JAPAN QUAKE

Japan’s embattled Prime Minister Naoto Kan said his administration has been revealing all the information that it has access to regarding the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Apple may face supply chain disruptions for its newly launched iPad 2 as a 9 magnitude earthquake in Japan impacted several component makers for the tablet.

Impending 8-magnitude aftershock is yet to come and it may devastate Tokyo and surrounding regions, says UC Davis seismologist.

The following is a White House transcript of remarks by President Barack Obama on the situation in Japan delivered from the Rose Garden at the White House on Thursday March 17, 2011.

President Barack Obama made a visit to the Japanese embassy in Washington D.C. on Thursday, an unannounced arrival meant to show how heartbroken America was over the tragedy Japan faces in the wake of a massive earthquake and tsunami which have killed thousands of people and triggered a nuclear crisis.

Japanese engineers have been able to lay an external grid power line cable to the No. 2 unit at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan, according to The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog.

Mizuho Financial Group Inc, Japan’s third-largest bank by market value, said it has restored its automated teller machine (ATM) service nationwide, following three days of system failures. Its internet service was also on the fritz.

U.S. officials in Japan will pay for the voluntary departure of any family members of diplomat at several locations in the country, amid growing concerns about radiation from a troubled nuclear plant in Fukushima, Japan.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) described the situation at the Fukushima nuclear power plant as very serious, but that it appears to have become stable.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), the operator of the troubled nuclear power plants in northeastern Japan, said that high-pressure streams of water shot Thursday evening by plant workers effectively cooled down an overheating spent fuel pool.

U.S. troops and civilian teams have responded to the Japanese government's request to help distribute humanitarian aid supplies and search for survivors in Japan after last Friday's massive 9.0 earthquake and power tsunami.

A woman in the northeastern U.S. state of Delaware is desperate for news about her daughter who is missing in Japan’s earthquake zone.

In response to the deepening crisis at Japan’s troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, China has decided to suspend its atomic energy program for the time being by postponing approvals for new power stations.

The level of radiation level rose at the quake-damaged Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant on Thursday night after Japanese government fire trucks started shooting high-pressure water streams at the troubled No. 3 reactor, according to the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO).

While the tsunami that crashed into Hawaii did not apparently cause any casualties among humans, it did kill tens of thousands of seabirds, including thousands of albatrosses and other endangered species, at a wildlife sanctuary in the Midway atoll, 1300 miles northwest of Hawaii, according to U.S. wildlife officials.

The Japanese government has warned residents of Tokyo that a massive blackout may occur in the metropolitan region Thursday as power demand soared overnight due to freezing temperatures.

As foreigners in Japan become increasingly desperate to flee the country, the British government has chartered planes to fly Britons in the country from Tokyo to Hong Kong.

The United States is playing a key role in support of Japan's aid, search, and rescue efforts.

The governor of the region at the vortex of Japan’s growing nuclear crisis has expressed his anger over how Tokyo officials are managing the evacuation of the area around the damaged Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has warned that Japan faces a “serious situation” at its troubled Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant, but added that the situation is not yet out of control.

Up to 80,000 Japanese self-defense forces, firefighters and police officers have mobilized in the quake-ridden regions of northern Japan to search for survivors and locate the deceased, as temperatures drop to freezing levels.