Efforts to cool reactors continue in nuclear crisis

FUKUSHIMA —

Efforts to cool down the overheating reactors and spent fuel continued Friday at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which was crippled a week ago by a massive earthquake and tsunami, with workers braving the risk of radiation exposure to prevent the problems from developing into a catastrophe.

The unprecedented cooling mission, which was launched Thursday by the Self-Defense Forces by spraying tons of water over the plant’s No. 3 reactor building, was bolstered on the second day with more pumps, after efforts were focused in the morning to restore power to some of the reactors’ cooling systems, the government said.

Seven SDF fire trucks began shooting 50 tons of water at a spent fuel pool of the No. 3 reactor in the afternoon, after up to 64 tons of water was aimed at it the day before by SDF helicopters and five of the trucks plus a police water cannon truck.

The Tokyo Fire Department is slated to join in the mission at the Fukushima plant with 30 trucks capable of discharging massive amounts of water to high places and some 140 firefighters of its ‘‘hyper rescue’’ team, who are specialists in rescue operations in large-scale disasters.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the fire department’s trucks are considering dousing a spent nuclear fuel pool at the No. 1 reactor, although it does not pose as imminent a threat as the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors of releasing radioactive materials into the air, to extend all possible means.

Radiation readings at the troubled nuclear plant have consistently followed a downward path through Friday morning, according to data taken roughly 1 kilometer west of the plant’s No. 2 reactor, but plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co stopped short of calling the move a trend.

The radiation level at 11 a.m. dropped to 265.0 microsievert per hour from 351.4 microsievert per hour at 12:30 a.m. Thursday. It measured 292.2 microsievert per hour at 8:40 p.m. Thursday, shortly after SDF trucks sprayed water at the No. 3 reactor pool as part of efforts to avert any massive emission of radioactive materials into the air from the facility.

JAPAN TODAY

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Japan raises nuclear alert level

Japan has raised the alert level at its quake-damaged nuclear plant from four to five on a seven-point international scale of atomic incidents.

The crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi site, previously rated as a local problem, is now regarded as having "wider consequences".

The UN says the battle to stabilise the plant is a race against time.

The crisis was prompted by last week's huge quake and tsunami, which has left at least 17,000 people dead or missing.

Japanese nuclear officials said core damage to reactors 2 and 3 had prompted the raising of the severity grade.

The 1979 incident at Three Mile Island in the US was also rated at five on the scale, whereas the 1986 Chernobyl disaster was rated at seven.

Panic-buying

Further heavy snowfall overnight all but ended hopes of rescuing anyone else from the rubble after the 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami.

Millions of people have been affected by the disaster - many survivors have been left without water, electricity, fuel or enough food; hundreds of thousands are homeless.

The national police say 6,911 people are known to have died in the disaster, and 10,316 are still missing.

On Friday, people across Japan observed a minute's silence at 1446 (0546 GMT), exactly one week after the disaster.

As the country paused to remember, relief workers toiling in the ruins bowed their heads, and some elderly survivors in evacuation centres wept.

Japanese officials continue to try to reassure people that the radiation risk is virtually nil outside the 30-km (18-mile) exclusion zone around the plant.

BBC

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Russia says ground military intervention in Libya may trigger war

MOSCOW : Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday that any military intervention in Libya may trigger a war, RIA Novosti reported

We realize what a ground military operation is. Ground intervention is likely to mark the start of war. Not a civil war, but a war with the international troops," Medvedev said, adding that such a serious issue should be thoroughly considered by the UN Security Council.

His statement comes after the G8 agreed to implement further measures against the Libyan leadership, including possible military actions, RIA Novosti reported.

The UN Security Council held a closed-door debate on Wednesday on a draft resolution seeking to impose a no-fly zone over Libya, after the Arab League voted on Saturday in favor of it.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has repeatedly said that the alliance was considering various options against Libya, including possible military action, but said any intervention in Libya would be strictly in line with UN Security Council decisions.

The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged all parties in this conflict to accept an immediate cease fire and to abide by Security Council Resolution 1970, which was adopted on February 26 by the UN Security Council. The resolution imposed an arms embargo and other arms restrictions on Libya, as well as a travel ban on sixteen loyalists to Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi and Gaddafi himself, who are also subject to a freeze of their assets.

The Secretary-General's Special Envoy, Abdul Ilah Khatib, departed Libya on Wednesday with his delegation after two days of discussions in which he conveyed to senior Libyan officials the strong calls by the international community to cease the fighting and the violence, to ensure humanitarian access and to work toward a peaceful solution of the crisis.

On Tuesday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees requested a safe passage for people needing to flee combat areas in conflict-ridden Libya, as the number of refugees nears 300,000.

Sub-Saharan nationals living in Libya's eastern and western parts have been trapped by the fighting and have appealed for help to leave the country. To date 280,614 people have fled the violence, including over 150,000 to Tunisia and another 118,000 people have fled to Egypt.

--BNO News

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Higher prices for food are about to get worse

WASHINGTON — Americans are noticing higher prices at the grocery store, and it's about to get worse.

Food prices at the wholesale level rose last month by the most in 36 years. Cold weather accounted for most of it, forcing stores and restaurants to pay more for green peppers, lettuce and other vegetables, but meat and dairy prices surged, too.

The big questions are how long food prices will keep rising and how high they'll go.

The impact is already visible. Wendy's, paying higher prices for tomatoes, now puts them on hamburgers only by request. Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts have raised prices because they pay more for coffee beans. Supermarkets warn customers that produce may be of lower quality, or limited.

"It has thrown the whole industry into a tizzy," says Dan Bates, director of merchandising for the produce division of grocery chain Supervalu Inc.

Food prices rose 3.9 percent last month, the most since November 1974. Most of the increase was because harsh winter freezes in Florida, Texas and other Southern states, which damaged crops.

At the same time, global prices for corn, wheat, soybeans, coffee and other commodities have risen sharply in the past year. That's raised the price of animal feed, which has pushed up the cost of eggs, ground beef and milk.

Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics, says his firm has warned since last summer that spikes in commodity prices would eventually work their way down to wholesalers and consumers, "and here it is. There is plenty more to come over the next few months."

Crop prices began to increase last summer, after droughts slammed harvests in Russia and several other countries. Sharp growth in new world economic powers like India and China has also increased demand.

Overall, the producer price index, which tracks price changes before they reach the consumer, rose 1.6 percent in February, the Labor Department said Wednesday. That's double the rise from the previous month and the biggest increase since June 2009. The index is adjusted to account for seasonal variations.

MSNBC

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Five air forces set to attack Libya. Qaddafi threatens reprisals in Europe and ME

Shortly before the UN Security Council met Thursday, March 17, to discuss a no-fly zone resolution for Libya, Moscow promised Washington and other Western capitals not to apply a veto, DEBKAfile's sources report exclusively. The US, British, French, UAE and Qatar air forces were on standby to attack Libyan army targets as soon as the resolution is passed. If attacked, Libya threatens retaliation against civilian and military targets in Europe and the Middle East, according to a statement from the Defense Ministry in Tripoli..
In Tunis, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton explained that a UN no-fly zone over Libya "would require the bombing of targets to take out the threat posed by Muammar Qaddafi's regime."

She spoke after Cairo rejected Washington's request for the use of Egyptian air bases to enforce the no fly zone against Libya and from which to launch US air attacks on Qaddafi's army. This too is disclosed by DEBKAfile's exclusive sources.

Earlier Thursday, March 17, DEBKAfile reported: Shortly before she left Egypt for Tunis Wednesday, March 16, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urgently asked the head of Egypt's military junta Field Marshal Mohammed Tantawi for permission to use Egyptian air bases for American military jets to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya. This is reported exclusively by DEBKAfile's military and Washington sources.
Clinton told Tantawi she hoped for UN Security Council approval of the no-fly zone at its special session Thursday March 17. But this might not be enough to stop Muammar Qaddafi's advance and the US might have to resort to military action against his army. She did not elaborate on this. In Tunis, she said later that a UN no-fly zone over Libya would require the bombing of targets to take out the threat posed by Muammar Qaddafi's regime.

DEBKAfile's sources say the White House is weighing the option of US aerial strikes for halting Qaddafi's march on Benghazi, Libya's second largest city and the primary rebel stronghold. The point of this action would be less to preserve rebel control of the city and more to keep Qaddafi from proclaiming his victory over the opposition to his rule and its foreign champions.

DEBKAfile

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Are you having a good time Mr. President?

Japan had a mega-earthquake, a tsunami, and multiple nuclear reactors in meltdown....Nuclear radiation will reach California this weekend....Uprisings are spreading across the Middle East....Gaddafi is brutally killing Libyans....Bahrain was invaded...Americans are paying MORE than $4 per gallon for gasoline....Millions of Americans are unemployed and homeless....44 millions live on stamps AND OBAMA IS TALKING ABOUT BASKETBALL!

WASHINGTON — Call it the audacity of chalk. President Barack Obama's NCAA bracket is conspicuously devoid of upsets, with all of the top seeds in the college basketball championship advancing to the Final Four. Three of those four No. 1 seeds — Duke, Pittsburgh and Ohio State — also just so happen to hail from swing states Obama hopes to carry again in 2012.

But the president ultimately picks the team from a deeply red state, Kansas, to win it all, defeating Ohio State in the championship game.

"I think that Kansas has more firepower," Obama said of the pick.

This is the third year Obama has filled out his tournament brackets before ESPN's cameras. In 2009, he correctly made North Carolina his championship pick but erred with his choice of Kansas to win it all in 2010. Duke, where Obama personal aide Reggie Love once played, won it all at last year's Big Dance.

This year, Obama is giving Kansas another shot, saying, "They always feel bad about losing when the president picks them."

ESPN analyst Andy Katz told ABC News that Obama played it "very conservative" as he made his selections, choosing very few upsets.

Asked by Katz about going with all "chalk," the president said it was the first time he'd ever done so.

As Obama filmed this year's segment, he acknowledged that "we are going through incredible changes all around the world." He also encouraged viewers to visit USAID.gov to find out how they can help the Japanese people.

The president also was set to make picks in the NCAA women's basketball tournament.

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Devastation on JAPAN video

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