Operator says new radioactive leak at Japan’s Fukushima

An estimated 300 tonnes of radioactive water is believed to have leaked from a tank at Japan's crippled nuclear plant, the operator said today as it battled the latest toxic water threat.

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said the leak was believed to be continuing today at Fukushima and it had not yet pinpointed the source of it.

TEPCO said puddles with extremely high radiation levels have been found near the water tanks at the plant.

The radiation level was about 100 millisieverts per hour, it said.

"This means you are exposed to the level of radiation in an hour that a nuclear plant worker is allowed to be exposed to in five years," a TEPCO official told reporters.

The company later said it had identified which tank was leaking but had yet to find the spot from where it was leaking.

"We have instructed TEPCO to find the source of contaminated water...and to seal the leakage point," an official from the Nuclear Regulation Authority told AFP.

Decontamination workers remove radiated soil and leaves from a forest in Kawauchi village, Fukushima prefecture, on July 5, 2013. The most ambitious radiation clean-up ever attempted has proved costly, complex and time-consuming since the Japanese government began it more than two years in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear meltdown. It may also fail. Doubts are mounting that the effort to decontaminate hotspots in an area the size of Connecticut will succeed in its ultimate aim - luring more than 100,000 nuclear evacuees back home.

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JFK’s sole survivor named ambassador to Japan

President Barack Obama yesterday nominated Caroline Kennedy (pic) to become US ambassador to Japan, in the biggest foray into public service for John F Kennedy's sole surviving child.

The former first daughter, who long resisted running for public office, if confirmed will enter a limelight not seen since her childhood as she becomes the face of The United States in one of its closest allies.

Japan hailed the announcement, saying that Kennedy - a crucial early supporter of Obama's presidential bid - enjoyed the "deep confidence" of the president.

Japan "highly appreciates her nomination as reflecting the great importance the Obama administration attaches to the Japan-US alliance," a foreign ministry statement said.

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Japan wants missiles to mull ability to hit enemy bases in defence review

Japan should strengthen the ability of its military to deter and counter missile attacks, including the possible acquisition of the ability to hit enemy bases, the Defence Ministry said, but officials denied this would be used for pre-emptive strikes.

The proposal — Japan’s latest step away from the constraints of its pacifist constitution — is part of a review of defence policy by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government, which released an interim report on the issue today. Final review conclusions are due by the end of the year.

The hawkish Abe took office in December for a rare second term, pledging to bolster the military to cope with what Japan sees as an increasingly threatening security environment, including an assertive China and an unpredictable North Korea.

The report by a defence ministry panel echoed concerns aired in Japan’s latest defence white paper about North Korea’s missile and nuclear programmes, and China’s military build-up and increased activity by its ships and aircraft near disputed islands in the East China Sea — where Japanese and Chinese vessels and planes have been playing cat-and-mouse.

Prime Minister Abe (centre), on a visit to Singapore, reviews an honour guard at the Istana July 26, 2013, with his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong (third left). - See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/world/article/japan-to-mull-ability-to-hit-enemy-bases-in-defence-review#sthash.Hvv9aqPI.dpuf

Prime Minister Abe (centre), on a visit to Singapore, reviews an honour guard at the Istana July 26, 2013, with his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong (third left). - See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/world/article/japan-to-mull-ability-to-hit-enemy-bases-in-defence-review#sthash.Hvv9aqPI.dpuf

Prime Minister Abe (centre), on a visit to Singapore, reviews an honour guard at the Istana July 26, 2013, with his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong (third left).

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Japanese storage box bought for £100 and used as a TV stand sells for £6.3MILLION

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That's a real treasure chest! Japanese storage box bought for £100 and used as a TV stand sells for £6.3MILLION

* Victoria and Albert Museum had been searching worldwide for it since 1941
* The Japanese antique had been expected to sell for £200,000


A wooden chest that was bought for £100 and used as a TV stand has sold for £6.3million after it was revealed to be a rare Japanese antique.

The 5ft long box was snapped up in a private sale in 1970 by the late owner for the small sum, which is the equivalent £1,300 today.

Not realising its true value, the unnamed man used it for years as a TV stand and drinks cabinet at his home.

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Japan nuclear regulator alarmed at Fukushima contamination reports

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Japan's nuclear regulator expressed growing alarm on Wednesday at increased contamination beside the seafront of the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station and urged the plant's operators to take protective measures.

Fukushima's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., has acknowledged problems are mounting at the plant north of Tokyo, the site of the world's worst atomic disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

On Tuesday, the company said radiation levels in groundwater had soared, suggesting highly toxic materials from the plant were getting closer to the Pacific more than two years after three meltdowns triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami.

Shunichi Tanaka, head of the new Nuclear Regulation Authority, told reporters he believed contamination of the sea had been continuing since the March 2011 catastrophe.

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