The 9.0 quake/tsunami has officials in North and South Korea concerned over possible eruption of the Baekdu volcano in North Korea.
The last time it erupted was in 1903.
The increase seismic activity in the area, including volcanic activity in Japan and Eastern Russia, has Korean officials worried so much that it has become part of their unification discussions. However, both sides are downplaying it.
Korea is directly due west of the Japanese state of Honshu.
150 Russians, including rescue workers sent to help Japan, and Russian news reporters, are trapped in Sendai, dozens of kilometers from the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
They ran out of fuel for their vehicles, and where apparently left behind by rescue workers from other countries. It sounds as if there was a panic to escape the area after the Japanese government order evacuations.
Every now and then, a new law enforcement officer in Idaho mistakenly arrests someone for OPEN possession of a gun. As well, sometimes a citizen freaks out and calls in the police after seeing someone in OPEN possession of a gun.
In Idaho OPEN CARRY of guns is legal. Open carry, as opposed to concealed carry, means you can carry a gun in public as long as it is visible.
Idaho Constitution, Article I Section 11: “….No law shall impose licensure, registration or special taxation on the ownership or possession of firearms or ammunition….”
Of course they are limits to Idaho’s open carry law, like being a convicted felon, being intoxicated and being under the age of 18.
As far as Idaho’s concealed carry licensing, it seems it applies only to handguns.
“The Saudi’s should know for a fact that Tehran will use all the power and potentials at its disposal to halt the oppression of the people of Bahrain.”said Iranian lawmaker Hossein Naqavi.
Majority Sunni Arab countries invaded majority Shia Arab Bahrain, in order to protect the Sunni rulers there from the Shia revolution. Iran and Bahrain are majority Shia Muslim countries.
Iran has asked the UN to take action. The United Nations, pushed by France, U.K. & U.S., has authorized military force against Libya, supposedly to protect the revolutionaries there.
A Bahraini women, who is Sunni, is supporting the Shia rebels; “The government is making this a sectarian issue. I see the way my [Shia] friends are treated and I came here to show solidarity.”
The headquarters of the U.S. 5th Fleet is in Bahrain.
A Japanese newspaper (Sankei Shimbun) has named the workers fighting the nuclear disaster ‘Kesshitai’. It means ‘unit that expects to die’.
A daughter of one of the workers says her father told the family that he will die. The wife of another worker received a message that said: “Please continue to live well, I cannot be home for a while.”
So far, at least 20 people are confirmed to have radiation contamination.
The International Atomic Energy Agency chief, Yukiya Amano, says Japan’s nuclear crisis requires international cooperation.
Yukiya Amano met with Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Friday, and expressed the need for more information from Japanese officials.
A four man team from the IAEA is now in Japan for monitoring of the situation.
Japanese engineers are considering the possibility they will have to bury some of the reactors, at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. This was the final action taken by the Soviets with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
Sand and concrete would be the main ingredients. The Soviets also used boric acid. South Korea has sent samples of boric acid to Japan to test for possible use on the reactors. Japanese officials say they want to continue to attempt to cool down the reactors first.
Japan raised the level of seriousness of the disaster to 5 on the INES scale. International observers had placed it at 6 last week. Obviously there is a difference of opinion. Three Mile Island is rated at 5. Chernobyl is rated at 7, the highest, on the INES scale.
Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa announced that Libya will accept a ceasefire with rebels.
Libyan officials believe the UN Security Council resolution allows the Libyan government to use force in order to protect civilians.
France and United Kingdom say they are preparing for military action. Spain and Norway announced they are prepared to join the enforcement of a no fly zone.
President Obama will make an announcement this afternoon. It is expect that two Arab nations will be named as taking part in the no fly zone operation, Qatar is expected to be one of those countries.
The United States, United Kingdom, France are members of the UN Security Council, and voted for the no fly zone. China, Russia, Germany, India and Brazil are also members, but abstained, they will not help with the no fly zone.
In the 1980’s the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled 5-4 that there was no reason to require nuclear plants to create earthquake disaster plans.
In 2003, an earthquake in California, prompted the Diablo Canyon plant officials to come up with a plan. But, for some unknown reason, they have yet to publish that plan. The plant operators were not required to include earthquakes in its emergency response plan, when the plant was first licensed.
In fact according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, nuclear plants in the U.S. are required to have only a general emergency response plan. In other words they don’t plan for specific types of disasters.
Some officials say no planning is needed because the plants were supposedly built to withstand earthquakes. Tell that to the Japanese. Two workers at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, who survived the 9.0 quake/tsunami, say the plant was falling apart. One of those workers said he was surprised because everyone had been told the plant was earthquake proof.
An attempt to hit reactor 3 with the water cannon of fire truck was successful.
Plans are to rotate 6 to 7 fire trucks to spray 50 tons of water per day, on reactor 3 of the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
The initial attempt using a fire truck, by the Japanese Self Defense Forces, demonstrated that the reactor can be hit. Now the Tokyo Fire Department will take over operations.