Saturday, March 19, 2011

The moment nuclear plant chief WEPT as Japanese finally admit that radiation leak is serious enough to kill people

By David Derbyshire
Last updated at 2:13 AM on 19th March 2011

  • Officials admit they may have to bury reactors under concrete - as happened at Chernobyl
  • Government says it was overwhelmed by the scale of twin disasters
  • Japanese upgrade accident from level four to five - the same as Three Mile Island
  • We will rebuild from scratch says Japanese prime minister
  • Particles spewed from wrecked Fukushima power station arrive in California
  • Military trucks tackle reactors with tons of water for second day
Overwhelmed: Tokyo Electric Power Company Managing Director Akio Komiri cries as he leaves after a press conference in Fukushima

Overwhelmed: Tokyo Electric Power Company Managing Director Akio Komiri cries as he leaves after a press conference in Fukushima

The boss of the company behind the devastated Japanese nuclear reactor today broke down in tears - as his country finally acknowledged the radiation spewing from the over-heating reactors and fuel rods was enough to kill some citizens

Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency admitted that the disaster was a level 5, which is classified as a crisis causing 'several radiation deaths' by the UN International Atomic Energy.

Officials said the rating was raised after they realised the full extent of the radiation leaking from the plant. They also said that 3 per cent of the fuel in three of the reactors at the Fukushima plant had been severely damaged, suggesting those reactor cores have partially melted down.

After Tokyo Electric Power Company Managing Director Akio Komiri cried as he left a conference to brief journalists on the situation at Fukushima, a senior Japanese minister also admitted that the country was overwhelmed by the scale of the tsunami and nuclear crisis.

He said officials should have admitted earlier how serious the radiation leaks were.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said: 'The unprecedented scale of the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan, frankly speaking, were among many things that happened that had not been anticipated under our disaster management contingency plans.

'In hindsight, we could have moved a little quicker in assessing the situation and coordinating all that information and provided it faster.'

Nuclear experts have been saying for days that Japan was underplaying the crisis' severity.

It is now officially on a par with the Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania in 1979. Only the explosion at Chernobyl in 1986 has topped the scale.

Deputy director general of the NISA, Hideohiko Nishiyama, also admitted that they do not know if the reactors are coming under control.

He said: 'With the water-spraying operations, we are fighting a fire we cannot see. That fire is not spreading, but we cannot say yet that it is under control.'

But prime minister Naoto Kan insisted that his country would overcome the catastrophe

'We will rebuild Japan from scratch,' he said in a televised speech: 'In our history, this small island nation has made miraculous economic growth thanks to the efforts of all Japanese citizens. That is how Japan was built.'

It comes after pictures emerged showing overheating fuel rods exposed to the elements through a huge hole in the wall of a reactor building at the destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1367684/Nuclear-plant-chief-weeps-Japanese-finally-admit-radiation-leak-kill-people.html#ixzz1H1Y880Su

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1367684/Nuclear-plant-chief-weeps-Japanese-finally-admit-radiation-leak-kill-people.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Libya akan diserang?


PARA pemberontak menggunakan kereta kebal semasa mengawal pintu masuk ke bandar Tobruk, Libya kelmarin.


PARIS – Perancis akan memulakan operasi ketenteraan menentang Libya dalam tempoh beberapa jam lagi bagi membantu para pemberontak menentang kepimpinan Muammar Gaddafi di negara itu.

Operasi ketenteraan itu juga dilakukan selepas Majlis Keselamatan Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu (PBB) meluluskan resolusi kelmarin yang menguatkuasakan zon larangan terbang di Libya dan melancarkan satu operasi ketenteraan untuk mengatasi kemaraan tentera Gaddafi.

Jurucakap pentadbiran Perancis, Francois Baroin mengesahkan bahawa negaranya akan memulakan operasi ketenteraan itu.

Tindakan itu sekali gus akan membolehkan Libya diserang sekali gus menggulingkan Gaddafi yang telah memerintah hampir 42 tahun.

Gaddafi sebelum ini menyatakan beliau tidak akan berundur sebaliknya akan terus berjuang menentang para pemberontak.

Pemberontakan di negara itu bermula pada 15 Februari lalu selepas para penentang melihat kejayaan para penunjuk perasaan berhimpun di Tunisia dan Mesir sehingga mengakibatkan kedua-dua presiden di negara tersebut meletakkan jawatan.

Para pemberontak mendakwa Gaddafi gagal memerintah dengan baik manakala pembaziran wang negara yang dilakukan anak-anaknya didedahkan media.

Sementara itu, satu gencatan senjata diumumkan oleh Menteri Luar Libya, Moussa Koussa.

Menurutnya, pihak tentera akan menghentikan serangan serta-merta ekoran resolusi PBB itu.

Dalam perkembangan sama, Perdana Menteri Britain, David Cameron berkata, tentera negaranya akan menghantar jet-jet pejuang Tornado dan Typhoons termasuk pesawat lain bagi memastikan zon larangan terbang itu dikuatkuasakan.

Sumber-sumber diplomatik menyatakan, Amerika Syarikat (AS) dan salah sebuah negara Arab mungkin menyertai operasi ketenteraan itu. – Agensi

http://www.kosmo.com.my/kosmo/content.asp?y=2011&dt=0319&pub=Kosmo&sec=Dunia&pg=du_02.htm

Radioaktif akan tersebar ke Britain


GAMBAR disiarkan kelmarin menunjukkan reaktor nuklear No.3 di loji jana kuasa nuklear Fukushima Daiichi di Fukushima yang mengalami kerosakan.


STOCKHOLM - Seorang pakar nuklear Sweden memberi amaran debu radioaktif dari loji nuklear Fukushima-Daiichi di Jepun yang bocor akan sampai ke Britain dalam masa dua minggu lagi, lapor sebuah akhbar semalam.

Pakar Institut Kajian Pertahanan Sweden, Lars-Erik De Geer berkata, ramalan debu radioaktif akan tersebar ke Britain dibuat berdasarkan data yang dikumpulkan oleh sekumpulan saintis yang memantau ujian nuklear di China.

Seterusnya, kata De Geer, debu radioaktif itu akan tersebar ke serata Eropah yang jaraknya lebih 14,000 kilometer dari Fukushima, Jepun.

"Namun, orang ramai tidak perlu bimbang kerana debu itu tidak berbahaya kepada manusia," katanya.

Menurut pakar berkenaan, debu radioaktif dari loji nuklear Fukushima Daiichi telah mencemari Amerika Syarikat (AS) selepas ia dikesan melekat pada pesawat-pesawat komersial yang tiba di negara kuasa besar itu.

Menurutnya, asap radiasi pula diramal melanda bahagian perairan barat AS yang terletak lebih 10,000 kilometer dari Jepun, lewat semalam.

Buat masa ini usaha sedang dilakukan bagi menyejukkan nuklear tersebut selepas ia rosak akibat gegaran kuat gempa bumi.

Beberapa pegawai menyatakan, mereka mungkin meletakkan beberapa reaktor nuklear di bawah struktur konkrit bagi mengelak penyebaran debu radioaktif.

Sementara itu, jumlah mangsa korban rasmi dalam gempa bumi dan tsunami yang melanda Jepun pada 11 Mac lalu meningkat kepada 6,539 orang sekali gus melebihi angka korban akibat gempa bumi di Kobe pada 1995.

Agensi Polis Kebangsaan Jepun menyatakan, jumlah mangsa yang hilang pula meningkat sedikit kepada 10,254 orang dengan angka keseluruhan mereka yang mati dan hilang setakat ini adalah 16,893 orang.

Sejumlah 2,513 yang lain cedera dalam bencana itu.

Perdana Menteri Jepun, Naoto Kan semalam menyatakan bahawa pihaknya akan mengatasi tragedi yang berlaku di negaranya.

"Kami akan sekali lagi membina semula Jepun," katanya.

Menurut Kan, kerajaan negaranya akan melaksanakan kawalan tegas di loji nuklear Fukushima Daiichi yang kini mengalami masalah selepas ia meletup sebanyak empat kali.

Dalam gempa bumi itu, hampir 400,000 orang hilang tempat tinggal. - Agensi

http://www.kosmo.com.my/kosmo/content.asp?y=2011&dt=0319&pub=Kosmo&sec=Dunia&pg=du_01.htm

Dulu bercahaya, kini Tokyo bergelap


SUASANA gelap tanpa lampu elektrik di daerah Akihabara, Tokyo semalam.


TOKYO – Bandar raya Tokyo yang dihuni 13 juta penduduk kini bergelap ekoran langkah penjimatan tenaga elektrik akibat kerosakan yang berlaku pada loji jana kuasa nuklear Fukushima Daiichi di Fukushima ekoran gegaran gempa bumi kuat pada 11 Mac lalu.

Loji jana kuasa nuklear itu yang terletak sejauh 250 kilometer dari sini kini dalam proses disejukkan selepas meletup sebanyak empat kali selepas gempa bumi berukuran 9 pada skala Richter berlaku.

Para penduduk di bandar raya ini juga sanggup berkurung di rumah kerana bimbang akan terdedah pada radiasi selepas berlaku kebocoran pada jana kuasa tersebut.

Jika terkena radiasi, asid deosirikbonukleik (DNA) akan rosak, kanser terutamanya tiroid akan dihidapi selain penyakit paru-paru, perut dan usus.

Namun, setakat ini, pihak berkuasa Jepun menyatakan kadar radiasi masih tidak berbahaya buat penduduk di Tokyo.

Banyak bangunan di bandar raya ini mengambil keputusan untuk menutup lampu bagi mengelak bekalan elektrik terputus selepas amaran diberikan oleh Menteri Perdagangan, Ekonomi dan Industri Jepun, Banri Kaieda bahawa satu kawasan yang luas di Jepun mungkin tidak mendapat bekalan elektrik jika penggunaan tenaga tidak dijimatkan.

Salah sebuah kawasan hiburan seks yang terkenal di Roppongi, di sini lengang menyebabkan para pekerja di pusat-pusat hiburan diarah pulang awal kerana kekurangan pelanggan.

“Mereka (pihak pengurusan) menyatakan saya boleh pulang awal,” kata seorang wanita Britain yang menjadi pelayan di sebuah pusat hiburan.

– Agensi

http://www.kosmo.com.my/kosmo/content.asp?y=2011&dt=0319&pub=Kosmo&sec=Dunia&pg=du_03.htm

Iran berjaya cipta piring terbang



AGENSI berita Fars menyiarkan ilustrasi yang menunjukkan bentuk piring terbang ciptaan saintis Iran yang kelihatan sama dengan gambar piring terbang dalam filem keluaran Hollywod pada tahun 1950-an.


TEHERAN - Para saintis di Iran berjaya mencipta piring terbang yang pada kebiasaannya dikaitkan dengan teknologi makhluk asing, lapor sebuah akhbar semalam.

Agensi berita Fars di negara itu turut menyiarkan ilustrasi sebuah piring terbang yang didakwa ciptaan para saintis negara berkenaan yang sedang berlegar-legar di sebuah kawasan hutan.

Dalam ilustrasi itu, bentuk piring terbang tersebut mirip sebuah piring terbang yang terdapat dalam satu filem keluaran Hollywood pada 1950-an.

Menurut laporan tersebut, ukuran dan saiz piring tersebut tidak dinyatakan tetapi mendakwa ia kecil dan mampu terbang.

"Antara kelebihan piring terbang itu adalah ia merupakan pengangkutan yang mudah dikendalikan ketika mula bergerak, semasa terbang dan bunyi yang tidak kuat.

"Ia dikendalikan secara automatik dengan dilengkapi penstabil imej, sistem penentuan global (GPS), perakam aerial dengan gambar kualiti HD (berdefinisi tinggi)," lapor agensi berita ISNA.

Cita-cita Iran dalam mengembangkan program angkasa lepas telah mengejutkan dunia Barat.

Pada tahun lepas, negara itu turut mengumumkan kejayaan melancarkan roket ke angkasa lepas yang membawa tikus, kura-kura dan cacing.

Iran sering kali mengemukakan kejayaan mereka yang pelik dalam bidang saintifik dengan bukti-bukti yang sukar dipercayai.

Tentera laut Amerika Syarikat (AS) di Teluk Parsi masih lagi belum mengesan sebarang kehadiran piring terbang Iran itu. - Agensi

http://www.kosmo.com.my/kosmo/content.asp?y=2011&dt=0319&pub=Kosmo&sec=Dunia&pg=du_04.htm

Songlap duit lapan syarikat

Oleh Kalidevi Mogan Kumarappa
kalidevi@hmetro.com.my

KESAL...Mohd Kamil bersama Chong menunjukkan gambar suspek dan laporan polis yang dibuatnya.
KESAL...Mohd Kamil bersama Chong menunjukkan gambar suspek dan laporan polis yang dibuatnya.

KUALA LUMPUR: Berbekalkan ijazah dalam bidang perakaunan dan kepetahan berkata-kata serta raut wajah baik, seorang lelaki memperdaya lapan bekas majikannya dan menggelapkan kira-kira RM270,000 milik lapan syarikat itu.

Difahamkan, lelaki berusia 40 tahun terbabit menawarkan diri untuk bekerja pada gaji rendah bagi jawatan eksekutif perakaunan untuk memikat hati majikan.


Selepas majikannya yang rata-rata terdiri daripada syarikat swasta yang terkenal menawarkan pekerjaan kepadanya, dia akan membuktikan kemampuannya bekerja sebelum menunjukkan tembelang sebenar.

Suspek berasal dari Kelana Jaya, Selangor, itu juga mahir menipu tandatangan pengarah syarikat dan waran tangkap sudah dikeluarkan terhadapnya, tetapi masih gagal dikesan sehingga kini.


Mangsa terakhirnya, pengarah syarikat, Mohd Kamil Othman,53, berkata suspek bekerja sebagai eksekutif perakaunan di syarikatnya yang terbabit bidang perumahan pada 22 November tahun lalu.


Menurutnya, dia menggunakan modus operandi sama iaitu menawarkan diri untuk bekerja pada gaji serendah RM2,800 sebulan dan pihaknya bersetuju mengupahnya tanpa menyiasat latar belakang majikan lama.

“Sejak mula bekerja, kami tidak syak tingkah lakunya kerana dia seorang pekerja yang rajin.


“Untuk dua bulan pertama bulan, dia bekerja dengan baik, tetapi pada bulan ketiga dia menghilangkan diri bersama RM94,000 wang kutipan sewa,” katanya ketika mendedahkan kejadian itu di Biro Pengaduan Awam MCA, di sini, semalam.

Sementara itu, Ketua Biro Pengaduan Awam MCA, Datuk Micheal Chong, berkata menurut laporan polis, sejak 1999, suspek sudah menggelapkan kira-kira RM270,000 milik lapan syarikat swasta menggunakan taktik sama.


Menurutnya, suspek juga pernah menggelapkan wang berjumlah RM150,000 milik sebuah syarikat perbankan dengan meniru tandatangan pengarah syarikatnya.


“Suspek sangat licik dan tidak pernah bekerja di sesuatu tempat lebih dari empat bulan dan rata-rata kawasan tumpuannya di Bangsar, Shah Alam, Kota Damansara, Cheras, Pudu dan Lembah Klang,” katanya.


http://www.hmetro.com.my/myMetro/articles/Songlapduitlapansyarikat/Article/index_html

Tinggal nama dalam peta

Tinggal nama dalam peta
RATA...sebuah perkampungan di daerah Natori musnah akibat gempa bumi dan tsunami.
RATA...sebuah perkampungan di daerah Natori musnah akibat gempa bumi dan tsunami.

SENDAI: Umpama dilanggar garuda. Itu perumpamaan tepat bagi menggambarkan kemusnahan teruk yang melanda wilayah timur laut Miyagi iaitu satu daripada empat wilayah terjejas akibat gempa bumi dan tsunami yang genap seminggu hari ini.

Daerah Natori dalam wilayah itu adalah paling teruk terjejas dan ada beberapa kampung kini hanya tinggal nama dalam peta Jepun selepas semua itu lenyap sekelip mata sebaik berlaku bencana.


Di daerah ini saja, 2,000 mayat sudah ditemui manakala lebih 10,000 daripada 930,000 orang dilaporkan hilang.

Usaha mencari dan menyelamat juga agak perlahan kerana keadaan cuaca sejuk hingga mencecah suhu -4 darjah di bawah tahap beku.


Setakat ini, puluhan ribu rumah penduduk dalam lingkungan 10 kilometer dari pantai ranap dibadai tsunami dianggarkan setinggi 10 meter.


Mengikut statistik terkini dikeluarkan pihak berkuasa Jepun, 10,000 mayat sudah ditemui di empat wilayah berkenaan manakala jumlah mereka yang hilang masih belum dapat dipastikan tetapi dianggarkan berjumlah lebih 20,000 orang.

Apa yang menghairankan, tiada penduduk berkeliaran mencari barangan berharga di rumah masing-masing yang ranap sebaliknya semua berlindung di pusat penempatan sementara yang banyak diwujudkan di setiap kawasan berlaku bencana.


Tinjauan Harian Metro ke kawasan sekitar Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Sendai mendapati kawasan itu tiada lagi berpenghuni dan terbiar kosong.

Apa yang kelihatan hanya runtuhan bangunan, sampah sarap, kenderaan tersadai dan lumpur.


Bekalan barangan keperluan juga meruncing, penduduk terpaksa berbaris panjang untuk membeli makanan terutama di kawasan sedikit terjejas manakala di kawasan bencana langsung tiada kedai dibuka, malah restoran juga tidak beroperasi. Keadaan ini berlaku di bandar Matsushima terletak di pinggir bandar raya ini.


Semua mangsa bergantung sepenuhnya kepada bantuan kerajaan yang dilihat amat berkesan dalam menangani krisis bencana terbesar sejak Perang Dunia Kedua.


http://www.hmetro.com.my/articles/Tinggalnamadalampeta/Article

Helikopter, trak tentera simbah air

ANGGOTA bomba Jepun menurunkan mayat mangsa daripada rumah dua tingkat yang musnah di Kamaishi, timur laut Jepun, semalam.
ANGGOTA bomba Jepun menurunkan mayat mangsa daripada rumah dua tingkat yang musnah di Kamaishi, timur laut Jepun, semalam.

TOKYO: Trak dan helikopter tentera Jepun semalam digunakan untuk menyimbah air pada reaktor di loji nuklear Fukushima dalam usaha menyejukkan rod bahan pembakar, sekali gus menghalang kebocoran radiasi.

Dua trak dn empat helikopter digunakan oleh Pasukan Pertahanan Jepun dalam operasi di loji Fukushima 1,250 kilometer ke timur laut Tokyo, menurut stesen penyiaran NHK.


Pihak tentera setakat ini menghantar lima trak ke tempat kejadian. Terdahulu, polis cuba menggunakan meriam air tetapi tidak berjaya kerana terpaksa berada agak jauh dari reaktor berkenaan memandangkan paras radiasi yang tinggi di kawasan itu.

Anggota polis terpaksa berada di luar trak mereka untuk memancutkan air sedangkan trak khas tentera itu dibina untuk memboleh anggotanya berada di dalam trak terbabit. Menteri Pertahanan, Toshimi Kitazawa berkata, lebih banyak kenderaan tentera akan dikerah membantu usaha menyejukkan reaktor itu sementara pam yang dibekalkan tentera Amerika Syarikat juga digunakan.


Agensi keselamatan nuklear Jepun sebelum ini berkata, usaha paling penting ialah mencurahkan air dalam kolam rod bahan pembakar di reaktor tiga dan empat yang mungkin menggelegak dan tidak dilitupi bumbung sepenuhnya untuk mengurangkan kebocoran radiasi. - AFP

http://www.hmetro.com.my/myMetro/articles/Helikopter_traktenterasimbahair/Article/index_html

Radioaktif dikesan pada penumpang dari Jepun

TAIPEI: Pihak berkuasa Taiwan setakat ini mengesan zarah radioaktif pada 25 penumpang yang tiba dengan pesawat dari Jepun.

Sehari selepas kelengkapan mengimbas dipasang di tiga lapangan terbang utama di negara itu, lebih 4,400 orang yang tiba dari Jepun sudah diperiksa dan 25 didapati membawa zarah radioaktif, kata Majlis Tenaga Atom Taiwan.


“Kebanyakan zarah radioaktif itu ditemui pada kasut atau pakaian mereka,” kata seorang pegawai.

Bagaimanapun, mereka dibenarkan memasuki negara itu selepas menukar kasut atau pakaian atau membasuh barangan yang terjejas dengan air.


Pakar unit tentera yang dilatih khas dalam menghadapi perang nuklear, ditempatkan di ketiga-tiga lapangan berkenaan.


Taiwan juga sudah mula mengimbas makanan yang diimport dari Jepun untuk mengesan kehadiran radioaktif. - Reuters’


http://www.hmetro.com.my/myMetro/articles/RadioaktifdikesanpadapenumpangdariJepun/Article/index_html

Jarak Korea-Jepun makin jauh

SEOUL: Saintis berkata, gempa bumi kuat diikuti dengan tsunami dengan ombak setinggi 10 meter yang melanda Jepun Jumaat lalu telah menjauhkan jarak antara negara itu dengan Semenanjung Korea sebanyak dua meter.

Institut Astronomi dan Sains Angkasa Lepas Korea (KASSI) berkata, Semenanjung Korea bergerak ke timur sebanyak lima sentimeter sementara Jepun beralih kira-kira 2.4 meter ke timur. “Kami masih mengawasi untuk melihat sama ada pergerakan itu berlaku secara kekal atau sementara,” menurut jurucakap institut itu. - Agensi


http://www.hmetro.com.my/myMetro/articles/JarakKorea-Jepunmakinjauh/Article/index_html

Tentera Libya akan hapuskan pemberontak: Gaddafi

TOBRUK: Pemimpin Libya, Muammar Gaddafi, berkata angkatan tenteranya akan berjuang hingga pemberontak dihapuskan ketika Washington menyokong gesaan supaya Majlis Keselamatan Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu (PBB) menguatkuasakan zon larangan terbang di negara itu.

Kenyataan terbaru Gaddafi itu dikeluarkan selepas tenteranya menyerang pemberontak di barat dan mengancam kubu di timur Benghazi walaupun Setiausaha Agung PBB, Ban Ki-moon mendesak supaya gencatan senjata dilakukan segera.


“Pertempuran bermula hari ini di Misrata dan esok adalah pertempuran terakhir,” kata Gaddafi ketika berucap dalam televisyen kerajaan merujuk kepada bandar raya ketiga Libya yang dihuni 500,000 penduduk.

“Mulai petang ini anda akan dipanggil untuk mengangkat senjata dan esok anda perlu mengambil bahagian dalam pertempuran,” tambahnya ketika berucap kepada sekumpulan golongan muda dari Misrata. Gaddafi juga menggesa tenteranya supaya tidak meninggalkan Misrata kepada kumpulan ‘orang gila’. Televisyen kerajaan di Libya berkata, pihak tentera akan mara ke Benghazi dan anak Gaddafi, Seif al-Islam pula menjangkakan semuanya akan berakhir dalam tempoh 48 jam. - AFP


http://www.hmetro.com.my/myMetro/articles/TenteraLibyaakanhapuskanpemberontak_Gaddafi/Article/index_html

Dibuai angin asmara

Dibuai angin asmara

Oleh Norfaisal Jahuri
am@hmetro.com.my

PONDOK...rumah di atas pokok yang diserbu penguat kuasa Jaim, kelmarin.
PONDOK...rumah di atas pokok yang diserbu penguat kuasa Jaim, kelmarin.

MELAKA: Seorang lelaki sanggup berbelanja besar untuk mengubah suai pangkin bagi mencapai hasratnya mendirikan sebuah ‘mahligai’ di atas pokok bagi membolehkan dia tinggal sebumbung bersama kekasihnya.

Bagaimanapun, kediaman ibarat chalet di Pantai Kundor, dekat sini, yang lengkap elektrik, tempat tidur, televisyen dan tandas milik lelaki itu diserbu sepasukan penguat kuasa Jabatan Agama Islam Melaka (Jaim) kira-kira jam 1.30 pagi kelmarin.


Dalam serbuan itu, Jaim menahan seorang lelaki tempatan berusia 31 tahun dan kekasihnya, wanita warga Indonesia berusia 23 tahun yang mendiami pondok terbabit.

Turut ditahan ialah anak saudara lelaki terbabit berusia 22 tahun yang berada dalam rumah di atas pokok itu dipercayai mengunjungi mereka.


Pondok terbabit dibina tiang penyokong, tangga dan mempunyai titi untuk ke beberapa bahagian di atas pokok berkenaan selain dilengkapi beranda.


Ketua Pegawai Penguat Kuasa Jaim, Rahimin Bani, berkata sepasukan pegawai dan anggotanya ke pondok terbabit selepas menerima aduan ada perbuatan maksiat dilakukan di sebuah rumah di atas pokok.

Katanya, apabila tiba di lokasi berkenaan pihaknya mendapati ada tangga untuk naik ke pondok dan selepas dua anggotanya naik serta mengetuk pintu, ia dibuka seorang lelaki.


“Selepas memperkenalkan diri, anggota kami masuk ke dalam pondok terbabit dan menemui seorang lagi lelaki serta seorang wanita.

“Apabila disoal siasat, wanita itu tiada hubungan mahram dengan kedua-dua lelaki terbabit. Wanita itu juga mengaku tinggal di dalam pondok terbabit bersama lelaki berusia 31 tahun itu yang juga kekasihnya,” katanya.


Rahimin berkata, siasatan awal mendapati pasangan terbabit tinggal di pondok yang diubah suai di atas pokok berkenaan sejak hampir setahun lalu.


Katanya, berdasarkan maklumat, pondok terbabit asalnya dijadikan tempat seorang ahli keluarga lelaki itu mengajar al-Quran yang meninggal dunia beberapa tahun lalu dan sejak itu pondok terbabit tidak digunakan.


Menurutnya, lelaki terbabit yang bekerja sendiri mengubah suai pangkin berkenaan untuk dijadikan kediamannya.


“Bagaimanapun, dia bertindak luar batasan apabila tinggal bersama wanita Indonesia yang juga seorang pekerja industri seolah-olah suami isteri,” katanya.


Rahimin berkata, dua lelaki dan wanita warga Indonesia terbabit kini disiasat mengikut Seksyen 53, Enakmen Kesalahan Syariah Negeri Melaka 1991, kerana bersekediaman dengan bukan muhrim. Jika sabit kesalahan, mereka boleh didenda RM3,000 atau penjara selama 24 bulan atau kedua-duanya.


http://www.hmetro.com.my/articles/Dibuaianginasmara/Article

Libya offers cease-fire after UN no-fly zone vote


Men, who used to work in Libya and fled the unrest in the country, wait to be repatriated in a refugee camp at the Tunisia-Libyan border, in Ras Ajdir AP – Men, who used to work in Libya and fled the unrest in the country, wait to be repatriated in a refugee …

TRIPOLI, Libya – Libya declared an immediate cease-fire Friday, trying to fend off international military intervention after the U.N. authorized a no-fly zone and "all necessary measures" to prevent the regime from striking its own people. A rebel spokesman said Moammar Gadhafi's forces were still shelling two cities.

The cease-fire announcement by the Libyan foreign minister followed a fierce government attack on Misrata, the last rebel-held city in the western half of the country. A doctor said at least six people died.

Mustafa Gheriani, a spokesman for the rebels, said attacks continued well past the announcement.

"He's bombing Misrata and Adjadbiya from 7 a.m. this morning until now. How can you trust him?" Gheriani said.

The U.N. Security Council resolution, which was passed late Thursday after weeks of deliberation, set the stage for airstrikes, a no-fly zone and other military measures short of a ground invasion. Britain announced that it would send fighter jets, Italy offered the use of its bases, and France was making plans to deploy planes. The U.S. had yet to announce its role. NATO also held an emergency meeting.

With the international community mobilizing, Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa said the government would cease fire in line with the resolution, although he criticized the authorization of international military action, calling it a violation of Libya's sovereignty.

"The government is opening channels for true, serious dialogue with all parties," he said during a news conference in Tripoli, the capital. He took no questions.

In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the first goal of international action is to end the violence in Libya.

"We have to see a very clear set of decisions" by Gadhafi's forces, she said. Clinton said government forces must pull "a significant distance away from the east" — where the rebels now hold sway.

The rebels, once confident, found themselves in danger of being crushed by an overpowering pro-Gadhafi force using rockets, artillery, tanks, warplanes. That force has advanced eastward along the Mediterranean coast in recent days.

A large crowd in the Benghazi, the city where the uprising started on Feb. 15, watched the U.N. vote on an outdoor TV projection and burst into cheers, with green and red fireworks exploding overhead. In Tobruk, another eastern city, happy Libyans fired weapons in the air to celebrate.

"We think Gadhafi's forces will not advance against us. Our morale is very high now. I think we have the upper hand," said Col. Salah Osman, a former army officer who defected to the rebel side. He was at a checkpoint near the eastern town of Sultan.

Western powers faced pressure to act quickly as Gadhafi's forces gained momentum. The U.S. has positioned a host of forces and ships, including submarines, destroyers, and amphibious assault and landing ships with some 400 Marines aboard. It also could provide a range of surveillance.

In an interview with Portuguese television broadcast just before the U.N. vote, Gadhafi pledged to respond harshly to U.N.-sponsored attacks. "If the world is crazy," he said, "we will be crazy, too."

The Libyan government closed its airspace Friday, according to Europe's air traffic control agency, Eurocontrol.

Government tanks rolled into Misrata, 125 miles (200 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli, early Friday, shelling houses, hospitals and a mosque for several hours before pulling back to the city's outskirts, witnesses said. At least six people were killed, raising the total death toll in two days of fighting to nine, a local doctor said.

Misrata is the rebels' last western holdout after Gadhafi recaptured a string of other cities that fell to the opposition early. Its fall would leave the country largely divided, with the rebels bottled up in the east near the border with Egypt.

The city has been under a punishing blockade that has prevented aid ships from delivering medicine and other supplies, the doctor said.

"They haven't stopped shelling us for a week — we sleep to shelling, and wake up to shelling. They are targeting houses and hospitals," he said, adding the hospital had been overwhelmed.

"We have had to perform surgeries in the hallways using the light from our cell phones to see what we're doing. We are also using some clinics around the town, some only have 60 beds, which isn't enough," he said.

Another doctor claimed Gadhafi's forces had surrounded some neighborhoods and were shooting at people who ventured outside. "Militias used two ambulances to jump out of and shoot at innocent people indiscriminately," he said.

Gadhafi troops encircled the city of Ajdabiya, the first in the path of their march, but also had some troops positioned beyond it toward Benghazi, the second largest Libyan city, with a population of about 700,000.

Libya's unrest began in Benghazi and spread east to Tripoli. Like others in the Mideast, the uprising started with popular demonstrations against Gadhafi, rejecting his 41 years of despotic and often brutal rule. The tone quickly changed after Gadhafi's security in Tripoli forcefully put down the gatherings there.

Soon rebel forces began arming themselves, quickly taking control of the country's east centered on Benghazi. Some Libyan army units joined the rebels, providing them with some firepower, but much less than Gadhafi's remaining forces.

There are no reliable death tolls. Rebels say more than 1,000 people have been killed in a month of fighting, while Gadhafi claims the toll is only 150.

Raw Video: Benghazi celebrates UN no-fly zone Play Video AP – Raw Video: Benghazi celebrates UN no-fly zone

___

Lucas reported from Benghazi, Libya. Associated Press writers Slobodan Lekic in Brussels and Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110318/ap_on_re_af/af_libya

Japan official: Disasters overwhelmed government

AP/Asahi Shiimbun, Yasuhiro Sugimoto

Akio Komori AP – Tokyo Electric Power Co. Managing Director Akio Komori, second right, and other officials of the company …

TOKYO – The Japanese government acknowledged Friday that it was overwhelmed by the scale of last week's twin natural disasters, slowing the response to the nuclear crisis that was triggered by the earthquake and tsunami that left at least 10,000 people dead.

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.

[Related: What is radioactive iodine poisoning?]

Nuclear experts have been saying for days that Japan was underplaying the severity of the nuclear crisis, which later Friday the prime minister called "very grave."

The International Nuclear Event Scale defines a Level 4 incident as having local consequences and a Level 5 as having wider consequences.

Hidehiko Nishiyama of Japan's nuclear safety agency said the rating was raised when officials realized that at least 3 percent of the fuel in three of the reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant had been severely damaged, suggesting those reactor cores have partially melted down and thrown radioactivity into the environment.

"The unprecedented scale of the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan, frankly speaking, were among many things that happened that had not been anticipated under our disaster management contingency plans," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano, admitting that information had not been shared quickly enough.

"In hindsight, we could have moved a little quicker in assessing the situation and coordinating all that information and provided it faster," he said.

Later, Prime Minister Naoto Kan urged the nation to unite.

"We will rebuild Japan from scratch. We must all share this resolve," he said in a nationally televised address, calling the crises a "great test for the Japanese people."

At the stricken complex, military fire trucks sprayed the reactor units for a second day, with tons of water arcing over the facility in desperate attempts to prevent the fuel from overheating and spewing 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 working amid heightened radiation levels at the complex.

[Related: What is acute radiation syndrome?]

Last week's 9.0 quake and tsunami set off the nuclear problems by knocking out power to cooling systems at the Fukushima plant on the northeast coast. Since then, four of its 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 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 twin disasters — which has officially left more than 6,900 dead and more than 10,700 missing — emergency crews are facing two challenges in the nuclear crisis: cooling the reactors where energy is generated, and cooling the adjacent pools where used nuclear fuel rods are stored in water.

Both need water to stop their uranium from heating up and 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. Without enough water, the rods may heat further and spew out radiation.

"Dealing with Unit 3 is our utmost priority," Edano told reporters.

Edano said 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.

[Related: Carriers offering free calls to Japan]

While Tokyo quickly welcomed international help for the natural disasters, the government initially balked at assistance with the nuclear crisis. That reluctance softened as the problems at Fukushima multiplied. Washington says its technical experts are now exchanging information with officials from Tokyo Electric Power Co., which owns the plant, and with government agencies.

A U.S. military fire truck was also used to help spray water into Unit 3, according to air force Chief of Staff Shigeru Iwasaki, though the vehicle was apparently driven by Japanese workers.

The U.S. vehicle was used alongside six Japanese military fire trucks normally used to extinguish fires at plane crashes.

The fire trucks allowed emergency workers to stay a relatively safe distance from the radiation, firing the water with high-pressure cannons. The firefighters also are able to direct the cannons from inside the vehicle.

Officials shared few details about Friday's operation, which lasted nearly 40 minutes, though Iwasaki said he believed some water had reached its target.

The U.S. has also now conducted overflights of the reactor site, strapping sophisticated pods onto aircraft to measure airborne radiation, U.S. officials said. Two tests conducted Thursday gave readings that U.S. Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel B. Poneman said reinforced the U.S. recommendation that people keep away from a 50-mile (80-kilometer) radius around the Fukushima plant.

Tsunami survivors observed a minute of silence Friday afternoon to mark one week since the quake, which struck at 2:46 p.m. on March 11. Many were bundled up against the cold 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 hunkering down 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.

After meeting with Kan and other senior officials, the U.N.'s Amano complained that his agency had not been receiving critical information. He said, for instance, the IAEA wanted to know what kind of radioactive elements were being released but could not get the data.

"This kind of information is needed in a timely way, and we hope the Japanese government will provide it. We hope everything will be better," Amano told reporters.

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 (80-kilometer) evacuation zone for its citizens, wider than the 12-mile (20-kilometer) 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 hoped to completed the effort late Friday, said nuclear safety agency spokesman Minoru Ohgoda.

But even once the power is reconnected, it was not clear if the cooling systems were intact and will still work.

Workers were completing laying cables around Units 1 and 2 on Friday, a power company official said, and hoped to reach more units Saturday. Even so, experts will have to check for anything volatile to avoid an explosion when the electricity is turned on.

"There may be sparks, so I can't deny the risk," said Teruaki Kobayashi.

President Barack Obama assured 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.

About 343,000 Japanese households still do not have electricity, and about 1 million have no water.

At the Fukushima 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.

The actions authorities are taking to cool the reactors are the best ones available, experts say. Eventually, the plant may be entombed in concrete, as was done hastily after the 1986 Chernobyl reactor accident.

But pressures and temperatures must be controlled before then, said Mario V. Bonaca, an adviser to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Otherwise, he said, overheated nuclear fuel will melt or burst through the sand, cement or other covering and release more radiation.

  • Japan hit by huge earthquake, tsunami Slideshow:Japan hit by huge earthquake, tsunami
  • An aerial view of Fukushima's damaged reactors Play Video Video:An aerial view of Fukushima's damaged reactors AFP
  • ___

    Talmadge reported from Yamagata. Associated Press writers Elaine Kurtenbach, Tim Sullivan, Shino Yuasa and Jeff Donn in Tokyo, Todd Pitman in Shizugaza and Kelly Olsen in Narita, Japan contributed to this report.


    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110318/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_earthquake

    Yemeni snipers open fire on protesters, kill 40


    Anti-government protestors carry a boy shot in the head during clashes in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, March 18, 2011. Yemeni security forces firing from roo AP – Anti-government protestors carry a boy shot in the head during clashes in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, March …

    SANAA, Yemen – Yemeni government snipers firing from rooftops and houses shot into a crowd of tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Friday, killing at least 40 people and injuring hundreds demanding the ouster of the autocratic president.

    The protest in the central square was the largest yet in the popular uprising that began a month ago — and the harsh government response marked a new level of brutality from the security forces of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, a key — if uneasy — ally in the U.S. campaign against al-Qaida who has ruled Yemen for 30 years.

    Saleh declared a nationwide state of emergency hours after the shootings in the capital, formally giving the security forces a freer hand to confront the demonstrators. There was no word on how long the emergency laws would remain in place.

    Dozens of enraged protesters stormed several buildings that were the source of the gunfire, detaining 10 people including paid thugs who they said would be handed over to judicial authorities.

    Demonstrators have camped out in squares across Yemen for over a month to demand that Saleh leave office. Security forces and pro-government thugs have used live fire, rubber bullets, tear gas, sticks, knives and rocks to suppress them. The protesters say they won't go until Saleh does.

    "They want to scare and terrorize us. They want to drag us into a cycle of violence — to make the revolution meaningless," said Jamal Anaam, a 40-year-old activist camping out in the square that the protesters call "Taghyir Square" — Arabic for "Change."

    "They want to repeat the Libyan experiment, but we refuse to be dragged into violence no matter what the price," he said.

    Before the shooting Friday in Sanaa, a military helicopter flew low over the square as protesters arrived from prayers. Gunfire soon erupted from rooftops and houses above the demonstrators, where witnesses said beige-clad elite forces and plainclothes security officials took aim.

    A state TV report denied government forces were behind the gunfire.

    Police used burning tires and gasoline to make a wall of fire that blocked demonstrators from fleeing down a main road leading to sensitive locations, including the president's residence.

    Panic and chaos swept the square, where dozens of dead and wounded sprawled on the ground. Witnesses said the snipers aimed at heads, chests and necks. Protesters carried their friends, scarves pressed over bleeding wounds.

    "It is a massacre," said Mohammad al-Sabri, an opposition spokesman. "This is part of a criminal plan to kill off the protesters, and the president and his relatives are responsible for the bloodshed in Yemen today."

    Saleh announced a press conference later Friday. Opposition groups also planned an emergency meeting to discuss their next steps.

    Before the protests, Yemeni elite forces fortified the president's residence, the Interior Ministry, the Defense Ministry and the building housing the ruling party, apparently fearing demonstrators would storm those areas, as they have done elsewhere in uprisings across the Middle East.

    Doctors at the makeshift field hospital near the protest camp at Sanaa University confirmed at least 40 dead, three of them children. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

    Interior Minister Gen. Mouthar al-Masri, who is in charge of internal security forces, put the number of dead at 25 and the injured at 200.

    Medical officials and witnesses say hundreds were wounded in Friday's violence, which marks a dramatic escalation of the crisis that has engulfed Yemen.

    The protests are just one of the problems in this extremely poor, tribal country. Saleh's weak central government also faces one of the world's most active al-Qaida branches, a secessionist rebellion in the south and a Shiite uprising in the north.

    ___

    Karam reported from Cairo.


    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110318/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_yemen

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