Contamination 10,000 times higher than the government standard for nuclear plantsTOKYO (AP) ― Radiation exceeding government safety limits has seeped into groundwater under a tsunami-crippled Japanese nuclear plant, according to the operator, but has not affected drinking supplies.The leak announced late Thursday could pose a long-term problem, however, and at the very least it is a concerning ind

April 1, 2011

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― NASA scientists pored Wednesday over stunning new images of Mercury as their MESSENGER probe began a year-long mission to map the surface of the solar system’s least-understood planet.After a 7.9-billion-kilometer journey that took six-and-a-half years, the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging spacecraft finally entered the planet’s orbit on March 17.MES

March 31, 2011

BEIJING (AP) ― China said Thursday that its military, under fire for a lack of transparency, will emphasize confidence-building measures and seek more exchanges with foreign militaries.The proposals in a policy white paper issued every two years follow complaints from the United States and other countries that China has not adequately explained the goals of its rapid military expansion in the last

March 31, 2011

(Yonhap News)Japan is considering pouring concrete into its crippled Fukushima atomic plant as the United Nation’s nuclear watchdog agency warned that a potential uncontrolled chain reaction could cause further radiation leaks.Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano yesterday ruled out the possibility that the two undamaged reactors at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s six-unit Dai-Ichi plant would be salvag

March 31, 2011

Milk waiting to be tested sit on shelves in a cooler at the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Air and Radiation Environmental Laboratory in Montgomery, Ala. The laboratory has added a few extra contract workers because of the threat from Japan, officials say. (AP-Yonhap News)WASHINGTON (AP) _ Very low levels of radiation turned up in a sample of milk from the West Coast state of Washingto

March 31, 2011

An aerial view of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station is seen in Fukushima Prefecture in this photo taken by Air Photo Service on March 24.(AP-Yonhap)SENDAI, Japan (AFP) ― Japan was Wednesday considering plans to drape shattered nuclear reactor buildings with special covers to limit radiation, and pump contaminated water into a tanker.The embattled nation, reeling from the triple calamity

March 30, 2011

SHANGHAI (AFP) ― Bob Dylan’s first China concerts next month could be a sign the times are a-changing as the world’s biggest promoters make a push to bring more international music stars to the mainland.The music legend’s shows in Beijing and Shanghai mark perhaps the biggest international music act in China since the Rolling Stones played Shanghai in 2006 ― and since the global financial crisis r

March 30, 2011

   TOKYO (AP) _ Seawater outside the hobbled nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan was found to contain 3,335 times the usual amount of radioactive iodine _ the highest rate yet and a sign that more contaminated water was making its way into the ocean, officials said Wednesday.   The amount of iodine-131 found offshore some 300 yards (meters) south of the coastal Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant

March 30, 2011

An Indian woman in England is pregnant with her dead husband’s child five years after her husband died of blood cancer, Times of India reported Tuesday. Anurita, 40, a civil servant in England had IVF (in vitro fertilization) embryos implanted by using samples of sperm left by her deceased husband at the Bavishi Fertility Institute in Ahmedabad, India last February. Her husband, who was an Italian

March 30, 2011

NIHONMATSU, Japan (AFP) ― Farmers are facing the bitter aftermath of Japan’s nuclear emergency, which could see crops left to rot over a vast swathe of the country’s agricultural heartland.Growing national and international unease about the spread of radioactivity from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant has led to bans on the sale of produce from four prefectures.Farmers working the soil i

March 29, 2011