FUKUSHIMA (AFP-JIJI) – Radiation levels in groundwater under Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant are soaring, Tepco said Friday after taking samples from an observation well. Tepco said 400,000 becquerels per liter of beta ray-emitting substances such as strontium were detected in water sampled Thursday from the well located some 15 meters […]
By Nita Bhalla in NEW DELHI and Manoj Chaurasia in PATNA15 October 2013 BHUBANESWAR, India (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Thousands of people were left stranded by floods on Tuesday as the powerful cyclone which pounded the east coast over the weekend moved inland, bringing heavy rains and hindering rescue and relief operations, aid workers and […]
By LIZETTE ALVAREZ and CAMPBELL ROBERTSON12 October 2013 MIAMI (The New York Times) — Sharp increases in federal flood insurance rates are distressing coastal homeowners from Hawaii to New England and are starting to hurt property values and housing sales in areas just beginning to recover from the recession, according to residents and legislators. In […]
By Amanda Paulson12 October 2013 Lyons, Colorado (Christian Science Monitor) – When the waters of the St. Vrain came pouring over its banks one night last month, they ripped out huge trees, tore through homes along Apple Valley Road, cut new channels through parks and yards, and rushed through some downtown neighborhoods in Lyons, Colo., […]
By Jason Samenow 9 October 2013 (Washington Post) – Large parts of the Federal government are shut, but the National Weather Service – in the spirit of protecting life and property – continues to work. In one sterling example of dedication and tenacity, forecasters at the NWS office in Rapid City, South Dakota hiked to […]
By Yuka Obayashi and Mari Saito; Editing by Michael Perry10 October 2013 TOKYO (Reuters) – Radiation levels in seawater just outside one of the damaged Fukushima reactors spiked this week to the highest level in two years, the operator of the crippled Japanese nuclear plant said on Thursday. Radiation levels on Wednesday, the day six […]
By Wendy Koch9 October 2013 NORTH POLE, Alaska (USA TODAY) – Up the road from Santa Claus Lane, past the candy cane-striped streetlamps, Cathy Richard’s backyard has a problem that not even elves — or the big guy in red — could fix. The wood deck moves up and down, like a slow-motion sleigh. “You […]
[If, however, your nation wants a permanent underclass…] By KIMBERLY HEFLING 8 October 2013 WASHINGTON (AP) – It’s long been known that America’s school kids haven’t measured well compared with international peers. Now, there’s a new twist: Adults don’t either. In math, reading and problem-solving using technology — all skills considered critical for global competitiveness […]
October 6, 2013 (Al Jazeera) – Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Sunday that Japan is open to receiving overseas help to contain widening disaster at the crippled nuclear plant in Fukushima, where radioactive water leaks and other mishaps are now reported almost daily. “We are wide open to receive the most advanced knowledge from overseas […]
A woman paying a brief visit to her home walks under a sign reading ‘Nuclear power – the energy for a better future’, at the entrance of the empty Futaba town. Decades ago the citizens ofFutaba took such pride in hosting part of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex that they built a sign over a […]
