>> hello and welcome to our special coverage of the latest events in japan. first what is happening at the moment -- a un's nuclear chief calls the situation after the stricken fukushima very worrying after a blast car radiation levels rose for a time. at the u.s. is sending more specialists to help al with the threat. in the country's -- in the country, the northeast humanitarian crisis -- the government has appealed for calm as people in tokyo began to flee

the city or stock up on the essential supplies. >> in japan, the un's the nuclear energy agency says the containment wall at one of the reactors at the fukushima power plant may have been breached after an explosion on monday. radiation levels rose after a fire and separate reactor blast. most of the people within 30 kilometers have been evacuated. those remaining are being urged to stay indoors. above normal radiation levels have been measured in tokyo, 250 kilometers to the south. >> it tuesday's fire in reactor no. 4 and damage from explosions at the other reactor blocks pose a potentially disastrous

situation. reports say pull for spent fuel rods in reactor no. 4 may have overheated and cannot be refueled -- cannot be refilled with water. workers are making a desperate attempt to pour water into the partially damaged roof using helicopters. >> of the radiation level is now rather high. there is a high chance of further leakage of radiation om now on. >> communities around the power plant have been evacuated. tens of thousands of residents have been taken to emergency shelters. 140,000 more people have been told to remain indoors. a no-fly zone has been imposed over the area. the plant's operator, tokyo electric power, has been sharply criticized in the japanese media for being slow to inform the public about the unfolding events. the company has evacuated all but 50 employees from the stricken plant. >> while we will continue the water injection, we have begun temporarily movingut workers

not involved in that job as well as administrative staff to the safe area. >> in tokyo, some 250 kilometers away, things seem normal, but the wind has driven a radioactive cloud over the city, raising contamination levels slightly. those who can are heading to southern japan are leaving the country entirely. people know longer trust the nuclear plant operators or the government. >> they say there is no need to worry, but i wonder if they're telling the truth. i'm very worried. >> people who cannot or do not want to leave tokyo are stocking up on food or other supplies like gas camping stoves. there are rolling power outages in the japanese capital. the latest forecast gives some reason for optimism. it says the wind will turn,

taking their radioactive cloud out to sea. with every new day, there are growing problems at the fukushima nuclear power plant. for more analysis, i'm joined by my colleague and a science correspondent. thank you for being with us. the iaea is calling these latest problems at the plant a disturbing. what do you make of them? >> it is not really do it news. what they did was recapitulate what has happened in the last 24 hours. there was the explosion at reactor no. 2, which was expect but quite desuctive. it might or might not have actually broken into the construction which is there to prevent radiation from leaving the facility. there was a spike in radiation which subsequently disbursed. the spike was quite high, about

400 times what they say you should get in the year. that came within a single hour at the reactor. on the other hand, there is good news. seems that reactors no. 11 and no. 3 seed to have been relatively stable today. the communications have to be better between the japanese government and the iaea. >> you spoke about a spike in radiation levels. what does that mean as far as health concerns for the population? >> longer-term exposure to higher levels of radiation, particularly radio isotopes like iodine, it is not good for you. is a very healthy thing but the spike we saw today is not going to be something that will put people's lives in danger. there is a 20 kilometer exclusion zone around the source of the radiation. the people who are within 30

kilometers of the facility are being told to stay indoors and keep their doors and windows closed. we do not have a serious health hazard for a bed general population. we are pretty much in wait and see mode. >> ank u very much for your assessment. in that areas devastated by the tsunami, tens of thousands of people remain missing. those who somehow has managed to defy that quake and massive wall of water that followed, are seeking any information they can get about missing family members and loved ones. miraculously, their prayers are sometimes being answered. >> four days after the tsunami slanted to japan, a man is pulled out of the rubble alive. a few hours earlier, a tv report

said an elderly woman had also been rescued alive from beneath the debris, but such stories are rare pieces of good news right now. rescuers are mostly finding bodies. hundreds of them. the scale of the disaster is almost unimaginable. the tsunami destroyed roads and wiped out neighborhoods. >> during my struggle, it was coming toward me and i jumped on and stayed there. i was washed away, circling around some houses. my daughter was also swept away. >> in many coastal towns and cities, the destruction is almost complete. one group of survivors took refuge in this school in the earthquake struck. it was three days before help

arrived. it has been converted into a temporary hospital. half a million people are crammed into evacuation centers. as a food and an electricity shortage begin to bite, japan contend with huge challenges in the face of this humanitarian disaster. >> there are also huge challenges on the business side. >> huge parts of japan's and the structure are damaged. with power outages crippling production and the growing risk of nuclear fallout, multinational companies have started to evacuate their staff. 3one software company is currently evacuating 1100 of its employees in tokyo. it has rented a hotel in this out so they can work on line. for employees of german car makers like bmw have already left tokyo. bmw says despite the economic fallout, sales are on target for a record this year.

at their annual press conference, the luxury car maker says 2011 sales this should top 1.5 million vehicles, beating the 2007 record. the conference was marred by events in japan. bmw has flown 40 german employees back to munich. >> the chief of bmw had been geared up to announce record profits for 2010. but the catastrophe in japan has overshadowed their commercial performance. >> we set up a crisis management group and have taken action in japan. we immediately decided it was important to donate money to japan. what happened there has moved all of us. >> the japanese market is less important that china ford germany's car makers. the country's large electronics sector makes it an important trade partner. >> we have to consider how long it will take before the effects of the crisis have been overcome and what comes next.

all things we cannot yet quantify. then we have suppliers over there and this week we have to figure out what parts that could affect. >> sta welfare comes first. the company lost no time repatriating german employees. bmw has some 800 employees in japan. the company says the 40 germans and their families have returned safely home to germany. bmw plans to assist the japanese employees to move to the relative safety of the southwest of the country. >> of the unfolding disaster in japan said the global stocks tumbling on tuesday with european stocks closing at three and half month lows. the tokyo stock exchange took the worst beating, ending 10.5% down with all of its listed stocks settling in negative territory. it was one of the worst performances for the nikkei on record.

tokyo electric power lost 24% on tuesday. the maximum allowable in one session. all 30 stocks on germany's blue- chip dax fell as well, pressured by the growing nuclear crisis in japan. >> the market has been stepped between a crash and a major stop -- major sell-off this tuesday. major concerns about a probable nuclear disaster in japan, it went up -- what down up to 5.5%. share prices recovered slightly but ended up in negative territory by 3%. shares of lufthansa were driven down after announcing plans not to fly to tokyo. utility shares have been hit hard because the german government decided to shut down seven nuclear plants in germany.

>> let's take a closer look at the closing numbers. we start in frankfurt -- a dax settled at 6647. in new york, the federal reserve held its overnight lending rate at 02 .25%. the fed kept crisis measures in place to have a clearer u.s. economy. the euro is trading at 1.3993 u.s. dollars. european union finance ministers agreed on a set of tougher budget rules aim to shore up market confidence and help end the sovereign debt crisis. th new rules include tighter monitoring of debt and deficit levels. one of the main point sharpening the budget rules is to make sanctions for offenders more automatic. the package still needs to be

approved by the european parliament. that's it for business. back to you for more news. >> foreign ministers of the group of eight countries meeting in paris have failed to agree on imposing a no-fly zone over libya. france and britain have pushed hard for intervention but four ministers will send the matter to europe -- to the un security council. in libya, rebels have fled one town after it was a salted by forces loyal to gaddafi. >> with their interior fire power, had little chance to fend off the troops. reportedly with the aid of fire jet -- fighter jets and combat helicopters, the rebels had no option but to leave the town and its armed depot behind. with soldiers about advancing eastward, the rebels are

desperately looking for help from the outside. but the international community has yet to find a common stance on lib. a no-fly zone is controversial for some, while others, like germany, completely rule out an -- rule out a military intervention. >> from our point of view, it is difficult and dangerous. i can only repeat what i just said. we do not want to get sucked into a war in north africa. >> so the rebels are left to fend for themselves against the better equipped gaddafi forces who are aiming to retake the rebel stronghold. >> my guest joins me from tripoli. it is important to mention you are there as a guest of the libyan government. how do you assess the military situation in the country right now? >> definitely as we're seeing

what is happening with the rebels in the east, the gaddafi forces are clearing them out of towns they held one week ago. >> what have ordinary libyans been saying about the current conflict? >> [inaudible] there are people celebrating after state television said [inaudible] there is a lot of propaganda going on here. they wt to see eir country unified. there's a lot of support for colonel gaddafi, but because it is a police state, people are

scared to speak out if they feel the opposite. >> is there any news -- a reaction to the news that foreign ministers have not agreed on a matter of a no-fly zone and will pass it on to the un security council? >> people are more focused on the internal strife. they're very much more focused on the advance the forces have made against the rebels. [inaudible] >> thank you for that update from tripoli. before we go, we have a short recap of the main developments in japan. the u.s. nuclear energy agency says a contain a wall at one of the reactors may have been breached in a blast on monday.

harmful radiation levels have been emitted from that plant. "journal" continues aftfor morer

web site. >> welcome back. tensions are mounting in cochrane where there are reports of hundreds of people went in clashes with security forces around the country. the king declared a state of emergency in bahrain. anti-government protesters camped out apearl roundabout say they are determined to stand their ground. thousands of demonstrators marched on the saudi embassy to protest the deployment of that country's troops in bahrain on monday. the begun to egypt where the country has dissolved its controversial investigations services after weeks of protests calling for the agency to be

disbanded. demonstrators have protested across the country like here in alexandria. protesters stormed the building and based fire after -- did it spy agency was used to keep dissidents under control and was widely blamed for most of the death during the recent anti- government protests. as the few remaining engineers within the fukushima power plant try to stave off a complete meltdown, german chancellor, angela merkel, has announced a provisional shutdown of sev of the country's 70 nuclear reactors. they will remain closed pending a security. the government is under growing pressure from the opposition and from the public now deeply concerned about reactor safety. 80% ofermans say they support shutting down the country's older nuclear power plant.

yesterday saw nationwide protests against atomic energy. >> @ germany's the clear policy moratorium is having wider repercussions than first thought. seven of the country's older plants are to be shut out immediately. the chancellor said germany could not just returned to business as usual. safety is under review at all the country's nuclear plants. >> the nuclear plant that went on line before the end of 1980 will be shut down for the moratorium. they will be out of operation for three months. the the other power stations that began operating after 1980 will be able to remain in operation while the security was carried out. >> the process of taking the seven older plants off line is already underway. the movement -- the move came through a government directive

and bought under legislation. the government says they will explore possible alternatives for covering germany's energy needs of the next three months. >> we take this process seriously. this has to be a process without taboos and no foregone conclusions. you cannot expect an answer before the process has begun. >> the opposition doubts the government plans to substantially change its policy. they accuse the government ahead of electioneering. >> we cannot have any trickery. the seven older plants must be shut down for good at a lot of phasing out declare power revived. >> the government promises to not impressed demonstrators outside the chancellor's office. they say the time for talking is over and are calling for all of the country's nuclear power stations to be shut down. >> deciding to shut down seven nuclear power stations for the time being raises questions

about the effect it will have on germany's power supply. but germany can afford to lose the stations. the country has a wide range of electricity sources. there is even enough left over to export. >> industrialized countries need a 24-hour steady flow of electricity to keep their country living. germany has grown to rely on a number of sources for its energy mi morethan 50% ofhe country's power is generated by gas and coal-fired stations. renewable sources supply 17% of demand at nuclear power supplies 22%. that equates to around 20,000 megawatts of power. by shutting down its seven oldest reactors, germany will lose some 8,000 megawatts of electricity. analysts say coal and gas powered stations can easily make up the shortfall and there'll be no need to buy extra power supplies abroad. in fact, last year, germany

exported electricity equivalent annual output of two nuclear power stations. >> the european union has agreed to clear power plant of the continent should be subject to stress test. but the european union energy commissioner says the tests would be voluntary. the nuclear crisis in japan comes just as the idea of a clear power was enjoying a revival in mand parts of europe. the disaster in japan has been termed as an apocalypse at a meeting of the european parliament. >> nuclear regulators have had set energy companies rushed to brussels for meetings with european representatives. there is a lot at stake. the energy sector fears it will be disadvantaged by the decision to shut off all the nuclear power. >> all the nations of europe, with national sovereignty, building new nuclear stations. i read there were saying after

the japanese disaster that poland would continue constructing new nuclear reactors and others are doing the same. >> the energy commissioner what is the reliability of the nuclear plants tested. the meeting reached an agreement. >> stress test with joint criteria, with joint standards for safety and risk assessment will be carried out in light of the event to which pad. -- in light of the events in japan. >> a stress test for all but hundred 43 plants, including emergency power supplies for cooling systems. until now, there have been deferring safety standards across europe. european union member states all agree on minimum standards within the framework of the treaty. it is possible there will be tougher standards.

the clear -- the >> nuclear experts in japan sales levels of radiation have admitted from the fukushima power plant. it is causing a lot of concern for those in the vicinity. an evacuation radius of 20 kilometers has been put in place but it's too early to tell what kind of long, that the radiation will have on those who have already been exposed to it. >> radiation from the severely damaged nuclear plant on the japanese coast could threaten millions people. no one can see, smell, or taste radiation. but you can measure it. radioactive particles can invade the human body and get into every single cell. radiation is measured in units of known as sieverts. a dilution of 500 million causes what is known as radiation the result is not jet,

radiation and internal bleeding. long-term consequences can be severe. radioactive isotopes are deposited in particular in the thyroid where they can cause cancer. plutonium 239 with a half life of 24,000 years damages the lungs. it creates malignant tumors. but plutonium also damages people's genetic material. that can cause birth defects, which is what happened to many children born after the chernobyl disaster. the up radioactive cloud in japan has only just developed. estimating how many people could fall ill is impossible. experts believe the disaster could affect the health of many people in japan for gears to come. >> stay attuned for continuing coverage all the latest events in japan.

thank you for joining us.