[Here is a good list of relief efforts]

The Red Cross is the key aid organisation collecting donations for relief efforts following Japan's earthquake and tsunami.

The Japanese branch of the organisation is overseeing around 80 teams on the ground, but donations are being taken at branches around the world.

You can make online donations through the British Red Cross or you can download donation forms to post. Cheques should be made payable to British Red Cross and sent to British Red Cross, Japan Tsunami Appeal, Ref: ON2011, Freepost NAT21787, Paisley PA1 1BR.

The the American and the Philippine Red Cross are taking donations by SMS, which the Red Cross piloted after the earthquake in Haiti last year. For donations from the US, text REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. In the Philippines text REDAMOUNT to 2899, or DONATEAMOUNT4-digit M-PINREDCROSS to 2882 for Globe subscribers, and REDON to 4483 for Smart subscribers.

Alternatively, donations can be made to the Japanese Red Cross through Google's Crisis Response site, which also offers resources and information about the disaster.

The Salvation Army is also using SMS to take donations. Text the words JAPAN or QUAKE to 80888 to make a $10 donation – make sure you respond YES when you receive a "thank you" message. You can also take the more tradition donor route, donating online, by phone, calling 1-800-SAL-ARMY.

ISLAMABAD: An Additional Sessions judge Wednesday set free CIA contractor Raymond Davis, who killed two Pakistanis on a busy road in Lahore, after payment of blood money (Diyat) in accordance with Sharia law of Pakistan, sources said.

Talking to Geo News, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said the court released Raymond Davis after the family members of the murdered men appeared in the court and pardoned the US National after an agreement was reached between the two sides. “He has been released from jail and now it is up to him to leave the country whenever he wants,” the Minister added.

Comments:

i'm feeling ashamed to be pakistani...like all other bad moments in it is one of the biggest
-kashif ali Pakistan

I have no doubt that the survivors were forced to compromise on this issue, BOTH by the Americans AND the overly corrupt Pakistani politicians. SAD SAD day for Pakistan!
-Bilal Burki Pakistan

 i am sceptical for now , i can beleive what i hear , its too early to say anything .... we should be expecting a revolution if this is true
-Bahram Durrani Pakistan

A spike in radiation levels at Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant has forced workers to suspend their operation, a government spokesman says.

He was speaking after smoke was seen rising from reactor three. Earlier, a blaze struck reactor four for the second time in two days.

Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami, which killed thousands, damaged the plant's cooling functions.

The site has also been hit by four explosions, triggering radiation leaks.

'On standby'

On Wednesday, Japanese Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said at a news briefing that workers at Fukushima had been withdrawn following the rise in radiation levels. It is believed that about 50 employees had been working at the plant to try to stabilise its four reactors.

Mr Edano also said that the radiation levels were now falling: from 1,000 millisieverts on Wednesday morning to 600-800.

[Poster's note: This ain't good. Not that anything coming out of Japan's nuclear crisis is good so far.]

By Matthew Haggman and Martha Brannigan, Miami Herald, March 15, 2011

Despite spending more than $1 million to fend off ouster, the mayor of Miami-Dade suffered a humiliating defeat. Nine of every 10 voters chose recall.

Voters swept Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez out of office by a stunning margin Tuesday, capping a dramatic collapse for a politician who was given increased authority by voters four years ago to clean up much-maligned county government but was ushered out in the largest recall of a local politician in U.S. history.

The spectacular fall from power comes after two years of missteps....

By Anthony Shadid, New York Times, March 15, 2011, 10:17pm

Lede: Forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi routed insurgents in Ajdabiya, their last defensive line before the rebel capital of Benghazi.

AJDABIYA, Libya......As the shelling intensified Tuesday, hundreds of cars packed with children, mattresses, suitcases — anything that could be grabbed and packed in — careened through the streets as residents fled. Long lines of cars could be seen on the highway heading north to Benghazi, about 100 miles away.....

Caption: Rebel fighters and civilians fled Ajdabiyah, Libya, on Tuesday.
Credit: Goran Tomasevic/Reuters

Also see:

Key town 'falls' to Gaddafi forces
Al Jazeera, March 15, 2011, 18:57 GMT
 
Libyan rebels are retreating from the strategic town of Ajdabiya under heavy bombardment by Muammar Gaddafi's forces....The town on Libya's east coast is all that stands between the advance of Libyan government troops and the rebel stronghold of Benghazi and lies on a road junction from where Gaddafi's forces could attempt to encircle the city.....

Yves links to the Bankofamericasucks site.  She says, "Yikes!"  Haven't played the videos yet; commenters say they don't have it altogether right, but Yves seems to think it's close enough.  Folks are wondering if Wikileaks will follow soon with their purported bombshells...

"Propaganda is most effective when it is least noticeable," writes public relations expert Nancy Snow. "In an open society, such as the United States, the hidden and integrated nature of the propaganda best convinces people they are not being manipulated."

Angered by repeated releases of secretly filmed videos claiming to show the mistreatment of farm animals, Iowa's agriculture industry is pushing legislation that would make it illegal for animal rights activists to produce and distribute such images.

Agriculture committees in the Iowa House and Senate have approved a bill that would prohibit such recordings and punish people who take agriculture jobs only to gain access to animals to record their treatment. Proposed penalties include fines of up to $7,500 and up to five years in prison. Votes by the full House and Senate have not yet been set.

[...]

Legislators and farming groups respond that they're only trying to prevent people from fraudulently seeking jobs in order to shoot videos that may give an unfair perspective on livestock operations. Rather than videotape and publicize abuse, supporters of the Iowa measure said people should report wrongs they see and work through proper channels to prevent them.

They point out that in cases such as at a hatchery in Spencer, where video of male chicks being tossed into grinders was secretly made in 2009, no complaints were filed.

"We believe this can help prosecute those people who, while they claim to have animals' interests at heart, don't really follow through and report the animal abuse – if in fact there actually is anything – immediately like they're required to," said Tom Shipley, a lobbyist with the Iowa Cattlemen's Association. "They hang on to that information for publicity purposes."

He also said the bill would prevent businesses from being hurt by people who were hired under false pretenses. Agriculture is an important industry in Iowa, where the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it was responsible for $24.7 billion in direct sales in 2008.

"There are definitely groups out there that have an agenda that don't want animal agriculture in business and that's not right," said Kevin Vinchattle, chief executive officer of the Iowa Poultry Association. "I think that some people will go a long way to do or say anything to try to make a group of people look bad."

It appears the latest, the third, explosion at the Fukushima nuclear reactor complex may be the game ender, if the steel containment chamber is open or leaking on unit 2, as may be the case, the lethal radiation levels which would result would force the abandonment of all 3 reactors. If abandoned, all the reactors will likely suffer more and larger releases of radiation.

Anymore political posturing by Japanese officials or the IAEA that the accident is only a Level Four incident, and less serious than 3 Mile Island, seems to have come to an end. This is the worst nuclear reactor disaster since Chernobyl. It is a sorry day indeed for Japan and the world.

Update - reactor containment chambers still intact and venting, radiation was due to fire in used rods in open containment pool, which fortunately has been 'put out' at least for now.

Every hour that the place doesn't blow up means it is less likely to do so and is cooling, keep your fingers and toes crossed.

By Ethan Bronner, New York Times, March 14, 2011

CAIRO —Troops from Saudi Arabia and police officers from the United Arab Emirates crossed into Bahrain on Monday under the aegis of the Gulf Cooperation Council to help quell unrest there, a move Bahraini opposition groups denounced in a statement as an “occupation.”

The deployments were confirmed by the state-run Bahrain News Agency and the foreign minister of the Emirates, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan....

.....Sheik Abdullah said the U.A.E. had dispatched 500 police officers with the Saudi forces and that other Gulf states would also send troops. His remarks suggested an escalating intervention. “There are other Gulf countries which are going to participate to support the Bahrain government, and to get calm and order in Bahrain — and to help both the Bahraini government and people to reach a solution,”......

Also see

Saudi soldiers sent into Bahrain
Al Jazeera, March 14, 2011
Saudi troops and police from UAE deployed to Gulf neighbour to help protect government facilities after weeks of unrest.

The short answer to this is yes. But the effects of such a shift are tiny. The Earth's tilt and rotational spin on its axis as it travels around the Sun causes our seasons. The earthquake in Japan moved the axis of rotation by around 16 cm. That might sound like a lot, but it's small compared to the size of the Earth. 1 degree change to the tilt of the axis of the Earth would mean moving it by around 110 km.

But the quake's interference with our axis doesn't stop there. The Japanese landmass was moved around by as much as 4m. This redistribution of mass on the surface changes our angular momentum which is compensated for by changes in our rotation about the axis. After the earthquake it's quite possible that our days will be 1.8 millionths of a second shorter because of this shifting.