Fukushima

The release of wastewater from Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant was temporarily suspended on Friday following an earthquake, its operator said.

A 5.8-magnitude jolt struck off the coast of the northeastern Fukushima region, home to the plant wrecked by a tsunami in 2011, at 00:14 am Friday (1514 GMT Thursday), the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

Around 100 fishermen and locals living near Fukushima will file a lawsuit this week seeking to stop the release of wastewater from the stricken Japanese nuclear plant, they said yesterday.

Twelve years after one of the world's worst nuclear accidents, on Aug. 24 Japan began releasing treated cooling water from the facility into the Pacific Ocean.

Japan fell silent on March 11 to mark 10 years since the worst natural disaster in the country's living memory: a powerful earthquake, deadly tsunami and nuclear meltdown that traumatized a nation.

A minute's silence was observed across the country at 2.46 pm local time (0546 GMT), the precise moment a 9.0 magnitude quake hit off the northeast coast on March 11, 2011.

When a huge earthquake and tsunami struck Japan on March 11, 2011, devastating towns and triggering nuclear meltdowns in Fukushima, a stunned world watched the chaotic struggle to contain the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

The Olympic flame will be on display until the end of April in Japan's northeastern prefecture of Fukushima.

Tokyo Olympic and prefecture officials held an official "handover ceremony" on Wednesday at the J-Village National Training Center in Fukushima.

Japan made significant changes in the safety standards of nuclear power reactors due to the severe disaster in Fukushima in 2011 when a nuclear power plant damaged by a tsunami caused serious environmental problems.

Pope Francis arrived for his four-day visit to Japan, expected to make a call for nuclear disarmament tomorrow, BTA reported.

The Thai Airways plane with the Pope, accompanied by a Vatican delegation and journalists, arrived in Tokyo after a six-hour flight from Bangkok.

A Japanese court on Feb. 20 awarded nearly $4 million in fresh damages to scores of residents forced to flee their homes after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown.

A magnitude 6 earthquake shook an area east of the Japanese Fukushima Prefecture, where the Fukushima Power Plant is located, reports Actualno.

According to data from the National Meteorological Administration, the epicenter was in the Pacific Ocean at a depth of 10 km. There is no information about injuries and damages, there is no danger of tsunami waves, reported BGNews.

An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 has been detected off the coast of Japan.
The US Geological Survey said that the earthquake struck about 286km south east of Kamaishi, and around 321km east of Fukushima.
The depth of the earthquake, which struck at 2.37am local time, was measured at 10km. Details of any damage are yet to emerge.