Yemen’s chaos deepened when munitions factory looters set off an accidental explosion that killed at least 78 in an area seized by Islamist militants exploiting the president’s rapidly dwindling power.

Japanese nuclear experts were struggling to control three damaged reactors amid fears they could go into meltdown tonight.

An explosion at a nuclear power plant on Japan's devastated coast destroyed a building today and made leaking radiation the central threat menacing a nation just beginning to grasp the scale of a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami.

RUSSIA insisted yesterday its nuclear arsenal is secure, angrily rejecting US allegations that tens of thousands of aging Soviet weapons may not be fully accounted for.

RUSSIAN soldiers fled as shooting broke out in the violence that ended the school siege and unprepared special forces were forced to borrow bullets from armed local people, it was claimed yesterday.

Toppling Saddam Hussein could send his weapons tumbling into rogue hands and make it even harder to combat global terrorism, analysts warned today.

US President George W Bush intends to make deep reductions in nuclear weapons, perhaps without negotiating reciprocal cuts by Russia, officials said today.