At least 36 people are feared to have died after a Japanese volcano erupted without warning at the weekend, raining ash and stones on hikers, but the search for victims was abandoned

INMATE HID IN LAUNDRY BASKET TO ESCAPE

Japanese police are investigating after dozens of copies of Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl and scores of books about the young Holocaust victim were vandalised in Tokyo public libraries.

Japanese police are investigating after dozens of copies of Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl and scores of books about the young Holocaust victim were vandalised in Tokyo public libraries.

A Japanese whaling ship and an anti-whaling protest boat collided in the remote, icy seas off Antarctica, with both sides blaming each other for the crash.

Rescuers are facing blocked roads and damaged airports as they struggle to deliver desperately needed aid to the typhoon-devastated Philippines.

Japan voiced outrage over cartoons published in a French newspaper that took aim at the decision to award the 2020 Olympics to Tokyo despite the ongoing nuclear crisis at Fukushima.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has decided to cut short his first foreign visit since taking office to focus on the Algerian hostage crisis.

Japan says it will host international working-level talks in late November on sanctions imposed against Syria.

The Japanese government has agreed to buy several privately owned islands in the East China Sea that are controlled by Japan but also claimed by China, media reports said.

Japan’s new disaster reconstruction minister resigned today after his widely criticised behaviour during a visit to the quake-devastated north east coast, where he refused to shake a governor’s hand, scolded the official and threatened to withhold aid.

RESIDENTS rushed back into the 20-kilometre evacuation zone around Japan’s radiation-spewing nuclear power plant, grabbing whatever belongings they could before an order went into effect legally banning entry to the area.

Japan declared a 12-mile area evacuated around its radiation-spewing nuclear power plant a no-go zone today, urging residents to abide by the order for their own safety or possibly face fines or detention.

Authorities may for the first time ban access to the evacuation zone around Japan’s crippled nuclear plant today amid concerns over radiation risks to residents who may be returning to check on their homes.

JAPAN raised the crisis level at its crippled nuclear plant to a severity on a par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, citing high overall radiation leaks that have contaminated the air, tap water, vegetables and seawater.

Japan has promised to overhaul nuclear safety standards once it regains control of the wrecked Fukushima complex, admitting its current safeguards were not enough.

Japan was on “maximum alert” to bring its nuclear crisis under control, the prime minister insisted today.

Radioactivity in contaminated water in one reactor unit at a damaged Japanese nuclear power plant tested 10 million times higher than normal, forcing the evacuation of workers and again delaying efforts to bring the complex under control, the plant’s operator said today.

TOKYO’S water supply has been contaminated by the nuclear plant disaster and is unsafe for babies.

Power cables have been connected to all six reactors at Japan's damaged nuclear plant, a significant step in bringing the complex under control.

Two units at Japan's stricken nuclear plant safely cooled down today, though pressure unexpectedly rose in a third unit's reactor as scientists continued to wage a battle to get a handle on the crisis.

In the first sign that contamination from Japan’s stricken nuclear complex had seeped into the food chain, officials said today that radiation levels in spinach and milk from farms near the tsunami-crippled facility exceeded government safety limits.

Radiation levels in spinach and milk exceed safety limits following nuclear accidents at a tsunami-stricken nuclear plant, Japan’s top government spokesman said today.

SIRENS wailed along a devastated coastline to mark exactly one week since an earthquake and tsunami triggered a nuclear emergency, and the government acknowledged it was slow to respond to the disasters that the prime minister called a “great test for the Japanese people.”

Emergency crews are still battling to cool overheated nuclear fuel at a stricken nuclear plant a week after the devastating earthquake and tsunami struck Japan.

The Japanese government says it was overwhelmed by the scale of to the huge earthquake and tsunami, slowing the response to the nuclear crisis.

Japan reached out today to the US for help in reining in the crisis at its dangerously overheated nuclear complex, while the UN atomic energy chief called the disaster a race against the clock that demands global cooperation.

Japan has deployed military helicopters, high-pressure water cannons and fire trucks in an increasingly desperate attempt to cool overheating nuclear fuel at the wrecked Fukushima plant.

Military helicopters dumped loads of seawater onto Japan’s stricken nuclear complex today, turning to combat-style tactics while trying to cool overheated uranium fuel that may be on the verge of spewing out more radiation.

Emergency workers forced to retreat from the wrecked Japanese nuclear power plant by soaring radiation levels were able to go back in tonight, but the delay could prove catastrophic.

Japan ordered emergency workers to withdraw from its stricken nuclear plant today amid a surge in radiation, temporarily suspending efforts to cool the overheating reactors.

A RADIATION cloud drifted from an earthquake-stricken nuclear power plant toward Tokyo yesterday sparking panic in one of the world’s biggest and most densely populated cities.

DANGEROUS levels of radiation leaking from a crippled nuclear plant forced Japan to order 140,000 people to seal themselves indoors yesterday after an explosion and a fire escalated the crisis spawned by a deadly tsunami.

Dangerous levels of radiation leaking from a crippled nuclear plant forced Japan to order 140,000 people to seal themselves indoors today after an explosion and fire dramatically escalated the crisis spawned by the earthquake and tsunami four days ago.

Radiation is leaking from a crippled nuclear power plant in tsunami-ravaged Japan, forcing the government to tell people nearby to stay indoors to avoid exposure.

A second hydrogen explosion in three days rocked a Japanese nuclear reactor today and fuel rods were left dangerously exposed at another unit as authorities worked to avert any catastrophic release of radiation in the tsunami zone.

The fuel rods in one of Japan’s damaged nuclear reactors have been temporarily fully exposed from their coolant, raising the risk of overheating and a meltdown.

The second hydrogen blast in three days rocked Japan’s earthquake-stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant today, sending a massive column of smoke into the air and injuring 11 people.

JAPAN’S nuclear crisis has intensified as authorities raced to combat the threat of multiple reactor meltdowns and evacuated more than 170,000 people after the devastating earthquake and tsunami.

A state of emergency has been declared at a second Japanese nuclear power plant.

Japan’s nuclear crisis has intensified as authorities raced to combat the threat of multiple reactor meltdowns and evacuated more than 170,000 people after the devastating earthquake and tsunami.

Japanese officials are struggling with a growing nuclear crisis and the threat of multiple meltdowns, two days after the country’s north-eastern coast was savaged by a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami.

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.