At least two people were killed in an airstrike on an opposition convoy near the Libyan town of al-Brega on Thursday, hospital officials in Ajdabiya told CNN's Ben Wedeman. It is unclear whether the aircraft was from NATO or forces fighting on behalf of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi sent a letter to President Barack Obama urging him to stop the NATO bombings, a senior administration official said Wednesday.

Ex-U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon, who met with Gadhafi within the last decade, paid a visit to the Libyan capital with a cease-fire plan and a clear message to the embattled ruler that he must step down.

"It's a very solemn time because there's so much at risk here," said Weldon, who led a congressional delegation to Libya in 2004 and is visiting Tripoli at Gadhafi's invitation.

The U.S. Supreme Court issued an order Tuesday morning halting the execution of Texas death row inmate Cleve Foster.

The  justices issued an order granting a stay of execution for Cleve Foster about eight hours before his scheduled lethal injection.

The Gulf War veteran was convicted along with another man of the 2002 murder of  Nyanuer  "Mary" Pal, a Sudanese immigrant he met at a Fort Worth  bar.

Southwest Airlines expects to cancel about 100 flights from its Monday schedule, the airline said.

A Boeing 737 in the airline's fleet made an emergency landing in Arizona after a hole opened on top of the aircraft during flight Friday.

As a result, the airline is inspecting other planes. It has found "small, subsurface cracks" or indications of cracks in three other aircraft.

It canceled approximately 300 flights on Saturday and 300 flights on Sunday in order to conduct the inspections, Southwest said.

The airline asked customers to check its website before heading to the airport.

Hundreds of people joined the family of Christina Taylor Green for the unveiling of an "Angel of Love" statue in Oro Valley, Arizona.

Christina was one of six people killed in the Tucson shooting spree in January that left 13 wounded, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Christina's father, John Green, told the crowd his daughter was proud of the fact she was born on September 11, 2001 - the day of the terrorist attacks in the United States.

The 9-foot-11-inch steel angel features a piece of twisted metal from the World Trade Center, debris from the Pentagon, and rocks from the Flight 93 crash site.

The angel was unveiled on opening day of the Oro Valley Little League season. It stands just over the left centerfield fence at the field where Christina played Little League baseball.

The players, all wearing their uniforms with special patches in Christina's honor, sat in the outfield during the emotional ceremony.

The field, which is going to be refurbished with the help of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks, was renamed "Green Field" in honor of Christina.

Ten sailors aboard a U.S. Navy vessel were injured Wednesday after a jet on the ship caught fire, officials said.

The incident occurred on USS John C. Stennis Wednesday afternoon in waters near southern California, the Navy said.

Libya – Forces loyal to Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi blocked the westward advance of rebels, who have been aided by air power provided by the U.S., NATO and their allies. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will meet in London today with other world leaders to try to strengthen the coalition's efforts.

Meanwhile in Washington, politicians and pundits are parsing President Obama's speech Monday night, in which he explained the reasoning behind and scope of U.S. involvement in the Libyan conflict.

Syria – Thousands of demonstrators marched in Amman in support of President Bashar al-Assad, who has been the target of protests. Confrontations between anti-government protesters and police have been bloody at times; at least 37 people have been killed since last week, according to the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Security forces flooded the restive cities of Daraa and Latakia on Monday, patrolling the streets, protecting government buildings and in at least one case clashing with protesters, according to witnesses..

Japan – Engineers and workers are carrying out a dangerous balancing act as they try to cool the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor with water, but not so much water that it spills over, presenting an additional hazard. Radioactive isotopes from the damaged reactor are being detected in more places in the United States, though the Environmental Protection Agency says they pose no threat to human health. A Senate committee will hold a hearing today to gather information on the accident in Japan.

Wal-Mart – The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments today in a huge sex-discrimination lawsuit brought by female workers against Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the nation's largest retailer. The arguments will not be on the merits of the case, but on whether to allow as many as 1.6 million potential plaintiffs to join a single lawsuit. Billions of dollars and many thousands of career paths are at stake.

Immigration – Emily Ruiz, a 4-year-old U.S. citizen, was denied entry to the United States on March 11 when she returned with her grandfather to Dulles International Airport near Washington after an extended stay in Guatemala. The girl's parents are undocumented workers in New York; her grandfather had an old immigration violation, which prompted border agents to send him and the girl back to Guatemala. Emily will try to enter through New York today, a lawyer for the family says.

A magnitude 9.0 earthquake hit northern Japan on March 11, triggering tsunamis that caused widespread devastation and crippled a nuclear power plant. Are you in an affected area? Send an iReport. Read the full report on the quake's aftermath and check out our interactive explainer on Japan's damaged nuclear reactors.

[9:16 a.m. ET Sunday, 10:17 p.m. Sunday in Tokyo] Tokyo Electric says it is re-checking its results for a form of radioactive iodine in water from the No. 2 reactor's turbine building at Fukushima Daiichi after Japan's nuclear safety agency questioned extremely high figures released earlier Sunday.

[1:30 a.m. ET Sunday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday in Tokyo] Radiation levels in pooled water tested in the No. 2 nuclear reactor's turbine building at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant are 10 million times normal, a power company official said Sunday. Japan's nuclear and industrial safety agency reports the surface water showed 1,000 millisieverts of radiation. By comparison, an individual in a developed country is naturally exposed to 3 millisieverts per year, though Japan's health ministry has set a 250 millisievert per year cumulative limit before workers must leave the plant. One person was working in and around the No. 2 reactor when the test result became known, according to an official with the Tokyo Electric Power Company, which runs the plant. That individual subsequently left, and work there has stopped until the government signs off on the power company's plan to address the issue.

The process to start removing pooled water from that building had been set for late Sunday morning, Hidehiko Nishiyama, an official with Japan's nuclear safety agency, previously told reporters.

[1 a.m. ET Sunday, 2  p.m. Sunday in Tokyo] Radiation levels in pooled water tested in the No. 2 nuclear reactor's turbine building at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant are 10 million times normal, a power company official said Sunday.

Japan's nuclear and industrial safety agency reports the surface water showed 1,000 millisieverts of radiation. By comparison, an individual in a developed country is naturally exposed to 3 millisieverts per year, though Japan's health ministry has set a 250 millisievert per year cumulative limit before workers must leave the plant.

One person was working in and around the No. 2 reactor when the test result became known, according to an official with the Tokyo Electric Power Company, which runs the plant. That individual subsequently left, and work there has stopped until the government signs off on the power company's plan to address the issue.

The process to start removing pooled water from that building had been set for late Sunday morning, Hidehiko Nishiyama, an official with Japan's nuclear safety agency, previously told reporters.

Geraldine Ferraro, a former congresswoman and vice presidential candidate, has died, according to a family statement. She was 75.

In 1984, Ferraro became the first female vice presidential candidate from a major U.S. political party when she ran with Democratic presidential candidate Walter Mondale.

The two lost by a landslide to the Republican ticket – President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H.W. Bush.

A magnitude 9.0 earthquake hit northern Japan on March 11, triggering tsunamis that caused widespread devastation and crippled a nuclear power plant. Are you in an affected area? Send an iReport. Read the full report on the quake's aftermath and check out our interactive explainer on Japan's damaged nuclear reactors.

[5:30 a.m. ET Saturday, 6:41 p.m. Saturday in Tokyo] An official with the Tokyo Electric Power Company, which runs the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, apologized Saturday and said the exposure of three workers to highly radioactive water could have been avoided with better communication.

Hideyuki Koyama said tests of water found in the basement of the No. 1 reactor's turbine building on March 18 showed high levels of radiation.

That fact - and a general sense that water accumulating in turbine and others buildings around the plant may be dangerously radioactive - did not appear to resonate on March 24 during an operation in the No. 3 reactor's turbine building. On that date, three workers were exposed to between 173 and 181 millisieverts of radiation, including two with direct exposure on their skin, while laying cable.

Koyama said that radiation alarms went off while the men were working, but they continued with their mission for between 40 and 50 minutes assuming it was a false alarm.

[1:55 a.m. ET Saturday, 2:55 p.m. Saturday in Tokyo] Airborne radiation levels continue to fall outside the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, though concerns remain about potentially ominous breaches in reactor cores after water showed alarming radiation levels in tests at two locales.

An official with the Tokyo Electric Power Co. - which operates the facility - told reporters Saturday that water samples from the turbine buildings for the Nos. 1 and 2 reactors similarly found high levels of radiation.

A suspect accused of killing a Georgia police officer and wounding another one surrendered to authorities Friday night after a hostage standoff.

The incident was captured by television cameras as officers arrested suspect Jamie Donnell Hood in Athens, Georgia.

Earlier Friday, Hood released four of eight hostages. It is not yet known how long the hostages had been held or if they had been harmed.

Hood is wanted in connection with Tuesday's slaying of Senior Police Officer Elmer "Buddy" Christian, 34, and the wounding of Senior Police Officer Tony Howard, 43.

A magnitude 9.0 earthquake hit northern Japan on March 11, triggering tsunamis that caused widespread devastation and crippled a nuclear power plant. Are you in an affected area? Send an iReport. Read the full report on the quake's aftermath and check out our interactive explainer on Japan's damaged nuclear reactors.

[11:41 p.m. ET Friday, 12:41 p.m. Saturday in Tokyo] Tests showed that levels of radioactive iodine in seawater just offshore of the embattled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant are more than 1,250 times higher than normal, Japan's nuclear and industrial safety agency said Saturday.

Similarly high levels of radiation had been detected in the same locales in recent days, though the latest readings indicate a notable increase. These high levels suggest there may have been some sort of leakage directly into the ocean – unlikely to be because of atmosphere emissions or rain alone, said an official with the Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the nuclear plant.

But an official with Japan's nuclear safety agency told reporters Saturday that - while drinking such water would be dangerous, given the radiation's potential to cause cancer - the effect on aquatic life in the Pacific Ocean may be relatively minimal. That's because the radiation tends to dilute the further one moves away from the nuclear plant. Data posted on Japan's education and science ministry's website showed relatively small amounts of radioactive particles several kilometers offshore.

[10:07 p.m. ET Friday, 11:07 a.m. Saturday in Tokyo] Tokyo Electric Power Co. is preparing to inject fresh water into the No. 2 reactor core at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to enhance cooling efficiency after highly radioactive water was found leaking near all four troubled reactor units at the plant, Kyodo News reports. The utility will try to remove pools of water containing highly concentrated radioactive substances that may have seeped from either the reactor cores or spent fuel pools, while also trying to restore power at the No. 2 reactor.

[7:38 p.m. ET Friday, 8:38 a.m. Saturday in Tokyo] The Japan National Police Agency reports 10,102 people are confirmed dead as of Friday. The agency said it has received reports of 17,053 people missing.

[5:54 p.m. ET Friday, 6:54 a.m. Saturday in Tokyo] You can see the survivors making the choice as they walk through the debris-strewn main street of Otsuchi in Japan – stay or go?

Some amble along as if in a daze, trying to comprehend the present and match it with an uncertain future. Others look like tourists, coolly trying to place a cousin's house or a grandmother's garden.

But the dilemma is the same for them all: do you stay and rebuild in a devastated small town, struggling economically even before the tsunami, or pull up stakes and start anew in a big city?

[12:37 p.m. ET Friday, 1:37 a.m. Saturday in Tokyo] The Japanese government is considering instituting daylight-saving time or electricity price increases as options to conserve power during summer months when demand may outstrip supply, the Japan Times reported early Saturday. The measures are being considered to make up for the loss of two nuclear power plants damaged in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

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The latest developments on the situation in Libya, where coalition forces launched a series of coordinated airstrikes on Saturday after they were convinced Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi was not adhering to a cease-fire mandated by the United Nations. Read our complete story and check out our full coverage on unrest in the Arab world. Also, don't miss a gripping, high-resolution gallery of images from Libya.

[6:33 p.m. ET Friday, 12:33 a.m. Saturday in Libya] President Obama will speak to the nation about Libya on Monday evening from the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C., the White House announced.

[4:18 p.m. ET Friday, 10:18 p.m. Friday in Libya] NATO has agreed in principle to protect Libyan civilians and will work out details this weekend, said Gen. Carter Ham, commander of U.S. Africa Command.

Ham, who is overseeing U.S. military involvement in the Libyan mission, said the biggest challenge in going after Moammar Gadhafi's troops and snipers is when they are in close proximity to civilians.

He also said that removing Gadhafi by military means is not the aim of the mission.

[1:10 p.m. ET Friday, 7:10 p.m. Friday in Libya] Canadian Lt. Gen. Charlie Bouchard will command the NATO military campaign over Libya, CNN has confirmed.

[11:45 a.m. ET Friday, 5:45 p.m. Friday in Libya] British Tornado fighter jets identified Libyan tanks with their weapons pointed north toward the eastern Libyan city of Ajdabiya and destroyed them, Air Vice Marshall Phil Osborne said Friday.

[10:00 a.m. ET Friday, 4:00 p.m. Friday in Libya] The Libyan delegation attending an African Union meeting in Ethiopia said Friday that Libya is committed to a cease-fire and is ready to let the African Union monitor the cease-fire.

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CNN Situation Room correspondent Brian Todd, producer Dugald McConnell and photojournalist Doug Schantz spent a week embedded with a USAID search-and-rescue team from Fairfax County, Virginia. The team traveled in some of the most devastated areas in Japan searching for bodies and survivors. Unfortunately, the team found no survivors in the rubble. Here's Brian's reporter's notebook. (The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer airs weekdays 5-7 p.m. ET and Saturday 6 p.m. ET):

I think what stands out most in my memory is the images of standing in the middle of the rubble. The pictures we saw were amazing. To stand in the middle of it and look around at the complete devastation and realize the force of the water, and what it must have been like to stand there and watch everything just get swept away, that was just an amazing sensation.

It was also amazing to look at the people coming back and picking through their houses, that just weren't even there anymore, looking for remnants of their lives. One of the rescuers told me that can be a way of preventing themselves from falling into depression: to find a remnant of their past lives in order to start anew.

The biggest challenges were sometimes just walking 10 or 15 feet over the rubble. I'm following one of the rescuers, to try to bring that home to viewers. It can be tricky going sometimes - stepping over something, squeezing through openings or crossing a pile of rubble.

Another challenge was transmitting our material, where there is no power or internet or cell service. We used batteries and generators and a machine called a b-gan, which let us transmit by connecting our laptop to the internet using a small satellite antenna. It has to be outside and costs about $16 a minute. The other challenge was consuming the MREs, meals ready to eat, in plastic pouches. You're eating what the soldiers eat in wartime. We were eating this every day for about eight days.

But those challenges were nothing compared to the difficulties the people we saw faced in the disaster and will face in rebuilding.

The latest developments on the situation in Libya, where coalition forces launched a series of coordinated airstrikes on Saturday after they were convinced Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi was not adhering to a cease-fire mandated by the United Nations. Read our complete story and check out our full coverage on unrest in the Arab world. Also, don't miss a gripping, high-resolution gallery of images from Libya.

[7:52 p.m. ET Thursday, 1:52 a.m. Friday in Libya] White House Press Secretary Jay Carney issued a statement Thursday welcoming the "important contribution by the United Arab Emirates to the enforcement of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973 in Libya," referring to the UAE's announcement that it will contribute 12 military aircraft to the operation. He added: "This critical participation by the UAE further underscores the broad, international support for the protection of the Libyan people."

[7:13 p.m. ET Thursday, 1:13 a.m. Friday in Libya] All 28 NATO allies have authorized military authorities to develop a plan for NATO to take on the broader mission of civilian protection under U.N. Resolution 1973, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday. Clinton said she will travel to London to attend an international meeting on Libya on Tuesday.

[7:04 p.m. ET Thursday, 1:04 a.m. Friday in Libya] The international coalition is in control of the skies above Libya and humanitarian relief is beginning to reach people who need it, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday.

The number of U.S. planes being used has decreased significantly while the number of non-U.S. planes has increased, she said. Troops have pushed back Gadhafi's forces but they remain "a serious threat to the safety of the people," Clinton said.

[6:45 p.m. ET Thursday, 12:45 a.m. Friday in Libya] Command of enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya is expected to be handed over to NATO by Sunday night, NATO sources told CNN Thursday.

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A magnitude 9.0 earthquake hit northern Japan on March 11, triggering tsunamis that caused widespread devastation and crippled a nuclear power plant. Are you in an affected area? Send an iReport. Read the full report on the quake's aftermath and check out our interactive explainer on Japan's damaged nuclear reactors.

[10:49 p.m. ET Thursday, 11:49 a.m. Friday in Tokyo] The death toll from this month's earthquake and subsequent tsunami has now topped 10,000 people, Japan's National Police Agency said.

The agency said that 10,035 people have been confirmed dead as a result of the March 11 disaster, as of 11 a.m. Friday. Some 17,443 are still considered missing.

[9:56 p.m. ET Thursday, 10:56 a.m. Friday in Tokyo] The water that three men were recently exposed to while working at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant had 10,000 times the amount of typical radiation for that location, an official with Japan's nuclear and industrial safety agency said Friday.

The high reading indicates that the fuel inside the No. 3 reactor "is damaged," Hidehiko Nitsayama said. At least two of the workers were hospitalized after stepping in the water Thursday while laying cable in the turbine building of the No. 3 reactor.

Nitsayama explained that the water in this place is typically boiled and has very low levels of radiation. He said that government officials have contacted authorities with the Tokyo Electric Power Company, which manages the plant, to urge the company to "improve its radiation management measures."

[9:51 p.m. ET Thursday, 10:51 a.m. Friday in Tokyo] Japan's health ministry says radiation above the legal limit has been detected in a vegetable grown in Tokyo, NHK reports. Radioactive cesium was found Thursday in a leafy vegetable taken from a field in Edogawa ward. The vegetable, called Komatsuna, or Japanese mustard spinach, contained 890 becquerels per kilogram, exceeding the legal limit of 500. This is the first time that radioactive cesium exceeding the legal limit has been found in a Tokyo vegetable.

[8:20 p.m. ET Thursday, 9:20 a.m. Friday in Tokyo] Nissan Motor Co. said it is considering shipping engines made in the United States to Japan to replace lost production at its quake-hit plant in Fukushima Prefecture, Kyodo News reports. Production at the Iwaki engine plant has been suspended due to the effects of the March 11 earthquake. The automaker said it is looking into whether its engine plant in Tennessee can supply V-6 engines to Japan.

[8:04 p.m. ET Thursday, 9:04 a.m. Friday in Tokyo] Tohoku Electric Power Co., which covers areas hit by the March 11 earthquake and tsunamis, says it will forgo rolling blackouts through April 3 after being able to secure enough electricity partly through conservation efforts, Kyodo News reports. Tokyo Electric Power Co. started its own blackouts in some service areas, including Tokyo, from March 14. The unprecedented measure will continue at least through April.

[3:44 p.m. ET Thursday, 4:44 a.m. Friday in Tokyo] The outlook is generally good for two workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, who were hospitalized after they stepped in contaminated water, experts said Thursday, provided they were promptly decontaminated.

Three workers were laying cables Wednesday in the basement of the turbine building for reactor No. 3 when they stepped into the water, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters. It seeped into the ankle-height boots of two of the men, according to Tokyo Electric Power Company, which operates the plant. Those two men, one in his 30s and a second in his 20s, were taken to Fukushima Medical University Hospital, officials said. The third was not hospitalized, because his boots were higher and covered his skin, avoiding contact, according to Tokyo Electric.

FULL POST

The latest developments on the situation in Libya, where coalition forces launched a series of coordinated airstrikes on Saturday after they were convinced Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi was not adhering to a cease-fire mandated by the United Nations. Read our complete story and check out our full coverage on unrest in the Arab world. Also, don't miss a gripping, high-resolution gallery of images from Libya.

[10:10 p.m. Wednesday ET, 4:10 a.m. Thursday in Libya] The coalition air effort to halt the Libyan government's attacks on civilians continued into Thursday for a sixth day, with an airstrike in the Tripoli suburb of Tajura, a government official said.

[9:20 p.m. Wednesday ET, 3:20 a.m. Thursday in Libya] After enduring five days of air strikes by coalition forces, Libyan government troops retain the upper hand. Government forces' move on Benghazi has been reversed, but attacks on Misrata and Ajdabiya continue. One witness said personnel in the main hospital were "paralyzed with fear."

Meanwhile, the Libyan government reported that military and civilian locations in Tripoli neighborhoods were struck. A U.S. official calls that assertion "unlikely" and says coalition forces have been using "all necessary measures" to protect civilians.

[6:02 p.m. Wednesday ET, 12:02 a.m. Thursday in Libya] Members of Moammar Gadhafi's inner circle are contacting the United States and Arab states, but have been unclear about their intentions, senior U.S. officials said.

However, the officials said that none of Gadhafi's inner circle have indicated Gadhafi was ready to leave, nor have any of them suggested they are ready to abandon Gadhafi, CNN's Elise Labott reported.

They are indeed reaching out, but it's not clear to what end," one senior official said. "It's not clear what's the purpose of all these calls."

[5:48 p.m. Wednesday ET, 11:48 p.m. in Libya] House Speaker John Boehner has written a letter to President Barack Obama complaining of "limited, sometimes contradictory" information so far on the U.S.-led military mission in Libya and asked for the president to provide "a clear and robust assessment."

Boehner, R-Ohio, wrote that he and other House members were troubled that the president committed U.S. military resources to war "without clearly defining for the American people, the Congress and our troops what the mission in Libya is and what America's role is in achieving that mission," CNN's Deirdre Walsh reports.

[5:30 p.m. Wednesday ET, 11:30 p.m. in Libya] Tanks belonging to Gadhafi's forces shelled the main hospital of rebel-held Misrata this afternoon, a witness told CNN.

The push began at 8 p.m. (2 p.m. ET), when "heavy tanks for Gadhafi troops start attacking the hospital - the bombs falling here 20 meters (66 feet) around us," said one person inside the hospital. He said two deaths had occurred "around the hospital."

At one point, shelling occurred without respite for 40 minutes, he said. "Now, fortunately, no more shelling, but the situation is so serious that all the teams here - the doctors, the patients - are paralyzed, scared."

He called for international intervention to protect the civilians inside the institution. "Nobody can work here," he said. All the doctors here are completely paralyzed." Ambulances were not able to leave the hospital, which had lost its electricity and was running on generator power, he said.

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Actress Elizabeth Taylor has died, her publicist told CNN. She was 79.

The two-time Oscar winner died "peacefully today in Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles," said a statement from her publicist. She was hospitalized six weeks ago with congestive heart failure, "a condition with which she had struggled for many years. Though she had recently suffered a number of complications, her condition had stabilized and it was hoped that she would be able to return home. Sadly, this was not to be."

A magnitude 9.0 earthquake hit northern Japan on March 11, triggering tsunamis that caused widespread devastation and crippled a nuclear power plant. Are you in an affected area? Send an iReport. Read the full report on the quake's aftermath and check out our interactive explainer on Japan's damaged nuclear reactors.

[10:33 p.m. ET Wednesday, 11:33 a.m. Thursday in Tokyo] Japan's main expressway connecting Tokyo and the quake-stricken northeast, has reopened for the first time since the earthquake struck on March 11, NHK reports. Only emergency vehicles had been allowed to travel on the 300-kilometer section of the Tohoku Expressway between Utsunomiya interchange in Tochigi Prefecture and Ichinoseki interchange in Iwate Prefecture. The ban on regular traffic was lifted at 6:00 a.m. Thursday.

[10:30 p.m. ET Wednesday, 11:30 a.m. Thursday in Tokyo] Bottled water will be distributed throughout Tokyo to households with infants, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Thursday, after government samples taken Tuesday night found 210 becquerels of radioactive iodine per kilogram of water - two times higher than the limit that the government considers safe for infants.

Tokyo's tap water remains safe for adults, according to Edano, urging calm. "Except for infants, the radiation levels will have no effect on people."

[10:28 p.m. ET Wednesday, 11:28 a.m. Thursday in Tokyo] Colorado and Oregon have joined several other Western states in reporting trace amounts of radioactive particles that have likely drifted about 5,000 miles from a quake and tsunami-damaged nuclear power plant in Japan, officials say. But, the Environmental Protection Agency noted Wednesday that these and other readings "show typical fluctuation in background radiation levels" and – thus far – "are far below levels of concern."

[9:39 p.m. ET Wednesday, 10:39 a.m. Thursday in Tokyo] A group of Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans living in Kanagawa Prefecture has been providing warm bowls of Bangladesh curry to quake and tsunami survivors in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, The Japan Times reports. Saber Sakura, his wife and 25 friends loaded up two cars, a minivan and a 2-ton truck with supplies, including rice and meat and boxes of diapers, snacks and medication on Saturday. They obtained an emergency permit to use the expressway and drove eight straight hours to Kesennuma, where they've been helping out since Monday.

[8:50 p.m. ET Wednesday, 9:50 a.m. Thursday in Tokyo] Tokyo Electric Power Co. resumed work Thursday morning to restore power and cooling functions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant a few hours after smoke stopped emitting from its number 3 reactor building, Kyodo News reports.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency confirmed the smoke had stopped as of 4:50 a.m. Thursday. The cause of the black smoke remains unknown; no fire was seen and the radiation level did not climb. TEPCO said it has ensured that it is safe for workers to return, according to Kyodo News.

[8:06 p.m. ET Wednesday, 9:06 a.m. Thursday in Tokyo] Rescue workers say the search for missing people in Fukushima Prefecture following has been hindered by the nuclear disaster there, Kyodo News reports. Japan's Self-Defense Forces said they may have left bodies behind as they face difficulties entering areas under evacuation orders due to the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Rescue workers in Fukushima have focused on supporting evacuations of residents, including bed-ridden hospital patients, rather than searching for the missing, they said.

[7:40 p.m. ET Wednesday, 8:40 a.m. Thursday in Tokyo] Toyota Motor Corp. says it will delay the sale of new minivan and wagon versions of the Prius hybrid planned for late April due to disruption of its parts procurement since the March 11 natural disasters, The Japan Times reports. A new date has yet to be determined.

FULL POST

A magnitude 9.0 earthquake hit northern Japan on March 11, triggering tsunamis that caused widespread devastation and crippled a nuclear power plant. Are you in an affected area? Send an iReport. Read the full report on the quake's aftermath and check out our interactive explainer on Japan's damaged nuclear reactors.

[10:18 p.m. Tuesday ET, 11:18 a.m. Wednesday in Tokyo] We were unable to update the blog for the past few hours due to technical difficulties. Here's what we missed:

– Several strong earthquakes jolted northeastern Japan on Wednesday morning, among them, one with a preliminary magnitude of 6.0 that jolted Fukushima Prefecture, home to the Daiichi nuclear power plant, around 7:15 a.m., Kyodo News reports. The jolts did not damage Fukushima Daiichi and Daini nuclear power plants or hinder reconstruction efforts. No tsunami warnings were issued.

– Japan's megabanks are considering extending loans totaling more than 1 trillion yen to Tokyo Electric Power by the end of March, Kyodo News reports. The move is intended to help the utility raise funds to boost electricity supply following a quake-triggered accident at its nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture.

– Toyota Motor said it is extending a halt on full vehicle production in Japan through March 26 as it and other major manufacturers try to recover from the effects of this month's earthquake. The nation's three largest automakers, Toyota Motor, Honda Motor and Nissan, as well as electronics maker Sony all shut down factories following the earthquake and tsunami that killed at least 9,000 people and left another 13,500 missing.

– In the wake of Japan's nuclear disaster, all milk, milk products, fresh vegetables and fruit from one of four prefectures closest to the quake-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant will be prevented from entering the United States, a spokesperson for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday.

All other food products produced or manufactured in one of those prefectures – Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi and Gunma – will be diverted for testing, the spokesperson said. Food products from other parts of Japan will be tested as resources allow, but the FDA's main focus is food from these four areas, the spokesperson said.

– It was Taylor Anderson's dream come true to be living in Japan. Then, the March 11 earthquake hit. Her parents last heard from her two days before the earthquake, which triggered a massive tsunami that devastated parts of northeast Japan, including the town where Anderson lived.

Her family spread the word of her disappearance on Facebook; her high school, St. Catherine's School, held a prayer vigil in her honor last Thursday. On Monday, her family announced that the wait had ended.

[2:07 p.m. Tuesday ET, 3:07 a.m. Wednesday in Tokyo] CNN.com posted a blog item earlier Tuesday citing an NHK report on radiation levels in soil 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. A CNN analysis of the data in that report shows that the radiation levels are 100 times normal, considerably less than what was in the NHK report.

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