It is 00:30 universal time. And here is the news in special English.
170,000 Japanese earthquake and tsunami survivors have fled their homes feeling radioactive poison. The powerful quake Friday severely damaged two nuclear power centers. Official say hundreds of people from a town near the centers are being tested for radioaction poisoning. Operators at the power centers are trying to keep temperatures down in the nuclear reactors. Experts are pumping sea water into the reactors to reduce pressure inside it. Cuts to electricity are expected to across the eastern part of the country. Japanese officials now estimate more than 10,000 people were killed in the disaster. Hundreds of thousands of people are struggling to find food and water. Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, called the quake and tsunami the most severe event since the World War II. Japanese embassador, Ichiro Fujisaki, has thanked the United States and other countries for the earthquake aid they have provided his country. Mr Fujisaki is an ambassador to the United States. He told American public radio that Japan's first goal is to save as many lives as possible and to prevent nuclear accidents. International teams and aid continue to arrive in Japan. United Nations's experts are in Japan to help local rescure teams. Almost 70 countries have offered aid so far. Teams from South Korea and China that specialize in search and rescure are already in Japan. An American Aircraft Carrier arrived near Japan's coast sunday. Other American ships are on their way. Britian, Australia, France, Switherland and Singapore are also sending search and rescure teams.
Libian state television declare that armed groups have been cleared from the town, but there was no immediate confirmation of that claim. Forces loyal to Libian leader, Muammar Gaddafi , have recaptured two other rebel-held towns, west of Brega in recent days. Troops used aircraft, tanks and heavy weapons against opposition fighters in Ras Lanuf and been Zawiyah. Opposition forces to control of most of eastern Libyan and parts of the west last month. Portests began in mid-Feburary calling for an end to Mr Gadhafi's 42-year-rule.
Police in Bahrain have fired tear gas at anti-government demonstrators blocking a main road into the capital's financial area. Hundreds of protesters occupied the King Faisal Highway and set up barriers that prevented workers from reaching tehir offices sunday. Police fired tear gas and water cannot at the demonstrators in what government called an operation to reopen the King Faisal Highway. The government urged the portesters to remain at their camps in Manama Pearl Square. Reporters say protesters show them rubber bullets also believed to have been fired by security force. Thousands o fMuslin Shiite protesters have been occupying Pearl Square for weeks. They are demanding a greater political voice for the nation's Shiite majority.
You are listening to the news in VOA special English.
Police in Yemen have fired bullets and tear gas at anti-government demonstrators near Sanaa University. Medical workers say many people are wounded. Witnesses say government supporters with knives and sticks also attack the protesters sunday. They are demanding the resignation of Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Anti-government demonstrations were also reported sunday in the southern provinces of Taiz and Aden. Seven people were reported killed saturday as the government moved to end the protests. Mr Sallar has ruled Yemen for 32 years. He says he will remain in office until his term ends in 2013.
Thousands of Israelis have attended a funeral for an Israeli family killed in a west bank settlement attack. Israeli police say about 20,000 mourners gathered in Jerusalem Sunday for a Jewish man and wife and three of their children. They were killed as they slept late Friday. Israeli police are searching for Palestinians suspected of carrying out the attacks. Also sunday, the Israeli government announced that it has approved a plan to build hundreds of new homes in the west bank. Prime Minister Benjamin at Yahoo called a special meeting late saturday to approve the new buildings. The building projects will take place in existing settlements.
In Pakistan, a suspected American missile strike has killed at least six suspected militantas in North Waziristan. Five others were wounded. Local official say the unpiloted airplane attacked a vehicle and a group of buildings in *** village near *** shore. The official said the Pakistan in Taliban owns the building. In Waziristan Pakistani official said another suspected American missile strike missed a vehicle and its target. Four suspected militants then fled teh vehicle. Officials in Afghanistan say four Afghan civilians died in a bomb explosion in southern Kandahar province. The Afghan interior ministry said the civilians were killed saturday night when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb. Taliban often uses roadside bombs and land mines in attacks on military targets. However, the devices often killed civilians who share the roads with Afghan and foreign military and security forces. Also sunday, Afghan and NATO forces seized large suppliers of weapons and illegal drugs across the country. The NATO statement said the discoveries were made during the clearing opertaions in Helmand, Kandahar, Parwan, Kapisa and Paktika provinces.
And now briefly, here again is the major news of the hour in VOA Special English.
One hundred seventy thousand Japanese earthquake and tsunami survivors have fled their homes fearing radioactive poison.
Libyan rebels have withdrawn from an eastern oil port under heavy shelling from government forces.
And police in Bahrain have fired tear gas at anti-government demonstrators blocking a main road into the capital's financial area.
That's the news in VOA Special English coming to you from Washington.