Authorities in Buddhist-majority Japan have given the green light for some of the 6,500 people killed by last week`s earthquake and tsunami to be buried, citing fuel shortage, a government spokesman said on Friday.
The confirmed death toll from last Friday`s 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan has risen to 6,405, police told Kyodo news on Friday.
The Group of Seven industrialized nations has agreed to jointly intervene on the currency market to restrain the Japanese yen`s largest surge in the country`s post-war history and help Japan recover from a deadly earthquake and nuclear crisis, G7 Finance Ministers said late on Thursday.
Passengers from Japan, where fears over nuclear radiation are growing, set off radiation detectors at airports in Chicago and Dallas after they deported their planes on March 16.
Japanese authorities admit they are coping with an unprecedented crisis at Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant and insist there is still a chance to avert a nuclear disaster. But many in the nuclear field do not share their hope.
After days of discussions, the UN Security Council has adopted a resolution on Libya that lets the world community "take all necessary measures" to protect the civilian population.
Turkey on Thursday sent humanitarian aid to Russia`s Far East on Thursday amid fears that the region will be affected by fallout from damaged reactors at Japan`s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Radiation levels remain high at the quake-stricken Fukushima Daiichi plant in east Japan, the plant`s operator said, as efforts continue to cool the reactors from the air.
The non-stop coverage of the problems at Japan`s Fukushima nuclear plant is causing panic in some parts of America, despite assurances that the nation faces no danger from a radiation cloud.
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi dismissed his Western partners in an exclusive interview to RT, saying he will give all the country`s oil contracts to Russia, China and India.
The Tibetan world is in for a major political change. The Dalai Lama, who has served as the leader of the Tibetan government in exile for more than fifty years, announced last Thursday that he intends to cede his political role to an elected leader. The election will be held on Sunday, March 20, in the northern Indian city of Dharmsala, the home of the Dalai Lama and the center of the Tibetan exile community.
France and Australia called on Wednesday for their citizens to either leave Japan or move from the quake and tsunami-hit regions and parts which are under threat of radiation.
It was 11 am in Tokyo when Prime Minister Naoto Kan finally admitted that damage to a nuclear reactor in Fukushima may represent a serious threat to human life. Nationwide panic spread.
Authorities and the population in Russia`s Far East are closely watching reports from Japan, where nuclear specialists are struggling to bring Fukushima power plant under control, as a major disaster could affect the whole region.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that his country was ready to hold talks on peace treaty with Japan, but said that any ultimatums or single-sided demands in such talks were unacceptable.
Moscow is increasing its aid to Japan, with the number of Russian emergency workers involved in rescue operations expected to grow over the next few days. The country is also boosting its humanitarian aid and energy supplies.
The Russian prime minister added that the Japanese stations - damaged by the devastating earthquake on March 11 - used reactors that were made in the US more than 40 years ago.
For Japan its obviously going to be a very severe shock. You can see from the pictures that there is obviously going to be a lot of damage and disruption, particularly the warnings of power shortages. That could obviously extend the consequences across the broader part of the country and that is where the real effect will be. So its still very early and nobody, frankly, has any great idea to the extent of the damage or how long last it will be, or even the cost of rebuilding. So you can see that in the stock market behaviour this morning. People are just holding fire, waiting to see what happens next, particularly waiting to see if there is any follow up or any further events or any deterioration of the nuclear plants. But short term, we are going to see a big slow down, that`s inevitable, and then it`s a question of how quickly the country can start rebuilding and that, in terms of sequence, short term reaction will be very negative. Rebuilding on such a massive scale of course
A joint production between Portugal, Russia, Spain and Brazil, the film America, starring Russian theater and cinema actress Chulpan Khamatova, has received the prize for Best Director at the Sofia International Film Festival.
Following a massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Japan and an immense tsunami, the nation is racing to prevent multiple nuclear meltdowns which, if not prevented, could leak radiation reaching as far as the United States.
The tsunami that hit the Japanese islands from the Pacific on Friday has led to food and water shortages as well as electricity black-outs in the country. Residents said supermarket shelves were empty by Sunday night, with people stocking up on water and tinned or dried food. With ports and road links disrupted, fears of food shortages also led to a rush on shops and supermarkets on Monday.
With a fourth explosion rocking the Fukushima nuclear facility on Tuesday and radiation levels at the facility gate increasing hundredfold, fears of a meltdown in Japan dramatically increase.
Radiation levels around the Fukushima nuclear power plant`s reactor No. 3 hit by a hydrogen explosion on Monday have slightly risen, Japanese government officials said.
Dozens of residents on Russia`s Pacific coast have volunteered to house some of the thousands of Japanese made homeless by a powerful earthquake and tsunami on Friday, a local NGO said.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov is to be inaugurated for his second term as the leader of the North Caucus republic on April 5, a representative of Kadyrov`s administration and the republic`s government said on Monday.