-
News Item 1
The Japanese
government has played down concern about a
possible nuclear meltdown, following
a
big explosion at a nuclear power station in the
north of the country. The blast occurred a day
after
the
area
was
hit
by
a
powerful
earthquake
and
tsunami.
A
top
government
official,
Yukio
Edano, said a steel
container encasing the nuclear reactor had not
been ruptured by the blast.
News Item 2
Fifty thousand Japanese military
personnel had been ordered to join the huge rescue
and relief
operation following the
earthquake and tsunami. More than 1,000 people are
feared dead. About
400
bodies
were
found
in
the
town
of
Rikuzentakata,
and
Japanese
media
reports
say
10,000
people are
unaccounted for in Minamisanriku. Damian
Grammaticas in the port of Sendai says the
scenes of devastation there are
astonishing.
News Item 3
International disaster relief teams
have been sent to Japan. The United Nations said a
nine strong
UN
team
of
experts
would
include
several
Japanese
speakers.
Britain
said
it
was
sending
expert
assistance after
receiving a request from Japan. Singapore is also
deploying an urban search and
rescue
team. American forces stationed in Japan have
already been involved in rescue operations,
and more than 50 territories and
countries have offered assistance.
News
Item 4
As officials in Japan struggle
to assess the extent of the damage following the
tsunami caused by a
massive earthquake,
it
’
s been announced that
some 300 people are known to have been killed and
more
than
500
are
unaccounted
for
in
the
area
around
the
northern
coastal
city
of
Sendai.
The
8.9-magnitude quake, the
biggest ever recorded in Japan, sent a wave of
water several meters high
sweeping far
inland. Its epicenter was about 130km off
Japan
’
s east coast. In the
capital Tokyo,
several
hundred
kilometers
away,
buildings
swayed
violently
during
the
quake,
which
was
followed by a series of powerful
aftershocks.
News Item 5
Slowly but relentlessly, Colonel
Gaddafi
’
s forces seem to be
winning the battle for Ras Lanuf.
Opposition fighters are still in the
town, but they are under intense pressure. The
bombing from
government warplanes
continued today, and there
’
s
a big plume of smoke from the oil installation
which
was
hit
a
couple
of
days
ago.
There
’
s
no
sign
of
either
the
rebel
fighters
or
the
local
population beginning
to flee the area. If Ras Lanuf falls, it brings
the frontline closer to the main
opposition-held city of Benghazi.
News Item 6
Tens of
thousands of anti-government demonstrators have
marched in cities across
Yemen after
Friday
prayers,
demanding
the
removal
of
President
Ali
Abdullah
Saleh.
At
least
six
people
were
wounded when
security forces
fired at protesters in the southern port city of
Aden. In the capital Sana
’
a,
where
supporters
of
the
government
also
held
a
rally,
police
set
up
roadblocks
to
keep
the
two
sides
apart.
News
Item 7
The American State Department
spokesman PJ Crowley has described the treatment
of the U.S.
soldier
suspected
of
passing
material
to
the
Wikileaks
website,
Private
Bradley
Manning,
as
“
ridiculous
”
,
“
count
erproductive
”
and
“
stupid
”
. Private Manning has been charged with
offences including aiding the enemy,
and he
’
s being held in
solitary confinement in prison. Mr.
Crowley said however that it was right
that Private Manning was being held in jail.
News Item 8
The abolition of
the death penalty was approved by the Illinois
state assembly in January and has
now
been signed into law by Governor Pat
Quinn. Supporters of capital punishment had urged
him to
veto
the
change,
but
in
a
statement,
the
governor
said
he
’
d
concluded
that
executions
had
no
deterrent effect on crime, and that the
death penalty system was inherently flawed.
Illinois has a
dark
history
of
miscarriages
of
justice.
Since
1977
when
capital
punishment
was
reinstated
in
America, 20 death row inmates in the
state have been exonerated. The last execution in
Illinois
was in 1999.
News
Item 9
In
London,
the
parliamentary
Foreign
Affairs
Select
Committee
has
heard
evidence
about
the
recently
announced cuts to the budget and output
of the BBC World Service. Its director Peter
Herrick told
the
committee
that the value of the organization was highlighted
by its comprehensive coverage of the
current
turmoil
in
Arab
countries.
He
said
that
if
the
cuts
had
come
into
effect
earlier,
that
coverage
of
the
events
would
have
been
seriously
diminished.
Mr.
Herrick
also
acknowledged
there
’
d been
damage to the World
Service, although
he was optimistic about its future.
News Item 10
French police
have found 25 million
dollars
’
worth of
stolen jewelry hidden in a drain outside
Paris. Detectives found 19 rings and
three sets of earrings concealed in a plastic
container set into
a
cement
mould
at
a
house
outside
the
French
capital.
Investigators
believe
many
of
the
items
were stolen from the
luxury Harry Winston boutique in Paris in a raid
in 2008.
News Item 11
The
ruler
of
Oman,
Sultan
Qaboos,
has
announced
he
is
to
hand
over
some
of
his
powers
to
officials
from
outside
the
royal
family.
A
royal
decree
said
the
Legislative
Council
of
Oman
would
be
given
lawmaking powers. Until now, the role
of the council has been to advise the Sultan, who
has ruled
Omanfor four decades.
News Item 12
An agreement by
Iceland to pay compensation to Britain and the
Netherlands over the collapse of
its
banking system has run into problems. President
Olafur Grimsson is to put the $$5 billion deal
to a referendum, even though
it
’
s been approved by
parliament. A previous deal with different
repayment terms was overwhelmingly
rejected by voters in Iceland last year.
News Item 13
President Obama
says the U.S. and its Nato allies are still
considering a military response to the
situation in Libya where he said the
people were facing unacceptable violence. But
Russia says it
’