A strong earthquake has shaken north eastern Japan, NHK TV said. A tsunami warning has been issued.

Thousands of people formed "a human chain" around Japan's parliament complex today to demand the government abandon nuclear power - the latest in a series of peaceful demonstrations that are on a scale not seen for decades.

Japan’s Fukushima state has opened its first beach to swimmers since last year’s nuclear disaster after judging the water to be safe.

Disaster-battered Japan reported its biggest annual trade deficit ever today, a contrast from decades of surpluses, as a nuclear crisis boosted expensive oil and gas imports.

Japan’s prime minister has acknowledged that the government failed in its response to last year’s earthquake and tsunami, being too slow in relaying key information and believing too much in “a myth of safety” about nuclear power.

The Japanese government withheld information about the full danger of last year’s Fukushima nuclear plant disaster from its own people and from its key ally, the United States, an independent investigation has found.

Japan has approved a plan to provide 900 billion yen (€8.35bn) in public funds to the operator of a tsunami-hit nuclear power plant.

Some people evacuated from around Japan’s stricken nuclear power plant may not be able to return to their homes for “a long time” due to projections that high contamination levels will linger, top government officials have said.

Japanese whalers caught two animals along the northern coast that had traces of radiation, presumably from leaks at a damaged nuclear power plant, officials said.

Japan’s unpopular Prime Minister Naoto Kan refused to resign today as opposition politicians criticising his disaster management prepared to file a no-confidence motion in parliament.

UN inspectors criticised Japan today for under-estimating the threat of a devastating tsunami on its crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, but praised its overall response to the crisis as exemplary.

Residents living near Japan’s devastated nuclear plant have returned home for the first time since the crisis began more than two months ago.

Japan is scrapping plans to generate half its energy needs from nuclear power in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.

Japan’s prime minister has ordered three reactors to be shut down in central Japan because of safety concerns in the event of a major earthquake.

Angry refugees forced from their homes near Japan's wrecked nuclear power plant protested outside the HQ of its operator today, demanding compensation.

Japan’s nuclear safety agency raised the severity rating of the crisis at its nuclear plant to the highest level today, on a par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

Sombre ceremonies and moments of silence were planned today to mark one month since a massive earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan’s north east coast, killing as many as 25,000 people.

Japan is turning to other countries for help as it struggles to stabilise its tsunami-stricken nuclear plant and stop radiation leaks.

New readings show radiation levels continue to rise in the ocean outside a leaking nuclear plant in Japan's north east, officials said today, as they debated whether to broaden the evacuation zone around the tsunami-damaged facility.

Forget the financial cost, the psychological impact of the disasters that have hit Japan will be the hardest thing to deal with, writes Bill Emmott

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.

Olzhas Auyezov reports from Prypyat, Ukraine, 25 years after the nuclear disaster

THE race to prevent total meltdown of reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Japan could take weeks, the chair of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission warned yesterday.

BEHIND Japan’s escalating nuclear crisis sits a scandal-ridden energy industry in a comfy relationship with government regulators often willing to overlook safety lapses.

Emergency workers are continuing frantic efforts to cool nuclear fuel at Japan’s stricken reactors complex.

The head of the UN atomic agency has left for Tokyo to assess the nuclear crisis unleashed by the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan’s north-eastern coast.

THEY are known as the Fukushima 50, the workers who stayed behind at the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in order to prevent a meltdown in Japan.

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.

Australia advised its citizens to consider leaving Tokyo and earthquake-affected areas today, joining a growing number of governments and businesses telling their people it may be safer elsewhere.

A team of Australian and New Zealand search and rescue workers has been exposed to low levels of radiation after their helicopter was forced to land near Japan's disaster-stricken nuclear power complex.

Japanese stocks rebounded today, recovering some of the massive losses sustained over the last two days following the devastating earthquake and tsunami.

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.

Japan’s Nikkei stock index nosedived nearly 11% today as the earthquake-shattered country faced an unfolding nuclear crisis after a radiation leak was detected at a crippled power plant and residents were warned to stay indoors. Other Asian markets also tumbled.

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.

The second hydrogen explosion in three days rocked Japan’s stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant today, sending a massive column of smoke into the air and wounding six workers.