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Masao Yoshida, 58, was at the Japanese power station on March 11, 2011, when towering waves swamped cooling systems and sparked meltdowns that released plumes of radiation. Yoshida led the subsequent effort to get the crippled complex under control, as workers battled frequent aftershocks to try to prevent the disaster worsening. Government contingency plans revealed after the event showed how scientists feared a chain reaction if Fukushima spiralled out of control, a scenario that could have seen other nuclear plants engulfed and would have meant evacuating Tokyo. ************************* "He died of oesophagal cancer at 11:32am today at a Tokyo hospital,"...

So in my 22 years of filing taxes, just got my audit letter from 2011, I owe $500. Not a lot, but considering I make less than $30,000 grand a year since the financial collapse... I find it odd that with standard children deductions I got audited. Why would the IRS target someone who made less than $15,000 for that year? Seriously??? Make more now, but not that year. But they bother to audit me?

A Republican state representative has sparked outrage by suggesting rape kits can be used to terminate pregnancies. Jodie Laudenberg, a member of the Texas House of Representatives, made the comments during a debate about a new anti-abortion bill. Miss Laudenberg said: 'In the emergency room they have what’s called rape kits, where a woman can get cleaned out. 'The woman had five months to make that decision, at this point we are looking at a baby that is very far along in its development.' Her apparent confusion about 'rape kits' - the equipment used by medical personnel during forensic examinations...

Every child in Scotland would be appointed a 'named person' from birth under new legislation Government plans to provide every child in Scotland with a "named person" have been questioned by MSPs. Under legislation set out in the Children and Young People Bill, every child would be assigned a named person, such as a health worker, from birth. The adult would be responsible for safeguarding the child's welfare. MSPs from Holyrood's Public Petitions Committee pressed Children's Minister Aileen Campbell on how such a measure would work in practice. SNP MSP John Wilson asked how children would be made aware that...

When the Justice Department began investigating possible leaks of classified information about North Korea in 2009, investigators did more than obtain telephone records of a working journalist suspected of receiving the secret material. They used security badge access records to track the reporter’s comings and goings from the State Department, according to a newly obtained court affidavit. They traced the timing of his calls with a State Department security adviser suspected of sharing the classified report. They obtained a search warrant for the reporter’s personal e-mails. The case of Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, the government adviser, and James Rosen, the chief...

Democratic senator Max Baucus is retiring because he is “fed up” with the Affordable Care Act, according to his Republican colleague Chuck Grassley. Speaking at Friday night’s Lincoln Day dinner in Iowa, Grassley told the audience the Montana senator is leaving office ”because he’s so fed up with the possibility of the implementation of Obamacare being a train wreck.” Baucus, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, played a key role in writing the 2010 law. Grassley said that dissatisfaction with the health-care bill exists across party lines, describing a “bipartisan coalition in Washington” that considers the implementation of the...

The brother of a top Obama administration official is also the president of CBS News, and the network may be days away from dropping one of its top investigative reporters for covering the administration’s scandals too aggressively. CBS News executives have reportedly expressed frustration with their own reporter, Sharyl Attkisson, who has steadily covered the Obama administration’s handling of the Benghazi terrorist attack in Libya since late last year. “Network sources” told Politico Wednesday that CBS executives feel Attkisson’s Benghazi coverage is bordering on advocacy, and Attkisson “can’t get some of her stories on the air.” Attkisson, who is in...

he Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, or STOCK Act, was a law passed last year designed to prevent insider trading among lawmakers and government officials by requiring them to post disclosures of their financial transactions online. I use the past tense, because the current Congress has very quietly killed it: Both parties and both houses of Congress hated the disclosure portion of the law so much that it was repealed last Friday (4/12/13) without debate—the measure was sent to the President by unanimous consent. The ordeal took about 10 seconds in the Senate and 14 seconds in the House,...

CNS News Home Washington National Culture International Entertainment Sports Health Business Weird News News Wire The Right Views E-Brief Facebook Twitter RSS LinkedIn About Us Resources Send Tips Donate RSS CNSNews.TV On the Spot On the Scene The Schein OTJ Golden Hookah ATF Seeks 'Massive' Database of Personal Info: 'Assets, Relatives, Associates and More' April 6, 2013 By Gregory Gwyn-Williams, Jr. Subscribe to Gregory Gwyn-Williams, Jr. RSS 1674 413 A recent solicitation from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) reveals that the agency is seeking a "massive" online database capable of pulling up individuals' personal information, connections and...

WASHINGTON, April 4 (By Maria Young for RIA Novosti) – The US Department of Defense said Thursday it plans to sidestep a Congressional ban to purchase 30 helicopters from Russian state-owned defense firm Rosoboronexport, despite objections from US lawmakers who allege that the firm has equipped the Syrian government to commit brutal crimes against civilians. “The Department of Defense (DOD) has notified Congress of its intent to contract with Rosoboronexport for 30 additional Mi-17 rotary-wing aircraft to support the Afghanistan National Security Forces (ANSF) Special Mission Wing,” Pentagon spokesman James Gregory told RIA Novosti in emailed comments. The 2013 National...

ustralia is seeking to bypass trading in U.S. dollars with China in an effort to avoid the commercial uncertainties that come with the recent fluctuations in the greenback. For example, just a half a year ago, the dollar traded at about $1.20 to the euro; by February, it had weakened to $1.34 per euro and now it is going for $1.27. Eliminating the dollar in trade will be the focus of Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s trip to Beijing next week. Trade with China, Australia’s primary trading partner, totaled $120 billion in the last fiscal year. China buys nearly one-third...

Fourth Estate Cooperative Contributor Guam, United States (4E) – North Korea is again threatening to attack the United States territory of Guam. According to the Korean Central News Agency Pyongyang is already readying its Korean People’s Army Strategic Rocket Force . It was quoted as saying that the KPA is ” on A-class alert to wipe out the U.S. forces and reduce their bases in Guam and other regions to ashes.” “Despite our repeated warning, the U.S. imperialist aggressors let their B-52 formation fly again in the sky above south Korea and announced an operational plan targeting the dignity of...

SEOUL, March 29 (Yonhap) -- North Korea announced Saturday that it has entered a state of war against South Korea. In a special statement, the North said it will deal with every inter-Korean issue in a wartime manner.

A black member of the Alabama legislature uncorked a racist tirade in an email this week to a constituent who urged him not to embrace new gun control laws - copying his incendiary language to every member of the state legislature. Joseph Mitchell, a Democrat who has represented parts of the city of Mobile since 1994 and ran for re-election unopposed in 2010 and 2006, castigated a voter named Eddie Maxwell, a Jefferson County man whom he correctly presumed was white. 'Hey man,' Mitchell wrote. 'Your folk never used all this sheit [sic] to protect my folk from your slave-holding,...

At least four states won’t enforce new sweeping insurance market reforms rolling out next year with the health law — leaving federal health officials in Washington to pick up the slack, yet another wrinkle in Obamacare implementation. Insurance regulation is a huge responsibility that’s been closely guarded by the states. That’s why the Obama administration and those closely watching the rollout of Obamacare believe that even states that have sworn off the law’s coverage expansions will still enforce its new measures — including new benefit mandates, cost-sharing guidelines and rules on how insurers rate customers — to retain control over...

We all know his right leaning rants on his new show, but the mention of George Soros... Haha... I'd like to think he is.

There's a growing number of Republican-run states accepting Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, at least at the gubernatorial level, but South Carolina isn't one of them. Gov. Nikki Haley (R) ruled out the possibility months ago, despite the pleas of South Carolina hospital administrators and public-health officials. In fact, physicians in South Carolina are still hoping to change the state's policy against Medicaid expansion, lobbying legislators this week on a White Coat Day organized by the South Carolina Hospital Association. Will it succeed? Consider the take of one insider. Rep. Kris Crawford, a Republican from Florence and also...

CNN media critic Howard Kurtz is being accused of pressuring an editor at the Daily Beast, where he is a columnist, to kill a story that would have outed CNN's Anderson Cooper as gay -- an accusation Kurtz strongly dismisses. "These suggestions are offensive and absurd," Kurtz told POLITICO Monday night. In an interview with Capital New York about Jodie Foster's acceptance speech at the Golden Globes, BuzzFeed reporter Kate Aurthur, a former Daily Beast editor, said that in 2011 Kurtz had "interfered with a story" about Cooper in order to protect him from being outed. "[This] was less than...

At least two burglars broke into a house in White Plains, New York, on Saturday and headed straight for the gun safe. This address and the owner's name, registered on a permit for legally held firearms, had been published on the controversial gun map published by the Journal News on December 23. The burglars couldn't open the safe and the property owner wasn't home. But this incident has led to speculation that the map is now being used by criminals for targeted gun theft.

Al Jazeera is putting the final touches on a deal to take over Current TV, the low-rated cable channel that was founded by Al Gore and his business partners seven years ago. If the deal is completed, Current will provide the pan-Arab news giant with something it has sought for years: a pathway into American living rooms. Current is available in about 60 million of the 100 million homes in the United States with cable or satellite service. Rather than simply use Current to distribute its English-language channel, called Al Jazeera English and based in Doha, Qatar, Al Jazeera will...