Following are the main developments today in the wake of the massive earthquake that struck northeast Japan on Friday and set off a tsunami.
- Death toll is expected to exceed 10,000, and rescue workers are continuing to search northeastern coastal cities for survivors.
- Japanese data indicate radioactivity levels have fallen sharply at the Fukushima nuclear power plant damaged by last week's earthquake and tsunami, the UN nuclear watchdog says. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says a radiation dose level of 11.9 millisieverts (mSv) per hour was observed at the main gate of the plant at 0000 GMT on Tuesday. Six hours later, the rate had declined to 0.6 mSv.
- United Nations weather agency says winds are dispersing radioactive material over the ocean, and there is no danger for Japan or the region.
- Nuclear power plant operator Tepco has pulled 750 workers from its earthquake-hit Fukushima Daiichi plant since this morning, the firm says.
- Kyodo news agency reports that Prime Minister Naoto Kan was furious with Tepco executives for delays in informing his office about the latest explosion at the plant. It also said he asked Tepco not to withdraw employees from the facility.
- Japan's nuclear safety agency says there were two large holes in a wall of the outer building of the quake-hit Fukushima Daiichi No 4 reactor after a blast in the morning.
- Radiation levels in Chiba prefecture neighbouring Tokyo are more than 10 times above normal levels, Kyodo News reports.
- People within a 30km radius of the Fukushima facility urged to stay indoors.
- Radiation levels rise in Tokyo but it was not a problem, the city government says. "Minute levels" of radiation detected in the capital. according to Kyodo. Radiation levels in Saitama near Tokyo were 40 times normal level - not enough to cause human damage, but enough to stoke panic in the capital.
- Some residents leave the capital. Others stock up on food.
- Radiation levels in the city of Maebashi, 100km north of the capital, Tokyo, were up to 10 times normal today, Kyodo news agency said, quoting the city government.
- Rolling power blackouts will affect five million households today, Tepco says.
- Chancellor Angela Merkel says all of Germany's nuclear plants which began operation before 1980 would be provisionally shut down. Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin orders a review of nuclear facilities, demands faster development of the Sakhalin-3 oil and gas project to help meet energy demand from nearby Japan. Switzerland had earlier suspended the approvals procedures for three nuclear power stations. Experts say India unlikely to alter plans to rapidly build more nuclear power plants.
- Japan's benchmark Nikkei average closes down 10.55 per cent and the broader Topix index fell 9.47 per cent, their largest percentage falls since October 2008. European shares followed, falling to their lowest in 14 weeks.
- Japan's central bank offers to inject 8 trillion yen ($98 billion) into the banking system.