DUTCH CHRISTIANS GIVE BOOK TO ISRAEL

DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADE BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).

MEPs decry breach of trust in EU-US data deal
VALENTINA POP 16.03.2011 @ 18:55 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - With the EU's police agency Europol rubberstamping bank data requests from the US and following 'oral orders' from American investigators, MEPs have warned they may block future data transfer deals with the US.After reluctantly having given our consent to this agreement, we feel betrayed in reading this report, since it's also about the credibility of the European Parliament and the EU itself, German Liberal MEP Alexander Alvaro said during a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday (16 March).Earlier on, Isabel Cruz, the chairwoman of Europol's supervisory board presented the findings of an inspection report casting serious doubts about the usefulness of the agency checking data requests from the US.Oral explanations which inspectors could not verify and data requests too broad to be properly judged against the proportionality criterion are the main causes for concern.Europol has a role which is extremely confused. We always said it had to be a judicial body verifying the legality of data requests, not a police co-operation agency, Cruz said, in defence of the Hague-based agency.Added at the insistence of MEPs themselves when re-negotiating the agreement they first struck down, Europol had to grapple with procedural rules and when asking the EU commission for clarifications on specific provisions of the agreement, it got the reply that the commission cannot interpret the agreement.It's clear Europol has violated what we asked them to do. If it gave its okay to very broad data requests, it dis something wrong, Greek Socialist MEP Stavros Lambrinidis said.

He added that he personally opposed the Europol being given such a role, but the pressure from the US was too big.This report shows obviously there are infringements which no EU court would accept. The conclusion would be to cancel the agreement, said German Green MEP Jan Philipp Albrecht.Supporters of the EU-US deal also slammed the findings of the Europol report.It's our own institutions, not the US, that fail to provide us with the information we need. We want reassurances the data protection rules are being enforced,British Conservative MEP Timothy Kirhhope said. Initially set up as a covert program following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the US, the so-called Swift agreement was struck down in February last year when MEPs found there were too few data protection provisions. They later on agreed to an amended deal, which included the Europol provision.EUobserver understands that the agreement could be suspended, but MEPs would be reluctant to call for this since the non-compliance issues lie on the EU side, not the US. A final decision is also pending a report due to be published on Thursday by the EU commission about the implementation of the agreement six months after its coming into force.

Dutch Christians Give Book to Yesha Leaders, Show Solidarity
by Gavriel Queenann MAR 16,11

Members of the International Board of Dutch-based Christians for Israel (CFl) met with Jewish leaders from communities in Judea and Samaria, on Tuesday. The event was hosted by Christian Friends of Israeli Communities (CFOIC Heartland).The two Christian groups have been politically active for many years on behalf of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. Two years ago, CFI published a photo book entitled Judea and Samaria in Dutch and today, launched the English translation of the book, which will be marketed to Christians all over the world. The book includes photographs of views and communities throughout Judea and Samaria, alongside verses from Jewish scriptures which relate to the places shown.CFI representatives from all over the world gathered in Israel this week for their annual international board meeting, dedicating the day to the subject of Judea and Samaria. After a lecture on the region from a biblical perspective by Yossi Maimon, a tour guide, the group visited the Nahalat Binyamin Winery, and then visited special needs children in Ofra.

The main event was a meeting between CFI representatives and Yesha leaders, which organizers described as powerful and moving. Yesha leaders in attendance included: Rabbi Natan Greenberg, Rosh Yeshiva of Bat Ayin; Naftali Bennett, Head of Yesha Council; Hananel Durani, Mayor of Kedumim; Rabbi Yisrael Rozen, Machon Zomet; Mr. Oded Revivi, Mayor of Efrat; and Moshe Goldsmith, Chairman of the Itamar Local Council.CFOIC director Sondra Oster Baras opened the meeting by introducing the leaders to one another, after which Dr. Pinchas Gerber, head of the social services department, shared his experiences over the past few days in Itamar, as he and his staff have been working intensively with the families after the heinous terrorist attack on Friday night.During the meeting Rev. Henk Poot and photographer Theo Hornemann presented their book, Judea and Samaria, to Yesha leaders as a symbol of solidarity with Jewish residents in those regions. Poot said, The Land of Israel belongs to the Jews, to the Chosen People to the People of G-d. We are here to help the Jewish nation, throughout the Land of Israel. We are witness, with our own eyes, to the return of the Jewish nation to its land and draw encouragement and understanding of the spiritual meaning of these events from the words of Rabbi Kook.

Theo Hornemann explained the raison d'etre behind the book:This book was our initiative, Henk’s and mine, to find an effective and passionate way to communicate the message of the communities in Judea and Samaria to Christians all over the world. We wanted them to see the pictures so that they would see that the source of the Jewish right to this land is from the Bible.Naftali Bennett accepted the book on behalf of residents of Judea and Samaria: We are dealing with great difficulties. We know how to conduct wars and we will overcome the terrorist threat. But the real battle today is one of public relations. Throughout the world, we are accused of being war criminals and our very right to exist in this land is called into question. We need you to help wage this battle.Baras closed the event with a prayer that the murderous attack in Itamar would be the last attack, and that peace and tranquility would reign in Israel, alongside international recognition of Jewish rights to all of Israel. We, you and I, share the belief that the Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people because we see the Tanach as the living word of G-d. Thank you for standing with us.(IsraelNationalNews.com)

DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.

JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all,(WORLD SOCIALISM) both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM

WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/
CNBC VIDEOS
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HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS THU MAR 17,2011

09:30 AM +2.70
10:00 AM +125.07
10:30 AM +164.58
11:00 AM +153.82
11:30 AM +130.56
12:00 PM +136.61
12:30 PM +148.91
01:00 PM +144.82
01:30 PM +107.24
02:00 PM +108.00
02:30 PM +124.31
03:00 PM +150.50
03:30 PM +129.65
04:00 PM +161.29 11,774.59

S&P 500 1273.72 +16.84

NASDAQ 2636.05 +19.23

GOLD 1,403.60 +7.50

OIL 101.41 +3.43

TSE 300 13,746.20 +221.30

CDNX 2189.36 +57.98

S&P/TSX/60 793.33 +12.75

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow +138 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -0.20 points at low today.
Dow +140 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,401.00.OIL opens at $99.88 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -0.20 points at low today so far.
Dow +187 points at high today so far.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -0.20 points at low today.
Dow +187 points at high today.

GOLD ALLTIME HIGH $1,444.00 (NOT AT CLOSE)

MUSLIM NATIONS

EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.

EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.

JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

Former UK air chief wary of Libya air strikes-ANDREW RETTMAN
16.03.2011 @ 17:44 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Lord Stirrup, a former British air chief, has warned that the UK and France need a clear objective on what to do with Colonel Gaddafi before launching air strikes on Libya.Speaking to EUobserver by phone on Wednesday (16 March) ahead of a UN Security Council vote on Libya in New York, Lord Stirrup, who commanded the British air force from 2003 to 2006, said: Before you start using military force you need to know what is the objective. Is it the removal of Gaddafi? If Yes, then clearly a no-fly zone is just one element in a long list of other elements. If it's to protect Libyan civilians, I would say: From what? For how long?As far as I can see there is no consensus, not even a growing body of opinion within international circles, not even within the EU, about what the objective would actually be,he added.Lord Stirrup noted that that any massacre of civilians in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi would likely be carried out by Gaddafi ground forces, which could not be stopped with air strikes alone.You couldn't intervene very successfully from the air. You could only intervene decisively on the ground. But then you are getting drawn into someone else's civil war ... What if there is a long-term stand-off between the east and west of Libya? Are we to engage in a long-term no-fly zone as we did with Iraq? he noted.

You must never go into these things thinking plan A is going to work. You need to think through what we call the branches and sequels, he explained.You have to have a clear legal basis from the international community which extends to details such as rules of engagement and how many casualties we are prepared to accept. You owe this to people if you are going to ask them to use lethal force.The retired pilot, who saw active service in the Dhofar War in Oman in the 1970s, also warned that Libya has an unknown quantity of Russian-made shoulder-launched (SAM)-7 surface-to-air missiles, which can shoot down jets below 15,000 feet.It's not a show-stopper, but it's a significant risk,he said.A French military source, who asked not be named, said the Libyan air-force itself would not pose a threat.Libya currently has just one active French-made Mirage jet, around 30 antiquated Russian Su 22 fighters, a handful of Russian Mig 23 planes most of which are too old to fly and some attack helicopters. They also have French-made Crotale anti-aircraft missiles but the French military can activate switches to jam the rockets.The French contact said the UK and France would need to destroy Libyan radar and anti-aircraft stations and to keep two jets, such as Mirage 2000 or Rafale fighters, in the air over Libya 24 hours a day to impose a no-fly zone.The planes could be launched from the Sigonella base in Sicily, from Malta or from the Solenzara base in Corsica. They would need support from AWACS planes and anti-aircraft frigates to jam Libyan signals, as well as re-fuelling aircraft.

Ambassadors from the 15-member UN Security Council will in New York on Wednesday debate and potentially vote on a joint British-French-Lebanese proposal on military intervention in Libya.The draft resolution, seen by EUobserver: Decides to establish a ban on all flights in the airspace of the Libyan Arab Jamahariya in order to help protect civilians ... [and] authorises member states to take all necessary measures to enforce compliance with the ban.At least nine Council members need to back the text and none of the five veto-wielding powers must oppose it in order for it to get through.Council members Germany and China (a veto power) have spoken out against air strikes. Italy is not a Council member, but its foreign minister, Franco Frattini, earlier on Wednesday told the Italian senate that: The international community should not and in my opinion does not want to take military action.One EU diplomat said that with Colonel Gaddafi rapidly advancing on Benghazi and with no possibility to get a no-fly zone in place before the end of March in logistical terms, the Anglo-British UN push is only a warning to Gaddafi to show restraint.France believes the UN resolution would give it the green light to launch targeted strikes against Gaddafi targets immediately, however.It also believes that Italy is opposed to intervention on the ground, but not from the air.We can neutralise its air assets in targeted strikes ... several Arab countries have assured us they would participate, French foreign minister Alain Juppe wrote in his blog on Wednesday.For his part, Colonel Gaddafi in a pugnacious speech to supporters in Tripoli on Tuesday taunted the French. Strike Libya? ... We'll be the one who strikes you. We struck you in Algeria, in Vietnam, he said, Reuters reports.His son, Saif al-Islam, in an interview with the Euronews TV channel on Wednesday said he will publish records showing that Gaddafi money funded French President Nicolas Sarkozy's 2007 election campaign.

Poland to use 1989 revolution as lesson for Arab countries
ANDREW RETTMAN 16.03.2011 @ 09:27 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Poland is to use lessons learned from its 1989 revolution against Communism to help spread democracy in the Arab world during its upcoming EU presidency.Warsaw had originally aimed to concentrate on political reform in the EU's post-Soviet neighbours in the east. But a new draft programme for its six months at the EU helm adopted by the government on Tuesday (15 March) and seen by EUobserver notes that events in north Africa and the Middle East are forcing it to change priorities.Thanks to the rich experience of its own, successful political and economic transformation, Poland can bring a lot to this debate and furnish practical help for the new governments in north African countries, the paper says.In one example, Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski is re-working plans to create a new EU foundation to help dissidents in countries such as Belarus. An international conference in December on the Sikorski project will now be devoted to supporting transformational processes in north Africa instead.The Polish government is also keen to craft a long-term complex strategy for EU relations with the Arab world, containing mechanisms to support persecuted minorities, including Christians.With deadly violence in Bahrain on Tuesday opening a new front in the Gulf states, a Polish diplomat noted that the programme is likely to see more changes in the next three months.We are only half-way through the Hungarian presidency. We will know the final Polish priorities when the government presents them to the EU Council and the European Parliament in July,he said.The provisional Polish calendar still leans toward the east rather than the south despite the political preamble.

Poland aims to hold a summit (date to be confirmed) and a foreign-minister-level meeting (in December) with the six post-Soviet countries covered by the EU's Eastern Partnership policy. Six other high-level meetings in Warsaw and Krakow will look to EU-Eastern Partner integration in tourism, phytosanitary standards, statistical reporting, infrastructure, the economy and migration.On Russia, Poland hopes to make some progress on signing a new EU-Russia treaty, but makes no mention of concluding the pact.On the Balkans, it aims to sign the accession treaty with Croatia and to hold an EU home affairs ministers meeting in Ohrid, Macedonia, in September. Rising ethnic tensions in the country are threatening to undo the Ohrid Agreement peace treaty of 2001.Poland's other top priorities will be energy security and the EU economy, with little mention of previous plans on EU military integration.The paper states that: If Europe is to become competitive on the global scale, it cannot focus only on paying back debts, it must also act decisively on growth.It predicts that average EU economic growth in 2011 will be 2 percent but that some member states will stay in recession while others get richer. It adds that: Our societies are ageing and the current model of the welfare state must change.One pet Polish project will be to help the European Commission set up a 28th legal regime for online transactions to stand alongside the 27 member states' existing laws in the area. A classic example [of existing problems] is the inability of Polish citizens to ... buy products on iTunes. In the opinion of the Polish presidency liquidating barriers in online trade could - by the year 2020 - generate an extra four percent for the EU's GDP.The first EU summit on the Polish watch is to take place in Brussels on 14 September. The last one will be in the EU capital on 9 December.

Jihadi Cosmo To Give Beauty Tips, Bombing Advice
by Gavriel Queenann MAR 16,11

Single Islamic Girl Seeking Harem, Good Looks, and Slick Bombing Techniques.Or so Al-Qaeda, now launching the glossy Al-Shamikha ['majestic woman'] Magazine, mixing tips for more fetching hijabs and bloodier streets, envisions the young Muslim women in the West. Given the sobriquet Jihad Cosmo, the 31-page first issue features a front cover with the barrel of a sub-machine gun next to a veiled woman.Al-Samikha's first editorial defines its purpose as educating women and involving them in the war against the enemies of Islam.Because women constitute half of the population, the editorial tells readers, and one might even say that they are the population since they give birth to the next generation - the enemies of Islam are bent on preventing the Muslim woman from knowing the truth about her religion and her role, since they know all too well what would happen if women entered the field of jihad.The nation of Islam needs women who know the truth about their religion and about the battle and its dimensions and know what is expected of them.

The magazine contains exclusive interviews with terrorist martyrs widows praising their husbands' decision to die murdering others, and marriage tips for young women seeking to marry mujaheddin [holy warriors]. Prospective readers are told it is their moral duty to give their lives for jihad, and raise children ready to do the same.From martyrdom, the believer will gain security, safety, and happiness, Al-Samikha tells readers without explaining how these benefits will be useful to readers no longer alive to purchase future issues of the magazine.The beauty column instructs women to cloister themselves indoors, with faces covered to keep a clear complexion. And, not to go out except when necessary, and then only in niqab to reap the rewards of complying with the will of Allah Almighty.More traditional women-zine content features the merits of honey face masks, etiquette, first aid, and avoiding toweling too forcibly.Al-Samikha is being distributed online by the Al-Qaeda media group behind Inspire, a similar magazine encouraging young Muslims in the West to commit terrorist atrocities. James Brandon of the anti-extremism think tank Quilliam told the Daily Mail: Al-Qaeda sees how effective magazines are at pushing the ideals of western culture and wants to try the same thing.The next issue will contain tips on skin care - and how to wage electronic jihad. (IsraelNationalNews.com)

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

For Japan tsunami survivors, woes keep mounting
By Chang-Ran Kim – Wed Mar 16, 7:48 pm ET

OTSUCHI, Japan (Reuters) – Nearly a week after their home town was annihilated in a catastrophic tsunami, the 1,000-plus survivors of the small Japanese fishing town of Otsuchi are hanging by a thread.With no water or electricity, and scant food, survivors keep each other company at one of three emergency shelters on the outskirts of what remains of the town. You can't wash your hands or face, says 72-year-old Katsu Sawayama, seated in the middle of the high school gymnasium, the biggest of the shelters in a town where more than half the 17,000 residents are still missing.Adding to their woes, an unseasonal snowstorm sent temperatures plunging to below zero and blanketed acres of tsunami debris in white.While international attention has been focused on Japan's efforts to stop damage at a quake-hit nuclear power plant from spiraling out of control, a massive salvage and rescue operation has slowly been gathering steam.Scores of villages, hamlets and towns lining Japan's northeast coast were flattened by tsunami waves that rolled in minutes after Friday's 9.0 magnitude earthquake.While the official toll stands at less than 5,000, thousands more are listed as missing and the final tally is likely to soar.About 850,000 households in the north were still without electricity in near-freezing weather, Tohuku Electric Power Co. said, while the government said at least 1.5 million households lacked running water.Like tens of thousands of people along Japan's northeast coast, the Otsuchi survivors have nowhere else to go. Meals are barely enough to sustain them -- half a rice ball and a small bowl of miso soup is a luxury; a slice of bread might have to feed a family of three.Whatever they give us, we just gratefully receive. At least they're feeding us three times a day, said Sayawama.

RADIATION FEARS DETRACT FROM OTHER PROBLEMS

International experts say that panic over fears of radiation leaks from the Daiichi nuclear plant could detract from problems likely to affect survivors of the quake and tsunami, such as the cold, access to clean water and getting enough food.People are getting so concerned about what are at the moment pretty low levels of radiation, said Dr Richard Wakeford of Britain's University of Manchester, but the real problems ... are in dealing with the earthquake and the tsunami.If this was a developing country, we'd have people going down in their hundreds and thousands with the likes of typhoid and cholera by now. The questions should be: Where is the sewage going? What is the state of the drinking water? If I were a public health official, that would be my principle concern.Ayumi Yamazaki, 21, is already concerned and worries her 1-1/2-year-old daughter is not getting enough to eat.We rarely get to eat rice, so I'm a little concerned, she said, but it's better than not eating at all.Maths teacher, Naoshi Moriya, volunteering at the evacuation site's make-shift logistics office, says he's worried that it is only a matter of time before food runs out.Despite the privations there's a sense of order in the evacuation center. In late afternoon, a neat queue forms in one hallway of the refuge shelter for men under 60 years old to collect clean undergarments sent in through charity. Long-sleeve undergarments are reserved for the elderly, a volunteer who lost her home says, apologizing to one man.Outside help is slowly and sparingly arriving. A Self Defense Forces truck carrying a fresh supply of water arrived late afternoon on Wednesday, and two Red Cross teams arrived for the first time to treat patients.It's cold today so many people have fallen ill, getting diarrhea and other symptoms,said Takanori Watanabe, a Red Cross doctor from Himeji, western Japan. He says 80 people queued up when they arrived.Elsewhere there were signs of human touches.Two soldiers picked through the rubble and placed personal effects such as photographs in a box so that survivors might be able to reclaim cherished memories.
They belong to someone. You never know,said one.(Editing by Andrew Marshall)

EARTHQUAKES

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

Magnitude 5.3 quake shakes Chile, no damage seen
– Wed Mar 16, 7:17 pm ET

SANTIAGO (Reuters) – A magnitude 5.3 earthquake rattled central Chile on Wednesday, shaking buildings in the capital Santiago, but there were no reports of any damage or injuries, the government said.The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake struck 45 miles north-northeast of the central Chilean port city of Valparaiso, at a depth of 15.3 miles.Reuters witnesses said buildings swayed in Santiago, 75 miles miles to the east.There are no reports of any damage or injuries, a spokeswoman for state emergency office Onemi told Reuters.Quake-prone Chile's economy is still recovering from a massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake a year ago, which hammered towns, infrastructure and industries in south-central Chile and killed more than 500 people.

Japanese stocks open down; Nikkei off 3.6 percent
MAR 16,11

TOKYO – Japanese shares fell again Thursday amid jitters over the nation's nuclear crisis, erasing a portion of the gains from a post-quake rally.The benchmark Nikkei 225 shed 4.1 percent to 8,721.88 points. That wiped out a portion of gains from Wednesday's rally, which followed a sharp plunge in prices. Japan's devastating earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis last week triggered widespread selling, wiping out all of the stock market's gains this year.In currency markets, the U.S. dollar fell to a record low against Japan's yen as companies sold dollar-denominated assets to raise Japanese currency for earthquake recoverty efforts.The post-quake plunge prompted extraordinary government efforts to reassure investors and keep markets functioning to support recovery. Japan's central bank has pumped 26.5 trillion yen ($326 billion) into money markets and the Tokyo exchange's president publicly appealed for calm.Growing uncertainty over the nuclear plant really spooked investors, promoting them to adjust positions and buy back the yen, said Masatoshi Sato, market analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities Co. Ltd.Foreign investors continued to dump stocks on growing fears over the nuclear accidents. Also investors are worried that the quake and the nuclear disaster could surely dent economic growth.The index had shed more than 1,600 points, or 16 percent, Monday and Tuesday as worries over the nuclear crisis triggered widespread selling.

Tokyo blames yen spike on speculators, G7 to discuss crisis
By Tetsushi Kajimoto - MAR 16,11

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese officials blamed the yen's surge to a record high on speculators and kept markets on alert for a possible intervention ahead of Group of Seven talks later on Thursday about steps to calm financial markets roiled by Japan's deepening nuclear crisis.The yen spiked to a record high against the dollar, while shares in Japan and elsewhere in Asia fell on Thursday after U.S. officials said the risk of a catastrophic radiation leak from an earthquake-crippled Japanese nuclear plant was rising.The Japanese currency bolted higher amid speculation Japanese insurers would have to repatriate funds to pay for massive claims following Friday's 9.0 magnitude quake and the devastating tsunami that ravaged Japan's northeast.But Japan's Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, Economy Minister Kaoru Yosano and other officials dismissed such talk and said speculation, not fund flows, was responsible for the currency's surge, which threatens to add further pressure on the quake-hit economy.Market moves have been nervous amid speculation while trade has been thin, Noda told reporters. I will be closely watching market moves today.

Noda declined to comment on a possibility of a currency market intervention to weaken the yen, but markets interpret reminders about monitoring currency moves as a warning that the authorities could step in if they thought the yen was moving too rapidly.While government officials were stepping up their verbal intervention, the Bank of Japan continued to pump massive amounts of cash into the money market to make sure it would not seize up, with the latest offer of 5 trillion yen coming on top of 28 trillion yen offered in same-day funds earlier this week.Group of Seven sources told Reuters that G7 finance officials would discuss later on Thursday what to do to calm global financial markets after Friday's earthquake, tsunami and a subsequent nuclear crisis wiped hundreds of billions of dollars off global stock markets.A senior Japanese finance ministry official told reporters G7 finance ministers would hold a conference call and discuss, among other issues, Japan's disaster and currency market.However, there is not that much that finance chiefs can do given that the market rout is largely driven by uncertainty over how the crisis at Japan's quake-crippled nuclear power plant will play out.

Operators of the Fukushima plant 240 km north of Tokyo again deployed military helicopters on Thursday in a bid to douse overheating reactors, amid growing fears that the crisis could spin out of control.The yen had risen 4 percent against the dollar to 76.25 yen on trading platform EBS, breaching a previous record high of 79.75 set on April 19, 1995. It later bounced back to trade around 79.60 to the dollar in choppy trade.It's mayhem out there, said one trader at an Australian bank in Sydney. The yen's been moving a big figure a second on occasions. A lot of people are crying out for the central banks to step in.Some currency strategists said the fact that the yen spiked in late New York trade suggested that Japanese officials were right and the surge was driven by speculation rather than significant fund flows.Given that time zone in which the yen's rise took place, it would be speculators that bought the yen this morning, and not much-talked repatriation by Japanese insurers, said Koji Fukaya, chief strategist at Credit Suisse.Seeking to put speculation of fund repatriation to rest, economy minister Yosano told reporters the amount of quake-related claims that Japanese insurers faced was less than 500 billion yen ($6 billion) and they had ample funds for payouts at home.The disaster struck just as Japan's economy was just picking up after shrinking in the last quarter of 2010. The yen's surge is likely to put further pressure on the country's exporters, many of which have had to shut plants in the northeast due to a lack of power or quake damage.Economists estimate the total cost of disaster relief and reconstruction could reach as much as 16 trillion yen ($200 billion), nearly 4 percent of gross domestic product.

Some warn that the world's-third largest economy could slip back into recession even if it should experience a growth spurt later in the year thanks to massive amounts spent on rebuilding of buildings, factories and infrastructure. Japan's Nikkei fell more than 3 percent in early trade, with big exporters such as tech company Kyocera and car maker Honda Motor taking the most points off the index. The market later recovered some ground as the yen pulled back.Benchmark 10-year Japanese government bond futures jumped 0.51 point to 140.23, but dropped later alongside the yen's retreat.(Additional reporting by Leika Kihara; Writing by Tomasz Janowski; Editing by Kim Coghill)

Tokyo bourse rejects calls for halt, to keep markets open
MAR 16,11

TOKYO/NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Tokyo Stock Exchange and Japanese financial regulators plan to keep markets open despite a report that some foreign financial institutions are calling for Japan's stock market to halt trading.The Nikkei news agency said officials from more than 10 non-Japanese financial firms held a conference call on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the situation in Japan, where markets have been rocked by an earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster over the past week.Some participants called for the market to be closed immediately, Nikkei reported, citing people familiar with the discussion.The report said that foreign firms were looking for a trading halt because the market was experiencing too much volatility, but did not elaborate.The exchange plans no changes to its day-to-day operations, Tokyo Stock Exchange spokeswoman Yukari Hozumi told Reuters on Thursday.

We are open as normal today, and will be tomorrow. We have absolutely no plan to shorten hours or halt trading, Hozumi added.Japan's stock market tumbled in the first two days of trading after an earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster rocked the country. But on Wednesday, stocks soared on record volumes, despite persistent worries about overheated nuclear reactors and high radiation levels.The benchmark Nikkei index (.N225) was down 2.2 percent in mid-morning trading on Thursday.Mike Cahill, who runs OCC, the U.S. clearinghouse for stock options, said banks might urge the TSE to close down operations if they were understaffed. Reuters has reported that foreign bank employees were racing to leave Japan due to safety concerns.Yet representatives of several U.S. and European banks said they were unaware of any calls to halt trading activity. They noted that much of their trading and brokerage operations are performed online, allowing employees to perform trades on the TSE from off-site locations, such as Hong Kong.HSBC said it is business as usual in Japan,adding that offices and branches in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Yokohama have remained open for business.Representatives for other large, non-Japanese banks also said evoked similar sentiments.CBOE Holdings Inc Chief Executive William Brodsky pointed out that markets in Japan rallied after Tuesday's decline, allowing investors to express their confidence in Japan's ability to recover.When you run markets, you want to keep them open whenever possible, because you don't want to create panic that people who need to get out can't get out, said Brodsky, who was also formerly head of the World Federation of Exchanges.To voluntarily close a market makes no sense.

Exchanges have shut due to extreme circumstances, such as the New York Stock Exchange's closure after the terror attacks on Sept 11, 2001. But even after that disaster, a group of 700 traders from the American Stock Exchange relocated to the Philadelphia floor.So unless it's clear that the nuclear situation is getting worse, there's no reason to stop trading, said Chris Allen, exchanges analyst at Evercore Partners.The TSE's rules allow it to shut down trading if it is possible that brokerages accounting for more than 20 percent of volume cannot do business, Nikkei reported. The prime minister can also halt trading if there's a change of harm to the public good or investor protections, Nikkei reported.The Nikkei report said TSE President Atsushi Saito wasn't prepared to shut the exchange down yet. (Reporting by Lauren Tara LaCapra, additional reporting by Ann Saphir and Jonathan Spicer in Boca Raton, Florida, Timothy Kelly in Tokyo; Writing by Elzio Barreto; Editing by Bernard Orr and Anshuman Daga)

Japan crisis spells jitters for global economy
by Andrew Beatty - MAR 16,11

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Experts are cautiously optimistic that the still-brittle global economy can absorb the shock of Japan's triple disaster, but major risks still loom as the crisis unfolds.As Japan has been ravaged by an earthquake, tsunami and nuclear emergency, economists have appeared confident the world's third largest economy will bounce back and that damage to the global economy will be limited.Many, like Nariman Behravesh, an economist at US-based IHS, predicts a large, but -- probably -- temporary impact on the Japanese economy, and a small impact on the rest of the world.Using previous catastrophes like the 1995 Kobe earthquake as a reference, they expect quake-struck businesses to eventually reopen.Meanwhile tens of billions of dollars will be spent rebuilding homes, factories and infrastructure, sparking a recovery boom.That process, they hope, will be replicated in Japan's links with the world.Japan's most important trading partners -- Australia, China -- will see both the most important near-term drag, and the largest medium-term benefit, said Societe Generale's Michala Marcussen.The prospect of quick economic recovery will be little consolation for the millions whose lives have been turned upside down by the disaster, but will offer some solace for those across the globe who are already worried by high unemployment and rising prices.But as the crisis rumbles on, there are increasing warnings about how spillovers could be felt by consumers and economies across the globe, even without a catastrophic nuclear meltdown.The most immediate problems are being felt in the manufacturing sector.

Japan has long ceased to be the world's factory -- surpassed by China, Indonesia and a host of other emerging countries -- but it is still a crucial part of the global supply chain for everything from cars and computer parts.With 11 nuclear plants shuttered and blackouts predicted until the end of April, a slowdown in Japanese production could quickly turn into a manufacturing bottleneck.People will be surprised by how fast prices will rise, Jesse Toprak, an auto analyst with TrueCar.com told AFP.Toprak predicted that shuttered production could push up the cost of Japanese cars by around $1,000 dollars for some US-sold models by next week, as dealers cut discounts in the face dwindling supply.A lot of this inventory won't last more than a few weeks, if that, Toprak said, citing already high demand for fuel-efficient Japanese vehicles like the Toyota Prius.Meanwhile production on non-Japanese cars could be slowed by a parts shortage.Most vehicles that are made the United States have at least one component if not more that comes from Japan, he said.

Rising oil prices are seen as another conduit for the crisis spreading. Although crude costs have fluctuated in recent days as traders weighted lower short-term demand in Japan, a protracted nuclear crisis could raise demand for oil.On Wednesday oil prices rose by 80 cents a barrel in New York and $2.10 in London, although tension in the Middle East and North Africa also played a role.An oil price shock would lower (global) growth substantially, but probably not cause an outright recession, said analysts at Swiss Re.Policymakers, still chastened by the recent economic downturn, are also focused on preventing fallout in the financial markets -- a now familiar conduit for crises.Japan's central bank has pumped $62 billion into the economy, while the Federal Reserve continued to unfurl a $600 billion in stimulus spending despite a rosier economic outlook at home.When the yen hit a post-war high against the dollar on Wednesday, speculation raged that central banks could intervene to stop a crippling rise in the price of Japan's exports.Still, the major stock markets -- a quick and quantifiable, if frequently imperfect, barometer of the crisis -- have fallen sharply in the last few days.Among other concerns, traders worry that Japanese investors could repatriate cash to Japan, destabilizing markets from Brazil and the United States.Japanese investors have poured cash into Latin America's largest markets, with retail investors estimated to hold around $35 billion in assets in Brazil alone.US bond holders meanwhile have fretted that Japan -- the second largest holder of US debt -- might trim back its $886 billion holdings to pay for rebuilding costs.Any decision to sell US bonds could force the price of borrowing up for the already cash-strapped United States, bring the country a step closer to a fully blown fiscal crisis.For now few economists are making bold predictions about how events will develop without significant caveats.It is still too early to tell what the full impact of the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and growing nuclear crisis on Japan's infrastructure, industrial base and economic growth will be -- let alone the broader global impacts,said Behravesh of IHS.

U.S. berates Bahrain, Gulf allies as tensions spread
By Lin Noueihed - MAR 16,11

MANAMA (Reuters) – The United States said Bahrain was on the wrong track in trying to crush Shi'ite protests in the Sunni-ruled island, rare criticism that highlighted concern the crackdown could ignite a wider regional conflict.Bahraini forces used tanks and helicopters on Wednesday to clear a protest camp set up by youths from the Shi'ite Muslim majority which complains of discrimination by the Sunni royal family. Three police and three protesters were killed.The unrest has brought an influx of troops to Bahrain from fellow Sunni-ruled neighbors Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, who fear the uprising that began last month could play into the hands of non-Arab Shi'ite power Iran.It has also prompted sympathy protests from Shi'ites across the region, including in Saudi Arabia's oil producing east.

Earlier this week, Washington said it understood why Bahrain's Sunni rulers had called in reinforcements. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said force was not the answer.We find what's happening in Bahrain alarming. We think that there is no security answer to the aspirations and demands of the demonstrators, she told CBS. They are on the wrong track.

LIVE BULLETS, PETROL BOMBS

A medical source said dozens of people were taken to Bahrain International Hospital on Wednesday, hit by rubber bullets or shot gun pellets or suffering tear gas inhalation, all weapons used by riot police.One was hit by a live bullet in the clash, in which youths hurled petrol bombs at police.U.S. President Barack Obama called the kings of Saudi Arabia, a strategic ally of Washington in the Middle East, and of Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet and seen as a bulwark against Iranian influence, to urge maximum restraint.Political analysts say the Obama administration, which gave strong support to pro-democracy protests in Egypt and Tunisia, faced a new dilemma as violence in Bahrain appeared to dash hopes for quick political talks.U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jeff Feltman went to Bahrain on Monday to push for talks to resolve the crisis. The U.S. State Department said on Wednesday he had already left.Gregory Gause, a Gulf expert at the University of Vermont, said Wednesday's events showed the intent was to quash a rebellion rather than restore order to allow political dialogue to resume as Washington has urged.

Iran condemned Bahrain's response to the protests, the worst unrest there since the 1990s, and recalled its ambassador for consultations, Iranian state TV reported.
What has happened is bad, unjustifiable and irreparable,it quoted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying.On Tuesday Bahrain withdrew its ambassador for consultations to protest at Tehran's criticisms.Saudi Shi'ites held several demonstrations, including one in their main regional center, Qatif, on Wednesday, demanding the release of prisoners and voicing support for Shi'ites in Bahrain, an activist and witnesses said.In Qatif, security shot in the air to disperse the protest, a Saudi Shi'ite activist said. A witness said two police helicopters hovered above the demonstration. People were demanding the withdrawal of the Peninsula force and called on Saudi Arabia to withdraw from Bahrain, the witness said, referring to Gulf states' forces.Leading Saudi Shi'ite cleric Sheikh Hassan al-Saffar voiced dismay over events in Bahrain and a member of parliament from Bahrain's largest Shi'ite opposition group denounced the assault as a war on the Shi'ite community.This is war of annihilation. This does not happen even in wars and this is not acceptable, Abdel Jalil Khalil, the head of Wefaq's 18-member parliament bloc, said. I saw them fire live rounds, in front of my own eyes.A protest called by Bahrain's youth movement, which played a leading role in the protest camp at Pearl roundabout, failed to materialize after the military banned all gatherings and imposed a curfew from 4 p.m. to 4 a.m. across a large swathe of Manama.A Reuters witness saw Bahraini tanks move in the direction of Budaya Street, where the protest was set to take place.

INTERNATIONALISED

Over 60 percent of Bahrainis are Shi'ites. Most say they want only the same treatment as Sunnis and a constitutional monarchy but calls by hardliners for the overthrow of the monarchy have alarmed Sunnis, who fear the unrest serves Iran.
Analysts say the intervention of Sunni-ruled Gulf Arab states in Bahrain might provoke a response from Tehran, which supports Shi'ite groups in Iraq and Lebanon.
This was a major and a dangerous decision because this issue has been internationalized now. There are protests in Iraq, in Iran, in Lebanon, said Wefaq MP Jasim Hussein.There was no reason when our demands were local demands and nothing to do with Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates.The crackdown in Bahrain has galvanized Iraq's Shi'ite community, exacerbating sectarian tension that led to years of war in Iraq. Iraq's Shi'ite prime minister criticized the assault and Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called for protests.In Lebanon, supporters of Shi'ite group Hezbollah also came out in solidarity with their fellow Shia.The United Nations and Britain have echoed the U.S. call for restraint and the Group of Eight powers expressed concern.When the Gulf states now send military units to the small... island state, there is a very critical risk that the situation will... be seen as part of a broader confrontation, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said on his blog.While there was most likely initially no Iranian interference, the opportunities for Iran to take advantage of the situation now undeniably grow.Gulf expert Gause said the latest developments had given Washington a serious dilemma. This is a really sticky situation, there is no question about that.(Additional reporting by Frederik Richter in Bahrain, Andrew Hammond in Dubai and Robin Pomeroy in Iran, Caroline Cohn and Steve Slater in London, Andrew Quinn in Washington; Writing by Philippa Fletcher; Editing by Louise Ireland)

DAY 6 ON THE JAPAN FRONT-RADIATION LEAK

BOTH PICTURES FROM INFOWARS.COM


DISEASES

REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).

PESTILENCES (CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS)

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences;(CHEMICAL,BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS) and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

NUCLEAR LEVEL METER
7-MAJOR ACCIDENT
6-SERIOUS ACCIDENT - JAPAN AT THIS LEVEL CURRENTLY
5-ACCIDENT WITH WIDER CONSEQUENCES
4-ACCIDENT WITH LOCAL CONSEQUENCES
3-SERIOUS INCEDENT
2-INCIDENT
1-ANOMALY

RADIATION NETWORK
http://www.radiationnetwork.com/
WEATHER MODEL-WINDSTREAM
http://www.stormsurfing.com/cgi/display_alt.cgi?a=npac_250
JONES ON THE MELTDOWN(RADIATION CONTAMINATION)OF JAPAN ALL THIS WEEK
http://rss.nfowars.net/20110316_Wed_Alex.mp3
http://rss.nfowars.net/20110317_Thu_Alex.mp3
http://rss.nfowars.net/20110318_Fri_Alex.mp3

THIS WILL BE A PERFECT SITUATION FOR THE ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT CONTROL FREAKS TO TRY TO BAN COAL AND NUCLEAR POWER STATIONS WHICH WOULD KILL 65% OF THE ENERGY CONSUMPTION.HOW WOULD THE NWO NUTCASES WANT THIS 65% FILLED,OF COURSE WITH WIND MILLS,SOLAR WHICH WOULD REALLY SKYROCKET OUR BILLS.AND THEN THEY COULD TAX US INTO INFINITY AND CONTROL OUR EVERY MOVES IN EVERY ASPECT OF OUR LIVES.ICLUDING ALL KINDS OF CARBON TAXES.

ITS 12:05AM WED MAR 16,11 AND JIM WALSH A INTERNATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST:SAYS WERE IS THAT USELESS IAEA:IT SHOULD BE IN JAPAN AT THE SITE,SO THE 50 WORKERS WOULD NOT HAVE TO USELESSLY DIE FROM WORKING ON THE 6 SITES BY THEMSELVES.THEN WE HAVE GOVERNMENT REPORTS SAYING:THE 50 WORKERS HAVE SUSPENDED OPERATIONS.

NOW I HAVE A BRIEF COMPARISON HERE TO START THE DAY.
3,373 PEOPLE ARE OFFICIALLY DEAD AND 7,558 STILL MISSING SO FAR.
3/16(1+6=7)/11 - TODAYS DATE MAR 16,11 (3=TRINITY)(7=COMPLETION IN THE BIBLE)
REACTORS 4&3=7 AND REACTORS 1&2=3 HERES THE 3 AND 7 IN THE DISASTER TO.

ITS 4:30PM WED MAR 16,11 AND DR PETER HOSEMANN OF UC BERKLEY DEPT OF NUCLEAR ENG. WAS ON FOX NEWS AND SAID:IF THERES STEAM OR WATER AROUND THE FUEL RODS,AND THEY OVERHEAT.THEN THEY CAN PRODUCE HYDRGEN.THIS COULD LEAD TO EXPLOSIONS LIKE WE SAW IN REACTORS 1 AND 3.

U.S NUCLEAR CHIEF:RADIATION LEVELS MAY(MORE LIKE ARE)HAMPERING EMERGENCY CREWS.HE ALSO SAYS THERE IS NO MORE WATER IN THE SPENT FUEL POOL IN REACTOR 4.WHICH MEANS NOTHING TO STOP THE FUEL RODS FROM OVERHEATING,MELTING.

SO OVIOUSLY SOMETHING HAPPENED TO THE SEA WATER PIPE(IT WAS EXPLODED)OVIOUSLY,THATS WHY NO WATER CAN BE PUT ON THE RODS TO STOP THEM FROM OVERHEATING,MELTING AND SENDING OFF LARGE AMOUNTS OF RADIATION INTO THE AIR AND POISONING IT.THE U.S IS TELLING AMERICANS TO AVOID A 50 MILE RADIOUS OF THE SITE,NOT JUST 13 MILES LIKE THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT IS SAYING.

Analysis: Worst case nuclear cloud seen limited to Japan
By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent - MAR 16,11 6:30PM

OSLO (Reuters) – In the worst case, any radioactive cloud from Japan's damaged nuclear plant is likely to be limited to the densely populated nation -- unlike the wider fallout from the Chernobyl disaster, experts say.The 1986 blast in then-Soviet Ukraine, when the reactor exploded, contaminated large parts of Europe in the world's worst nuclear disaster. At the Fukushima plant, the explosive potential within the six reactors is easing with time.In the worst case, a radioactive cloud would not go that far up in the atmosphere, said Jan Beranek, head of environmental group Greenpeace's International Nuclear Campaign.That is good news for the world, but bad news for Japan.Despite assurances by Japanese authorities about low health risks, the crisis at the Fukushima plant has worsened since Friday's quake-caused tsunami, with desperate, unsuccessful attempts on Wednesday to water-bomb the facility.We are at the beginning of the catastrophic phase, Sebastian Pflugbeil, president of the private, German-based Society for Radiation Protection, said of Japan's efforts to pull the Fukushima plant back from the brink.Maybe we have to pray, he said, adding that a wind blowing any nuclear fallout east into the Pacific would limit any damage for Japan's 127 million population in case of a meltdown or other releases, for instance from spent fuel storage ponds.Japan's nuclear crisis may have taken its most dangerous turn yet, after the head of the U.S. nuclear regulatory body said one of the pools containing highly radioactive spent fuel rods at the stricken plant had run dry.

Japan placed top priority on Wednesday on efforts to cool down a plutonium-fueled nuclear reactor at Fukushima -- the only one of six not fueled by less hazardous uranium. Some countries advised their nationals to leave the country.Many experts expect the outcome to be worse than the partial reactor meltdown at Three Mile Island in the United States in 1979, which caused no widespread health damage, but less severe than Chernobyl.A U.N. study estimated that there could be 4,000 to 9,000 extra cancer deaths from Chernobyl, but Greenpeace has said that the disaster could cause more than 250,000 cancer cases, including 100,000 fatalities.In Chernobyl the whole plant core exploded, said Malcolm Crick, Secretary of the U.N. Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR).But there was also a lot of heat and that lifted it high into the atmosphere.He said Fukushima was a serious situation but it's too early to say what the worst outcome could be.Malcolm Grimston, a nuclear expert at the Chatham House think-tank in Britain, said Fukushima was not like Chernobyl.We're nearly five days after the fission process was stopped, the levels of radioactive iodine will only be about two-thirds of where they were at the start, some of the other very short-lived, very radioactive material will be gone altogether by now, he said.The situation may recede or deteriorate and lead to a massive radiation leak to the atmosphere, said Professor Javier Dies, head of Nuclear Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Barcelona. As things stand, this cannot be ruled out.A key warning sign would be if plumes of cesium are emitted from the plant, according to Richard Barrett, a former U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission member who led the regulator's emergency response center.When cesium comes out, that means your temperatures have reached the 4,000 and 5,000 degree level,he said.

After that, the next step would produce transuranics such as strontium, plutonium and americium.If you begin to see those things then it may be an indication that the accident has proceeded to the next step, he said. The core would have melted through the bottom of the vessel ... and it is on the floor of the reactor cavity.Greenpeace's Beranek said that heavy pollution from cesium could make some areas of Japan near the plant uninhabitable, at least for decades, as happened around Chernobyl. Pflugbeil also said some areas might be off-limits. Laurence G. Williams, Professor of Nuclear Safety at the John Tyndall Institute for Nuclear Research in Britain, said he did not see a Chernobyl-type blast as likely. I can't think of anything at the moment that would drive that explosive force, he said.It will just be a melting, or a degrading, heating up of the fuel which will just crumble into a heap like what happened at Three Mile Island.Richard Wakeford, of the Dalton Nuclear Institute at the University of Manchester, said in a statement that words like apocalypse and catastrophe were utterly inappropriate about the situation at Fukushima and could cause unnecessary panic. Leaks from Fukushima have already spread some radiation from the plant, briefly raising levels in Tokyo to 10 times normal levels, but are far below the level of a catastrophic release that would pose a wide threat to human health, experts say.Crick at UNSCEAR said that long-term exposure after Chernobyl for people living in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia was about 10 millisieverts, the equivalent of the radiation in one CT scan. People pick up about 2.4 millisieverts a year in background radiation.(Additional reporting by Gerard Wynn in London, Vera Eckert in Frankfurt, Sylvia Westall in Vienna, Martin Roberts in Madrid and Matt Daily in New York; editing by Mark Trevelyan, Phil Berlowitz)

In the Media 1PM MAR 16,11 By Lynn Herrmann-Reports: Japan’s radiation problem appears out-of-control DIGITAL JOURNAL

Tokyo - Latest reports from Japan reveal a country drowning in sorrow from last week’s devastating earthquake and tsunami, and it will now have to give undivided attention to a disaster of surging radiation levels at Fukushima’s Daiichi nuclear facility. Scientists are warning that the fires associated with explosions at the Daiichi nuclear plant, where fuel storage pools have overheated, may be letting off radioactive steam. David Lochbaum, nuclear engineer at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said: If the spent fuel pool is on fire, the chances of radioactivity getting to the public are very much higher, the Guardian reports. Lochbaum said a shutdown last year at the No. 4 reactor led to the emptying of its reactor core into the spent fuel pool. There is much more material there because there is at least one reactor core plus what there was to start with, and it is in a building that has a big hole in the side of it.

According to Reuters, there are no longer flames at the No. 4 reactor which exploded on Tuesday. Workers have been attempting to clear debris for road construction so fire trucks can access the Daiichi complex. The Japanase government still insists the radiation levels discharging from the Fukushima site are low.People would not be in immediate danger if they went outside with these levels. I want people to understand this,Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said in a televised news conference, Reuters reports. Latest reports from TEPCO call the brewing nightmare a specific incident,defining it as an Extraordinary increase of radiation dose at site boundary.TEPCO also reports there are no longer signs of fire at the No. 4 reactor
The Japanese government has instructed evacuations for those within a 20km radius of the site, and all citizens within a 30km radius of the site should remain indoors. That area involves some 140,000 people. High radiation levels at the site prevented a helicopter from a planned operation of dropping water on No. 3 reactor’s fuel rods, in an attempt to cool them. The No. 3 reactor is now the priority, as Reuters reports it is the only reactor at Daiichi using plutonium in its fuel mix. Plutonium is highly toxic to humans, lingering for years in bone marrow and liver, leading to cancer. High winds have also hindered attempts at using helicopters for dropping water and boric acid at the No. 4 reactor in an effort at slowing the nuclear reaction, even as Edano indicated doubts of that plan. It's not so simple that everything will be resolved by pouring in water. We are trying to avoid creating other problems,Edano said, the Guardian reports.We are actually supplying water from the ground, but supplying water from above involves pumping lots of water and that involves risk. We also have to consider the safety of the helicopters above,Edano added.

Emperor Akihito made his first public comments since last Friday’s Tohoku-Taiheiyou-Oki Earthquake.I am deeply concerned about the nuclear situation because it is unpredictable, he said on live television. With the help of those involved I hope things will not get worse,according to the Guardian. Winds at the Daiichi plant on Wednesday were blowing offshore, pushing any contamination over the Pacific Ocean.
Many flights to Tokyo have been halted or rerouted over fear of increased radiation levels. On Wednesday, Australia and France have urged their nationals to depart the country.Adding to the devastating plight of Japan’s citizens, a cold front moved through the region, dumping snow in some of the heaviest-hit areas of the earthquake and tsunami.Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/304724#ixzz1Gms6MhxR

Nuclear debate sees rise in EU carbon prices
ANDREW WILLIS 15.03.2011 @ 09:29 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - European carbon prices hit a two-year high on Monday (14 March), as the region reassesses the future of its nuclear energy industry following events in Japan.German Chancellor Angela Merkel said plans to extend the operating life of the country's nuclear plants would be suspended for at least three months, pending an inquiry into their safety, while Switzerland halted plans to build new reactors.Carbon permits under the EU's emissions trading scheme, which Switzerland is set to join, rose 5.5 percent to close at €16.60 a tonne on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.The emissions scheme forms a key element of European efforts to cut CO2 emissions by 20 percent over the coming decade, based on 1990 levels.On Monday, EU climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard presented her 2050 Roadmap for a low-carbon economy to EU environment ministers in Brussels, stressing that a 25 percent cut was achievable if member states increased their energy efficiency.Seven environment ministers went further, calling for an EU cut of 30 percent in an open letter to the commission. The ministers came from Britain, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.But analysts said an EU move away from the relatively-clean nuclear energy could cast a question mark over the bloc's ability to meet its carbon-cutting pledges.

European governments will need to know what happened in Japan - look at it in terms of nuclear new build and the existing fleet, Peter Atherton, a utility analyst at Citigroup in London, told Bloomberg News. That's a process that will take time. The big question is what this means for EU energy targets. Will politicians have the capacity to push them through.A German government decision to cancel nuclear extensions would result in an additional demand for 700 million tonnes of carbon through 2020, Heiko Siemann, an analyst for UniCredit said.Nuclear energy accounts for roughly 30 percent of Europe's energy mix, rising to as high as 80 percent in France.French environment minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet on Monday said events in Japan were unlikely to change her country's reliance on nuclear energy. We can't switch to renewables overnight ... For the foreseeable future, we will need nuclear, she said.Spanish and Italian ministers made similar pronouncements, while separately, EU energy commissioner Gunther Oettinger said events in Japan were likely to force a fundamental rethink of energy policy across the globe.Oettinger agreed that EU member states could not simply switch off their nuclear power plants overnight but stressed that nothing is irreplaceable.The unthinkable has occurred. Energy policy faces a fundamental new beginning, he told the German Press Agency DPA.

Tokyo Electric to Build US Nuclear Plants
The no-BS info on Japan's disastrous nuclear operators
Monday, March 14, 2011 for Truthout/Buzzflash by Greg Palast

Texas plants planned by Tokyo Electric. Image:NINAI need to speak to you, not as a reporter, but in my former capacity as lead investigator in several government nuclear plant fraud and racketeering investigations.I don't know the law in Japan, so I can't tell you if Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) can plead insanity to the homicides about to happen.But what will Obama plead? The Administration, just months ago, asked Congress to provide a $4 billion loan guarantee for two new nuclear reactors to be built and operated on the Gulf Coast of Texas — by Tokyo Electric Power and local partners. As if the Gulf hasn't suffered enough.Here are the facts about Tokyo Electric and the industry you haven't heard on CNN:The failure of emergency systems at Japan's nuclear plants comes as no surprise to those of us who have worked in the field.Nuclear plants the world over must be certified for what is called SQ or Seismic Qualification. That is, the owners swear that all components are designed for the maximum conceivable shaking event, be it from an earthquake or an exploding Christmas card from Al Qaeda.

The most inexpensive way to meet your SQ is to lie. The industry does it all the time. The government team I worked with caught them once, in 1988, at the Shoreham plant in New York. Correcting the SQ problem at Shoreham would have cost a cool billion, so engineers were told to change the tests from failed to passed.The company that put in the false safety report? Stone & Webster, now the nuclear unit of Shaw Construction which will work with Tokyo Electric to build the Texas plant, Lord help us.There's more.Last night I heard CNN reporters repeat the official line that the tsunami disabled the pumps needed to cool the reactors, implying that water unexpectedly got into the diesel generators that run the pumps.These safety back-up systems are the EDGs in nuke-speak: Emergency Diesel Generators. That they didn't work in an emergency is like a fire department telling us they couldn't save a building because it was on fire.What dim bulbs designed this system? One of the reactors dancing with death at Fukushima Station 1 was built by Toshiba. Toshiba was also an architect of the emergency diesel system.Now be afraid. Obama's $4 billion bail-out-in-the-making is called the South Texas Project. It's been sold as a red-white-and-blue way to make power domestically with a reactor from Westinghouse, a great American brand. However, the reactor will be made substantially in Japan by the company that bought the US brand name, Westinghouse — Toshiba.

I once had a Toshiba computer. I only had to send it in once for warranty work. However, it's kind of hard to mail back a reactor with the warranty slip inside the box if the fuel rods are melted and sinking halfway to the earth's core.TEPCO and Toshiba don't know what my son learned in 8th grade science class: tsunamis follow Pacific Rim earthquakes. So these companies are real stupid, eh? Maybe. More likely is that the diesels and related systems wouldn't have worked on a fine, dry afternoon.Back in the day, when we checked the emergency back-up diesels in America, a mind-blowing number flunked. At the New York nuke, for example, the builders swore under oath that their three diesel engines were ready for an emergency. They'd been tested. The tests were faked, the diesels run for just a short time at low speed. When the diesels were put through a real test under emergency-like conditions, the crankshaft on the first one snapped in about an hour, then the second and third. We nicknamed the diesels,Snap, Crackle and Pop.(Note: Moments after I wrote that sentence, word came that two of three diesels failed at the Tokai Station as well.)In the US, we supposedly fixed our diesels after much complaining by the industry. But in Japan, no one tells Tokyo Electric to do anything the Emperor of Electricity doesn't want to do.I get lots of confidential notes from nuclear industry insiders. One engineer, a big name in the field, is especially concerned that Obama waved the come-hither check to Toshiba and Tokyo Electric to lure them to America. The US has a long history of whistleblowers willing to put themselves on the line to save the public. In our racketeering case in New York, the government only found out about the seismic test fraud because two courageous engineers, Gordon Dick and John Daly, gave our team the documentary evidence.

In Japan, it's simply not done. The culture does not allow the salary-men, who work all their their lives for one company, to drop the dime.Not that US law is a wondrous shield: both engineers in the New York case were fired and blacklisted by the industry. Nevertheless, the government (local, state, federal) brought civil racketeering charges against the builders. The jury didn't buy the corporation's excuses and, in the end, the plant was, thankfully, dismantled.Am I on some kind of xenophobic anti-Nippon crusade? No. In fact, I'm far more frightened by the American operators in the South Texas nuclear project, especially Shaw. Stone & Webster, now the Shaw nuclear division, was also the firm that conspired to fake the EDG tests in New York. (The company's other exploits have been exposed by their former consultant, John Perkins, in his book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.)
If the planet wants to shiver, consider this: Toshiba and Shaw have recently signed a deal to become world-wide partners in the construction of nuclear stations.The other characters involved at the South Texas Plant that Obama is backing should also give you the willies. But as I'm in the middle of investigating the American partners, I'll save that for another day.So, if we turned to America's own nuclear contractors, would we be safe? Well, two of the melting Japanese reactors, including the one whose building blew sky high, were built by General Electric of the Good Old US of A.After Texas, you're next. The Obama Administration is planning a total of $56 billion in loans for nuclear reactors all over America.

And now, the homicides:CNN is only interested in body counts, how many workers burnt by radiation, swept away or lost in the explosion. These plants are now releasing radioactive steam into the atmosphere. Be skeptical about the statements that the levels are not dangerous. These are the same people who said these meltdowns could never happen. Over years, not days, there may be a thousand people, two thousand, ten thousand who will suffer from cancers induced by this radiation.In my New York investigation, I had the unhappy job of totaling up post-meltdown morbidity rates for the county government.It would be irresponsible for me to estimate the number of cancer deaths that will occur from these releases without further information; but it is just plain criminal for the Tokyo Electric shoguns to say that these releases are not dangerous. Indeed, the fact that residents near the Japanese nuclear plants were not issued iodine pills to keep at the ready shows TEPCO doesn't care who lives and who dies whether in Japan or the USA. The carcinogenic isotopes that are released at Fukushima are already floating to Seattle with effects we simply cannot measure.Heaven help us. Because Obama won't.Greg Palast is the co-author of Democracy and Regulation, the United Nations ILO guide for public service regulators, with Jerrold Oppenheim and Theo MacGregor. Palast has advised regulators in 26 states and in 12 nations on the regulation of the utility industry.Palast, whose reports can be seen on BBC Television Newsnight, is a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow for investigative reporting.

Health risks of radiation depend on dose, duration
The Associated Press – Tue Mar 15, 10:05 pm ET

Concern is mounting about potential health risks of radiation from the crippled nuclear reactors in Japan. How much radiation you get depends on the dose, duration and method of exposure. Some types of radioactive particles are more dangerous or longer lasting than others.

Some basics:

Q. How are people exposed to radiation?

A. Radioactive particles in fallout can be inhaled into the lungs, fall on the skin or be ingested through contaminated food or water. The level can vary greatly even between short distances, said Dr. Fred Mettler, a University of New Mexico radiologist who led an international study of health effects after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.You can come around a corner and the dose rate can be very high, and you get back behind a column and the dose rate is much lower, depending on what type of particles are in the fallout, whether you're standing under a roof where they've accumulated or shielded you from them, etc., he said.

Q. How does radiation harm?

A. In the short term, radiation damages rapidly dividing cells — hair, the stomach lining, bone marrow. That can cause nausea, vomiting, fatigue, loss of infection-fighting blood cells and clotting problems. Children are most at risk because they have so many rapidly dividing cells.One type of radiation, radioactive iodine, is taken up by the thyroid gland and can lead to thyroid cancer if pills are not taken right away to prevent this uptake. Long term, radiation can damage DNA and raise the risk of many types of cancer years down the road.

Q. How much radiation is unsafe?

A. Most people get around three-tenths of a rem (a measurement unit of dose) each year from radiation in the environment, mostly from radon gas in the soil. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says doses of less than 10 rems over a long time period are not a health concern.

Q. When does it threaten health?

A. Symptoms of radiation sickness — nausea, vomiting and hair loss — can occur at exposures of 50 to 100 rems, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Death within two months becomes a possible risk at around 400 rems; within two weeks at 1,000 rems, the EPA says.

Q. What about medical radiation?

A. A chest X-ray delivers about one-tenth of a rem of radiation; a CT scan of the abdomen and pelvis is 1.4 rems. A person's dose accumulates over time, which is why medical experts say we should avoid unnecessary tests that involve radiation.

Q. What's the antidote once there is radioactive fallout?

A. Potassium iodide pills can block uptake of radioactive iodine and protect the thyroid gland, but they must be used quickly. Ideally, you'd give it before they're exposed or at the time of exposure, Mettler said. After 12 hours, it's hardly useful unless exposure is continuing.

Q. If fallout is occurring, should people flee or stay?

A. Each situation is different and can change rapidly. Japanese officials urged tens of thousands of people to evacuate from a 12-mile zone, but now have told many more in a broader region, about 20 miles from the troubled plant, to seal themselves indoors.

Q. Is this like Chernobyl?

A. No. That Russian plant had no containment vessel around its reactor, so when an explosion occurred, large chunks of radioactive fuel from the core spewed out. That fuel contained cesium, a longer-lasting and more hazardous radioactive material than the shorter-lived radioactive iodine that has mostly been released in Japan. Still, there have been reports of some cesium release in Japan, prompting worries that a meltdown may be occurring.

Online: EPA: http://www.epa.gov/radiation/understand/health_effects.html
NRC: http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/radiation/rad-health-effects.html

Japan Nuclear Disaster: China Leads Exodus as Fears Rise
By JUSTIN BERGMAN / SHANGHAI - 12:35PM MAR 16,11 TIME

Amid escalating fears of a catastrophe at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in northern Japan, China became the first nation to begin evacuating its citizens from the country, saying the seriousness and uncertainty of the damaged reactors caused it to be very concerned about the safety of its nationals. Foreign companies, too, have begun flying nonessential expatriate staff out of the capital, Tokyo. But other countries, including the U.S. and Canada, have adopted a wait-and-see attitude before ordering costly and logistically challenging evacuations, only advising their citizens at home to avoid travel to Japan. After the Chinese embassy in Tokyo posted the notice on its website Tuesday, buses were immediately mobilized to begin transporting Chinese nationals from four northern prefectures - Miyagi, Fukushima, Ibaraki and Iwate - to airports in Tokyo and Niigata to fly home to China. China Southern Airlines said it would replace the Airbus 321 aircraft on its Tokyo-Shenyang route with much larger Airbus A300s to accommodate the sizable numbers of evacuees. Two ships capable of transporting a total of 4,000 people were also on standby in the Chinese city of Yantai, China National Radio reported.

Everybody was happy when we heard that the embassy would send a car to pick us up, Li Mingwei, who ran a small shop in Sendai, told the Beijing News. The government, however, cautioned that a complete evacuation could take some time given the fact it has made contact with some 22,000 Chinese citizens in the region around Fukushima. We hope our compatriots in the worst-hit disaster areas remain calm, listen to instructions, understand and cooperate with the evacuation operation,the embassy said on its website. Given China's track record at this sort of thing, it shouldn't take long. The country recently plucked more than 35,000 of its citizens out of Libya over the span of nine days - a maneuver hailed in the Chinese press as the largest overseas evacuation since the 1949 communist takeover.Meanwhile, Chinese in other parts of Japan are trying to get out on their own. Wang Chengyu, who works in a company in Tokyo, told the Beijing News there were hundreds of people waiting at the Tokyo Immigration Bureau to get re-entry permits before leaving the country. The supplies in the supermarkets have almost sold out,he said.All that my colleagues talk about is nuclear leakage.Other countries have yet to follow China's lead by ordering evacuations, though some have advised their citizens get out on their own accord, if possible. The French embassy sent an e-mail to French citizens on Sunday advising those who have no reason to stay in the Tokyo region to leave for a few days.About 3,000 of the estimated 5,000 French citizens living in Japan have already left the country. The German and Swiss embassies posted similar messages on their websites, while Austria said it was relocating its embassy to Osaka, about 250 miles (400 km) to the south.

The U.S. has only issued a travel warning for Japan. Low levels of radiation were detected at two U.S. military bases in northeastern Japan on Tuesday, causing Rear Admiral Richard Wren, commander of U.S. naval forces in Japan, to advise residents to limit outdoor activity.But an evacuation of the bases would happen only if the level of radiation in the atmosphere reached 5,000 millirems, another official told the U.S. military newspaper Stars and Stripes; on Tuesday, it was at only 0.05 millirems.In Tokyo, some foreign companies are moving ahead with their own plans. German companies like Bosch, Daimler and BMW have flown some employees and their families out of the country, while the French oil giant Total offered to move staff south to Fukuoka. Others, however, are staying put. Naomi Watanabe, a spokesperson for Citigroup, told TIME the company had made contingency plans to move staff to other locations if need be. But until then, it's business as usual.

Japan prepares to restart work at nuclear plant By ERIC TALMADGE and SHINO YUASA, Associated Press - 7:45AM MAR 16,11

FUKUSHIMA, Japan – Japan ordered emergency workers to withdraw from its stricken nuclear complex Wednesday amid a surge in radiation, temporarily suspending efforts to cool the overheating reactors. Hours later, officials said they were preparing to send the team back in.Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the workers, who had been dousing the reactors with seawater in a frantic effort to stabilize their temperatures, had no choice but to pull back from the most dangerous areas.The workers cannot carry out even minimal work at the plant now, he said Wednesday morning, as smoke billowed above the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex. Because of the radiation risk we are on standby.Later, an official with Tokyo Electric Power, which operates the plant, said the team had withdrawn about 500 yards (meters) from the complex, but were getting ready to go back in.The nuclear crisis has triggered international alarm and partly overshadowed the human tragedy caused by Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the subsequent tsunami, a blast of black seawater that pulverized Japan's northeastern coastline. The quake was one of the strongest recorded in history.Later Wednesday, national broadcaster NHK showed military helicopters lifting off to survey radiation levels above the complex, preparing to dump water onto the most troubled reactors in a desperate effort to cool them down.But Edano has already warned that may not work.

It's not so simple that everything will be resolved by pouring in water. We are trying to avoid creating other problems, he said.We are actually supplying water from the ground, but supplying water from above involves pumping lots of water and that involves risk. We also have to consider the safety of the helicopters above, he said.Radiation levels had gone down by later Wednesday, but it was not immediately clear if the workers had been allowed back in, or how far away they had withdrawn. The workers at the forefront of the fight — a core team of about 180 — had been regularly rotated in and out of the danger zone to minimize their radiation exposure.

Meanwhile, officials in Ibaraki prefecture, just south of Fukushima, said radiation levels were about 300 times normal levels by late morning. While those levels are unhealthy for prolonged periods, they are far from fatal.Days after Friday's twin disasters, millions of people were struggling along the coast with little food, water or heat, and already chilly temperatures turned to snow in many areas. Up to 450,000 people are staying in temporary shelters, often sleeping on the floor of school gymnasiums.More than 11,000 people are officially listed as dead or missing, and most officials believe the final death toll will be well over 10,000 people.In an extremely rare address to the nation, Emperor Akihito expressed his condolences and urged Japan not to give up.It is important that each of us shares the difficult days that lie ahead, said Akihito, 77, a figure deeply respected across the country. I pray that we will all take care of each other and overcome this tragedy.He also expressed his worries over the nuclear crisis, saying: With the help of those involved I hope things will not get worse.Since the quake and wave hit, authorities have been struggling to avert an environmental catastrophe at the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex, 140 miles (220 kilometers) north of Tokyo. The tsunami knocked out the backup diesel generators needed to keep nuclear fuel cool, setting off the atomic crisis.

In the city of Fukushima, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) inland from the nuclear complex, hundreds of harried government workers, police officers and others struggled to stay on top of the situation in a makeshift command center. An entire floor of one of the prefecture's office buildings had been taken over by people tracking evacuations, power needs, death tolls and food supplies.In one room, uniformed soldiers evaluated radiation readings on maps posted across a wall. In another, senior officials were in meetings throughout the day, while nuclear power industry representatives held impromptu briefings before rows of media cameras.
Wednesday's radiation spike was apparently the result of a release of pressure that had built up in the complex's Unit 2 reactor, officials said. Steam and pressure build up in the reactors as workers try to cool the fuel rods, leading to controlled pressure releases through vents — as well as uncontrolled explosions. John Price, an Australia-based nuclear safety expert, said he was surprised by how little information the Japanese were sharing.We don't know even the fundamentals of what's happening, what's wrong, what isn't working. We're all guessing, he said. I would have thought they would put on a panel of experts every two hours.Given the radiation levels, he saw few health risks for the general public so far, though he was concerned for the workers, who he said were almost certainly working in full body suits and breathing through respirators.

Edano said the government expects to ask the U.S. military for help, though he did not elaborate. He said the government is still considering whether to accept offers of help from other countries.The government has ordered some 140,000 people in the vicinity to stay indoors. A little radiation was also detected in Tokyo, triggering panic buying of food and water.There are six reactors at the plant. Units 1, 2 and 3, which were operating last week, shut down automatically when the quake hit. Since then, all three have been rocked by explosions. Compounding the problems, on Tuesday a fire broke out in Unit 4's fuel storage pond, an area where used nuclear fuel is kept cool, causing radioactivity to be released into the atmosphere.Units 4, 5 and 6 were shut at the time of the quake, but even offline reactors have nuclear fuel — either inside the reactors or in storage ponds — that need to be kept cool. Meanwhile, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency estimated that 70 percent of the rods have been damaged at the No. 1 reactor.Japan's national news agency, Kyodo, said that 33 percent of the fuel rods at the No. 2 reactor were damaged and that the cores of both reactors were believed to have partially melted.We don't know the nature of the damage, said Minoru Ohgoda, spokesman for the country's nuclear safety agency.It could be either melting, or there might be some holes in them.Meanwhile, the outer housing of the containment vessel at the No. 4 unit erupted in flames early Wednesday, said Hajimi Motujuku, a spokesman for the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co.Japan's nuclear safety agency said fire and smoke could no longer be seen at Unit 4, but that it was unable to confirm that the blaze had been put out.Yuasa reported from Tokyo. Associated Press writers Elaine Kurtenbach in Tokyo, David Stringer in Ofunato and Jocelyn Gecker in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Snow muffles rescue work in Japan's devastated northeast
By Kim Kyung Hoon and Chris Meyers - 6:40AM MAR 16,11

SENDAI, Japan (Reuters) - – Heavy snow blanketed Japan's devastated northeast on Wednesday, hindering rescue workers and adding to the woes of the few, mainly elderly, residents who remained in the area worst hit by last week's massive earthquake and tsunami.In Sendai, once a city but now a water-logged wasteland, firefighters and relief teams sifted through mounds of rubble, hoping to find any sign of life.But, like in most other towns, rescuers just pulled out body after body, which they wrapped in brightly colored blankets and lined up neatly against the grey, grim landscape.The strong smell of bodies and the dirty seawater make search extremely difficult, said Yin Guanghui, a member of a Chinese rescue team working in the battered town of Ofunato.Powerful waves in the tsunami would repeatedly hit houses in the area. Anyone trapped under the debris would be drown in no time, without any chance to survive.Japanese media said at least two people were pulled alive from the rubble, more than 72 hours after the earthquake and tsunami struck. But rescue officials said the snow weakened what little chance they had of finding any more survivors.

Snow has just come down in a blanket. Visibility is just 40 meters, said Patrick Fuller of the International Red Cross Federation from what remained of Otsuchi, a fishing hamlet.People are still working, the army is out here. But the fire service has taken off because they are worried they won't get back to their base because of the snow.Officials estimate Friday's earthquake and tsunami have killed at least 10,000 people, with thousands missing.Those who did survive lost everything they owned and now face shortages of food and water, no electricity or heating and frequent aftershocks -- some as strong as a magnitude -- that have rattled the country.

STRESSED OUT

The meteorology agency said temperatures could drop as low as -2 Celsius (28 Fahrenheit) in Sendai on Wednesday. Broadcaster NHK offered tips on how to stay warm -- wrap your trunk in newspaper and cling film -- and how to boil water using empty food cans and candles.Rescuers said their main concern was for the elderly, who make up the majority of the scores of people packed into shelters.They are having a very tough time of it, said Fuller.They need regular medication and proper care. A lot of the problems, though, are psychological, people are so stressed out. They are getting three meals a day but probably more food needs to come.In addition to their physical well-being, many elderly people at shelters were traumatized by what they had been through, and just sat huddled on blankets, waiting, but not sure for what.Right after the earthquake, I was told to evacuate as soon as possible. I couldn't bring anything but myself, said silver-haired Kiyoko Abe at a shelter in Ishimomaki, Miyagi prefecture.Her husband sat smiling beside her, occasionally wiping away tears.(Writing by Miral Fahmy; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Workers briefly abandon Japan plant after radiation surge By Shinichi Saoshiro and Chisa Fujioka - MAR 16,11

TOKYO (Reuters) – Workers were ordered to withdraw briefly from a stricken Japanese nuclear power plant on Wednesday after radiation levels surged, Kyodo news reported, a development that suggested the crisis was spiraling out of control.Just hours earlier another fire broke out at the earthquake-crippled plant, which has sent low levels of radiation wafting into Tokyo in the past 24 hours, triggering both fear in the capital and international alarm.The workers were allowed back into the plant after almost an hour when the radiation levels had fallen.Japan's chief government spokesman said it was not realistic to think the Daiichi nuclear plant in Fukushima, 240 kms (150 miles) north of Tokyo, would reach the start of a nuclear chain reaction, but said officials were talking to the U.S. military about possible help.

While public broadcaster NHK said flames were no longer visible at the building housing the No.4 reactor of the plant, TV pictures showed smoke or steam rising from the facility around 0100 GMT.Academics and nuclear experts agree that the solutions being proposed to contain damage to the reactors are last-ditch efforts to stem what could well be remembered as one of the world's worst industrial disasters.This is a slow-moving nightmare, said Dr Thomas Neff, a research affiliate at the Center for International Studies, which is part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Concern had earlier been mounting that the skeleton crews dealing with the crisis might not be big enough, or were possibly exhausted after working for days since last Friday's massive earthquake damaged the facility. Authorities had withdrawn 750 workers on Tuesday, leaving only 50.The plight of hundreds of thousands left homeless by the quake and devastating tsunami that followed worsened overnight following a cold snap that brought snow to some of the worst-affected areas.While the official death toll stands at around 4,000, more than 7,000 are listed as missing and the figure is expected to rise.In the first hint of international frustration at the pace of updates from Japan, Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said he wanted more timely and detailed information.We do not have all the details of the information so what we can do is limited,Amano told a news conference in Vienna. I am trying to further improve the communication.Several experts said that Japanese authorities were underplaying the severity of the incident, particularly on a scale called INES used to rank nuclear incidents. The Japanese have so far rated the accident a four on a one-to-seven scale, but that rating was issued on Saturday and since then the situation has worsened dramatically.France's nuclear safety authority ASN said Tuesday it should be classed as a level-six incident.Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Tuesday urged people within 30 km (18 miles) of the facility -- a population of 140,000 -- to remain indoors, as authorities grappled with the world's most serious nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986.

Officials in Tokyo said radiation in the capital was 10 times normal at one point but not a threat to human health in the sprawling high-tech city of 13 million people.But residents have nevertheless reacted to the crisis by staying indoors. Public transport and the streets are as deserted as they would be on a public holiday, and many shops and offices are closed.Winds over the plant will blow from the north along the Pacific coast early on Wednesday and then from the northwest toward the ocean during the day, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. Fears of transpacific nuclear fallout sent consumers scrambling for radiation antidotes in the U.S. Pacific Northwest and Canada. Authorities warned that people would expose themselves to other medical problems by needlessly taking potassium iodide in the hope of protection from cancer.The nuclear crisis and concerns about the economic impact from the quake and tsunami have hammered Japan's stock market.The Nikkei index ended the morning up 4.37 pct after closing down 10.6 percent on Tuesday and 6.2 percent the day before. The fall wiped some $620 billion off the market.

SCRAMBLE TO STOP WATER EVAPORATING

Authorities have spent days desperately trying to prevent the water which is designed to cool the radioactive cores of the reactors from evaporating, which would lead to overheating and the release of dangerous radioactive material into the atmosphere.Levels of 400 millisieverts per hour had been recorded near the No. 4 reactor, the government said. Exposure to over 100 millisieverts a year is a level which can lead to cancer, according to the World Nuclear Association.Several embassies advised staff and citizens to leave affected areas in Japan. Tourists cut short vacations and multinational companies either urged staff to leave or said they were considering plans to move outside Tokyo.German technology companies SAP and Infineon were among those moving staff to safety in the south. SAP said it was evacuating its offices in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya and had offered its 1,100 employees and their family members transport to the south, where the company has rented a hotel for staff to work online.

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?

Japanese media have became more critical of Kan's handling of the disaster and criticized the government and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. for their failure to provide enough information on the incident.Kan himself lambasted the operator for taking so long to inform his office about one of the blasts on Tuesday, Kyodo news agency reported.Kyodo said Kan had ordered TEPCO not to pull employees out of the plant. The TV reported an explosion. But nothing was said to the premier's office for about an hour, a Kyodo reporter quoted Kan telling power company executives. What the hell is going on? Nuclear radiation is an especially sensitive issue for Japanese following the country's worst human catastrophe -- the U.S. atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.There have been a total of four explosions at the plant since it was damaged in last Friday's massive quake and tsunami. The most recent were blasts at reactors Nos. 2 and 4.Concern now centers on damage to a part of the No.4 reactor building where spent rods were being stored in pools of water outside the containment area, and also to part of the No.2 reactor that helps to cool and trap the majority of cesium, iodine and strontium in its water.

VILLAGES AND TOWNS WIPED OFF THE MAP

The full extent of the destruction from last Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the tsunami that followed it was becoming clear as rescuers combed through the region north of Tokyo where officials say at least 10,000 people were killed.Whole villages and towns have been wiped off the map by Friday's wall of water, triggering an international humanitarian effort of epic proportions.There have been hundreds of aftershocks and more than two dozen are greater than magnitude 6, the size of the earthquake that severely damaged Christchurch, New Zealand last month.About 850,000 households in the north were still without electricity in near-freezing weather, Tohuku Electric Power Co. said, and the government said at least 1.5 million households lack running water. Tens of thousands of people were missing.Hiromichi Shirakawa, chief economist for Japan at Credit Suisse, said in a note to clients that the economic loss will likely be around 14-15 trillion yen ($171-183 billion) just to the region hit by the quake and tsunami.The earthquake could have great implications on the global economic front, said Andre Bakhos, director of market analytics at Lec Securities in New York. If you shut down Japan, there could be a global recession.(Additional reporting by Nathan Layne, Linda sieg, Risa Maeda, and Leika Kihara in Tokyo, Chris Meyers and Kim Kyung-hoon in Sendai, Taiga Uranaka and Ki Joon Kwon in Fukushima, Noel Randewich in San Francisco, and Miyoung Kim in Seoul; Writing by David Fox and Jason Szep; Editing by John Chalmers)

Alert: Fukushima Coverup, 40 Years of Spent Nuclear Rods Blown Sky High
Paul Joseph Watson and Kurt Nimmo Infowars.com March 15, 2011

Infowars analysis: In addition to under reporting the fires at Fukushima, the Japanese government has not told the people about the ominous fact that the nuclear plant site is a hellish repository where a staggering number of spent fuel rods have accumulated for 40 years.A contributor to the Occupational and Environmental Medicine list who once worked on nuclear waste issues provided additional information about Fukushima’s spent fuel rod assemblies, according to a post on the FDL website.NIRS has a Nov 2010 powerpoint from Tokyo Electric Power Company (in english) detailing the modes and quantities of spent fuel stored at the Fukushima Daiichi plant where containment buildings #1 and #3 have exploded, he wrote on March 14.The Powerpoint is entitled Integrity Inspection of Dry Storage Casks and Spent Fuels at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station and can be read in full here. The document adds a new and frightening dimension to the unfolding disaster.The Fukushima Daiichi plant has seven pools dedicated to spent fuel rods. These are located at the top of six reactor buildings – or were until explosions and fires ravaged the plant. On the ground level there is a common pool in a separate building that was critical damaged by the tsunami. Each reactor building pool holds 3,450 fuel rod assemblies and the common pool holds 6,291 fuel rod assemblies. Each assembly holds sixty-three fuel rods. In short, the Fukushima Daiichi plant contains over 600,000 spent fuel rods – a massive amount of radiation that will soon be released into the atmosphere.

It should be obvious by now that the authorities in Japan are lying about the effort to contain the situation in order to mollify the public. It is highly likely there are no workers on the site attempting to contain the disaster.Earlier today, a report was issued indicating that over 70% of these spent fuel rods are now damaged – in other words, they are emitting radiation or will soon. The disclosure reveals that authorities in Japan – who have consistently played down the danger and issued conflicting information – are guilty of criminal behavior and endangering the lives of countless people.On Tuesday, it was finally admitted that meltdowns of the No. 1 and No. 2 reactor cores are responsible for the release of a massive amount of radiation.After reporting that a fire at the No. 4 reactor was contained, the media is reporting this evening that it has resumed. The media predictably does not bother to point out why the fire is uncontainable – the fuel rods are no longer submerged in water and are exposed to the atmosphere and that is why they are burning and cannot be extinguished.It cannot be stressed enough that the situation at Fukushima represents the greatest environmental disaster in the history of humanity, far more dangerous that Chernobyl, and the government of that country is responsible.

Perhaps the most underreported and deadliest aspect of the three explosions and numerous fires to hit the stricken Fukushima nuclear reactor since Saturday is the fact that highly radioactive spent fuel rods which are stored outside of the active nuclear rod containment facility are likely to have been massively compromised by the blasts, an elevation in the crisis that would represent Chernobyl on steroids, according to nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen.As you can see from the NPR graphic below, the spent fuel rods are stored outside of the active nuclear rod containment casing and close to the roof of the reactor complex. Video from Saturday’s explosion and subsequent images clearly indicate that the spent fuel rods at Fukushima unit number one could easily have been compromised by the blast.According to Arnie Gundersen, a nuclear engineer at Fairewinds Associates and a member of the public oversight panel for the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, which is identical to the Fukushima Daiichi unit 1, the failure to maintain pools of water that keep the 20 years worth of spent fuel rods cool could cause catastrophic fires and turn the crisis into Chernobyl on steroids.The BBC is now reporting that spent fuel rods in reactors five and six are also now believed to be heating up, with a new fire at reactor 4, where more spent rods are stored, causing smoke to pour from the facility.

Japanese news agency Kyodo reports that the storage pool in reactor four – where the spent fuel rods are kept – may be boiling. Tepco says readings are showing high levels of radiation in the building, so it is inaccessible,adds the report.At the 40-year-old Fukushima Daiichi unit 1, where an explosion Saturday destroyed a building housing the reactor, the spent fuel pool, in accordance with General Electric’s design, is placed above the reactor. Tokyo Electric said it was trying to figure out how to maintain water levels in the pools, indicating that the normal safety systems there had failed, too. Failure to keep adequate water levels in a pool would lead to a catastrophic fire, said nuclear experts, some of whom think that unit 1’s pool may now be outside,” reports the Washington Post.The rods must be kept cool because otherwise they start to burn and, in the case of reactor number 3, would release plutonium and uranium in the form of vapor into the atmosphere.That’s bad news, because plutonium scattered into the atmosphere is even more dangerous that the combustion products of rods without plutonium, writes Kirk James Murphy.We’d be lucky if we only had to worry about the spent fuel rods from a single holding pool. We’re not that lucky. The Fukushima Daiichi plant has seven pools for spent fuel rods. Six of these are (or were) located at the top of six reactor buildings. One common pool is at ground level in a separate building. Each reactor top pool holds 3450 fuel rod assemblies. The common pool holds 6291 fuel rod assemblies. [The common pool has windows on one wall which were almost certainly destroyed by the tsunami.] Each assembly holds sixty-three fuel rods. This means the Fukushima Daiichi plant may contain over 600,000 spent fuel rods.There have been massive design issues with the Mark 1 nuclear reactor stretching back three decades.

As ABC News reports today, Thirty-five years ago, Dale G. Bridenbaugh and two of his colleagues at General Electric resigned from their jobs after becoming increasingly convinced that the nuclear reactor design they were reviewing — the Mark 1 — was so flawed it could lead to a devastating accident.The problems we identified in 1975 were that, in doing the design of the containment, they did not take into account the dynamic loads that could be experienced with a loss of coolant,Bridenbaugh told ABC News in an interview. The impact loads the containment would receive by this very rapid release of energy could tear the containment apart and create an uncontrolled release.