The Korea Herald

Japan disaster dead, missing toll tops 16,600

World NewsMar 18, 2011

TOKYO (AFP) ― The official number of dead and missing after the devastating earthquake and tsunami that flattened Japan’s northeast coast a week ago has topped 16,600, with 6,405 confirmed dead, police said Friday.The number of people unaccounted for following the March 11 twin disasters increased to 10,259, the National Police Agency said in its latest update.A total of 2,409 people were injured.
Hope and defiance among tsunami victims

World NewsMar 18, 2011

KESENNUMA, Japan (AFP) ― Less than a week after watching his home get swept away by the tsunami that tore into Japan’s northeast coast, Shiroyuchi Kumagai is ready to reclaim his plot of earth from the sea.“It’s my land. I’ve been here all my life,” the 83-year-old said as he surveyed the rubble of Kesennuma. “I want to rebuild.”Kumagai was born and raised in the village of Katahama, one of a seri
No drop in Chernobyl cancer risk: US study

World NewsMar 18, 2011

WASHINGTON, (AFP) - The risk of thyroid cancer among people who were exposed as children to the nuclear fallout at Chernobyl has not declined nearly 25 years after the disaster, said a study released Thursday in the United States.The National Institutes of Health-led study examined more than 12,500 people who were under 18 at the time of the Chernobyl accident on April 26, 1986, and who lived near
Japan all-out to cool down nuclear plant

World NewsMar 18, 2011

Helicopters drop water; operators race to restore power supply to cooling systemFuel rod cooling pool nearly empty, plant owner saysU.S. officials say No. 4 reactor also in troubleZAO, Japan (AP) ― Military helicopters dumped loads of seawater onto Japan’s stricken nuclear complex Thursday, turning to combat-style tactics while trying to cool overheated uranium fuel that may be on the verge of spe
Yen falls after G7 agrees on joint currency action

World NewsMar 18, 2011

TOKYO (AFP) - The yen fell sharply in Tokyo trade on Friday after the Group of Seven major economies agreed on joint market intervention to stabilize currencies following a huge earthquake in Japan.
IAEA says Japan situation serious but stable

World NewsMar 18, 2011

VIENNA (AP) _ The situation at Japan's tsunami-stricken nuclear plant is ``very serious,'' but at the moment does not appear to be deteriorating, a senior official of the U.N. atomic agency said Thursday.As emergency workers frantically worked to regain control of the dangerously overheated nuclear complex, Graham Andrew told reporters ``there had been no significant worsening'' over the past 24 h
Heroic workers risk lives to avert meltdown

World NewsMar 17, 2011

FUKUSHIMA, Japan (AP) ― They risk explosions, fire and an invisible enemy ― radiation that could kill quickly or decades later ― as they race to avert disaster inside a dark, overheated nuclear plant.The 180 emergency workers at Japan’s crippled Fukushima Daiichi complex are emerging as public heroes in the wake of a disaster spawned by an earthquake and a tsunami.Dubbed by some as modern-day samu
Japan carmakers still hobbled after quake

World BusinessMar 17, 2011

TOYKO (AP) ― The Japanese auto industry remained largely hobbled Thursday, nearly a week after the country’s worst-ever earthquake laid waste to its industrial northeast, although some manufacturers announced plans to resume limited operations.Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s top automaker, will start up plants for producing repair or replacement parts on Thursday. However, the company said it woul
Bahrain curfew as uprising surges

World NewsMar 17, 2011

Sunni leaders desperate to hold on to power, Shiites calling for end to dynastyMANAMA, Bahrain (AP) ― Soldiers and riot police in Bahrain overran a protesters’ camp, imposed a 12-hour curfew and choked off movement nationwide Wednesday. Witnesses described helicopters firing on homes in a hunt for Shiites and attacking doctors treating the wounded, while the government called the demonstrators “ou
Cambodia sets age limit for foreign husbands

Mar 17, 2011

PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Male foreigners over the age of 50 have been outlawed from marrying Cambodian women in the country under new rulesdesigned to crack down on sham marriages and human trafficking, the government said Wednesday.Foreigners who earn less than $2,550 per month are also barred from wedding local women, foreign ministry spokesman Koy Kuong told AFP, but the restrictions do not apply to
More governments advising citizens to leave Tokyo

World NewsMar 17, 2011

TOKYO (AP) _ Australia, Britain and Germany advised their citizens in Japan to consider leaving Tokyo and earthquake-affected areas, joining a growing number of governments and businesses telling their people it may be safer elsewhere.The advisories came as the crisis at Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in the northeast deepened in the wake of last week's earthquake and ensuing tsunami.Aus
4 New York Times journalists missing in Libya

World NewsMar 17, 2011

NEW YORK (AP) _ Four New York Times journalists covering the fighting in Libya were reported missing Wednesday, and the newspaper held out hope that they were alive and in the custody of the Libyan government.Editors last heard from the journalists on Tuesday as they were covering the retreat of rebels from the town of Ajdabiya, and Libyan officials told the newspaper they were trying to locate th
4 New York Times journalists missing in Libya

World NewsMar 17, 2011

NEW YORK (AP) _ Four New York Times journalists covering the fighting in Libya were reported missing Wednesday, and the newspaper held out hope that they were alive and in the custody of the Libyan government. Editors last heard from the journalists on Tuesday as they were covering the retreat of rebels from the town of Ajdabiya, and Libyan officials told the newspaper they were trying to loca
Japan helicopters dump water on nuclear plant

World NewsMar 17, 2011

TOKYO, March 17, 2011 (AFP) - Japanese military helicopters dumped water Thursday from huge buckets onto the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant in a bid to douse fuel rods, television images showed. A total of three twin-rotor CH-47 Chinooks of the Self-Defence Forces each emptied more than seven tonnes of water onto reactors three and four, according to public broadcaster NHK.
Crisis deepens at quake-hit Japan nuclear plant

World NewsMar 16, 2011

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's nuclear crisis deepened Wednesday with another fire at a quake-hit atomic power plant and a radiation spike there that forced the temporary evacuation of workers.Military helicopters carrying giant buckets were preparing to drop water on the stricken plant, which has been hit by four explosions and two fires since last Friday's earthquake and tsunami knocked out cooling syste