Some generated tsunamis that claimed more than 100 lives; and it is thought they occurred because the original earthquake, on 26 December, increased stresses along the tectonic plate boundary that lies to the west of Sumatra and Java. So what is the outlook for Japan now, especially for the great city of Tokyo and the Kanto plain on which it sits?

This is home to one-quarter of Japan's population, as well as being the country's administrative and commercial centre. Big quakes struck the area in 1703, 1855 and 1923, with the last claiming the lives of 100,000 people. Were any one of these events to occur today, the economic losses alone would be expected to top $1 trillion (80 trillion Yen). Seismic activity has definitely increased since the M 9.0 event, with the incidence of small earthquakes registered in some parts of Japan, hundreds of kilometres from the source, increasing by a factor of 10.

Hazard assessment in the region is therefore a pressing priority for researchers; but it is far from easy. "The Kanto region is very complex, and the size of quakes triggered there is probably going to be limited by that complexity," says Chris Goldfinger from Oregon State University in the US, who works in collaboration with Japanese researchers.

The island nation of Tonga is regularly hit by tremors - most recently a 6.4 magnitude quake offshore last month. The research expedition will last about one month. The focus of the study will be an unusual zone on the seabed where undersea volcanoes are being dragged into the fault. Scientists want a better understanding of how the submarine mountains affect the likelihood of earthquakes.

The volcanoes lie on the 4,000km-long Louisville Ridge and either act as a brake on the Pacific plate - or intensify the quakes which follow. The area where they are pulled into the seabed suffers relatively fewer tremors than other stretches of the fault line. The study - funded by Britain's Natural Environment Research Council (Nerc) - will carry out surveys and develop 3D models during seven transits of the region.

One of the lead scientists on the expedition, Professor Tony Watts of Oxford University, told BBC News: "We want to know whether subducted seamounts are holding up earthquakes or whether they cause earthquakes. This is important to find out so that we can learn what controls earthquakes and make better assessments about where they may occur in the future." Subduction zones like the Tonga Trench can trigger tsunamis - as happened off Japan last month and off Sumatra on Boxing Day 2004.

Libyan rebels have been battling Colonel Gaddafi's troops since February but have recently made little headway. "President Obama has said that where we have some unique capabilities, he is willing to use those," Mr Gates told a news conference. He said two Predators were being made available to Nato as needed, and marked a "modest contribution" to the military operations. Mr Gates denied that the drone deployment was evidence of "mission creep" in Libya and said there were still no plans to put US "boots on the ground" in Libya.

His comments come after the Government lost a legal challenge to the ECHR ruling that the UK's blanket ban on prisoners voting was unlawful. "This judicial coup represents a naked usurpation, by a judicial body, of the legislative power that properly belongs to democratically-elected law makers," the MP for Esher and Walton said.

"The judges have assumed a legislative function, fully aware that there are limited means for elected governments subject to their rulings to exercise any meaningful democratic oversight over them." The poor quality of the judges was also "undermining the credibility and value of the court", he added. In a report, Mr Raab also claimed the court's human rights decisions were adding to the pressure on police and the security services.

"The massive expansion of human rights law threatens to frustrate Britain's ability to deport convicted criminals and terrorist suspects," he said. "The goal-posts keep shifting, because of unaccountable judicial legislation - especially the expansion of claims around the right to family life."

He added that more than 1,000 people had been arrested in the city of Kaduna alone, where a 24-hour curfew had earlier gone into effect. The riots started as results showed President Goodluck Jonathan won Saturday's elections. He was declared the winner on Monday night over his northern rival, ex-military ruler Muhammadu Buhari.

Nigeria is roughly split in half between a mainly Muslim north and a predominantly Christian south. Jonathan is a Christian from the southern oil-producing Niger Delta region.

Texans were today desperately praying for rain, as a second firefighter died from injuries sustained battling the terrible wildfires ravaging the state. Cooler temperatures and calmer winds helped his weary colleagues at last get a handle on the latest wildfire, now spanning three northern Texas counties, but officials warned the let-up was only temporary.

The fires have now been raging for more than a week in Texas, so far burning through 1.4 million acres of land and racking up more than $8 million in containment costs. Dan Byrd, a National Weather Service meteorologist working with the Texas Forest Service, said: 'We really need some rainfall. We expect rain in the next few days, but we don't know if it'll get on the fires or not.'

Although the moister air as allowed firefighters to make 'great progress' in building containment lines, Texas Forest Service spokesman Marq Webb said hot and dry weather is likely to reappear in the next two or three days. He said: 'We're going to have a two or three day reprieve and then things start ramping up again.'

And firefighters continue to battle some 22 separate blazes throughout the state, with some dangerously close to the Oklahoma border. Homes have been gutted, animals killed and hundreds of residents have been forced to leave their homes because of the advancing flames. One of the wildfires in PK West, Stephens County, increased in size by a staggering 87,238 acres in just 24 hours - a 144 per cent increase. There is now growing fear that this wildfire may get as far as Fort Worth - one of Texas' largest cities with nearly 750,000 residents.

NASA has repeatedly raised concerns about the timeframe for building a smaller rocket - but the new law expresses Congress's will for the space agency to make a massive "heavy-lift" rocket that can haul 130 metric tons, like the ones from the days of the Apollo. Congressional approval of the plan - all while $38 billion is being cut elsewhere in the federal government - reflects not only the power of key lawmakers from NASA-friendly states, but the enduring influence of major contractors like Lockheed Martin and Boeing in those states.

For instance, a series of stop-gap spending laws had kept money flowing to the man-to-moon Constellation program because Senator Richard Shelby (Republican for Alabama) initially tucked a provision into a 2010 budget bill - even though President Barack Obama and Congress agreed last fall to end that Bush-era initiative. An internal NASA audit pegged the cost of that move at $215 million over five months.

While some praise Congress for pushing the United States to remain a world leader in space science, critics say the national space program is effectively run by lawmakers protecting jobs in their home states.

This left the US Treasury with the authority to borrow only an additional $25.635 billion before it hits the statutory debt limit. On April 4, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Democrat for Nevada) in order to warn Congress that the Treasury was approaching the legal debt limit. In an appendix to this letter, Geithner pointed to the rapid pace at which new debt was accumulating.

"On average," Geithner wrote, "the public debt of the United States increases by approximately $125 billion per month (although there are significant variations from month to month)." In a 31-day month, $125 billion in new debt works out to an average of $4.03 billion in new debt per day. At that pace, the $25.635 billion in legal borrowing authority the Treasury had left at the close of business on Tuesday would be exhausted in less than seven days.

Higher interest rates tend to support investor demand for a currency, since it can generate a bigger return on investments denominated in that currency. The Federal Reserve has kept its key rate near zero since December 2008, while most of the world's other central banks are raising interest rates.

The euro jumped to $1.4514 in afternoon trading Wednesday from $1.4340 late Tuesday. Earlier, the euro hit $1.4547, its highest point since January 2010. The dollar had advanced against the euro earlier in the week as speculation mounted that Greece would need to restructure its debt, but that fear wasn't weighing on the euro Wednesday as investors turned to assets of countries where interest rates are higher.

Critics said the human rights of offenders were being put before those of ordinary members of the public. Details of the scandal first emerged 18 months ago when officials revealed more than 1,000 criminals were at large despite having been recalled to custody. Among the total were some who have been on the loose for up to 25 years after police failed to track them down.

The most recent Ministry of Justice figures show 960 have not been found, including two rated as level four - the highest risk to the public - and 45 rated level three. The group of 47 includes two murderers, two paedophiles, a rapist and ten robbers. Police should find 75 per cent of recalled prisoners classified as 'emergency' cases within 74 hours and three-quarters of standard recalls should be completed within six days.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: 'This Government is committed to transparency and there should be a presumption that such information is published unless the police object for specific operational reasons. Recapturing high-risk offenders will always be a priority.'

Police are anticipating violent clashes as the Right-wing English Defence League have given notice that they intend to protest against the Muslim hardliners. Scotland Yard chiefs are also preparing for trouble from anarchist yobs. Sixty troublemakers charged with public order offences at past demonstrations have already been banned from the City of Westminster on the day as part of their bail conditions.

Officers are considering a series of 'pre-emptive strikes', which could see anarchists being hauled from their beds and arrested on the morning of the wedding.

Almost 5,000 Met officers will be deployed to combat disorder on April 29. Some are expected to rove around the West End to prevent a repeat of the TUC march trouble last month, when thugs attacked businesses and shops, laying siege to the Ritz hotel and Fortnum and Mason. Scotland Yard has already rejected an application by Muslims Against Crusades (MAC) to stage a demonstration outside Westminster Abbey, but officers are still in discussions about demonstrations by the group elsewhere. While police can ban any major protests along the royal procession route, they are powerless to stop 'static' protests at nearby locations.

Across the 17-member euro zone, government heads had a hunch April 17 might not be a very good day for the future of Europe. The strong ballot box performance of the euroskeptic True Finns means it is very likely the party will be part of the next government. It appears that a country long seen as an EU anchor may soon become a source of irritation for Brussels and in capitals across the bloc.

During the election campaign, True Finn party head Timo Soini lashed out repeatedly against the European Union and bailout plans for debt-ridden euro-zone members. Bolstered by an election that saw the party more than quadruple its standing, with 19 percent of the vote, an emboldened Soini remained vocal on Monday, saying it was unacceptable that Finland "must pay for the mistakes of others." And that "the content of politics must change. We have been too soft on Europe."

Does the party represent a threat to the common European project? Do Finland's right-wing populists truly have the power to bring the euro to its knees? Or does it merely have the capacity to create a threat to the euro's stability and thus protract the current currency crisis? If the party becomes part of Finland's next government, that answer could come within a matter of weeks. A coalition between the conservatives, who drew the most votes, the opposition Social Democrats and the True Finns is one viable option currently being discussed.

Treaty supporters want the establishment of legal systems to maintain balance between human rights and what they perceive as the inalienable rights of other members of the Earth community - plants, animals, and terrain.

Communities and environmental activists would be given more legal power to monitor and control industries and development to ensure harmony between humans and nature. Though the United States and other Western governments are supportive of sustainable development, some see the upcoming event, "Harmony with Nature," as political grandstanding - an attempt to blame environmental degradation and climate change on capitalism.

"The concept 'Mother Earth' is not universally accepted," said a spokesman from the British Mission to the UN about Bolivia's proposal. "In general, our view is that we should focus on tackling important sustainable development issues through existing channels and processes." It is not clear if Bolivia's new tough environmental laws will actually go as far as to protect life forms like insects, but the legislation does include all living creatures.

What makes this dilemma particularly difficult for the administration is that the Kabyles, part of the Berber ethnic group, are predominantly secular Muslims and largely pro-Western. They are very active in the fight against Al Qaeda, and even have their own volunteer army to guard against attacks. Dr Walid Phares, Fox News contributor and author of "The Coming Revolution: Struggle for Freedom in the Middle East," warns "a confrontation will take place" if nothing is done by the Obama administration.

"Washington must use its diplomacy to create a dialogue between the two parties. If the administration sponsors the dialogue, the chances of heading off the crisis and a potential ethnic conflict would be higher. We must learn from Iraq and Sudan to do a better job in preventive medicine, instead of waiting for the crisis to worsen."

But Phares' warning seems to have so far fallen on deaf ears. Sources tell Fox News that during this week's visit to Washington by Kabyle leaders, requests for meetings with high-ranking officials from the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Pentagon were ignored. The snub comes amid accusations by the Kabyle leaders that the Algerian government is helping the Gaddafi regime stay in power. They claim Algeria is sending mercenaries, and blocking diplomatic initiatives to unseat him.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said today: "The National Security Council has decided that we will now move quickly to expand the team already in Benghazi to include an additional military liaison advisory team. This contingent will be drawn from experienced British military officers." Mr Hague said the move was needed to help protect civilians in Libya and was compatible with the United Nations resolution which authorised a no-fly zone.

He said in a statement: "The United Kingdom is strongly committed to the effective implementation of the provisions of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1973. With the Libyan people still faced with continuing attacks by Gaddafi's forces, the need to protect civilians in Libya is our highest priority."

"UNSCR 1973 authorises member states to take all necessary measures to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas under threat of attack from Gaddafi. The UK's substantial and early military contribution to the enforcement of UNSCR 1973 has helped saved the lives of thousands of civilians threatened by Gaddafi's murderous regime."