Living a life that's totally dedicated to our Lord Jesus Christ
in anticipation of His soon return! <><<><<><
- Your ears will hear a word behind you, "This is the way, walk in
it," whenever you turn to the right or to the left.
Isaiah 30:21
Jesus' words:
(...look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh! Luke 21:28)
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
A Little bit of everything today:
Masab Yousef: Hamas Leader's Son Gives His Life to Jesus
Praise the Lord for giving this man the courage to bow down to the Lord Jesus Christ.
WWE's John Cena is about to make a whole bunch of little wishes come true -- because TMZ has learned he's taking 30 kids from Make-A-Wish to WRESTLEMANIA!!!!!!
Reps from M.A.W. tell us 30 kids with "life-threatening medical conditions" from the U.S., Canada, and even Australia will attend Wrestlemania XVII this weekend in Atlanta.
But that's not all -- the kids will be going to a private autograph session with WWE Superstars and Divas ... and afterward, they'll hit a pizza party hosted by Cena!!! ♥
Judy Sheindlin hospitalized for intestinal discomfort
3/30/2011
Christopher McKinney
Judy Sheindlin, more commonly known as the presiding judge in the daytime court drama Judge Judy, was rushed to the hospital earlier this morning for nausea and intestinal discomfort.
New York Daily News reports that an ambulance responded to a 911 call from her Honors’ television studio on Sunset Boulevard just after 9am. The call was for a person down. Captain Jaime Moore of the LA Fire Department said, “It was an adult female. She was rushed to a nearby hospital in serious condition.”
According to TMZ, Sheindlin said, “At my age, I know my body. My body is fine.”
The judge is currently at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Doctors are doing tests, but she will have to stay overnight. •
A 12-year-old Dutch girl gave birth to a baby she didn't see coming on a school trip on March 22.
Police are now seeking the father of the child, according to the AP. Teachers realized that the stomach pains she had been complaining were in fact labor pains.
The girl, from Grogingen, over 100 miles from Amsterdam gave birth to a perfectly healthy baby girl in a nearby building after an ambulance arrived.
So far, she's refused to name the father, but police have their suspicions.
The offense is punishable because the girl was 11 when she was abused. Dutch law states that any sex with a minor under 12 is a criminal offense automatically. Both the girl and the baby are doing well, according to the Telegraph. •
I don't know what's going on down on Mr. Liu's farm, but it sounds like an animal revolution is afoot and soon there will be signs demanding equal rights for all four- and two-legged creatures. You see, Liu Naiying's ewe gave birth to a puppy. At least it looks like a puppy. So will it herd itself?
While vets say it's impossible to have inter-species breeding, when you look at this picture, it does, indeed, look like a baby dog -- not a lamb -- was born on this farm in China. Its tail, paws, nose, mouth, and eyes are all very canine. But it's lamb-like enough to appear like a cross-breeding situation has occurred. Either way, WEIRD.
The farmer claims he came upon the lamb/puppy after the sheep had given birth. The lamb/pup was still wet, and the ewe was licking her newborn's fur. So a switch seems unlikely unless someone playing the trick waited patiently for the ewe to give birth, followed her out to the field, then waited for the exact right moment to set up a damp puppy for Liu to come upon.
The researcher interviewed for this piece points out that it's probably just an abnormal lamb. But the pictures really point to something different. It will be fascinating to see what this lamb/dog grows up to look like as well. In the meantime, the little woolly doggie has lots of visitors as people flock to the farm to get a look at the anomaly. I'm also guessing there will be an autopsy once the little guy kicks, just to check out the situation.
If it does turn out that a dog somehow impregnated a sheep, I'm thinking we're going to have a lot more exotic pets on our hands. How much do you think someone would pay for a bear-dog? Or a cat-bird? Personally, I would hold out for a unicorn, aka a horse-rhino. •
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(On the lighter side:)
Hearty Pork Stew Slow-Cooker Recipe
Ingredients
Directions
PLACE potatoes in 4- to 6-qt. slow cooker. Top with pork.
MIX gravy, thyme, red pepper and peas. Pour over pork and potatoes.
COVER and cook on LOW for 7 to 8 hr.* or until pork is fork-tender.
TIP: *Or on HIGH 4 to 5 hr.
about this recipe
Pork and sweet potatoes are a winning pair that come together in the slow cooker to make this comforting, fork-tender dish. - Serves 8. •
Venezuela will continue donating free fuel to poor families in US
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his government will continue donating heating oil to poor American families. Experts say it is a costly decision but Chavez wants to keep his pledge.
A few days ago Venezuela decided to stop distributing free fuel shipments via its partner nonprofit group, Boston-based Citizens Energy. The poor families who received free heating oil for the winter were obviously affected by this sudden decision. But now, Venezuela’s CITGO Petroleum Corp., said it was a mistake and that it will continue donating heating oil to the poor. Larry Birns, director of the Washington-based Council on Hemispheric Affairs, told AP public opinion would be very negative if he had stopped the program. Chavez and Venezuela have been donating oil for the past four years. He wants to show he rallies for the poor with this donation. Thanks to falling gas prices, poor families are increasingly being able to afford heating oil, but Chavez wants to support the program despite expenses in distributing the oil. In Boston on Wednesday, CITGO Chief Executive Alejandro Granado told AP his company has found a way to continue paying for oil shipments and said they are making a sacrifice. Former U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy, who also heads Citizens Energy, told AP that Chavez intervened personally on this matter and decided to continue the program. The program provides fuel to 200,000 households in 23 states and 65 Native American tribes all across the United States. Last year, CITGO, the U.S. subsidiary of the Venezuelan oil company, distributed $100 million worth of heating oil. In addition to oil, Chavez distributed billions of dollars in oil income to international aid, thanks to good oil revenues last year. But with falling gas prices, his charity programs may be affected this year and there may be some program cuts. While critics say this is a publicity stunt for Chavez, one must admit there isn't a long list of oil companies whom donate free heating oil to the poor.•
'Barefoot' Backfire: Make-a-Wish Kid Turns Ina Down
It's the PR disaster heard 'round the world. The tables have turned on Food Network star Ina Garten, the 'Barefoot Contessa,' who got caught red-handed last week turning down a Make-a-Wish kid. On Monday, she called the family of Enzo Pereda, a 6-year-old cancer patient, to say she had reconsidered, but now TMZ is reporting they turned her down.
"This has been a disaster for Ina," a foodie insider tells me. "She buried her head in the sand for days hoping the bad publicity would go over, but it didn't." To a casual observer -- as well as the scores of new ex-fans -- Ina's change of heart on Monday appeared to be possibly driven more by the desire to nip a festering scandal in the bud, rather than to make a sick little boy's dream come true.
"She was worried her initial reaction was hurting her business," my source contends.
Ina had twice blew off meeting Enzo after the wonderful Make-A-Wish Foundation approached her before being shamed into finally contacting his family, independently of the foundation.
"Chefs think they are the new rock stars. And no one has a higher opinion of themselves than Ina," an insider tells me. "She forgot a long time ago that it is the fans who make you who you are. You can be the most talented chef in the world, but if people don't like you, they won't watch your shows or buy your cookbooks."
Ultimately, Enzo's family decided to put an end to the madness and move on from Ina. "I don't want to put my son through all these emotions. We're better off just leaving everything the way it is," dad Adrian told TMZ.
It's great to see that the Pereda family holds no bad feelings and is already getting excited to have Enzo's other wish come true ... to swim with dolphins. •
The boy is going to swim with dolphins! Much better than to visit a whale on a set.
Barefoot Contessa Ina Garten spurned by cancer victim
Looks like no amount of sugar and spice will sweeten the stew that Barefoot Contess Ina Garten has landed in by rejecting a young cancer victim's request to meet. Garten blamed the problem on her employees, and promised to extend an invitation to little Enzo.
Today, TMZ reports that Enzo's family has rejected her overture and is moving on to another Make-A-Wish request: to swim with dolphins.
Dozens of folks have weighed in with comments on Garten-gate. Some say she is unfairly bearing criticism for a bad call that her handlers made. Others say she is heartless (harsher descriptions have been censored)and swear they will never watch her shows or use her cookbooks again. •
‘Barefoot Contessa’ Finally Agrees To Make Ailing Child’s Wish Come True
A happy ending! Ina Garten, host of the Food Network’s Barefoot Contessa, recently received a wave of criticism for her decision not to make a terminally ill child’s “Make-a-Wish” dream come true. It seems the pressure from a disappointed public has gotten to Garten, because she is finally inviting six-year-old Enzo Pereda to cook with her on her show. Pereda, who is battling acute lymphoblastic leukemia, is a huge fan of Garten’s, and wanted nothing more than to be able to prepare a meal with the Food Network star. And to think: All it took was a massive public shaming. •
Ina Garten gives in, says yes to Make-A-Wish child Enzo after all
Celebrity news sites this week were buzzing about a story that could tug at anyone’s heartstrings- TV chef Ina Garten, of Barefoot Contessa fame, reportedly denied the request of a seriously ill child named Enzo.
Not only did Garten say no to the boy’s wish to meet and cook with her, she did so twice, with the second being a “definite no,” according to the original story. The internet pretty much exploded with rage after a post on the family’s blog that described the heartbreak in detail:
Unfortunately as we were arriving home from the hospital I got word from “Make A Wish” that it is has been officially confirmed that Ina Garten (the “Barefoot Contessa” ) has declined Enzo’s wish to meet her and cook a meal with her. I felt terrible for him, he has been unwavering in his desire to meet her for 3 years and despite many attempts to get him to pick a 2nd wish or change his mind he would not. Last year Ina gave a “soft no” supposedly because she had a 10 month book tour and they called and asked him what he wanted to do and he said “I will wait” and he did…As I wrote in last month’s update they came to our home again and tried to convince him to change his wish but he did not want to. Even yesterday when I told him the unfortunate news, his reply was simply “why doesn’t she want to meet me”?
Enzo’s mom followed up with a post after TMZ picked up the story, begging people to chill out about the whole thing and reporting that Enzo had already accepted a different wish- to swim with dolphins- but the internet hivemind had veered off into ragetown and there was no coming back.
A plus size to the tale, though, is that the pressure seems to have put Enzo’s wish at the forefront of the busy Ms. Garten’s to-do list. Not only did she change her mind, but in a terse statement from her reps, let those who were angry know she receives about 100 charity-related requests a month. The statement continued:
“She contributes both personally and financially on a regular basis to numerous causes, including to Make-A-Wish Foundation. Sadly, it’s of course not possible to do them all. Throughout her life, Ina has contributed generously to all kinds of important efforts and she will continue to do so.”
(Those crowded celebrity schedules… funny how things open right up when their image starts shifting from beloved to nauseating.)
Let’s all hope because of the confusion, Enzo gets to do both wishes. •
6-year-old Enzo loved watching the Barefoot Contessa show with his mother while resting in bed. After being diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, he told Make A Wish his one wish was to cook with Ina Garten. The Make A Wish foundation tried to set it up last year, but Ina said she was too busy with a book tour. They tried again this year and Ina's team came back with a “definite no.” I will never watch Barefoot Contessa the same way again. •
A rendering of the 950-person bunker that Vivos is planning to build under the grasslands of Nebraska. See inside.By Blake Ellis, staff reporterMarch 23, 2011: 12:58 PM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- A devastating earthquake strikes Japan. A massive tsunami kills thousands. Fears of a nuclear meltdown run rampant. Bloodshed and violence escalate in Libya.
And U.S. companies selling doomsday bunkers are seeing sales skyrocket anywhere from 20% to 1,000%.
Northwest Shelter Systems, which offers shelters ranging in price from $200,000 to $20 million, has seen sales surge 70% since the uprisings in the Middle East, with the Japanese earthquake only spurring further interest. In hard numbers, that's 12 shelters already booked when the company normally sells four shelters per year.
"Sales have gone through the roof, to the point where we are having trouble keeping up," said Northwest Shelter Systems owner Kevin Thompson.
UndergroundBombShelter.com, which sells portable shelters, bomb shelters and underground bunkers, has seen inquiries soar 400% since the Japanese earthquake. So far sales of its $9,500 nuclear biological chemical shelter tents are at an all-time high -- with four sold in California last week, compared to about one a month normally.
Hardened Structures said inquiries have shot up about 20% since the earthquake -- particularly for its apocalyptic 2012 shelters, radiation-protection tents, and nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) air filters.
Vivos, a company that sells rooms in 200-person doomsday bunkers, has received thousands of applications since the massive earthquake in Japan, with reservations spiking nearly 1,000% last week. And people are backing their fear with cash: A reservation requires a minimum deposit of $5,000.
"People are afraid of the earth-changing events and ripple effects of the earthquake, which led to tsunamis, the nuclear meltdown, and which will lead to radiation and health concerns," said Vivos CEO Robert Vicino. "Where it ends, I don't know. Does it lead to economic collapse? A true economic collapse would lead to anarchy, which could lead to 90% of the population being killed off."
The last time people flocked to purchase bunkers in such droves was right before the Y2K scare, according to Stephen O'Leary, an associate professor at University of Southern California and an expert on apocalyptic thinking.
"Tens of millions of people believe in a literal apocalypse, which involves earthquakes, storms, disasters of global proportions and especially disasters related to the Middle East," O'Leary said.
But, he added, "Some believe that this is just a turbulent time and they have to go somewhere to ride it out."
Elan Yadan, a clothing store owner in Los Angeles, is one of the many customers who rushed to find a bunker last week. Yadan secured a spot for his family in a Vivos' shelter, putting down four deposits totaling $20,000 -- $20,000 that had been earmarked for a down payment on a new house.
"I honestly didn't want to do it, but unfortunately it looks like the worst expectations about the world are starting to come true," said Yadan, who had been reading about Mayan predictions of a global meltdown in 2012. "With the things happening this week, it's better to be safe than sorry. And what good is a house if you don't feel safe?"
Yadan will be riding out any apocalypse in Vivos' most ambitious project to date. The company has more than five 200-person shelters in the U.S. that are in various stages of construction, but this facility outshines them all.
The bunker, which is being built under the grasslands of Nebraska, is 137,000 square feet -- bigger than a Wal-Mart -- can house 950 people for up to one year, and can withstand a 50 megaton blast. Once completed, it will boast four levels of individual suites, a medical and dental center, kitchens, bakery, prayer room, computer area, pool tables, pet kennels, a fully stocked wine cellar and a detention center to place anyone who turns violent.
Plus, there will be a fortified 350-foot lookout tower for residents who want to see what's happening in the outside world.
Once Vivos collects deposits from at least half the number of residents needed to fill the bunker, it will take them on a tour of the near-completed site. At that point, they must pay the rest of the $25,000 reservation fee.
That's what Yadan intends to do.
"I'm not a psychic but I'm not a scientist either, so I'd rather err on the side of caution -- and I'd rather survive and live in a bunker for a year than be wiped out," he said.
Note: The one world government planners feel at this time in our history that all we need now is the right major crisis and the nation will accept the New World Order as stated by David Rockefeller--founder and honorary chairman, Council of the Americas. Chairman emeritus, Council on Foreign Relations. founder and honorary Chairman, Trilateral Commission. He said we are on the verge of a global transformation. •
A Miracle Tale of Survival: Grandmother and Boy Pulled from Rubble Nine Days after Tsunami Smashed City
Jeremy Reynalds (March 23, 2011)
"They were weak, but conscious." -Daily Mail report
(Japan)—Extraordinary news emerged from the tsunami coast when police reported they had found an 80-year-old woman and a 16-year-old boy still alive under rubble in a tsunami-smashed city.
According to a story by the Daily Mail's Richard Shears, the report was greeted with skepticism at first following claims on Saturday that a young man had been found alive in his house after clinging to life for eight days—when in fact he had returned to his home from a shelter.
But police in the Mikako prefecture were insisting there was no mistake about the two people found alive under rubble.
The Daily Mail said no details were immediately available, other than police saying rescuers were scouring debris when they found the elderly woman and the young man.
"They were in a very weakened state, but have responded to initial treatment by the rescuers," the Daily Mail reported a police spokesman said.
Police said the two were found in the city of Ishinomaki, nine days after the earthquake and tsunami, a survival which has stunned medical teams.
The two people are a grandmother and her grandson.
According to the article, the Japanese TV network NHK quoted police in Miyagii prefecture as saying the elderly woman and the teenager had responded to shouts from a police rescue team.
"They were weak, but conscious," the Daily Mail reported a police spokesman said.
They were taken to Ishinomomaki's Red Cross hospital, where they were receiving treatment.
"I had only a glimpse of the elderly woman, who had her eyes closed," said the spokesman. "She didn't appear to be dead."
The news came as authorities announced they had restored power to the Fukushima plant.
Three hundred engineers have been struggling inside the danger zone to salvage the six-reactor plant in the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl 25 years ago.
"I think the situation is improving step by step," Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Tetsuro Fukuyama told a news conference.
The workers, braving high radiation levels in suits sealed in duct tape, managed to connect power to the No. 2 reactor, crucial to their attempts to cool it down and limit the leak of deadly radiation, the Daily Mail reported the Kyodo news agency said.
It added that plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) aimed to restore the control room function, lights and the cooling at the No. 1 reactor, which is connected to the No.2 reactor by cable.
But, the Daily Mail reported, rising cases of contaminated vegetables, dust and water have raised new fears and the government said it will decide by Monday on whether to restrict consumption and shipments of food from the quake zone.
Police said they believed more than 15,000 people had been killed by the double disaster in Miyagi prefecture, one of four in Japan's northeast that took the brunt of the tsunami damage. In total, more than 20,000 are dead or missing.
According to the Daily Mail, the unprecedented crisis will cost the world's third largest economy as much as $248 billion and require Japan's biggest reconstruction push since post-World War Two. •
__________________________________________________________________________ Praise be to God for His Mercy and Grace!!-Missygirl*
Border Patrol agents recently arrested 13 illegal immigrants disguised as U.S. Marinesand riding in a fake military van, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Tuesday.
The illegal immigrants were clad in Marine uniforms when they were apprehended at the Campo Border Patrol Westbound I-8 checkpoint at 11 p.m. on March 14 near Pine Valley, Calif., border officials said. Two U.S. citizens in the van also were arrested.
After the suspicious white van was subjected to secondary inspection, it was determined that the driver of the vehicle and its front seat passenger were U.S. citizens who were attempting to smuggle 13 illegal immigrants into the United States. All of the vehicle's occupants wore U.S. Marine uniforms, reportedly emblazoned with the name "Perez."
"This effort is an example of the lengths smugglers will go to avoid detection, and the skilled and effective police work and vigilance displayed everyday by Customs and Border Protection personnel," the agency said in a written statement.
The van used in the smuggling attempt, according to California's El Centro Border Intelligence Center, was a privately owned vehicle registered out of Yucca Valley, Calif., and was bearing stolen government plates that had been defaced. The center digit -- 0 -- was altered to read as an 8. Further research through multiple government agencies determined that the plate belonged to a one-ton cargo van registered to the U.S. Marine Corps.
Clad in U.S. Marine uniforms, the illegal immigrants were apprehended at the Campo Border Patrol Westbound I-8 checkpoint at 11 p.m. on March 14 near Pine Valley, Calif., according to a March 15 report by California's El Centro Border Intelligence Center.
Clad in U.S. Marine uniforms, the illegal immigrants were apprehended at the Campo Border Patrol Westbound I-8 checkpoint at 11 p.m. on March 14 near Pine Valley, Calif., according to a March 15 report by California's El Centro Border Intelligence Center.
The military referred inquiries back to Customs and Border Protection.
The van entered into the United States via Mexicali, Mexico, and proceeded to Calexico, Calif., where the U.S. Marine uniforms were donned, according to Homeland Security Today.
The Campo Border Station was constructed in June 2008 and is located roughly 28 miles east of San Diego Sector Headquarters in rural East San Diego County. It is responsible for securing approximately 13.1 linear miles of the U.S.-Mexico border and 417 square miles of surrounding territory. An estimated 7,000 vehicles pass through its two checkpoints daily, according to its website. •
As Libya Air Strikes Intensify, What Next For The United States?
First Posted: 03/20/11 03:21 PMUpdated: 03/20/11 03:21 PM
WASHINGTON -- U.S.-led air attacks on Libya are intensifying even as Libya’s erratic leader, Muammar Gaddafi, vows a bloody "long war." Now what?
Having failed to dislodge Gaddafi from power with a "shock and awe" barrage of cruise missile attacks and air strikes Saturday and Sunday, the United States and its European partners are left with the prospect of an extended air campaign with uncertain prospects of success and a growing risk of civilian suffering. Nor does the U.S. have any clear military option of escalation: in effect, the United States is boxed in by a U.N. Security Council resolution that authorizes “all necessary measures’’ to protect Libyan civilians -- "excluding a foreign occupation force."
So far, the allied air attacks -- as of Sunday afternoon, no Arab nations have taken part -- have had "a pretty significant effect," Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, insisted Sunday, as he made the rounds of the TV talk shows. Mullen said the attacks are "narrow and focused" on a mission confined to protecting Benghazi, the last major rebel hold-out, and opening routes for humanitarian aid
"We're not retreating anywhere," Gaddafi boasted on a radio broadcast Sunday, taunting the western military coalition. "You are going to return defeated."
The air and missile attacks, joined Sunday by Marine Harrier strike fighters from the strike carrier USS Kearsarge in the Mediterranean, are targeting purely military targets, and as the conflict continues, Gaddafi reportedly is moving more of his assets into schools and mosques, knowing that the U.S. won’t attack for fear of causing civilian casualties.
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And he retains an unnerving ability to retaliate. With his long experience with terrorism, he could launch terrorist attacks inside Benghazi without exposing his tanks and artillery to allied air strikes. He might threaten to use his stockpiles of mustard gas on civilians unless the U.S. backs off. And he might authorize terrorist strikes against Americans and other civilians in Europe -- as he has done many times before.
Gaddafi "will fight until the end," said Ali Suleiman Aujali, who was Gaddafi’s ambassador in Washington until he defected earlier this month. He told ABC’s Christine Amanpour Sunday that Gaddafi "has no other choice. He has no shelter to go. And this is his -- his attitude. He will never give up."
Much on the minds of Obama administration officials and others is Gaddafi’s record of deadly attacks on civilian aircraft, including the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103, which killed all 270 people on board, and the bombing a year later of a UTA flight over Niger, killing all 171 on board. Both of those attacks followed the U.S. air strikes against Tripoli ordered by President Reagan in 1986.
Obama held a secure conference call Sunday with his national security team, including adviser Tom Donilon, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Pentagon chief Bob Gates, and Army Gen. Carter F. Ham, who is directing the operation as commander of U.S. Africa Command.
Their dilemma eerily reflects the NATO air war against Yugoslavia’s Slobodan Milosevic more than a decade ago, which took 78 days of bombing to bring to a conclusion. Even then, analysts believe the bombing was not instrumental in convincing Milosevic to give up.
Called Operation Allied Force, the 1999 Yugoslav air war -- like the current operation against Libya -- was envisioned as a quick strike against a militarily weak force. But the NATO campaign led by the United States quickly bogged down, hampered by "a surprisingly resilient opponent" in Milosevic, according to a thorough post-war analysis by Benjamin Lambeth, a senior air analyst at the RAND Corporation. In another lesson for those in charge of Operation Odyssey Dawn against Libya, the allies were hampered by "sharp differences of opinion" about how to proceed, especially on whether to use ground forces to put further pressure on Milosevic, Lambeth wrote.
When the Yugoslav leader eventually did give up, it was as much because Russia had withdrawn its support, and because an impatient U.S. was taking initial, hesitant steps to deploy ground troops into Yugoslavia.
No such options seem to exist at the moment. But one factor weighs heavily against Gaddafi: Virtually all of his Arab and North African neighbors are united against him. With good reason: At one time or another over the past decades, Gaddafi has directed terrorist attacks against almost all of them.
BENGHAZI, Libya — Moammar Gadhafi took advantage of international indecision to attack the heart of the 5-week-old uprising on Saturday, sending troops, tanks and warplanes to swarm the first city seized by the rebels. Crashing shells shook buildings, and the sounds of battle drew closer to Benghazi's center.
"Where is France, where is NATO?" cried a 50-year-old woman in Benghazi, where a doctor said 27 people were killed Saturday. "It's too late."
As leaders from the Arab world, the United States and other Western powers held a summit in Paris, a dozen jets from the U.S. and Denmark landed in Italy as part of the military buildup. France's ambassador to the United Nations, Gerard Araud, told BBC Newsnight that he expected action to begin within hours of the meeting. In an open letter, Gadafhi warned: "You will regret it if you dare to intervene in our country." •
Kremlin Predicts Mega-Quake for California & Radioactive Particles Are Here
This clip from TruthTVNebraska begins by sharing my view that the following Russian report reads more like a threat than a prediction. The clip quickly morphs into an interesting documentary about HAARP technology, which can allegedly cause earthquakes and in which allegedly, the Russians are more advanced.
The clip segues into a documentary about a journalist in British Columbia who had a "Deep Throat" inside the Pentagon warning her about HAARP before it was built and described to her its actual applications.
"...the fault-riddled State of California may be about to suffer its most catastrophic earthquake in decades, as new reports for this region show the mass death of millions of fish is now occurring, and just like the mass stranding of whales on New Zealand beaches days prior to the February 22nd destruction of Christchurch."
Edited from article by BARRACUDA, Citizen Journalist
A new report released [March 12, 2011] in the Kremlin [!!!?] prepared for Prime Minister Putin by the Institute of Physics of the Earth in Moscow is warning that the Americas are in danger of suffering a mega-quake of catastrophic proportions during the next 14 days, with a specific emphasis being placed on the United States, Mexico, Central America and South American west coast regions, along with the New Madrid Fault Zone region.
This report further warns that catastrophic earthquakes in Asia and the sub-continent are also more than likely to occur - with the 7.3 magnitude quake in Japan today being one of at least four of this intensity to occur during this same time period.
Raising the concerns of a mega-quake occurring, this report says, are the increasing subtle electromagnetic signals that are being detected in the Earth's upper atmosphere over many regions of the world, with the most intense being over the US Western coastal and Midwest regions.
Important to note are that Russian and British scientists are at the forefront of predicting earthquakes based on these subtle electromagnetic signals and have joined in an effort to put satellites in space to detect more of them.
===
As if the prognostications for California weren't bad enough, the radioactive plume from the Fukushima nuclear meltdown has begun blowing over the State as of Friday, March 18, 2011. _________________________ Edited from article by Coup Media
Prime Minister Naoto Kan [finally] announced Friday that the nuclear crisis at the crippled Fukushima plant is "very grave." He further stated the fire department, police, and military were putting their lives on the line" to cool the highly radioactive fuel rods at the complex...
The admission came as Japan welcomed U.S. help in stabilizing its overheated, radiation-leaking nuclear complex and reclassified the rating of the nuclear accident from Level 4 to Level 5 on a seven-level international scale, putting it on a par with the 1979 Three Mile Island accident. The rating was raised when officials realized that at least 3 percent of the fuel in three of the reactors had been severely damaged, suggesting those reactor cores have partially melted down and thrown radioactivity into the environment...
Nuclear experts have been saying for days that Japan had been underplaying the crisis' severity all along. Japan still dangles by a thread as concern rises globally. •
#################################################### This is your news from today. Blessings to you and yours in these unparalleled times. -Missygirl*
Japan Asks for US Help in Nuclear 'Race Against the Clock'
YAMAGATA, Japan -- Japan reached out Friday to the U.S. for help in reining in the crisis at its dangerously overheated nuclear complex, while the U.N. atomic energy chief called the disaster a race against the clock that demands global cooperation.
At the stricken complex, military fire trucks began spraying the troubled reactor units again Friday morning, with tons of water arcing over the facility in desperate attempts to douse the units and prevent meltdowns that could spew dangerous levels of radiation.
"The whole world, not just Japan, is depending on them," Tokyo office worker Norie Igarashi, 44, said of the emergency teams at the plants.
Last week's 9.0 quake and tsunami in Japan's northeast set off the nuclear problems by knocking out power to cooling systems at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant on the northeast coast. Since then, four of the troubled plant's six reactor units have seen fires, explosions or partial meltdowns.
The unfolding crises have led to power shortages in Japan, forced factories to close, sent shockwaves through global manufacturing and triggered a plunge in Japanese stock prices.
"We see it as an extremely serious accident," Yukiya Amano, the head of the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency, told reporters Friday just after arriving in Tokyo. "This is not something that just Japan should deal with, and people of the entire world should cooperate with Japan and the people in the disaster areas."
"I think they are racing against the clock," he said of the efforts to cool the complex.
One week after the quake and tsunami - which left more than 6,500 dead and over 10,300 missing - emergency crews are facing two challenges in the nuclear crisis: cooling the reactors where energy is generated, and cooling the adjacent spent fuel pools where used nuclear fuel rods are stored in water.
Both need water to keep their uranium cool and stop them from emitting radiation, but with radiation levels inside the complex already limiting where workers can go and how long they can remain, it's been difficult to get enough water inside.
Water in at least one fuel pool - in the complex's Unit 3 - is believed to be dangerously low, exposing the stored fuel rods. Without enough water, the rods may heat further and spew out radiation.
"Dealing with Unit 3 is our utmost priority," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters.
Edano said Friday that Tokyo is asking the U.S. government for help and that the two are discussing the specifics.
"We are coordinating with the U.S. government as to what the U.S. can provide and what people really need," Edano said.
A defense ministry officials said that a U.S. military fire truck was standing by to help supply water to the crippled reactor units, though the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the vehicle would be driven by Japanese workers.
On Thursday, military helicopters dumped thousands of gallons of water from huge buckets onto Unit 3, and also used Japanese military trucks normally used to extinguish fires at plane crashes.
Televised footage of the air drops showed much of the water blowing away in the wind, and officials announced Friday they were discontinuing the helicopter missions. But the trucks again began spraying water.
The fire trucks allow emergency workers to stay a relatively safe distance from the radiation, firing the water with high-pressure cannons.
Meanwhile, tsunami survivors observed a minute of silence Friday afternoon at the one-week mark since the 9.0-magnitude quake, which struck at 2:46 p.m.. Many of them were bundled up against the cold at shelters in the disaster zone, pressing their hands together in prayer.
Low levels of radiation have been detected well beyond Tokyo, which is 140 miles (220 kilometers) south of the plant, but hazardous levels have been limited to the plant itself. Still, the crisis has forced thousands to evacuate and drained Tokyo's normally vibrant streets of life, its residents either leaving town or holing up in their homes.
The Japanese government has been slow in releasing information on the crisis, even as the troubles have multiplied. In a country where the nuclear industry has a long history of hiding its safety problems, this has left many people - in Japan and among governments overseas - confused and anxious.
"I feel a sense of dread," said Yukiko Morioka, 63, who has seen business dry up at her lottery ticket booth in Tokyo. "I'm not an expert, so it's difficult to understand what's going on. That makes it scarier."
At times, Japan and the U.S. - two very close allies - have offered starkly differing assessments over the dangers at Fukushima. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jazcko said Thursday that it could take days and "possibly weeks" to get the complex under control. He defended the U.S. decision to recommend a 50-mile evacuation zone for its citizens, wider than the 30-mile band Japan has ordered.
Crucial to the effort to regain control over the Fukushima plant is laying a new power line to the plant, allowing operators to restore cooling systems. The operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., missed a deadline late Thursday but said Friday that workers hoped to complete the effort in 10 to 15 hours, said nuclear safety agency spokesman Minoru Ohgoda.
But the utility is not sure the cooling systems will still function. If they don't, electricity won't help.
President Barack Obama appeared on television to assure Americans that officials do not expect harmful amounts of radiation to reach the U.S. or its territories. He also said the U.S. was offering Japan any help it could provide.
Police said more than 452,000 people made homeless by the quake and tsunami were staying in schools and other shelters, as supplies of fuel, medicine and other necessities ran short. Both victims and aid workers appealed for more help, as the chances of finding more survivors dwindled.
At the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, a core team of 180 emergency workers has been rotating out of the complex to minimize radiation exposure.
The storage pools need a constant source of cooling water. Even when removed from reactors, uranium rods are still extremely hot and must be cooled for months, possibly longer, to prevent them from heating up again and emitting radioactivity.•
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Heroic Team Inside Fukushima Nuclear Plant 'Probably Terrified'
The roughly 50 technicians inside Fukushima's crippled Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, where Tokyo Electric Power said today a "critical meltdown" could develop, have one of the deadliest jobs in the world right now.
The workers are cut off from the outside world in a stricken plant where even the telephone lines have been disconnected. A crack was reported in the roof of the reactor building late today, and technicians are racing against time since Friday's earthquake and tsunami to prevent serious damage to three reactors and the spread of life-threatening radiation. Two workers were reported missing after today's explosion, officials said.
Kyodo News / AP
Radiation leaked from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, shown in 2008, in tsunami-ravaged northeastern Japan after a third reactor was rocked by an explosion Tuesday and a fourth caught fire.
"They're like the firefighters who went into the World Trade Center," Francois Perchet, a former nuclear reactor manager now with London's World Nuclear Association, told AOL News today.
"They're taking action, they're fully engaged and they know they're saving lives. They might need help for trauma later on, but right now they know they're doing the right thing," he said.
But as Japan and the rest the world worry about possible meltdowns and fluctuating radiation levels, the workers are risking their lives amid dangerous hydrogen explosions and fires that have already injured seven of them.
Today, the levels of radiation at the plant, though they have since fallen, measured a dangerous 400 millisieverts.
To put that into perspective, the average annual dose limit for nuclear power plant operators in many countries is just 20 millisieverts, and most don't absorb more than 1 millisievert in a year, said Jonathan Billowes, a professor of nuclear physics at the University of Manchester.
Billowes, like many nuclear physicists and nuclear energy experts interviewed by AOL News, has limited data about the exact situation in the Fukushima plant, but he said certain protocols are followed all over the world.
At Fukushima, however, some of the workers are personnel who have probably never been inside a nuclear power plant before. They are the teams in charge of the fire trucks used to pump hoses full of seawater into the reactors to try to cool them and avert a meltdown. The plant's diesel generators were knocked out by the tsunami and caused the reactors' cooling systems to fail.
Both the emergency responders and the plant technicians are working with the help of two or three people thought to still be in the plant's control room, as well as a special operations center relocated off-site.
"I've worked around radiation, and it's scary," Stanton Friedman, a retired nuclear physicist with General Electric, told AOL News today.
"You try to be careful, but it sure isn't easy and it sure isn't fun. These people are working a disaster within a disaster. They got clobbered. First the earthquake, then the tsunami took out their generators. You can be sure they feel a huge sense of responsibility to fix this, but they are in a tough spot. They're professionals, but they're probably terrified too." •
##################################################### Another Tsunami in Japan video. I wonder if the people on the outside of Noah's Ark saw water wreckage as fast and strong as this. Of course theirs would have been trees and homes and such, being destroyed, in those days. Still, scary times.
################################################## Blessings to you and yours in these unparalleled times. -Missygirl*
Reuters – EDITOR'S NOTE: PICTURE TAKEN ON GUIDED GOVERNMENT TOUR Burnt-out cars are seen on the main road to …
TRIPOLI/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United Nations authorized military action to curb Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Thursday, hours after he threatened to storm the rebel bastion of Benghazi overnight, showing "no mercy, no pity."
"We will come, zenga, zenga. House by house, room by room," he said in a radio address to the eastern city.
Al Jazeera television showed thousands of Benghazi residents in a central square celebrating the U.N. vote, waving anti-Gaddafi tricolor flags and chanting defiance of the man who has ruled for four decades. Fireworks burst over the city.
Gaddafi had warned that only those who lay down their arms would be spared vengeance to be exacted on 'rats and dogs'.
"It's over. The issue has been decided," Gaddafi said. "We are coming tonight...We will find you in your closets.
"We will have no mercy and no pity."
The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution endorsing a no-fly zone to halt government troops now around 100 km (60 miles) from Benghazi. It also authorized "all necessary measures" -- code for military action -- to protect civilians against Gaddafi's forces.
But time was clearly running short for the city that has been the heart of Libya's revolution.
Residents said the Libyan air force unleashed three air raids on the city of 670,000 on Thursday and there has been fierce fighting along the Mediterranean coastal road as Gaddafi moves to crush the month-old insurrection.
French diplomatic sources said military action could come within hours, and could include France, Britain and possibly the United States and one or more Arab states; but a U.S. military official said no immediate U.S. action was expected following the vote.
Ten of the Council's 15 member states voted in favor of the resolution, with Russia, China and Germany among the five that abstained. There were no votes against the resolution, which was co-sponsored by France, Britain, Lebanon and the United States.
Rebel National Council head Mustafa Abdel Jalil told Al Jazeera television air strikes were essential to stop Gaddafi.
"We stand on firm ground. We will not be intimidated by these lies and claims... We will not settle for anything but liberation from this regime."
It was unclear if Gaddafi's threat to seize the city in the night was anything more than bluster. But at the very least it increased the sense that a decisive moment had come in an uprising that only months ago had seemed inconceivable.
Some in the Arab world sense a Gaddafi victory could turn the tide in the region, weakening pro-democracy movements that have unseated autocrats in Tunisia and Egypt and raised mass protests in Bahrain, Yemen and elsewhere.
RETALIATION
By late evening, telephone lines to Benghazi and internet connections appeared to be cut.
Gaddafi's Defense Ministry warned of swift retaliation, even beyond Libyan frontiers, if the U.N. voted for military action against the oil-exporting nation.
"Any foreign military act against Libya will expose all air and maritime traffic in the Mediterranean Sea to danger and civilian and military (facilities) will become targets of Libya's counter-attack," the ministry said in a statement. •
######################################################################### Blessings to you and yours in these chaotic and outright crazy times. -Missygirl*
Japan scrambles to pull nuclear plant back from brink
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan's nuclear crisis appeared to be spinning out of control on Wednesday after workers withdrew briefly from a stricken power plant because of surging radiation levels and a helicopter failed to drop water on the most troubled reactor.
In a sign of desperation, police will try to cool spent nuclear fuel at one of the facility's reactors with water cannon, normally used to quell riots.
Early in the day, another fire broke out at the earthquake-crippled facility, which has sent low levels of radiation wafting into Tokyo in the past 24 hours, triggering fear in the capital and international alarm.
Japan's government said radiation levels outside the plant's gates were stable but, in a sign of being overwhelmed, appealed to private companies to help deliver supplies to tens of thousands of people evacuated from around the complex.
"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 told a televised news conference, referring to people living outside a 30-km (18-mile) exclusion zone. Some 140,000 people inside the zone have been told to stay indoors.
The European Union's energy chief, Guenther Oettinger, told the European Parliament that the plant was "effectively out of control" after breakdowns in the facility's cooling system.
Workers cleared debris to build a road so fire trucks could reach reactor No. 4 at the Daiichi complex in Fukushima, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo. Flames were no longer visible at the building housing the reactor.
High radiation levels prevented a helicopter from dropping water into the No. 3 reactor to try to cool its fuel rods after an earlier explosion damaged the unit's roof and cooling system.
The plant operator described No. 3 -- the only reactor at that uses plutonium in its fuel mix -- as the "priority." Plutonium, once absorbed in the bloodstream, can linger for years in bone marrow or liver and lead to cancer.
The situation at No. 4 reactor, where the fire broke out, was "not so good," the plant operator added, while water was being poured into reactors No. 5 and 6, indicating the entire six-reactor facility was now at risk of overheating.
"Getting water into the pools of the No.3 and No.4 reactors is a high priority," Hidehiko Nishiyama, a senior official at Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Administration, told a news conference, adding the pool for spent fuel rods at No. 3 was heating up while No.4 remained a concern.
"It could become a serious problem in a few days," he said.
A military helicopter may be used again to try to drop water and troops mobilized to help pump water by land, he said.
Nuclear experts said the solutions being proposed to quell radiation leaks at the complex were 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 physicist and uranium-industry analyst at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Japanese Emperor Akihito, delivering a rare video message to his people, said he was deeply worried by the country's nuclear crisis which was "unprecedented in scale."
"I hope from the bottom of my heart that the people will, hand in hand, treat each other with compassion and overcome these difficult times," the emperor said.
Panic over the economic impact of last Friday's massive earthquake and tsunami knocked $620 billion off Japan's stock market over the first two days of this week, but the Nikkei index rebounded on Wednesday to end up 5.68 percent.
Nevertheless, estimates of losses to Japanese output from damage to buildings, production and consumer activity ranged from between 10 and 16 trillion yen ($125-$200 billion), up to one-and-a-half times the economic losses from the devastating 1995 Kobe earthquake.
Damage to Japan's manufacturing base and infrastructure is also threatening significant disruption to the global supply chain, particularly in the technology and auto sectors.
CHINA SUSPENDS NUCLEAR PLANS
Scores of flights to Japan have been halted or rerouted and air travelers are avoiding Tokyo for fear of radiation. On Wednesday, both France and Australia urged their nationals in Japan to leave the country as authorities grappled with the world's most serious nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986.
Russia said it planned to evacuate families of diplomat on Friday.
In a demonstration of the qualms about nuclear power that the crisis has triggered around the globe, China announced that it was suspending approvals for planned plants and would launch a comprehensive safety check of facilities.
China has about two dozen reactors under construction and plans to increase nuclear electricity generation about seven-fold over the next 10 years.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said nuclear power was safe provided power stations were built in the right place and designed and managed properly. Russia ordered checks at nuclear facilities on Tuesday.
In Japan, the plight of hundreds of thousands left homeless by the earthquake and devastating tsunami that followed worsened following a cold snap that brought snow to worst-affected areas.
Supplies of water and heating oil are low at evacuation centers, where many survivors wait bundled in blankets.
"It's cold today so many people have fallen ill, getting diarrhea and other symptoms," said Takanori Watanabe, a Red Cross doctor in Otsuchi, a low-lying town where more than half the 17,000 residents are still missing.
While the official death toll stands at around 4,000, thousands are listed as missing and the number of dead is expected to rise.
At the Fukushima plant, authorities have spent days desperately trying to prevent water designed to cool the radioactive cores of the reactors from evaporating, which would lead to overheating and possibly a dangerous meltdown.
Until the heightened alarm about No.3 reactor, concern had centered on damage to a part of the No.4 reactor building, where spent rods were being stored in pools of water, 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.
Japanese officials said they were talking to the U.S. military about possible help at the plant.
Concern has mounted that the skeleton crews dealing with the crisis might not be big enough or were exhausted after working for days since the earthquake damaged the facility.
Authorities withdrew 750 workers for a time on Tuesday, briefly leaving only 50. All those remaining were pulled out for almost an hour on Wednesday because radiation levels were too high, but they were later allowed to return. By the end of the day, about 180 were working at the plant.
RADIATION IN TOKYO NOT A THREAT TO HUMAN HEALTH
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 the 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 on Tuesday it should be classed as a level-six incident.
At its worst, radiation in Tokyo reached 0.809 microsieverts per hour on Tuesday -- 10 times below what a person would receive if exposed to a dental x-ray. For Wednesday, radiation levels were barely above average.
But many Tokyo residents stayed indoors. Usually busy streets were nearly deserted. Many shops and offices were closed.
Winds over the plant blew out toward the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday.
Japanese media have became more critical of Kan's handling of the disaster and have criticized the government and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. for their failure to provide enough information on the incident.
Nuclear radiation is an especially sensitive issue for Japanese following the country's worst human catastrophe -- the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
The full extent of the destruction was slowly becoming clear as rescuers combed through the tsunami-torn region north of Tokyo where officials say at least 10,000 people were killed.
There have been hundreds of aftershocks and more than two dozen were greater than magnitude 6, the size of the earthquake that severely damaged Christchurch, New Zealand, last month -- powerful enough to sway buildings in Tokyo.
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. •
The governor of Tokyo apologized on Tuesday for saying the earthquake and resulting tsunami that left thousands dead were divine punishment for Japanese egoism, the country’s official news service reported.
"I will take back (the remark) and offer a deep apology," Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara said at a Tuesday news conference, according to Japan’s official Kyodo News.
On Monday, Ishihara had told reporters, "I think (the disaster) is tembatsu (divine punishment), although I feel sorry for disaster victims," according to Kyodo News, which translated Ishihara's remarks from Japanese.
“Japanese politics is tainted with egoism and populism,” Ishihara had said Monday, according to Kyodo News. “We need to use tsunami to wipe out egoism, which has rusted onto the mentality of Japanese over a long period of time." •
It's therefore no wonder that Fuji is arguably the world's most closely watched volcano.
The mountain is wired to the hilt with dense global positioning system arrays and seismometers. It is scrutinized with state-of-the-art laser mapping technology and is bombarded with constant investigations.
"If some magmatic system is ready or nearly due to erupt, an earthquake could be an effective trigger."
In fact, that's probably what happened in 1707, when the Tokai area experienced a huge earthquake just two months before Fuji blew.
While scientists get increasingly nervous about the meaning of 300 years of quiet, it's that same quiet that makes residents, like local farmer Issei, complacent.
"People forget," Aramaki, the volcano expert, said. "Look what happened in 2000 with the news of seismic activity. Everyone was surprised because they thought Fuji was dormant."
Although the flurry of low-frequency earthquakes has since calmed down, Fuji is hardly safer now than it was a few years ago, says Chris Newhall of the U.S. Geological Survey Volcano Disaster Assistance Program.
Deep, long-period earthquakes "are thought to represent a supply of basaltic magma from depth into the roots of the volcanic system," Newhall said.
In other words, the quakes are signs that magma is building up within the mountain's bowels.
"A volcano can absorb quite a few of these [buildups] without erupting. But each one adds a little more heat and gas," he said.
"It's a bit like torquing a ratcheted spring: A little bit now, a little bit later, and eventually it's cocked" and ready to blow.
Precisely when Fuji will be fully cocked, nobody knows. •
The nuclear reactor situation in Japan has deteriorated significantly. Two more explosions occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on March 15. The first occurred at 6:10 a.m. local time at reactor No. 2, which had seen nuclear fuel rods exposed for several hours after dropping water levels due to mishaps in the emergency. This story comes to us via Homeland Security- National Terror Alert. •
Japan spokesman says 4th reactor at damaged nuclear plant on fire, more radiation released. _________________________________________
A Chinese news agency reported that radiation from the Japanese nuclear plant meltdown could blow over the Western half of North America, depositing toxic particles over millions of square miles of land by the end of next week.
The report noted the extreme secrecy which the Japanese government has always shown during nuclear accidents. The meltdown of two reactors at the Fukushima plant was triggered by a catastrophic earthquake, now upgraded to 9.1 on the Richter scale; the biggest quake in Japanese history.
A woman cries as she looks for her missing husband in Minamisanriku town, Miyagi prefecture, northern Japan. More photos »
SENDAI, Japan – The estimated death toll from Japan's disasters climbed past 10,000 Sunday as authorities raced to combat the threat of multiple nuclear reactor meltdowns and hundreds of thousands of people struggled to find food and water. The prime minister said it was the nation's worst crisis since World War II.
Nuclear plant operators worked frantically to try to keep temperatures down in several reactors crippled by the earthquake and tsunami, wrecking at least two by dumping sea water into them in last-ditch efforts to avoid meltdowns. Officials warned of a second explosion but said it would not pose a health threat.
Near-freezing temperatures compounded the misery of survivors along hundreds of miles (kilometers) of the northeastern coast battered by the tsunami that smashed inland with breathtaking fury. Rescuers pulled bodies from mud-covered jumbles of wrecked houses, shattered tree trunks, twisted cars and tangled power lines while survivors examined the ruined remains.
One rare bit of good news was the rescue of a 60-year-old man swept away by the tsunami who clung to the roof of his house for two days until a military vessel spotted him waving a red cloth about 10 miles (15 kilometers) offshore.
The death toll surged because of a report from Miyagi, one of the three hardest hit states. The police chief told disaster relief officials more than 10,000 people were killed, police spokesman Go Sugawara told The Associated Press. That was an estimate — only 400 people have been confirmed dead in Miyagi, which has a population of 2.3 million.
According to officials, more than 1,800 people were confirmed dead — including 200 people whose bodies were found Sunday along the coast — and more than 1,400 were missing in Friday's disasters. Another 1,900 were injured.
For Japan, one of the world's leading economies with ultramodern infrastructure, the disasters plunged ordinary life into nearly unimaginable deprivation.
Hundreds of thousands of hungry survivors huddled in darkened emergency centers that were cut off from rescuers, aid and electricity. At least 1.4 million households had gone without water since the quake struck and some 1.9 million households were without electricity.
While the government doubled the number of soldiers deployed in the aid effort to 100,000 and sent 120,000 blankets, 120,000 bottles of water and 29,000 gallons (110,000 liters) of gasoline plus food to the affected areas, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said electricity would take days to restore. In the meantime, he said, electricity would be rationed with rolling blackouts to several cities, including Tokyo.
"This is Japan's most severe crisis since the war ended 65 years ago," Kan told reporters, adding that Japan's future would be decided by its response.
In Rikuzentakata, a port city of over 20,000 virtually wiped out by the tsunami, Etsuko Koyama escaped the water rushing through the third floor of her home but lost her grip on her daughter's hand and has not found her.
"I haven't given up hope yet," Koyama told public broadcaster NHK, wiping tears from her eyes. "I saved myself, but I couldn't save my daughter."
A young man described what ran through his mind before he escaped in a separate rescue. "I thought to myself, ah, this is how I will die," Tatsuro Ishikawa, his face bruised and cut, told NHK as he sat in striped hospital pajamas.
Japanese officials raised their estimate Sunday of the quake's magnitude to 9.0, a notch above the U.S. Geological Survey's reading of 8.9. Either way, it was the strongest quake ever recorded in Japan, which lies on a seismically active arc. A volcano on the southern island of Kyushu — hundreds of miles (kilometers) from the quake' epicenter — also resumed spewing ash and rock Sunday after a couple of quiet weeks, Japan's weather agency said.
Dozens of countries have offered assistance. Two U.S. aircraft carrier groups were off Japan's coast and ready to help. Helicopters were flying from one of the carriers, the USS Ronald Reagan, delivering food and water in Miyagi.
Two other U.S. rescue teams of 72 personnel each and rescue dogs arrived Sunday, as did a five-dog team from Singapore.
Still, large areas of the countryside remained surrounded by water and unreachable. Fuel stations were closed, though at some, cars waited in lines hundreds of vehicles long.
The United States and a several countries in Europe urged their citizens to avoid travel to Japan. France took the added step of suggesting people leave Tokyo in case radiation reached the city.
Community after community traced the vast extent of the devastation.
In the town of Minamisanrikucho, 10,000 people — nearly two-thirds of the population — have not been heard from since the tsunami wiped it out, a government spokesman said. NHK showed only a couple concrete structures still standing, and the bottom three floors of those buildings gutted. One of the few standing was a hospital, and a worker told NHK that hospital staff rescued about a third of the patients.
In the hard-hit port city of Sendai, firefighters with wooden picks dug through a devastated neighborhood. One of them yelled: "A corpse." Inside a house, he had found the body of a gray-haired woman under a blanket.
A few minutes later, the firefighters spotted another — that of a man in black fleece jacket and pants, crumpled in a partial fetal position at the bottom of a wooden stairwell. From outside, while the top of the house seemed almost untouched, the first floor where the body was had been inundated. A minivan lay embedded in one outer wall, which had been ripped away, pulverized beside a mangled bicycle.
The man's neighbor, 24-year-old Ayumi Osuga, dug through the remains of her own house, her white mittens covered by dark mud.
Osuga said she had been practicing origami, the Japanese art of folding paper into figures, with her three children when the quake stuck. She recalled her husband's shouted warning from outside: "'GET OUT OF THERE NOW!'"
She gathered her children — aged 2 to 6 — and fled in her car to higher ground with her husband. They spent the night in a hilltop home belonging to her husband's family about 12 miles (20 kilometers) away.
"My family, my children. We are lucky to be alive," she said.
"I have come to realize what is important in life," Osuga said, nervously flicking ashes from a cigarette onto the rubble at her feet as a giant column of black smoke billowed in the distance.
As night fell and temperatures dropped to freezing in Sendai, people who had slept in underpasses or offices the past two nights gathered for warmth in community centers, schools and City Hall.
At a large refinery on the outskirts of the city, 100-foot (30-meter) -high bright orange flames rose in the air, spitting out dark plumes of smoke. The facility has been burning since Friday. The fire's roar could be heard from afar. Smoke burned the eyes and throat, and a gaseous stench hung in the air.
In the small town of Tagajo, also near Sendai, dazed residents roamed streets cluttered with smashed cars, broken homes and twisted metal.
Residents said the water surged in and quickly rose higher than the first floor of buildings. At Sengen General Hospital, the staff worked feverishly to haul bedridden patients up the stairs one at a time. With the halls now dark, those who can leave have gone to the local community center.
"There is still no water or power, and we've got some very sick people in here," said hospital official Ikuro Matsumoto.
Police cars drove slowly through the town and warned residents through loudspeakers to seek higher ground, but most simply stood by and watched them pass.
In the town of Iwaki, there was no electricity, stores were closed and residents left as food and fuel supplies dwindled. Local police took in about 90 people and gave them blankets and rice balls, but there was no sign of government or military aid trucks. •
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"They were in a very weakened state, but have responded to initial treatment by the rescuers," the Daily Mail reported a police spokesman said.
First Posted: 03/20/11 03:21 PM Updated: 03/20/11 03:21 PM