South Korean stocks are likely to remain shackled next week as unrelenting political unrest in the Middle East is expected to keep fueling worries over oil price gains, analysts said Saturday. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) ended the week at 1,995.54, falling 49.14 points, or 2.45 percent, from a week earlier as the unceasing protests in the Arab world are feared to r...

About 130 South Korean nationals living in the Japanese prefecture of Miyagi, one of the areas hit hardest by a massive earthquake and tsunami, are unaccounted for because of power outages and inoperative phone lines, officials said Saturday. South Korea's consulate in the Japanese city of Sendai, located within Miyagi, is trying to make contact with its nationals there and assess any damages ...

Japan mobilised 50,000 military and other rescue personnel Saturday to spearhead a Herculean rescue and recovery effort, a day after being hit by its most devastating quake and tsunami on record. Every wing of the Self Defence Forces was thrown into frantic service, with hundreds of ships, aircraft and vehicles headed to the Pacific coast area where at least 1,000 people were feared dead and en...

TOKYO (AP) _ Japan declared states of emergency for five nuclear reactors at two power plants after the units lost cooling ability in the aftermath of Friday's powerful earthquake. Thousands of residents were evacuated as workers struggled to get the reactors under control to prevent meltdowns. Operators at the Fukushima Daiichi plant's Unit 1 scrambled ferociously to tamp down heat and pressure...

South Korea's air traffic to earthquake-hit Japan has mostly recovered as of early Saturday after one day of disruption, the land ministry and air carriers said. Air travel between the two countries was partly suspended on Friday after Narita and Haneda airports, the two main gateways to Japan, were closed or partly suspended after an 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit its northern coast. The most...

HONOLULU (AFP) - Tsunami waves raced across the vast Pacific Ocean Friday triggered by a huge quake off Japan, washing ashore in Hawaii and threatening the US West Coast, as officials urged people to seek shelter. Sirens blared and Hawaiian authorities rapidly evacuated low-lying areas as the waves rolled across thousands of miles from the Japanese coast to hit Hawaii before dawn around 3:24 am ...

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - California's governor declared a state of emergency Friday after tsunami waves hit the US West Coast, forcing evacuations, damaging boats and leaving one man missing, swept out to sea. Governor Jerry Brown's declaration for four coastal counties unblocks federal funds to help clean up after waves triggered by Japan's devastating quake hit the US mainland, notably in northern ...

TOKYO, March 12, 2011 (AFP) - Japanese naval and coastguard helicopters have found a ship that was swept out to sea by a massive tsunami and airlifted all 81 people aboard to safety, Jiji Press reported Saturday. The ship was owned by a shipbuilder in Ishinomaki, Miyagi prefecture. Friday's massive quake struck just under 400 kilometres (250 miles) northeast of Tokyo, creating a 10-metre (33 fe...

TOKYO (AP) _ Japan's huge earthquake brought super-modern Tokyo to a standstill as it paralyzed trains that normally run like clockwork, crippled mobile phones, stranded hordes of commuters and trapped scores of people in elevators. The magnitude-8.9 quake that struck off the coast Friday afternoon and triggered a deadly tsunami in the northeast also violently shook buildings in the capital, whe...

WASHINGTON (AP) _ President Barack Obama said he was ``heartbroken'' by images of devastation in Japan following Friday's deadly earthquake and tsunami, and pledged U.S. assistance to help the country recover. ``Our hearts go out to our friends in Japan and across the region, and we're going to stand with them as they recover and rebuild from this tragedy,'' Obama said during a White House news ...

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan scrambled Saturday to prevent nuclear accidents at two atomic plants where reactor cooling systems failed after a massive earthquake, as it evacuated tens of thousands of residents. Radiation 1,000 times above normal was detected in the control room of one plant, although authorities said levels outside the facility's gates were only eight times above normal, spelling "no imm...

TOKYO (AP) _ Tens of thousands of stranded people roamed the streets of Tokyo or holed up in offices and train stations as the capital's usual bustling traffic came to a standstill Friday after the biggest earthquake in modern Japanese history struck. The magnitude-8.9 temblor off Japan's northeastern coast shook buildings in the capital, left millions of homes across Japan without electricity, ...

HONOLULU (AP) _ Tsunami waves spawned by a massive earthquake in Japan have hit Hawaii. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says Kauai was the first island hit early Friday by the tsunami, which was quickly sweeping through the Hawaiian Island chain. Officials predicted Hawaii would experience waves up to 6 feet (2 meters). Residents in coastal areas of Hawaii were evacuated to refuge areas at c...

TOKYO (AP) _ Japan ordered thousands of residents near a nuclear power plant to evacuate on Friday following a massive earthquake that caused a problem in the plant's cooling system. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the Fukushima No. 1 power plant was not leaking radiation. The plant is in Onahama city, about 170 miles (270 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo. Japan's nuclear safety agency o...