Emergency crews dump seawater on spent fuel pool, reducing temperatures

Fukushima, Japan - Workers reconnected power lines to all six reactor units at Japan's radiation-leaking nuclear plant Tuesday, its operator said, marking a significant step in bringing the overheated complex under control.

In making an announcement after days of anxious waiting by the public, Tokyo Electric Power Co. cautioned that much work needed to be done before the electricity can be turned on. Workers are checking all additional equipment for damage to make sure cooling systems can be safely operated, Tokyo Electric said.

In another advance, emergency crews dumped 18 tons of seawater into nearly boiling storage pool holding spent nuclear fuel, cooling it to 105 degrees Fahrenheit, Japan's nuclear safety agency said. Steam, possibly carrying radioactive elements, had been rising for two days, and the move lessens the chances that more radiation will seep into the air.

The power lines and the sustained dousing together mean authorities are closer to bringing the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex, with its six reactors and spent fuel pools, under control. Officials and experts, however, have said days, even weeks would be needed to replace damaged equipment and vent any volatile gas to make sure electricity does not spark an explosion.

Berlin - A U.S. fighter jet crashed in Libya after an apparent equipment malfunction but both crewmembers were able to eject and were back in American hands with only minor injuries, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

The F-15E Strike Eagle jet was conducting a mission Monday night against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's air defenses when it crashed at 2130 GMT (5:30 p.m. EDT), said Lt. Cmdr. Karin Burzynski, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Africa Command.

A spokesman for the Libyan opposition, Mohammed Ali, said the U.S. plane went down about 25 miles (40 kilometers) outside of the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi, Libya's second-largest city.

Britain's Telegraph newspaper published a series of photographs it said was the wreckage of the plane, showing people milling around the burned-out aircraft in a Libyan field.

One of the jet's airmen landed in a field of sheep after ejecting from the plane, then raised his hands and called out "OK, OK" to a crowd who had gathered, the Telegraph cited witness Younis Amruni, 27, as saying.

Syrians chanting "No more fear!" held a defiant march Monday after a deadly government crackdown failed to quash three days of mass protests in a southern city - an extraordinary outpouring in a country that is known for brutally suppressing dissent.

Riot police armed with clubs chased the small group away without casualties, but traces of earlier, larger demonstrations were everywhere: burned-out and looted government buildings, a dozen torched vehicles, an office of the ruling Baath party with its windows knocked out. Protesters also burned an office of the telecommunications company Syriatel, which is owned in part by the president's cousin.

The unrest in the city of Daraa started Friday after security troops fired at protesters, killing five people. Over the next two days, two more people died and authorities sealed the city, allowing people out but not in, as thousands of enraged protesters set fire to government buildings and demonstrated around the city.

Among the victims was 11-year-old Mundhir Masalmi, who died Monday after suffering tear gas inhalation a day earlier, an activist told The Associated Press. The activist asked that his name not be used for fear of reprisals.

U.S. National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor complained Monday that reports indicate the Syrian government "has used disproportionate force against civilians, and in particular against demonstrators and mourners in Daraa."

Human Rights Watch said in a statement that Syria should "cease use of live fire and other excessive force against protesters." On Monday, an Associated Press team was allowed into Daraa, accompanied by two government minders who kept them away from protesters and would not allow photographs of demonstrations. Army checkpoints circled the city and plainclothes officers were deployed in key areas.

Arab League and China express regret as Moscow suggests US-led coalition is going beyond its mandate

Arab support for the US-led war in Libya showed signs of fraying today in reaction to the sheer destructive power of the initial attack, claims of civilian deaths and a warning by Muammar Gaddafi to prepare for "a long war".

The secretary-general of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, appeared to wobble just over a week after his organization, which represents 23 Arab states, voted in favour of a no-fly zone. Pictures of charred bodies led to not only the Arab League but also Russia and China expressing regret over the violence. Moscow claimed the US-led coalition was going beyond its UN mandate to protect civilians and called for an end to the "indiscriminate use of force".

As anti-aircraft fire was heard across Tripoli, and a second wave of attacks was launched targeting ground forces and air defenses, suggesting a second night of bombardment, the US claimed it had control of the skies over Libya and had stopped Gaddafi's advance against rebel positions. The start of the mission, labelled Operation Odyssey Dawn, included firing more than 100 Tomahawk missiles at Gaddafi's air defenses. Defense sources said the next phase would be to cut supply lines to Gaddafi's front-line troops and was expected to involve British Tornado ground attack jets.

A short time later Libya announced another ceasefire, which was issued in the name of the Libyan government and armed forces, rather than Gaddafi.

Caracas, Venezuela - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez condemned what he called "indiscriminate bombing" by the U.S. and its allies in Libya, saying Sunday that the assault is unjustified and will only unleash more bloodshed.

Cuba's government also criticized the attacks and called for the conflict to be resolved through negotiation.

Chavez said the U.S. is after Libya's oil, and warned President Barack Obama not to try any similar intervention in the South American country. "With Venezuela, don't even think about it, Mr. Obama," he said.

Chavez, who has long-standing ties to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, demanded the airstrikes be halted and echoed claims of civilian casualties by Libya's government, which said 48 people were killed.

"Civilian victims have now begun to appear because some bombs are launched - 200, 400 bombs from out there at sea - and those bombs fall where they fall," Chavez said during his weekly television and radio program.

Calling Barack Obama as "our son", Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi sent a message to the US President defending his decision to attack the rebels fighting to overthrow him.

Gaddafi(68) also wrote a letter to the French and British leaders, and the UN Secretary General, saying the Security Council resolution was "void" and violated the UN charter, warning them that they would "regret" any intervention.

"Libya is not for you, Libya is for the Libyans," he said.

Details of Gaddafi's letters were released by the Libyan government spokesman at a news conference in Tripoli.

Defending his decision to attack rebel cities, Gaddafi told Obama, "Al Qaeda is an armed organisation, passing through Algeria, Mauritania and Mali. What would you do if you found them controlling American cities with the power of weapons? What would you do, so I can follow your example."

Newsweek gave 1,000 Americans the U.S. Citizenship Test--38 percent failed. The country's future is imperiled by our ignorance.

They're the sort of scores that drive high-school history teachers to drink. When Newsweek recently asked 1,000 U.S. citizens to take America's official citizenship test, 29 percent couldn't name the vice president. Seventy-three percent couldn't correctly say why we fought the Cold War. Forty-four percent were unable to define the Bill of Rights. And 6 percent couldn't even circle Independence Day on a calendar.

Don't get us wrong: civic ignorance is nothing new. For as long as they've existed, Americans have been misunderstanding checks and balances and misidentifying their senators. And they've been lamenting the philistinism of their peers ever since pollsters started publishing these dispiriting surveys back in Harry Truman's day. (He was a president, by the way.) According to a study by Michael X. Delli Carpini, dean of the Annenberg School for Communication, the yearly shifts in civic knowledge since World War II have averaged out to "slightly under 1 percent."

But the world has changed. And unfortunately, it's becoming more and more inhospitable to incurious know-nothings - like us.

Unrest spread in southern Syria on Monday with hundreds of people demonstrating against the government in the town of Jassem, activists said, but authorities did not use force to quell the latest protest.

Security forces killed four civilians in demonstrations that erupted last week in the town of Deraa, in the most serious challenge to President Bashar al-Assad's rule since the 45-year-old succeeded his father 11 years ago.

"This is peaceful, peaceful. God, Syria, freedom," chanted the protesters in Jassem, an agricultural town 30 km (20 miles) west of Deraa.

The authorities appeared to adopt less heavy-handed tactics, choosing not to intervene against protests demanding freedom and an end to corruption and repression, but not the overthrow of Assad. The ruling Baath Party has banned opposition and enforced emergency laws since 1963.

In Deraa, hundreds of black-uniformed security forces wielding AK-47 assault rifles lined the streets but did not confront thousands of mourners who marched at the funeral of 23-year-old Raed al-Kerad, a protester killed in Deraa.

Berlin - Veterinary experts performed a necropsy Monday on Berlin zoo's celebrity polar bear Knut to try to determine why he died suddenly over the weekend.

The four-year-old polar bear died Saturday afternoon in front of visitors, turning around several times and then dropping to the ground, and falling into the water in his enclosure.

Polar bears usually live 15 to 20 years in the wild, and even longer in captivity, and the zoo is hoping the investigation may help clarify what happened.

Results were expected later Monday or on Tuesday, the zoo said.

In the meantime, people continued to flock to the zoo to sign their name in a condolence book in tribute to Knut.

"Every visit to the Zoo brought happiness, because he was such a warmhearted animal and he brought us all so much fun," visitor Eveline Plat told AP Television News.

A woman who fled to Nigeria after a fire killed four children at her day care center in Houston was flown back to the United States on Monday, the authorities said.

Investigators say that the woman, Jessica Tata, 22, left Houston two days after fire officials determined that the Feb. 24 blaze at Jackie's Child Care had most likely been sparked by a pot on a stove that the authorities believe Ms. Tata left unattended while she went shopping.

Three other children were injured in the fire.

Ms. Tata, who faces 14 charges, including four manslaughter counts, surrendered to Interpol agents in the Nigerian city of Port Harcourt on Saturday, the authorities said. Ms. Tata, an American citizen, has relatives in Port Harcourt, they said.

"You cannot thumb your nose at the justice system, whether it be domestically or abroad," Elizabeth Saenz, the United States marshal for the Southern District of Texas, said in a statement Monday. "Justice will be served. Jessica Tata has learned this, thanks to the global efforts of the many and unknown."

The children who died at Ms. Tata's in-home day care center were Elias Castillo, 16 months; Elizabeth Kajoh, 19 months; Kendyll Stradford, 20 months; and Shomari Leon Dickerson, age 3.