EARTHQUAKE

The following is the known status as of Wednesday afternoon of each of the six reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant and the four reactors at the Fukushima No. 2 plant, both in Fukushima Prefecture, which were crippled by Friday's magnitude 9.0 earthquake and the ensuing tsunami, according to Kyodo News Agency.

As Japan continues to reel under the after effects of the powerful earthquake that struck the country's Pacific Coast on Friday afternoon, the world still stands aghast at the devastation caused by the quake and the consequent tsunami. As the rescue, rehabilitation and rebuilding efforts start, the country is under severe threat of a nuclear disaster as the plants continue to report explosions and fires.

The container of the No.3 reactor of the troubled Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant might have been damaged and leaked radioactive steam, the Xinhua reported.

The aftermath of Japan's disastrous earthquake and tsunami could temporarily ease the rise in rare earth prices, but overall demand is likely to continue to outstrip supply for the next few years, an industry executive said.

Japan's soldiers have been assigned the grim task of searching for victims and survivors of Friday's 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

The nuclear crisis in earthquake-ravaged Japan has hit a new peak of worry – engineers are concerned that two more reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex may have become unstable.

The damage to California from last week’s tsunami is expected to exceed $50 million.

After being fired from Aflac, Gilbert Gottfried tweeted an apology.

One of the most famous Japanese people on earth, Yoko Ono, said Japan will recover from the current earthquake-tsunami tragedy.

The Japanese earthquake shook the Earth so violently that it likely moved it from its axis and shortened the day.

Japanese and Japanese-Americans across the U.S. are mobilizing to send help to their homeland after the unspeakable damage wreaked by one of the worst earthquakes and tsunamis in history.

The Gold Price dropped 3% to four-week lows vs. a rising US Dollar on Tuesday morning, as world stock-market and commodity prices sank on worsening radiation leaks from north-east Japan's earthquake-hit nuclear plants.

Tsunami-related damage in Hawaii is estimated to be in the tens of millions of dollars, but may climb higher, according to a spokeswoman of the state’s governor Neil Abercrombie.

The Japanese metropolis of Tokyo, already reeling from reports of higher-than-average radiation levels, was hit by massive tremor. There are also reports of people fleeing Tokyo.

Nuclear power will continue to be a part of U.S. plans for power generation even as a nuclear crisis unfolds in Japan in which authorities are trying their best to prevent a meltdown at a plant on the nation's eastern coastline, a top official said on Tuesday.

Prices for memory chips are rising as the earthquake in Japan has raised supply chain concerns.

The U.S. Federal Reserve is unlikely to tighten policy by either raising rates or halting the second edition of the asset purchase program known as QE2, when its policy board meets today, according to analysts.

Oppenheimer lowered its profit forecast on phone giant Nokia as the company is seeing greater than market seasonal weakness in demand in the first quarter of 2011.

German economic sentiment fell unexpectedly in March, as the expectations get hit by hawkish stance of the European Central Bank (ECB) and a major earthquake in Japan.

Report that a containment system at the bottom of Unit 2 reactor at Fukushima Daiichi has been breached saw uranium companies' shares to tank on the bourses.

The Japan earthquake and tsunami could result in significant shortages of certain electronic components, potentially causing dramatic price increases, a market reaserch firm said.