Partial Meltdown in Reactor Two

The radioactive core of Reactor Two of the Fukushima plant appears to have melted through the bottom of its containment vessel and may have melted on to a concrete floor, running the risk of radioactive gases being released into the surrounding area, according to experts.

U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973

Protection of civilians

Authorizes Member States that have notified the Secretary-General, acting nationally or through regional organizations or arrangements, and acting in cooperation with the Secretary-General, to take all necessary measures, notwithstanding paragraph 9 of resolution 1970 (2011), to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, including Benghazi, while excluding a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory, and requests the Member States concerned to inform the Secretary-General immediately of the measures they take pursuant to the authorization conferred by this paragraph which shall be immediately reported to the Security Council;

5. Recognizes the important role of the League of Arab States in matters relating to the maintenance of international peace and security in the region, and bearing in mind Chapter VIII of the Charter of the United Nations, requests the Member States of the League of Arab States to cooperate with other Member States in the implementation of paragraph 4;

U.S., France, Britain Launch Attacks on Libyan Government

U.S. naval and air forces, with the French and British military attacked targets in Libya in an effort to criple the government run Moammar Qaddafi.

The New York Times reports:
The mission to impose a United Nations-sanctioned no-fly zone was portrayed by Pentagon and NATO officials as under French and British leadership.

But the Pentagon said that American forces took the lead in the initial campaign to knock out Libya’s air defense systems, firing volley after volley of Tomahawk missiles from nearby ships against missile, radar and communications centers around Tripoli, the capital, and the western cities of Misurata and Surt.

Little Effect

New York Times:
Earlier Thursday the military forces dumped seawater from a helicopter on Reactor No. 3, making four passes and dropping a total of about 8,000 gallons over it as a plume of white smoke billowed. The Japanese government said that the reactor typically needs 50 tons of water, or about 12,000 gallons, a day to keep from overheating.

The Self-Defense Forces later said the measure had little effect on reducing the temperature in the pool where the spent rods are stored.

Ice Sheets Shrinking More Quickly

Greenland and Antarctica’s ice sheets are shrinking more quickly, suggesting United Nations

projections for sea-level rise are too conservative, a U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration-funded study said.

From 1992 to 2009, the two regions lost on average 36.3 billion tons more ice every year than the previous year, scientists led by Eric Rignot at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said in a study in the Geophysical Research Letters journal. The researchers said they

linked two independent sets of measurements to validate them.

Jobless Claims Fall Again

Jobless claims:

March 28, 2009: 651,000

February 26, 2011: 368,000