(Associated Press: 0430 PST, April 12, 2011) Japan raised the crisis level at its stricken nuclear power plant to 7, the highest on an international scale and on a par with the 1986 accident at Chernobyl.

(Associated Press: 0554 PST, April 11, 2011) A strong new quake and other aftershocks rattled northeastern Japan hours after the country somberly marked one month since a deadly combination of quake and tsunami laid waste to the region.