Radiation readings at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility rose to the highest level since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami knocked out cooling systems, impeding efforts to contain the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl, Bloomberg News said. Two robots took readings as high as 1,120 millisierverts per hour -- more than four times the annual...

Japan raised the severity level of its nuclear crisis to the maximum of seven, putting the Fukushima power-plant disaster on a par with the 1986 Chernobyl accident, CNN said. The move followed a review of the amount of radiation released in the month since an earthquake and tsunami severely damaged the facility. But Fukushima is not another Chernobyl, experts...

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex said it had “no choice but to scrap” four reactor units at the Japanese facility following damage stemming from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, according to The New York Times. As new tests of seawater near the plant showed sharply increased levels of radioactive iodine, smoke was seen...

Emergency workers battling to limit the damage at Japan’s quake-stricken Fukushima nuclear plant were temporarily pulled back on Wednesday as radiation levels spiked to dangerous levels, said the New York Times. Panic buying was reported in Tokyo, sparked by fears leaked radiation could reach the city, while foreign embassies advised their citizens...

Burundi has become the sixth upriver Nile country to sign up to an agreement to alter historic water-sharing arrangements, Reuters reported. Egypt, which is almost entirely dependent on the Nile for its water and is under interim military rule, has said it welcomes development cooperation with other basin states, on condition that its own water shares...