Tsunami

For the first time since April, radioactive cesium-137 was found in Tokyo's tap water as Japan grapples with the worst nuclear disaster in 25 years.

Just two days after the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11, U.K officials reportedly contacted energy companies warning that they could not allow the disaster to dent public support for nuclear power.

Just as the operators of Tokyo Electric Power, better known as Tepco, apologised profusely today during its annual shareholders meeting, tonnes of radioactive water were discovered to have leaked into the ground from Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant, the latest in a series of leaks at the plant damaged in a March earthquake and tsunami, the country's nuclear watchdog said.

Tokyo Electric Power, better known as Tepco, has been at the centre of Japan's nuclear problems since the deadly earthquake and tsunami in March, as it failed to control a meltdown at its Fukushima nuclear plant.

An earthquake of magnitude 7.2 has struck the Pacific Ocean 172km east of Atka, sending residents of small coastal towns to higher ground as officials issued a tsunami warning in the temblor's wake.

As Japan attempts to bury its head in the sand over the full scale of the Fukushima nuclear power meltdown there is growing concerns across the world that the United States is not taking the problem seriously enough.

The full extent of the damage to the environment and the safety of the Japanese people that the meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power caused is only now starting to become avaliable. Even more worrying is that it has not been released by the Japanese government but independent scientists who has scathed the Japanese governments rescue attempts.

Shares in British banks were mixed on the FTSE 100 in morning trading despite some weak data on British factory output.

On 03 June 2011, the German magazine Stern reported that Chancellor Angela Merkel had agreed with the provincial governments (Länder) to a phased closure programme of all of Germany's 17 nuclear power plants by 2022. Mrs Merkel wants the closures to start at two-year intervals from 2015 at two plants per odd-numbered year and the final two or three plants, the most modern, in 2022.

The 10 most powerful earthquakes since records began

A forceful 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck Chile on Wednesday off the country's south-central Pacific Coast, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

After being arrested on Saturday over allegations of serious sexual assault, Dominique Strauss-Khan has made his first public appearance handcuffed and surrounded by policeman. He was taken to an unknown location while waiting for his hearing to start in a Manhattan court later on today.

Shares in British banks were down on the FTSE 100 in morning trading after Barclays reported a decline in pre-tax profit in the first quarter of the year.

Shares in Compass Group were up on the FTSE 100 in afternoon trading after the company said it had a "good first half" year ended 31March.

Insurance company Lloyds of London said today that in 2010 it made a profit of £2.2 billion, despite the impact of "significant claims" resulting from natural disasters.

I sat down and started to reach for the mug of coffee that my wife had made for me. My outstretched hand did not make it to the mug because my eyes were fixed on a scene of horror about to unfold on the television.

Shares in British banks were broadly up on the FTSE 100 in morning trading following a positive note from JP Morgan.