said Senate Democrat Jim Holperin, who was returning to his home state from Illinois. It was unclear when the other Democrats would return.

Democratic House Minority Leader Peter Barca said the Republicans’ actions the past few weeks had created “a stain so deep it may never be clean.”

Democrats promised to fight on, and they are looking to the courts for relief. Barca filed a complaint that Republicans violated public meeting laws.

© 2011 Thomson Reuters

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Link to sex offender puts heat on Prince Andrew

LONDON— The royal family is supposed to burnish Britain’s image but Prince Andrew has generated quite a different buzz by consorting with a convicted U.S. paedophile and allegedly having contacts with the Libyan leader’s family.

“Prince of Sleaze” ran a headline in Monday’s Daily Mirror over a story about the 50-year-old prince, who is fourth in line to the throne and is Britain’s roving trade ambassador.

“Andrew: I won’t quit over my pervert pal,” the Sun added.

It’s a long way from the gushing coverage the British media has dished out for Andrew’s nephew Prince William and his fiancee Kate Middleton, ahead of their wedding next month.

Instead, the newspapers have printed photographs of Andrew cavorting on yachts or sunbathing surrounded by topless women, and dubbed him“Airmiles Andy” for his use of publicly funded travel.

Andrew, who divorced his former wife Sarah Ferguson in 1996, has had a difficult relationship with the media for years, but not like this.

Nicknamed the“playboy prince” for his lifestyle, Andrew is in hot water over his friendship with New York financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was jailed in 2008 for child sex offences.

His alleged links to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam and the son of Tunisia’s ousted president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali also have come under media scrutiny.

The revelations have led to calls for Andrew, the second son of Queen Elizabeth, to be axed as a special representative for a government body promoting British businesses abroad, a role he has held since 2001.

Lawmaker Chris Bryant, a member of the opposition Labour Party, said the government should get rid of Andrew immediately.

“I think the government is making a big mistake here...,” he told BBC radio. “They should be absolutely clear — we are going to dispense with his services.”

A royal source said the prince had met Saif Gaddafi twice, and they were not friends, and that Andrew accepted he had been unwise to have associated with Epstein since his conviction.

“There’s no accusation he’s done anything wrong and there’s been no suggestion of any impropriety on his part because there has been none at all,” the source told Reuters.

“You won’t be seeing him and Mr. Epstein in a photograph again,” the source added.

A spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron said he had full confidence in the prince.

“We fully support Prince Andrew in his role as trade envoy ... we think he does an important job, he makes an important contribution and we are not reviewing that role,” he said.

But government sources have told the media any further revelations would make the prince’s position untenable.

Business Secretary Vince Cable admitted there would be“conversations” about Andrew’s future, but said it would be up to the prince to resign as he was a volunteer not a political appointee to be appointed or fired.

“I don’t know what he’s done or hasn’t done. There’s a lot of speculative stories about him,” Mr. Cable told BBC radio.

“It is down to him to judge the position he wants to be in. Obviously there are conversations which will take place with him about what he’s to do in future.”

© Thomson Reuters 2011

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Obama to end freeze on new Guantanamo trials

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama said Monday he would lift the two-year freeze on new military trials for Guantanamo Bay terror suspects and issued new guidelines on the treatment of those held indefinitely.

Mr. Obama, who has been thwarted in his desire to close the camp in Cuba which he calls a recruiting tool for Al-Qaeda, issued the long-awaited decision after a sweeping review of administration policy.

The White House made clear that despite permitting new trials at the camp, it remained committed to using federal courts to try some suitable suspects and vowed to complete the“difficult challenge” of closing Guantanamo Bay.

“I am announcing several steps that broaden our ability to bring terrorists to justice, provide oversight for our actions and ensure the humane treatment of detainees,” Mr. Obama said in a statement.

The White House said Defense Secretary Robert Gates would soon issue an order“rescinding his prior suspension on the swearing and referring of new charges in the military commissions.”

New military trials at the camp -- which contains top suspects from the September 11 attacks and other strikes against the United States, as well as prisoners from the battlefields of Afghanistan -- have been suspended since January 2009.

Mr. Obama also issued guidelines on the treatment of inmates who U.S. authorities deem cannot be tried due to concerns about the admissibility of evidence obtained under duress, or who are are deemed too dangerous to free.

In an executive order, he ruled that among other requirements, detainees would have the right to a periodic review of the reasons for their continued incarceration.

But Mr. Obama also reserved the right to try some detainees in federal courts, a process in which he has been blocked by members of Congress opposed to bringing terror suspects to the U.S. mainland for legal proceedings.

Monday’s actions represented the Mr. Obama administration’s latest bid to navigate the thicket of legal problems left over from the previous Bush administration’s “war on terror” policies.

In one of his first acts as president in 2009, Mr. Obama halted trials at Guantanamo Bay and announced he planned to close the controversial camp within a year.

But he has been thwarted in his ambition by the task of finding a new structure to deal with suspects deemed to be at war with the United States and opposition from friends and foes on Capitol Hill.

The White House said it was allowing the special trials to resume after enacting key reforms, such as a ban on the use of statements taken under“cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.”

It said it has also adopted a better system for handling classified information that made military commissions an“available and important tool in combating international terrorists.”

The executive order was designed to ensure that those inmates detained indefinitely without trial are only kept behind bars when it was“lawful and necessary” to do so, the White House said.

Detainees will be given notice of a pending periodic review on their case and receive information on the factors under consideration to determine their fate.

Should it be decided that a detainee no longer poses a threat to the United States, U.S. government agencies will seek to identify a suitable transfer location -- but no detainees will be released on U.S. soil.

In the White House fact sheet, the administration also thanked those countries that have agreed to take inmates at Guantanamo Bay.

“Our friends and allies should know that we remain determined in our efforts and that, with their continued assistance, we intend to complete the difficult challenge of closing Guantanamo,” it said.

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Egypt government warns of‘counter-revolution’

CAIRO— Egypt’s new government warned on Wednesday of a “counter-revolution” following a series of deadly political and religious clashes blamed on diehards of the former regime.

The government said it“is fully committed to the interests of the people and to implementing the goals of the revolution; and it will stand firm against plans for a counter-revolution,” according to state news agency MENA.

Meanwhile, the newly appointed cabinet met with the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to propose a law criminalising threatening behaviour, MENA said.

A statement later said the cabinet had discussed“developments in the country, specifically the acts that have hindered daily life, acts of thuggery, incitement, intimidation and tensions affecting national unity.”

Accordingly, it has“ordered the swift return of police forces, in their full capacity, back to the streets” and “urged citizens to cooperate with the police.”

On Tuesday, clashes killed at least 13 in Cairo, the health ministry said.

Bloody fighting broke out late Tuesday in the working class Cairo district of Moqattam when Muslims confronted Christians who had been blocking a main road in protest at the burning of a church last week in the provincial town of Sol, south of Cairo.

The attack on the church came after clashes between Copts and Muslims that left two people dead.

Father Boutros Roshdy of a Moqattam church told AFP at least seven Coptic Christians were among the dead on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the epicentre of anti-regime protests that toppled president Hosni Mubarak, attackers armed with knives and machetes waded into hundreds of pro-democracy activists on Wednesday, witnesses said.

Stone-throwing skirmishes raged, and activists were gathering sticks and stockpiling rocks to defend themselves.

By early evening, the army had restored order in the square, dismantling tents pitched by protesters shortly after anti-regime riots erupted on January 25, and detaining several protesters, MENA said.

The violence, widely blamed on remnants of Mubarak’s regime, revealed the security vacuum created by police, who disappeared from the streets during January protests that led to Mubarak’s resignation.

In Washington, the State Department called on the military authorities to prosecute those behind the sectarian clashes.

“We have urged the Egyptian transitional government to act swiftly to bring the perpetrators of that violence to justice,” spokesman Mark Toner said when asked whether Washington had raised the issue with Cairo.

Toner told reporters US officials were concerned about attacks on Coptic Christians and“obviously condemn the violence.”

He called on Egyptians to“remember the sense of unity” they had when they called for Mubarak’s ouster in Tahrir Square.

He urged them to“refrain from any kind of violence and to go back to that sense of peaceful demonstration and expression that was the hallmark of the protests that brought Mubarak out of power.”

Asked whether there were any signs the military condones the violence or might be behind it, Toner replied:“We don’t have any indications of that.”

Amnesty International condemned what it called the army’s “heavy-handed actions to clear Cairo’s Tahrir Square.”

“It is absolutely unacceptable that the army should participate in violently breaking up the peaceful protests”, said the London-based watchdog’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.

“The Supreme Military Council has the duty to uphold the right to peaceful protest,” Hadj Sahraoui said.

On Monday, the council vowed to have the Sol church rebuilt and to prosecute those behind the arson attack.

The Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s largest opposition movement, blamed diehards of the Mubarak regime of inciting the violence.

It called on“everyone to stand together to support our armed forces and the cabinet so that they can fulfill the demands of the revolution.”

Egypt’s military rulers have been battling to steer the country through a fragile transition since Mubarak was overthrown on February 11, promising to pave the way for a free democratic society.

Christians, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt’s 80 million population, complain of systematic discrimination and have been the target of several sectarian attacks.

Agence France-Presse

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Republicans accused of demonizing Muslim community at hearings

WASHINGTON— Accusations of religious bigotry and politically correct “hysteria” framed an emotional congressional hearing Thursday over the threat posed by American Muslims plotting terror attacks against their homeland.

Rep. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim-American elected to Congress, wept during testimony in which he accused Republicans of demonizing the entire Muslim community in the U.S. over the actions of an extremist few.

“When you assign their violent actions to the entire community, you assign collective blame to a whole group,” Ellison told the House Committee on Homeland Security. “This is the very heart of stereotyping and scapegoating.”

Ellison’s tearful appeal for tolerance stood in stark contrast to testimony from several witnesses who warned Congress the Muslim community within the U.S. is being radicalized by extremist imams and the Internet teachings of distant clerics like Anwar al-Awlaki.

“We are losing American babies. Our children are in danger. This country must stand up and do something about the problem,” said Melvin Bledsoe, whose son Carlos — a Muslim convert known now as Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad — is accused of killing a U.S. soldier at an Arkansas military recruitment centre in 2009. “Tomorrow it could be your son, your daughter . . . We must stop these extremist invaders from raping the minds of American citizens.”

The sharply divergent viewpoints underscored the tension and division within U.S. society that remains almost a decade after the 9/11 terror attacks.

Moreover, the hearing highlighted the extreme sensitivity over how to combat homegrown terrorism, a threat the Obama administration says ranks higher than the danger of another major attack from overseas.

Rep. Peter King, the committee’s Republican chairman, opened the hearings into the “extent of radicalization in the American Muslim community” over the objection of Muslim groups and civil libertarians.

Since announcing plans for the hearings last December, King has been likened to Senator Joe McCarthy, the Cold War communist hunter, and faced threats from overseas that have required extra personal security.

In his opening statement at the hearing, King accused his critics of flying into“paroxysms of rage and hysteria” and said they were “living in denial” about radical activity within the U.S. Muslim population, estimated at between two and five million.

“Despite what passes for conventional wisdom in certain circles, there is nothing radical or un-American in holding these hearings,” King said.

The New York congressman cited the 2009 Fort Hood shootings and last year’s failed Times Square bombing as clear evidence of the heightened risk posed by American Muslims driven to violence by radical teachings.

Nidal Hasan, the army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 in the Fort Hood attacks, was born in Virginia.

Faisal Shahzad, who has been convicted of the Manhattan car bomb plot, was a naturalized American citizen born in Pakistan.

King called several witnesses who support his view that America’s Muslim organizations have not done enough to battle extremism in the community.

One witness, Virginia Republican congressman Frank Wolf, cited an instance in California where a branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations put up posters advising Muslims to:“Build a wall of resistance. Don’t talk to the FBI.”

Bledsoe told the panel how his son, once a“happy-go-lucky kid,” converted to Islam and became radicalized after leaving for college in Nashville in 2003. Falling under the influence of a Nashville imam, Carlos Bledsoe then travelled to Yemen before he returned to the U.S. and allegedly carried out his attack in Little Rock.

“Let me also state clearly that it is a problem that we can only solve. Christians, Jews, non-Muslims cannot solve Muslim radicalization,” said Zuhdi Jasser, a Muslim who founded a group called the American Islamic Forum for Democracy. “We can close our eyes and pretend it doesn’t exist. Wecan call everybody a bigot or Islamophobic to even talk about it. But you’re not going to solve the problem, and the problem is increasing exponentially.”

Other witnesses, though, said any congressional examination of homegrown terrorism in the U.S. must also investigate white supremacists and other extremist groups.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca cited Congressional Research Service statistics showing there had been 77 terror plots by“domestic non-Muslim perpetrators since 9/11.” By comparison, he said there had been 41 plots by domestic and international Muslim conspirators.

“Evidence clearly indicates a general rise of violent extremism across ideologies,” Baca said.

He also disputed claims the Muslim community is turning a blind eye to radical activities, citing news reports that tips from Muslim Americans helped disrupt seven of last 10 plots in the U.S.

But it was Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat, who provided the hearing’s drama.

At the end of his testimony, Ellison recounted the story of 23-year-old Mohammed Salman Hamdani, a New York paramedic who died after rushing to aid victims at World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

Though he is now recognized as a hero, there were initially unfounded rumours about whether Hamdani was somehow part of the al-Qaida plot.

“Mohammed Salman Hamdani was a fellow American who gave his life for other Americans,” Ellison said, his voice quavering. “His life should not be identified as just a member of an ethnic group or just a member of a religion, but as an American who gave everything for his fellow Americans.”

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Japan tries to avert nuclear meltdown

FUKUSHIMA, Japan - Japan fought on Sunday to avert a meltdown at three earthquake-crippled nuclear reactors, describing the massive quake and tsunami, which may have killed more than 10,000 people, as the nation’s biggest crisis since the Second World War.

The world’s third-largest economy is struggling to respond to a disaster of epic proportions, with more than 1 million without water or power and whole towns wiped off the map.

“The earthquake, tsunami and the nuclear incident have been the biggest crisis Japan has encountered in the 65 years since the end of World War II,” a grim-faced Prime Minister Naoto Kan told a news conference.

“We’re under scrutiny on whether we, the Japanese people, can overcome this crisis.”

As he spoke, officials worked desperately to stop fuel rods in the damaged reactors from overheating, which could in turn melt the container that houses the core, or even explode, releasing radioactive material into the wind.

The government said a building housing a second reactor at the same complex was at risk of exploding after a blast blew the roof off the first the day before. The complex is 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo.

Later it said it was pouring seawater into a third reactor to release a buildup of pressure.

The No. 1 reactor, where the roof blew off, is 40 years old and was originally scheduled to go out of commission in February but had its operating licence extended another 10 years. But Mr. Kan said the crisis was not another Chernobyl, referring to the 1986 nuclear disaster.

“Radiation has been released in the air, but there are no reports that a large amount was released,” Jiji news agency quoted him as saying. “This is fundamentally different from the Chernobyl accident.”

Nevertheless, France recommended its citizens leave the Tokyo region, citing the risk of further earthquakes and uncertainty about the nuclear plants.

Broadcaster NHK, quoting a police official, said more than 10,000 people may have been killed as the wall of water triggered by Friday’s 8.9-magnitude quake surged across the coastline, reducing whole towns to rubble.

Almost two million households were without power in the freezing north, the government said. There were about 1.4 million without running water.

Kyodo news agency said about 300,000 people were evacuated nationwide, many seeking refuge in shelters, wrapped in blankets, some clutching each other sobbing.

Authorities have set up a 20-km (12-mile) exclusion zone around the Fukushima Daiichi plant and a 10 km (6 miles) zone around another nuclear facility close by. Around 140,000 people have been moved from the area, while authorities prepared to distribute iodine to protect people from radioactive exposure.

The nuclear accident, the worst since Chernobyl, sparked criticism that authorities were ill-prepared for such a massive quake and the threat that could pose to the country’s nuclear power industry.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said there might have been a partial meltdown of the fuel rods at the No. 1 reactor at Fukushima. Engineers were pumping in seawater, trying to prevent the same happening at the No. 3 reactor, he said in apparent acknowledgement they had moved too slowly on Saturday.

“Unlike the No.1 reactor, we ventilated and injected water at an early stage,” Edano told a news briefing.

The No. 3 reactor uses a mixed-oxide fuel which contains plutonium, but plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said it did not present unusual problems.

Asked if fuel rods were partially melting in the No. 1 reactor, Mr. Edano said:“There is that possibility. We cannot confirm this because it is in the reactor. But we are dealing with it under that assumption .”

He said fuel rods may have partially deformed at the No. 3 reactor but a meltdown was unlikely to have occurred.

“The use of seawater means they have run out of options,” said David Lochbaum, director of the Union of Concerned Scientists Nuclear Safety Project.

TEPCO said radiation levels around the Fukushima Daiichi plant had risen above the safety limit but that it did not mean an“immediate threat” to human health.

Edano said there was a risk of an explosion at the building housing the No. 3 reactor, but that it was unlikely to affect the reactor core container.

The wind over the plant would continue blowing from the south, which could affect residents north of the facility, an official at Japan’s Meteorological Agency said.

The disaster prompted an angry response from an anti-nuclear energy NGO in Japan which said it should have been foreseen.

“A nuclear disaster which the promoters of nuclear power in Japan said wouldn’t happen is in progress,” the Citizens’ Nuclear Information Centre said. “It is occurring as a result of an earthquake that they said would not happen.”

SEARCH FOR THE MISSING

Mr. Kan said food, water and other necessities such as blankets were being delivered by vehicles but because of damage to roads, authorities were considering air and sea transport. He also said the government was preparing to double the number of troops mobilised to 100,000.

Thousands spent another freezing night huddled in blankets over heaters in emergency shelters along the northeastern coast, a scene of devastation after the quake sent a 10-metre (33-foot) wave surging through towns and cities in the Miyagi region, including its main coastal city of Sendai.

In one of the heavily hit areas, Rikuzentakata, a city close to the coast, more than 1,000 people took refuge in a school high on a hill. Some were talking with friends and family around a stove. The radio was giving updates. On the walls were posters where names of survivors at the shelter were listed.

Some were standing in front of the lists, weeping.

Kyodo news agency reported there had been no contact with around 10,000 people in one town, more than half its population.

A Japanese official said there were 190 people within a 10-km radius of the nuclear plant when radiation levels rose and 22 people have been confirmed to have suffered contamination. Workers in protective clothing were scanning people arriving at evacuation centres for radioactive exposure.

GOVERNMENT CRITICISED

The government, in power less than two years and which had already been struggling to push policy through a deeply divided parliament, came under criticism for its handling of the disaster.

“Crisis management is incoherent,” blared a headline in the Asahi newspaper, saying information and instructions to expand the evacuation area around the troubled plant were too slow.

There has been a proposal of an extra budget to help pay for the huge cost of recovery.

The Bank of Japan is expected to pledge on Monday to supply as much money as needed to prevent the disaster from destabilising markets and its banking system. It is also expected to signal its readiness to ease monetary policy further if the damage from the worst quake since records began in Japan 140 years ago threatens a fragile economic recovery.

Before news of the problem with reactor No. 3, the UN nuclear safety agency said the plant accident was less serious than both the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 and Chernobyl.

An official at the agency said it rated the incident a 4 according to the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES). Three Mile Island was rated 5 while Chernobyl was rated 7 on the 1 to 7 scale.

The earthquake was the fifth most powerful to hit the world in the past century.

© Thomson Reuters 2011

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Canada’s assistance teams idly wait Japan deployment

OTTAWA— Canada has two Disaster Assistance Response Teams available to send to Japan, as well as rapid-deployment field medical facilities, and teams of engineering, humanitarian and search and rescue experts. But all that assistance is sitting idly, while Ottawa awaits a formal request for its services.

“We’re in close contact with authorities in Japan, and we’ve let them know what kind of assistance we have available,” Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Diane Ablonczy said in an interview Sunday. “We’re waiting, we’re standing by until the government of Japan makes a request.”

Aid offers have poured in to the island nation that was ravaged after last week’s massive earthquake and the subsequent tsunami that claimed the life of at least one Canadian and up to 10,000 others.

Approximately a dozen countries have deployed rescue teams, which include dogs from Australia, China and the United States, at Japan’s request, the United Nations said Sunday.

But while Japanese authorities continue their search and rescue efforts with some help, Canada has yet to send any support.

“They only requested specific assistance from specific countries,” she said. “The Japanese government has a very experienced emergency response mechanism in place. So we want to collaborate and let them take the lead on what might be necessary and when.”

Ablonczy said she can sympathize with Canadians’ eagerness to help.

“As Canadians, we really want to get in there and help everywhere we can,” she said. “But the Japanese government does have things in hand, and they know what’s available.”

Although Ottawa’s assistance teams remain immobile, Canadian charities such as Red Cross, Oxfam Canada and Doctors Without Borders have been collecting donations and offering aid.

Beyond sending assistance, government is also concerned with ensuring the safety of all Canadians currently in Japan, Ablonczy said.

An approximate 10,000 to 12,000 Canadians are in Japan, but few are believed to be in the worst affected areas, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs.

So far, 76-year-old Andre Lachapelle from Quebec has been the only Canadian casualty reported.

Still, Foreign Affairs has issued a general travel advisory, warning against non-essential travel to the prefectures of Chiba, Miyagi, Ibaraki, Iwate, Fukushima and Aomori, where aftershocks continue and the risk of tsunamis is ongoing. Low-lying coastal areas should also be avoided, the department cautioned.

But Canada has not gone as far as some other countries, such as France, which has asked its citizens to leave Tokyo.

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More than 10,000 feared dead in Japan quake

FUKUSHIMA, Japan - Japan battled on Monday to prevent a nuclear catastrophe and to care for millions of people without power or water in its worst crisis since the Second World War, after a massive earthquake and tsunami that are feared to have killed more than 10,000 people.

A badly wounded nation has seen whole villages and towns wiped off the map by a wall of water, leaving in its wake an international humanitarian effort of epic proportions.

A grim-faced Prime Minister Naoto Kan said the world’s third biggest economy faced rolling blackouts as it reopens for business on Monday, while officials confirmed three nuclear reactors were at risk of overheating, raising fears of an uncontrolled radiation leak.

“The earthquake, tsunami and the nuclear incident have been the biggest crisis Japan has encountered in the 65 years since the end of World War Two,” Mr. Kan told a news conference.

“We’re under scrutiny on whether we, the Japanese people, can overcome this crisis.”

As he spoke, officials worked desperately to stop fuel rods in the damaged reactors from overheating. If they fail, the containers that house the core could melt, or even explode, releasing radioactive material into the atmosphere.

Broadcaster NHK, quoting a police official, said more than 10,000 people may have been killed as the wall of water triggered by Friday’s 8.9-magnitude quake surged across the coastline, reducing whole towns to rubble.

“I would like to believe that there still are survivors,” said Masaru Kudo, a soldier dispatched to Rikuzentakata, a nearly flattened town of 24,500 people in far-northern Iwate prefecture.

Kyodo news agency said 80,000 people had been evacuated from a 20-km (12-mile) radius around a stricken nuclear plant, joining more than 450,000 other evacuees from quake and tsunami-hit areas in the northeast of the main island Honshu.

Almost 2 million households were without power in the freezing north, the government said. There were about 1.4 million without running water.

“I am looking for my parents and my older brother,” Yuko Abe, 54, said in tears at an emergency centre in Rikuzentakata.

“Seeing the way the area is, I thought that perhaps they did not make it. I also cannot tell my siblings that live away that I am safe, as mobile phones and telephones are not working.”

NUCLEAR CRISIS

The most urgent crisis centres on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex, where all three reactors were threatening to overheat, and where authorities said they had been forced to vent radioactive steam into the air to relieve reactor pressure.

The complex, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, was rocked by an explosion on Saturday, which blew the roof off a reactor building. The government did not rule out further blasts there but said this would not necessarily damage the reactor vessels.

Authorities have poured sea water in all three of the complex’s reactor to cool them down.

Nuclear expert Mark Hibbs of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said the authorities appeared to be having some success in their efforts to avert a bigger disaster, but added the situation was still“touch and go”.

“Injection of sea water into a core is an extreme measure,” he said. “this is not according to the book.”

The complex, run by Tokyo Electric Power Co , is the biggest nuclear concern but not the only one: on Monday, the UN nuclear watchdog said Japanese authorities had notified it of an emergency at another plant further north, at Onagawa.

But Japan’s nuclear safety agency denied problems at the Onagawa plant, run by Tohoku Electric Power Co , noting that radioactive releases from the Fukushima Daiichi complex had been detected at Onagawa, but that these were within safe levels at a tiny fraction of the radiation received in an x-ray.

Shortly later, a cooling-system problem was reported at another nuclear plant closer to Tokyo, in Ibaraki prefecture.

A Japanese official said 22 people have been confirmed to have suffered radiation contamination and up to 190 may have been exposed. Workers in protective clothing used handheld scanners to check people arriving at evacuation centres.

“NOT ANOTHER CHERNOBYL”

The nuclear accident, the worst since Chernobyl in Soviet Ukraine in 1986, sparked criticism that authorities were ill-prepared for such a massive quake and the threat that could pose to the country’s nuclear power industry.

Prime Minister Kan sought to allay radiation fears:

“Radiation has been released in the air, but there are no reports that a large amount was released,” Jiji news agency quoted him as saying. “This is fundamentally different from the Chernobyl accident.”

Nevertheless, France recommended its citizens leave the Tokyo region, citing the risk of further earthquakes and uncertainty about the nuclear plants.

Mr. Kan said food, water and other necessities such as blankets were being delivered by vehicles but because of damage to roads, authorities were considering air and sea transport. He also said the government was preparing to double the number of troops mobilised to 100,000.

Thousands spent another freezing night huddled in blankets over heaters in emergency shelters along the northeastern coast, a scene of devastation after the quake sent a 10-metre (33-foot) wave surging through towns and cities in the Miyagi region, including its main coastal city of Sendai.

There were also fears another powerful quake could strike, with Japan’s Meteorological Agency saying there was a 70 percent chance of an aftershock with a magnitude of 7.0 or greater in the three days from 10 a.m. (0100 GMT) on Sunday.

Aftershocks in the 5 to 6 magnitude range have shaken the ground repeatedly since Friday’s huge quake.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

Already saddled with debts twice the size of its US$5-trillion economy and threatened with credit downgrades, the government is discussing a temporary tax rise to fund relief work.

Analysts expect the economy to suffer a hit in the short-term, then get a boost from reconstruction activity.

“When we talk about natural disasters, we tend to see an initial sharp drop in production... then you tend to have a V-shaped rebound. But initially everyone underestimates the damage,” said Michala Marcussen, head of global economics at Societe Generale.

Ratings agency Moody’s said on Sunday the fiscal impact of the earthquake would be temporary and have a limited play on whether it would downgrade Japan’s sovereign debt.

Risk modelling company AIR Worldwide said insured losses from the earthquake could reach nearly US$35-billion.

The Bank of Japan is expected to pledge on Monday to supply as much money as needed to prevent the disaster from destabilising markets and its banking system.

It is also expected to signal its readiness to ease monetary policy further if the damage from the worst quake since records began in Japan 140 years ago threatens a fragile economic recovery.

The earthquake was the fifth most powerful to hit the world in the past century. It surpassed the Great Kanto quake of Sept. 1, 1923, which had a magnitude of 7.9 and killed more than 140,000 people in the Tokyo area.

The 1995 Kobe quake killed 6,000 and caused $100 billion in damage, the most expensive natural disaster in history. Economic damage from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was estimated at about $10 billion.

© Thomson Reuters 2011

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Fears of major radiation leak in Japan

FUKUSHIMA, Japan— Japan scrambled to avert a meltdown at a stricken nuclear plant on Monday after a hydrogen explosion at one reactor and exposure of fuel rods at another, just days after a devastating earthquake and tsunami that killed at least 10,000 people.

Roads and rail, power and ports have been crippled across much of Japan’s northeast and estimates of the cost of the multiple disasters have leapt to as much as US$170-billion. Analysts said the economy could even tip back into recession.

Japanese stocks closed down more than 7.5%, wiping US$287-billion off market capitalisation in the biggest fall since the height of the global financial crisis in 2008.

Rescue workers combed the tsunami-battered region north of Tokyo for survivors and struggled to care for millions of people without power and water in what Prime Minister Naoto Kan has dubbed his country’s worst crisis since World War Two.

Officials say at least 10,000 people were likely killed in the 8.9-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that followed it. Kyodo news agency reported that 2,000 bodies had been found on Monday in two coastal towns alone.

“It’s a scene from hell, absolutely nightmarish,” said Patrick Fuller of the International Red Cross Federation from the town of Otsuchi.

“The situation here is just beyond belief, almost everything has been flattened. The government is saying that 9,500 people, more than half of the population could have died and I do fear the worst.”

The big fear at the Fukushima nuclear complex, 240 kilometres north of Tokyo, is of a major radiation leak.

Jiji news agency said fuel rods at the No. 2 reactor had been entirely exposed and a fuel rod meltdown could not be ruled out. The plant operator confirmed there was little water left in the reactor. The explosion happened at the No. 3 reactor, two days after a blast at the No. 1 reactor.

A meltdown raises the risk of damage to the reactor vessel and a possible radioactive leak. Levels of cooling sea water around the reactor core had been reported as falling earlier in the day. Jiji said the pump had run out of fuel.

Crucially, officials said the thick walls around the radioactive cores of the damaged reactors appeared to be intact after the earlier hydrogen blast.

The core container of the No. 3 reactor was intact after the explosion, the government said, but it warned those still in the 20-kilometres evacuation zone to stay indoors. The plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) 9501.T, said 11 people had been injured in the blast.

Kyodo said 80,000 people had been evacuated from the zone, joining more than 450,000 other evacuees from quake and tsunami-hit areas in the northeast.

“Everything I’ve seen says that the containment structure is operating as it’s designed to operate. It’s keeping the radiation in and it’s holding everything in, which is the good news,” said Murray Jennex, of San Diego State University.

“This is nothing like a Chernobyl ... At Chernobyl (in Ukraine in 1986) you had no containment structure — when it blew, it blew everything straight out into the atmosphere.”

Nuclear experts said it was probably the first time in the industry’s 57-year history that sea water has been used in this way, a sign of how close Japan may be to a major accident.

“Injection of sea water into a core is an extreme measure,” Mark Hibbs of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “This is not according to the book.”

The nuclear accident, the worst since Chernobyl, sparked criticism that authorities were ill-prepared and the threat that could pose to the country’s nuclear power industry.

A Japanese official said before the blast that 22 people were confirmed to have suffered radiation contamination and up to 190 may have been exposed. Workers in protective clothing used hand-held scanners to check people arriving at evacuation centres.

U.S. warships and planes helping with relief efforts moved away from the coast temporarily because of low-level radiation. The U.S. Seventh Fleet described the move as precautionary.

South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines said they would test Japanese food imports for radiation.

Almost 2 million households were without power in the north, the government said. There were about 1.4 million without running water. Tens of thousands of people are missing.

The town of Otsuchi in Iwate prefecture was obliterated.

“After my long career in the Red Cross where I have seen many disasters and catastrophes, this is the worst I have ever seen. Otsuchi reminds me of Osaka and Tokyo after the Second World War when everything was destroyed and flattened,” Japan Red Cross President Tadateru Konoe told Reuters during a visit to the coastal town.

Whole villages and towns have been wiped off the map by Friday’s wall of water, triggering an international humanitarian effort of epic proportions.

“When the tsunami struck, I was trying to evacuate people. I looked back, and then it was like the computer graphics scene I’ve seen from the movie Armageddon. I thought it was a dream . it was really like the end of the world,” said Tsutomu Sato, 46, in Rikuzantakata, a town on the northeastcoast.

Estimates of the economic impact are only now starting to emerge.

Hiromichi Shirakawa, chief economist for Japan at Credit Suisse, said in a note to clients that the economic loss will likely be around US$171-183 billion just to the region hit by the quake and tsunami.

Even that would put it above the commonly accepted cost of the 1995 Kobe quake which killed 6,000 people.

The earthquake has forced many firms to suspend production and shares in some of Japan’s biggest companies tumbled on Monday, with Toyota Corp 7203.T dropping almost 8%. Shares in Australian-listed uranium miners also dived.

“When we talk about natural disasters, we tend to see an initial sharp drop in production ... then you tend to have a V-shaped rebound. But initially everyone underestimates the damage,” said Michala Marcussen, head of global economics at Societe Generale.

Risk modelling company AIR Worldwide said insured losses from the earthquake could reach nearly US$35 billion.

Global companies from semiconductor makers to shipbuilders faced disruptions to operations after the quake and tsunami destroyed vital infrastructure, damaged ports and knocked out factories supplying everything from high-tech components to steel.

The Bank of Japan offered a combined 15 trillion yen to the banking system earlier in the day to soothe market jitters.

Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said authorities were closely watching the yen after the currency initially rallied on expectations of repatriations by insurers and others. The currency later reversed course in volatile trading.

The earthquake was the fifth most powerful to hit the world in the past century. It surpassed the Great Kanto quake of Sept. 1, 1923, which had a magnitude of 7.9 and killed more than 140,000 people in the Tokyo area.

© Thomson Reuters

Source

Japan grapples with nuclear crisis amid search for survivors

FUKUSHIMA, Japan— Japan scrambled to avert a meltdown at a stricken nuclear plant on Monday after a hydrogen explosion at one reactor and exposure of fuel rods at another, just days after a devastating earthquake and tsunami that killed at least 10,000 people.

Roads and rail, power and ports have been crippled across much of Japan’s northeast and estimates of the cost of the multiple disasters have leapt to as much as $170 billion. Analysts said the economy could even tip back into recession.

Japanese stocks closed down more than 7.5%, wiping $287 billion off market capitalisation in the biggest fall since the height of the global financial crisis in 2008.

Rescue workers combed the tsunami-battered region north of Tokyo for survivors and struggled to care for millions of people without power and water in what Prime Minister Naoto Kan has dubbed his country’s worst crisis since World War Two.

Officials say at least 10,000 people were likely killed in the 8.9-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that followed it. Kyodo news agency reported that 2,000 bodies had been found on Monday in two coastal towns alone.

“It’s a scene from hell, absolutely nightmarish,” said Patrick Fuller of the International Red Cross Federation from the northeastern coastal town of Otsuchi.

“The situation here is just beyond belief, almost everything has been flattened. The government is saying that 9,500 people, more than half of the population could have died and I do fear the worst.” The big fear at the Fukushima nuclear complex, 240 kilometres north of Tokyo, is of a major radiation leak. The complex has already seen explosions at two of its reactors on Saturday and on Monday, which sent a huge plume of smoke billowing above the plant.

The nuclear accident, the worst since the Chernobyl disaster in the Ukraine in 1986, sparked criticism that authorities were ill-prepared and the threat that could pose to the country’s nuclear power industry.

Jiji news agency said fuel rods at the No. 2 reactor had been entirely exposed and a fuel rod meltdown could not be ruled out. The plant operator confirmed there was little water left in the reactor, adding that the fuel rods may have been exposed.

The rods have now been partially covered by sea water, the reactor’s operator said.

There were earlier partial meltdowns of the fuel rods at both the No. 1 and the No. 3 reactors, where the explosions had occurred.

A meltdown raises the risk of damage to the reactor vessel and a possible radioactive leak. Levels of cooling sea water around the reactor core had been reported as falling earlier in the day. Jiji said the pump had run out of fuel.

Crucially, officials said the thick walls around the radioactive cores of the damaged reactors appeared to be intact after the earlier hydrogen blast.

But the government warned those still in the 20-kilometre evacuation zone to stay indoors. The plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) , said 11 people had been injured in the blast.

Kyodo said 80,000 people had been evacuated from the zone, joining more than 450,000 other evacuees from quake and tsunami-hit areas in the northeast.

“Everything I’ve seen says that the containment structure is operating as it’s designed to operate. It’s keeping the radiation in and it’s holding everything in, which is the good news,” said Murray Jennex, a nuclear expert at San Diego State University.

“This is nothing like a Chernobyl ... At Chernobyl (in Ukraine in 1986) you had no containment structure — when it blew, it blew everything straight out into the atmosphere.”

Nuclear experts said it was probably the first time in the industry’s 57-year history that sea water has been used to cool the fuel rods, a sign of how close Japan may be to a major accident.

“Injection of sea water into a core is an extreme measure,” Mark Hibbs of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “This is not according to the book.”

Nuclear fuel accounts for 30% of Japan’s electricity. Of Japan’s 54 reactors, 11 have been shut down by the quake.

“If cooling water is not returned, the core should melt in a matter of hours,” said Edwin Lyman, senior scientist for global security programs at the Union of Concerned Scientists which lobbies for stronger security and safety measures at nuclear plants.

Switzerland put on hold some approvals for nuclear power plants and Germany was expected to scrap a plan to extend the life of its nuclear power stations, raising questions over the future of the global nuclear industry. Taiwan’s state-run Taipower also said it was studying plans to cut nuclear power output.

A Japanese official said before the blast that 22 people were confirmed to have suffered radiation contamination and up to 190 may have been exposed. Workers in protective clothing used hand-held scanners to check people arriving at evacuation centres.

U.S. warships and planes helping with relief efforts moved away from the coast temporarily because of low-level radiation. The U.S. Seventh Fleet described the move as precautionary.

South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines said they would test Japanese food imports for radiation.

Almost 2 million households were without power in the north, the government said. There were about 1.4 million without running water. Tens of thousands of people are missing.

The town of Otsuchi in Iwate prefecture was obliterated.

“After my long career in the Red Cross where I have seen many disasters and catastrophes, this is the worst I have ever seen. Otsuchi reminds me of Osaka and Tokyo after the Second World War when everything was destroyed and flattened,” Japan Red Cross President Tadateru Konoe told Reuters during a visit to the coastal town.

Whole villages and towns have been wiped off the map by Friday’s wall of water, triggering an international humanitarian effort of epic proportions.

“When the tsunami struck, I was trying to evacuate people. I looked back, and then it was like the computer graphics scene I’ve seen from the movie Armageddon. I thought it was a dream . it was really like the end of the world,” said Tsutomu Sato, 46, in Rikuzantakata, a town on the northeastcoast.

Estimates of the economic impact are only now starting to emerge.

Hiromichi Shirakawa, chief economist for Japan at Credit Suisse, said in a note to clients that the economic loss will likely be around US$171-183 billion just to the region hit by the quake and tsunami.

Even that would put it above the commonly accepted cost of the 1995 Kobe quake which killed 6,000 people.

The earthquake has forced many firms to suspend production and shares in some of Japan’s biggest companies tumbled on Monday, with Toyota Corp dropping almost 8%. Shares in Australian-listed uranium miners also dived.

“When we talk about natural disasters, we tend to see an initial sharp drop in production ... then you tend to have a V-shaped rebound. But initially everyone underestimates the damage,” said Michala Marcussen, head of global economics at Societe Generale.

Risk modelling company AIR Worldwide said insured losses from the earthquake could reach nearly $35 billion.

Global companies from semiconductor makers to shipbuilders faced disruptions to operations after the quake and tsunami destroyed vital infrastructure, damaged ports and knocked out factories supplying everything from high-tech components to steel.

© Thomson Reuters 2011

Source

Japan battles against nuclear meltdown amid search for survivors

FUKUSHIMA, Japan— Japanese engineers raced to prevent a meltdown at a stricken nuclear plant on Tuesday, as rescuers scrambled to help millions left without food, water or heating by a devastating earthquake and tsunami.

A second explosion rocked the Fukushima nuclear complex on Monday and rapidly failing water levels exposed fuel rods in another reactor, but the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said the crisis was unlikely to turn into another Chernobyl.

Rescue workers combed the tsunami-battered region north of Tokyo, where officials say at least 10,000 people were killed in the 8.9-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that followed it.

“It’s a scene from hell, absolutely nightmarish,” said Patrick Fuller of the International Red Cross Federation from the northeastern coastal town of Otsuchi.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan has dubbed the multiple disasters Japan’s worst crisis since World War Two and, with the financial costs estimated at up to US$180-billion, analysts said it could tip the world’s third biggest economy back into recession.

Japanese stocks closed down more than 7.5%, wiping US$287-billion off market capitalisation in the biggest fall since the height of the global financial crisis in 2008. Insurers’ shares fell for a second day in London and New York.

The big fear at the Fukushima complex, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, is of a major radiation leak. The complex has seen explosions at two of its reactors on Saturday and Monday, which sent a huge plume of smoke billowing above the plant.

The worst nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986 has drawn criticism that authorities were ill-prepared and revived debate in many countries about the safety of atomic power.

Switzerland put on hold some approvals for nuclear power plants and Germany said it was scrapping a plan to extend the life of its nuclear power stations. The White House said U.S. President Barack Obama remained committed to nuclear energy.

Yukiya Amano, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the reactor vessels of nuclear power plants affected by the disaster remained intact and, so far, the amount of radiation that had been released was limited.

“The Japanese authorities are working as hard as they can, under extremely difficult circumstances, to stabilise the nuclear power plants and ensure safety,” Amano said in a statement, adding at a news conference later that it was “unlikely that the accident would develop” like Chernobyl.

An explosion at the Soviet Chernobyl plant sent radioactive fallout in swathe across northern Europe.

The plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), said fuel rods at the No. 2 reactor were fully exposed. This could lead to the rods melting down.

The rods, normally surrounded by cooling water, were partially exposed earlier after the engine-powered pump pouring in this water ran out of fuel. TEPCO said it was preparing to pump more cooling water on the rods.

There were earlier partial meltdowns of the fuel rods at both the No. 1 and the No. 3 reactors, where the explosions had occurred. A TEPCO official said the situation in the No. 2 reactor was even worse than in the other units.

A meltdown raises the risk of damage to the reactor vessel and a possible radioactive leak.

“If cooling water is not returned, the core should melt in a matter of hours,” said Edwin Lyman, senior scientist for global security programs at the Union of Concerned Scientists which lobbies for stronger security and safety measures at nuclear plants.

Crucially, officials said the thick walls around the radioactive cores of the damaged reactors appeared to be intact after the earlier hydrogen blast.

But the government warned those still in the 20-km (13-mile) evacuation zone to stay indoors. TEPCO said 11 people had been injured in the blast.

“This is nothing like a Chernobyl,” said Murray Jennex, a nuclear expert at San Diego State University. “At Chernobyl you had no containment structure — when it blew, it blew everything straight out into the atmosphere.”

Nonetheless, U.S. warships and planes helping with relief efforts moved away from the coast temporarily because of low-level radiation. The U.S. Seventh Fleet described the move as precautionary.

South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines said they would test Japanese food imports for radiation.

France’s ASN nuclear safety authority said the accident could be classified as a level 5 or 6 on the international scale of 1 to 7, putting it on a par with the 1979 U.S. Three Mile Island meltdown, higher than the Japanese authorities’ rating.

Japan’s nuclear safety agency has rated the incidents in the No.1 and No.3 reactors as a 4, but has not yet rated the No. 2 reactor.

Around 850,000 households in the north were still without electricity in near-freezing weather, Tohuku Electric Power Co. said, and the government said at least 1.5 million households lack running water. Tens of thousands of people were missing.

“The situation here is just beyond belief, almost everything has been flattened,” said the Red Cross’s Fuller in Otsuchi, a town all but obliterated. “The government is saying that 9,500 people, more than half of the population, could have died and I do fear the worst.”

Kyodo news agency reported that 2,000 bodies had been found on Monday in two coastal towns alone.

Whole villages and towns have been wiped off the map by Friday’s wall of water, triggering an international humanitarian effort of epic proportions.

“When the tsunami struck, I was trying to evacuate people. I looked back, and then it was like the computer graphics scene I’ve seen from the movie Armageddon. I thought it was a dream . it was really like the end of the world,” said Tsutomu Sato, 46, in Rikuzantakata, a town on the northeastcoast.

In Tokyo, commuter trains shut down and trucks were unable to make deliveries as supermarket shelves ran empty.

Estimates of the economic impact are only now starting to emerge.

Hiromichi Shirakawa, chief economist for Japan at Credit Suisse, said in a note to clients that the economic loss will likely be around 14-15 trillion yen (US$171-183-billion) just to the region hit by the quake and tsunami.

Even that would put it above the commonly accepted cost of the 1995 Kobe quake which killed 6,000 people.

The earthquake has forced many firms to suspend production and shares in some of Japan’s biggest companies tumbled on Monday, with Toyota Corp dropping almost 8 percent. Shares in Australian-listed uranium miners also dived.

Global companies from semiconductor makers to shipbuilders faced disruptions to operations after the quake and tsunami destroyed vital infrastructure, damaged ports and knocked out factories supplying everything from high-tech components to steel.

The Bank of Japan offered a combined 15 trillion yen (US$183-billion) to the banking system earlier in the day to soothe market jitters.

The earthquake was the fifth most powerful to hit the world in the past century. It surpassed the Great Kanto quake of Sept. 1, 1923, which had a magnitude of 7.9 and killed more than 140,000 people in the Tokyo area.

© Thomson Reuters 2011

Source

New explosion rocks Japanese nuclear plant

FUKUSHIMA— A fresh explosion rocked a damaged Japanese nuclear power plant on Tuesday where engineers have been pumping sea water into a reactor to prevent a catastrophic meltdown in the wake of a devastating earthquake and tsunami.

Japan’s nuclear safety agency said Tuesday’s explosion at the plant’s No.2 reactor was caused by hydrogen. There was no immediate word on damage, but Jiji news agency quoted the trade ministry as saying radiation levels remained low after the blast, the third at the plant since Saturday.

Japan has asked the United States for more equipment to help cool reactors at the Fukushima nuclear complex, which was hit on Monday by a dangerous drop in cooling water levels that exposed fuel rods in the No. 2 reactor.

The full extent of the destruction wreaked by Friday’s massive quake and tsunami that followed it was still becoming clear, as rescuers combed through the region north of Tokyo where officials say at least 10,000 people were killed.

“It’s a scene from hell, absolutely nightmarish,” said Patrick Fuller of the International Red Cross Federation from the northeastern coastal town of Otsuchi.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Japan was facing its worst crisis since World War Two and, with the financial costs estimated at up to $180 billion, analysts said it could tip the world’s third biggest economy back into recession.

The U.S. Geological Survey upgraded the quake to magnitude 9.0, from 8.9, making it the world’s fourth most powerful since 1900.

Car makers, shipbuilders and technology companies worldwide scrambled for supplies after the disaster shut factories in Japan and disrupted the global manufacturing chain.

Japanese stocks were expected to fall further on Tuesday, after Nikkei futures traded in Chicago fell 6.15 percent to be 70 points below the Osaka close.

Tokyo’s TOPIX index closed down more than 7.5 percent on Monday, wiping $287 billion off market capitalisation in the biggest fall since the height of the global financial crisis in 2008. Insurers’ shares fell for a second day in London and New York, as world stocks slid to a six-week low.

“NOT CHERNOBYL”

The fear at the Fukushima complex, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, is of a major radiation leak after the quake and tsunami knocked out cooling systems. The complex has seen explosions at two of its reactors on Saturday and Monday.

The worst nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986 has drawn criticism that authorities were ill-prepared and revived debate in many countries about the safety of atomic power.

Switzerland put on hold some approvals for nuclear power plants and Germany said it was scrapping a plan to extend the life of its nuclear power stations. The White House said U.S. President Barack Obama remained committed to nuclear energy.

Yukiya Amano, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the reactor vessels of nuclear power plants affected by the disaster remained intact.

“The nuclear plants have been shaken, flooded and cut off from electricity,” he told a news conference. But “the reactor vessels have held and radioactive release is limited.”

Amano, a veteran Japanese diplomatic, added that a Chernobyl-style disaster was“very unlikely”.

An explosion at the Soviet Chernobyl plant sent radioactive fallout across northern Europe.

Whilst the Fukuskima plant’s No.1 and No.3 reactors both suffered partial fuel rod meltdowns, operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said the No. 2 reactor was now the biggest concern.

A sudden drop in cooling water levels when a pump ran out of fuel had fully exposed the fuel rods for a time, an official said. This could lead to the rods melting down and a possible radioactive leak.

TEPCO said it had resumed pumping sea water into the reactor early on Tuesday.

“This is nothing like a Chernobyl,” said Murray Jennex, a nuclear expert at San Diego State University. “At Chernobyl you had no containment structure — when it blew, it blew everything straight out into the atmosphere.”

Nonetheless, the government warned those still in the 20-km (13-mile) evacuation zone to stay indoors. TEPCO said 11 people had been injured in the blast.

U.S. warships and planes helping with relief efforts moved away from the coast temporarily because of low-level radiation. The U.S. Seventh Fleet described the move as precautionary.

South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines said they would test Japanese food imports for radiation.

France’s ASN nuclear safety authority said the accident could be classified as a level 5 or 6 on the international scale of 1 to 7, putting it on a par with the 1979 U.S. Three Mile Island meltdown, higher than the Japanese authorities’ rating.

Japan’s nuclear safety agency has rated the incidents in the No.1 and No.3 reactors as a 4, but has not yet rated the No. 2 reactor.

TOWNS FLATTENED

About 850,000 households in the north were still without electricity in near-freezing weather, Tohuku Electric Power Co. said, and the government said at least 1.5 million households lack running water. Tens of thousands of people were missing.

“The situation here is just beyond belief, almost everything has been flattened,” said the Red Cross’s Fuller in Otsuchi, a town all but obliterated. “The government is saying that 9,500 people, more than half of the population, could have died and I do fear the worst.”

Kyodo news agency reported that 2,000 bodies had been found on Monday in two coastal towns alone.

Whole villages and towns have been wiped off the map by Friday’s wall of water, triggering an international humanitarian effort of epic proportions.

“When the tsunami struck, I was trying to evacuate people. I looked back, and then it was like the computer graphics scene I’ve seen from the movie Armageddon. I thought it was a dream . it was really like the end of the world,” said Tsutomu Sato, 46, in Rikuzantakata, a town on the northeastcoast.

In Tokyo, commuter trains shut down and trucks were unable to make deliveries as supermarket shelves ran empty.

Estimates of the economic impact are only now starting to emerge.

Hiromichi Shirakawa, chief economist for Japan at Credit Suisse, said in a note to clients that the economic loss will likely be around 14-15 trillion yen ($171-183 billion) just to the region hit by the quake and tsunami.

Even that would put it above the commonly accepted cost of the 1995 Kobe quake which killed 6,000 people.

The earthquake has forced many firms to suspend production and shares in some of Japan’s biggest companies tumbled on Monday, with Toyota Corp dropping almost 8 percent.

Global companies from semiconductor makers to shipbuilders faced disruptions to operations after the quake and tsunami destroyed vital infrastructure, damaged ports and knocked out factories.

“The earthquake could have great implications on the global economic front,” said Andre Bakhos, director of market analytics at Lec Securities in New York. “If you shut down Japan, there could be a global recession.”

The Bank of Japan offered a combined 15 trillion yen ($183 billion) to the banking system earlier in the day to soothe market jitters.

© 2011 Thomson Reuters

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Japan earthquake magnitude increased to 9.0 from 8.9: USGS

WASHINGTON— The U.S. Geological Survey Monday raised the magnitude of the deadly earthquake that struck offshore northern Japan Friday to 9.0 from 8.9.

Independently, Japanese authorities had also updated their estimate of the quake to 9.0, the USGS said on its website.

“This magnitude places the earthquake as the fourth largest in the world since 1900 and the largest in Japan since modern instrumental recordings began 130 years ago,” it said in a message posted at 5:35 p.m.

The agency said revisions of magnitude were common after earthquakes and happened as more data became available and more analysis was performed.

Officials say at least 10,000 people were killed in the earthquake and tsunami that followed it.

© 2011 Thomson Reuters

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Japan's damaged plants 'unlikely' to be new Chernobyl: atomic watchdog

VIENNA— The crisis at Japan’s earthquake-damaged nuclear power plant is “unlikely” to turn into a new Chernobyl, which was the world’s worst nuclear accident, the UN atomic watchdog said on Monday.

“Let me say that the possibility that the development of this accident into one like Chernobyl is very unlikely,” Yukiya Amano told a news conference at the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.

The current crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant was caused not by human error or a design fault, as in the case of Chernobyl in Ukraine in 1986, but by a“huge natural catastrophe beyond imagination,” Amano said.

In addition, the reactors at Fukushima had been automatically shutdown when the earthquake hit, so“there is no chain reaction going on,” the IAEA chief said.

Furthermore, the Chernobyl reactor did not have a reactor vessel, while Fukushima does“and that reactor vessel is still contained” even after two explosions there, he said.

The“design is different and the structure is different. Based on this, it is very unlikely that Fukushima would develop into an accident like Chernobyl,” Amano said.

The IAEA also said it has no indication at the current time of a possible meltdown at the quake-hit nuclear reactors.

“We have no indication of fuel that is currently melting at this point,” said James Lyons, director of the IAEA’s Safety at Nuclear Installations division.

The current situation was“very dynamic... (but) given the information we have, we have not been told that at this point,” the expert said.

Amano said that Japan has officially asked the IAEA to send a team of experts to help in the current nuclear crisis.

It had not yet been decided the exact nature of the assistance the watchdog would provide, or when, he said.

“The areas that we can provide assistance are radiation surveillance, environmental sampling, medical support, recovery of missing or misplaced radioactive sources and advice on emergency response,” he said.

“It will be discussed in the coming days and weeks.”

As soon as the massive earthquake hit Japan on Friday, damaging the Fukushima nuclear plant located 250 kilometres (160 miles) northeast of Tokyo, the IAEA made a formal offer of assistance to the government.

Japanese-born Amano described the 8.9-magnitude quake and the devastating tsunami it triggered as“a tragedy of cataclysmic proportions. This has been one of the greatest natural disasters of modern times, the full extent of which is still becoming clear.”

The events of the last few days were“truly unprecedented,” Amano continued.

“The modern infrastructure of a highly industrialized country has been dealt a devastating blow by the immense destructive power of nature. I send my deepest condolences to the people and government of Japan.”

The giant nuclear plant of Fukushima was damaged by the quake, with two explosions hitting separate reactor units there.

But“the reactor vessels have held and radioactive release is limited,” Amano insisted.

In Brussels, the EU’s energy commissioner Guenther Oettinger called on the IAEA to convene an extraordinary meeting of member states “to take stock of the situation” in Japan.

The idea was also to“organise a coordinated response and initiate a reflection on the possible implications for nuclear safety” following Japan’s nuclear emergency, Oettinger’s office said.

The commissioner has called a snap meeting in Brussels on Tuesday of EU energy ministers, national nuclear safety officials and big nuclear companies to look at safety measures in Europe.

Some 150 reactors are scattered across the continent in half as many nuclear power plants -- some located in seismic areas.

Amano said he had not received Oettinger’s letter, but it was not up to him to decide, but rather the IAEA member states.

“Whether we have a special meeting of member states or not, that’s up to the member states to decide,” he said.

But as far as he was concerned, he thought member states would find a planned daily briefing useful, which would be held starting from Tuesday, Amano said.

Agence France-Presse

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Saudi Arabia sends soldiers to Bahrain

MANAMA— Saudi Arabia sent troops into Bahrain on Monday to help put down weeks of protests by the Shi’ite Muslim majority, a move opponents of the Sunni ruling family on the island called a declaration of war.

Analysts saw the troop movement into Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, as a mark of concern in Saudi Arabia that concessions by the country’s monarchy could inspire the conservative Sunni kingdom’s own Shi’ite minority.

About 1,000 Saudi soldiers entered Bahrain to protect government facilities, a Saudi official source said, a day after mainly Shi’ite protesters overran police and blocked roads.

“They are part of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) force that would guard the government installations,” the source said, referring to the six-member bloc that coordinates military and economic policy in the world’s top oil-exporting region.

Bahrain said on Monday it had asked the Gulf troops for support in line with a GCC defence pact. The United Arab Emirates has said it would also respond to the call.

Witnesses saw some 150 armoured troop carriers, ambulances, water tankers and jeeps cross into Bahrain via the 25-km causeway and head towards Riffa, a Sunni area that is home to the royal family and military hospital.

Bahrain TV later showed footage it said was of advance units of the joint regional Peninsula Shield forces that had arrived in Bahrain“due to the unfortunate events that are shaking the security of the kingdom and terrorising citizens and residents”.

Analysts and diplomats say the largest contingent in any GCC force would come from Saudi Arabia, which is worried about any spillover to restive Shi’ites in its own Eastern Province, the centre of its oil industry.

Bahraini opposition groups including the largest Shi’ite party Wefaq said the move was an attack on defenceless citizens.

“We consider the entry of any soldier or military machinery into the Kingdom of Bahrain’s air, sea or land territories a blatant occupation,” they said in a statement.

“This real threat about the entry of Saudi and other Gulf forces into Bahrain to confront the defenceless Bahraini people puts the Bahraini people in real danger and threatens them with an undeclared war by armed troops.”

The move came after Bahraini police clashed on Sunday with mostly Shi’ite demonstrators in one of the most violent confrontations since troops killed seven protesters last month.

After trying to push back demonstrators for several hours, police backed off and youths built barricades across the highway to the main financial district of the Gulf banking hub.

Those barricades were still up on Monday, with protesters checking cars at the entrance to the Pearl roundabout, the focal point of weeks of protests. On the other side of the same highway, police set up a roadblock preventing any cars moving from the airport towards the financial area.

In areas across Bahrain, vigilantes, some armed with sticks or wearing masks, guarded the entrances to their neighbourhoods.

“We will never leave. This is our country,” said Abdullah, a protester, when asked if Saudi troops would stop them. “Why should we be afraid? We are not afraid in our country.”

Bahrain has been gripped by its worst unrest since the 1990s after protesters took to the streets last month, inspired by uprisings that toppled the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia.

Thousands are still camped out at the Pearl roundabout, having returned since the army cleared out the area last month.

Washington has urged Bahrain to use restraint and repeated the call to other Gulf nations on Monday.

“We urge our GCC partners to show restraint and respect the rights of the people of Bahrain, and to act in a way that supports dialogue instead of undermining it,” White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said.

The cost of insuring Bahraini sovereign debt against default rose further on Monday, approaching 20-month highs after Saudi troops entered Bahrain.

Any intervention by Gulf Arab troops in Bahrain is highly sensitive on the island, where the Shi’ite Muslim majority complains of discrimination by the Sunni Muslim royal family.

Most Gulf Arab ruling families are Sunni and intervention might encourage a response from non-Arab Iran, the main Shi’ite power in the region. Accusations already abound of Iranian backing for Shi’ite activists in Bahrain — charges they deny.

“Shi’ites in states with large Shi’ite populations, in particular Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, may intensify their own local anti-regime demonstrations,” said Ghanem Nuseibeh, partner at consultancy Cornerstone Global.

“The Bahraini unrest could potentially turn into regional sectarian violence that goes beyond the borders of the particular states concerned.”

In a sign that the opposition and the royals may find an 11th-hour solution, the opposition groups said they had met the crown prince to discuss the mechanism for national dialogue.

Crown Prince Sheikh Salman al-Khalifa offered assurances on Sunday that dialogue would address key opposition demands including giving parliament more power and reforming government and electoral districts.

Even if talks are successful however, the opposition is increasingly split and hardline groups may keep up protests.

Wefaq is calling for a new government and a constitutional monarchy that vests the judicial, executive and legislative authority with the people. A coalition of much smaller Shi’ite parties are calling for the overthrow of the monarchy — demands that scare Sunnis who fear this would benefit Iran.

© Thomson Reuters 2011

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‘Fukushima 50’ risk lives to prevent meltdown

We do not know their names, their faces, their families or their personal stories. Nobody really does. They are strangers, in a faraway land, doing the unthinkable.

In Japan they have a name: The Fukushima 50. A coterie of nuclear plant employees— some reports indicate 50, others suggest four working rotations of 50 — who stayed behind while 700 of their co-workers were evacuated from the stricken Fukushima-Daiichi facility on the Japanese coast.

Five have been killed. Two are missing. Twenty-one have been injured in a struggle where, in the words of Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan, “retreat is unthinkable.”

The men understand the stakes. They know there is no turning back. One worker told a departing colleague he was prepared to die— that it was his job. Another informed his wife he wouldn’t be coming home anytime soon.

Get the latest news and live updates on our new Japan Earthquake page

And so they battle on, a weary bunch of managers, operators, technicians, soldiers, firemen, amid rumours, worst-case scenarios and startling television footage.

They are mid- and low-level employees. They are men with no names, cast into extraordinary circumstances, battling fires, explosions, the threat of explosion and the invisible menace: dangerously high levels of radiation no protective suit can deflect, and one that threatens to seep into the atmosphere if they fail.

David Richardson, a professor of epidemiology at the University of North Carolina, regards the Fukushima 50 as heroes. And he is right. He has studied the long-term risks for nuclear plant workers in the United States. He knows the facts, and he speaks in the language of millisieverts (mSv), the unit of measure for radiation dose rates.

The typical American worker at the Department of Energy complex is exposed to 50 to 100 mSv over the course of their entire working career. Dosage rates at Fukushima have been measured at tens to several hundred mSv per hour.

Japanese officials were reporting radiation levels at the plant entrance ranging from 400 to 1,500 mSv per hour on Wednesday.

“They are in places where the men’s radiation exposure can exceed what a typical worker at a nuclear facility would accrue over their entire career in the span of 20 or 30 minutes,” Prof. Richardson says.

They are canaries in a nuclear cage-match, and only one winner will emerge. It is man against man’s most deadly creation in a contest Mother Nature — at her worst — kicked off.

Fragile, human and impossibly brave, the Fukushima 50 could be foredoomed to die for their noble cause. If not on the front lines then years from now, in a hospital bed, with bodies racked by pain and wrecked by cancer.

It is a fate Andriy Chudinov understands. The 64-year-old has his own nuclear horror story to tell, involving the nightmare at Chernobyl. A senior reactor operator, Mr. Chudinov was among the first on the scene after a series of explosions rocked the infamous atomic facility on Ukraine’s northern border with Belarus, blowing off the roof and releasing a great plume of radioactivity into the atmosphere.

Thirty-one died from the explosions. Thousands more have died since from cancers associated with the disaster. They were soldiers, carpenters— ordinary people — who galloped into the breach back in April 1986 unafraid, and ill-equipped, and often unaware of the terrible physical reckoning to come.

“The {Fukushima 50} are good guys,” says Mr. Chudinov, who suffers from a blood disorder he blames on radiation exposure.

“They have had it even worse than we did. They had a tsunami first, and now there are several reactors with problems. That’s a nightmare for any atomic worker.”

Protective measures are better now than they were for the emergency workers in Chernobyl. Fukushima’s skeleton crew is highly monitored. Their exposure time in the most radioactive areas is limited and they have retreated, for a spell, when the reactor got too hot.

Protective suits are designed to ward off radioactive dust. They are also impossibly uncomfortable. Imagine running a marathon— in a raincoat, with limited visibility and compromised manual dexterity. Workers wear pajamas and full coveralls beneath the protective garb. They breathe through a respirator, and work with three layers of gloves on their hands.

But the real danger, beyond the fires and the explosions, is a high dose of gamma radiation. And the suits do not stop gamma rays, radioactive waves— imagine an X-ray — that ripple through the body, breaking apart molecules, damaging DNA and conceivably triggering a domino effect that could lead to a terminal diagnosis five years down the line.

A potential widow’s wait can be brief. Five men have died already. Or else loss is something that can unfold slowly, and be filled by doctor’s appointments, chemotherapy sessions and alternative treatments.

It is an awful fate for a hero. It is an awful thing marching off to war, knowing there is no retreat.

“It was a question of duty,” Andriy Chudinov, the Chernobyl veteran says. “We didn’t even think of not going.

“I don’t know why I survived. Radiation reacts differently on different people.”

National Post, with files from news services

joconnor@nationalpost.com

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