DISASTERS

Japan has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that a spent fuel storage pond at an earthquake-damaged reactor is on fire and radioactivity is being released directly into the atmosphere, the Vienna-based U.N. atomic watchdog said.

Observers across the cyberworld have noticed something quite fascinating about the unfolding horror in Japan in the wake of the deadly earthquake and tsunami – a lack of looting by Japanese people, who, rather than take advantage of a crisis for personal gain, appear to be unified and behaving lawfully.

IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano's Statement on Nuclear Safety in Earthquake-stricken Japan

Home to much of the world's semiconductor factories and electronics companies, Japan's devastation will have significant effects on global electronics supplies.

Google's Crisis Center and Person Finder provides immediate, real time assistance to those affected by the earthquake and tsunami.

Will there be chaos, a flurry of natural disasters and extreme weather on March 19 when the moon will come close to Earth? The full moon at lunar perigee, the closest approach during its orbit, can wreak havoc on Earth, according to astrologers. But the scientific community doesn't see reason for hiding under the table and stocking up supplies though it doesn’t rubbish the impact of the phenomenon altogether.

One Australian dollar can get you about 1.37 New Zealand dollars right now. That’s an extreme low level for the New Zealand dollar, according to data compared by Westpac Global Strategy Group.

Fleeing after years of war in Iraq, many refugees arriving in the United States can't find the jobs they need to rebuild their lives. Unemployment among Iraqi refugees is estimated at nearly three times the national average of 9 percent, and up to 2,000 of those who arrived in the past four years may have left for other countries.

It will be awfully hard for William and Kate’s nuptials to match the intense media coverage and global impact of another Royal Wedding from thirty years ago -- when William’s parents Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer were married

China will breed its own high-yield seeds and set up large seed companies to help ensure the country's food security in coming decades.

President Barack Obama's fiscal 2012 budget proposal to Congress showed a small decline from what is expected to be the previous year's budget, with the deficit set to decrease by nearly a third thanks mostly to higher taxes.

The low-end model, called OneBreath, was designed by a team of researchers led by Matthew Callaghan, MD, at Stanford Biodesign and aims to bridge, in part at least, the overriding global shortage of these critical medical devices, especially in developing countries.

Global reinsurance giant Swiss Re said Australia's natural disaster risk was increasing and urged its governments to cover the rising damages bill using insurance instruments like catastrophe bonds as opposed to one-off disaster levies.

Properties underlying Australian commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) experienced minimal disruption as a result of the recent flooding and cyclone experienced in Queensland, Australia, according to Standard & Poor's Ratings Services.

Governments in the Asia-Pacific region face the risk of unprecedented numbers of people displaced by floods, storms and other impacts of climate change, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said in a report on Monday.

The Australian government's support has slipped to dangerously low levels following a summer of natural disasters and as Prime Minister Julia Gillard fights for a new tax to pay for flood and cyclone reconstruction, a new poll found on Monday.

Australia's cruel summer of cyclones and floods could generate a new, devastating political storm for Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who now must buck hostile public opinion to find a way to pay for the clean-up.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) issued a statement over the weekend saying a phenomenon called atmospheric river (AR) caused disastrous high winds and rains in northern California in October, but the information inadvertently touched a sensitive chord among anxious residents, triggering a flare-up of fears about massive natural calamities waiting in the wings.

The three-part series is set to generate a lot of excitement with a love triangle and two character reveals

Rescue workers in Brazil braced for more rain on Friday as they struggled to reach areas cut off by massive floods and landslides that look certain to have killed more than 500 people.

Tata Steel, the world's seventh-largest steel maker, said on Friday that it would hold on to its shares in Australian miner Riversdale, calling it a strategic stake.