World News: Japan's safety agency says crisis on par with Chernobyl

Japan's nuclear safety agency raised the severity rating of the crisis at its nuclear plant to the highest level today, on a par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

An official with the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan, speaking on national television, said the rating was raised from five to seven.

The official said the amount of radiation leaking from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant was around ten per cent of that in the Chernobyl accident in the former Soviet Union.

The revision was based on cross-checking and assessments of data on leaks of radioactive iodine-131 and caesium-137, said Nisa spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama.

"We have refrained from making announcements until we have reliable data. The announcement is being made now because it became possible to look at and check the accumulated data assessed in two different ways," he said, referring to measurements from Nisa and the Nuclear Security Council.

Mr Nishiyama noted that unlike in Chernobyl there had been no explosions of reactor cores at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, although there were hydrogen explosions.

Cage's comic found 10 years on

A valuable comic featuring the debut of Superman, which police say appears to be the same one stolen from actor Nicolas Cage more than a decade ago, has been found in a San Fernando Valley storage locker. The 1938 Action Comics No 1 is in police custody.

Belarus blast 'terrorist act'

A rush-hour explosion which tore through an underground station in Belarus's capital Minsk, killing 11 people and wounding 126, was a terrorist act, an official said.

President Alexander Lukashenko did not say what caused yesterday's explosion at Oktyabrskaya station, but suggested outside forces could be behind it.

Deputy prosecutor-general Andrei Shved said the blast was a terrorist act, but did not give further details.

Facebook settlement upheld

A US appeals court has ruled that twins who say the idea for Facebook was stolen from them by Mark Zuckerberg cannot back out of a settlement deal they made with the website.

Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss had asked in January to re-open a $65 million (42m) legal settlement signed in 2008.

Military court jails blogger

An Egyptian military tribunal has convicted blogger 26-year-old Maikel Nabil Sanad of insulting the army and sentenced him to three years in prison.The ruling further raised activists' fears that the army is against greater freedom of expression and political reform.

Ivory Coast's president calls for calm

Ivory Coast: UN-recognised president Alassane Ouattara has urged restraint after the dramatic capture of his bitter rival Laurent Gbagbo.

Announcing an investigation into Mr Gbagbo, he promised him a fair trial and said a truth and reconciliation commission would be set up.

France: At least two women have been briefly detained while wearing Islamic veils, after a law banning the garment in public came into force.