The charges were dropped in a bid to calm tensions after political unrest began last month, but the latest sweeps suggest authorities have abandoned efforts at dialogue and are trying to silence the opposition leaders. The group said the others detained include Shiite activists Abdul Wahad Hussein and Hassan Hadad and Sunni liberal leader Ibrahim Sharif, who had joined with Bahrain's majority Shiites to demand the Sunni monarchy loosen its grip on power.

"I saw men in black pointing a machine gun at my husband saying just one thing: 'We are from the state security,'" said Sahrif's wife Farida Guhlam. A senior opposition leader Abdul Jalil Khalil said Abdul Hadi al-Mokhdar of Wafa movement was also among those detained before dawn on Thursday. "This is alarming and our priority is stop the bleeding of the country," Khalil said, adding that opposition is expecting more arrests of leaders.

Bahrain has imposed a three-month emergency rule that gives the military wide powers to battle the pro-democracy uprising that began in mid-February in the strategic nation, which hosts the US Navy's 5th Fleet. Increasingly, the struggle appears to be framed along sectarian lines: the Sunni monarchy and its backers using everything at their disposal to retain power, and Shiites hoping their overwhelming population advantage will be their most potent weapon to disrupt the country and bring the leadership to its knees.

Sunni authorities in the region also see Bahrain as an important stand against possible expansion of influence by Shiite power Iran. About 1,500 troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are in Bahrain as part of a Gulf task force to help the Sunni rulers. The move, however, has brought sharp criticism from close ally Washington. US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told CBS News that the introduction of Gulf forces was "the wrong track."

The governor of northeastern Fukushima prefecture, the site of a badly damaged nuclear power plant, fumed over what he saw as poor government communication and coordination. "The anxiety and anger being felt by people in Fukushima have reached a boiling point," Governor Yuhei Sato told broadcaster NHK. He said shelters do not even have enough hot meals and basic necessities for those living near the plant who have already been relocated.

In a rare address to the nation, Japan's Emperor Akihito called the nuclear crisis "unprecedented in scale" and urged the country to pull together in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami. "Nobody knows how many people will die," the 77-year-old emperor said, "but I fervently hope that we can save as many survivors as possible."

Prime Minister Naoto Kan also appeared on television, ordering officials to take radiation level readings and relay them to the public. The official death toll from the disaster has reached nearly 3,700, but authorities expect that figure to climb to more than 10,000 because so many are still listed as missing. A blanket of snow in parts of the devastated northeast added to the misery for millions of people faced with a sixth night with little food, water or heat. Police said more than 452,000 people were staying in temporary shelters.

If Congress were to cut $6 billion every three weeks for the next 36 weeks, it would manage to save between now and late November as much money as the Treasury added to the nation's net debt during just the business hours of Tuesday, March 15.

At the close of business on Monday, according to the Treasury Department's Bureau of the Public Debt, the total national debt stood at $14.166 trillion ($14,166,030,787,779.80). At the close of business Tuesday, the debt stood at $14.237 trillion ($14,237,952,276,898.69), an increase of $71.9 billion ($71,921,489,118.89).

Since the beginning of fiscal year 2011 - which began on October 1, 2010 - the national debt has climbed from $13.5616 trillion ($13,561,623,030,891.79) to $14.2379 trillion ($14,237,952,276,898.69) an increase of $676.3 billion ($676,329,246,006.90).

Congress would need to cut spending by $6 billion every three weeks for approximately the next six and a half years (338 weeks) just to equal the $676.3 billion the debt has increased thus far this fiscal year.

Health and nuclear experts emphasize that radiation in the plume will be diluted as it travels and, at worst, would have extremely minor health consequences in the United States, even if hints of it are ultimately detectable. In a similar way, radiation from the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 spread around the globe and reached the West Coast of the United States in 10 days, its levels measurable but minuscule.

The projection, by the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, an arm of the United Nations in Vienna, gives no information about actual radiation levels but only shows how a radioactive plume would probably move and disperse. The forecast, calculated Tuesday, is based on patterns of Pacific winds at that time and the predicted path is likely to change as weather patterns shift.

On Sunday, the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it expected that no "harmful levels of radioactivity" would travel from Japan to the United States "given the thousands of miles between the two countries." The test ban treaty group routinely does radiation projections in an effort to understand which of its global stations to activate for monitoring the worldwide ban on nuclear arms testing. It has more than 60 stations that sniff the air for radiation spikes and uses weather forecasts and powerful computers to model the transport of radiation on the winds

For most Japanese, the rolling outages instituted in the wake of the twin disasters translate to inconvenience, sacrifice and economic loss. But for tens of thousands who are now homeless and huddled in evacuation centers in the hard-hit northeast, the stakes are much higher.

"In known evacuation centers, people who reached actual evacuation centers, you have a half million Japanese displaced. They don't have water, they don't have electricity, they don't have oil," said Sheila Smith, senior fellow for Japan Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. "And the temperatures are... dipping below freezing because it's snowing in most of those regions. So there's an acute humanitarian crisis today in Japan."

And for the aid organizations who seek to help the displaced, the lack of power in the quake zone and freezing temperatures are one more reason to rush, and one more challenge to face. The disaster that struck Japan on Friday knocked out about one-fifth of the country's 55 nuclear reactors, which normally provide nearly 30 percent of the total power in the country. It also clobbered many thermal plants and knocked out an unknown portion of Japan's electricity transmission system.

In the northern part of the country, in addition to powerless evacuation centers, the Japanese government said Monday that some 1.25 million homes were without heat, and nearly 3.2 million people were facing reduced gas supplies in the coming days. Other estimates put the number of homes already without power two to three times higher. Replacing lost generating capacity suffered in the quake is a long-term problem - especially in the nuclear sector, where seriously damaged plants are unlikely to be repaired or restarted.

Outside of food and energy costs, the core index ticked up 0.2 percent, less than January's 0.5 percent rise. Food prices soared 3.9 percent last month, the biggest gain since November 1974. Most of that increase was due to a sharp rise in vegetable costs, which increased nearly 50 percent. That was the most in almost a year. Meat and dairy products also rose. Energy prices rose 3.3 percent last month, led by a 3.7 percent increase in gasoline costs.

There was little sign of inflationary pressures outside of food and energy. Core prices have increased 1.8 percent in the past 12 months. Still consumers are paying more for the basic necessities. Food costs, meanwhile, are rising. Bad weather in the past year has damaged crops in Australia, Russia, and South America. Demand for corn for ethanol use has also contributed to the increase.

The emperor spoke after technicians were forced to temporarily abandon a quake-crippled nuclear plant. The 9.0 magnitude quake and tsunami has killed thousands of people. TV stations interrupted programming to show the sombre-looking emperor describing the natural disaster as "unprecedented in scale".

The 77-year-old said: "I hope from the bottom of my heart that the people will, hand in hand, treat each other with compassion and overcome these difficult times." Akihito said he prayed that every victim of the quake and tsunami could be saved. Thousands are missing and at least 10,000 feared dead after the disaster, which flattened swathes of the country's north-east coast.

Engineers are meanwhile racing to avert a nuclear catastrophe at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi power plant. On Wednesday morning, yet another fire broke out in one of the reactors, while smoke or steam billowed from another part of the plant. The authorities have been using a helicopter to try to douse the facility. The plant - 220km (140 miles) north of Tokyo - was rocked by the first in a series of explosions on Saturday.

The opening salvo in what unions hope will be a 'summer of strife' will come on March 26, when Labour leader Ed Miliband and shadow Chancellor Ed Balls are expected to join a 200,000-strong Trades Union Congress demonstration on the streets of London. Brendan Barber, general secretary of the TUC, called yesterday for a campaign of 'peaceful civil disobedience' against the Government's attempts to rein in the unprecedented budget deficit.

'I think the coalition needs to reflect on where is their plan B,' Mr Barber said. 'They take a major political risk if they seem to be indifferent to this kind of genuine democratic reaction to what they are doing.'

The Public and Commercial Services union, which represents civil servants, is thought to have around 2 million pounds set aside, while other unions have smaller sums. There is increasing concern in Westminster that unions could bring Britain to a standstill through mass public sector walkouts.

Ministers believe the issue of public sector pensions - which were identified as needing urgent cutbacks in a report for ministers last week - is the biggest potential flashpoint. One union source has been quoted as saying the movement wants to 'unleash hell' on the government. The Cabinet Office is drawing up a secret 'war plan' to deal with a general strike, with strike breakers being lined up to keep vital facilities such as prisons, the Tube and power stations running. David Cameron is also threatening to tear up strike laws to prevent militant trade unions holding Britain to ransom.

Struggling to cope with the aftermath of the Sendai earthquake and tsunami, Japan has an extreme dose of all three. I took a quite sanguine view of the longer term outlook for the Japanese economy in my column for The Daily Telegraph this morning, and although written before the nuclear element to the catastrophe quite suddenly worsened, I still think that on balance this is the way to bet.

None the less, the turn of events at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant adds a potentially much more troubling dimension to the economics of the crisis with very significant implications for the future of energy security, not just in Japan, but across all advanced and even emerging market economies. We've already seen some early signs of fallout with Germany's decision to shut down seven ageing nuclear reactors and put a moratorium on all new nuclear build.

This is almost certainly an hysterical, unnecessary and extreme over-reaction to events in Japan, but is vivid illustration of how a relatively localised event in a far away place can have much farther reaching consequences. It's been more than three decades since the Three Mile Island meltdown on America's east coast, yet only quite recently has the nuclear lobby succeeded in winning back sufficient trust in the safety of their industry to allow for extensive new nuclear build to be sanctioned across the world economy.

Now this. Despite the mitigating circumstances - ageing capacity built on geologically unsound ground - and the evident need for alternatives to hydrocarbon power generation, it's once more going to be an uphill struggle in democratic societies to get the go-ahead for new nuclear capacity. Governments must hold their nerve on nuclear. The Japanese catastrophe is quite bad enough without turning itself into a global energy crisis.

Sales of Geiger counters have gone through the roof in Germany in recent days, and people have been buying so many iodine pills that medical experts have warned of the health risks of taking them. It only makes sense, said the Federation of German Pharmacists, "if there is a radioactive cloud directly over Germany."

Judging by the near-panic with which Europe's largest nation is responding to the Fukushima incident, one might assume that a toxic cloud had already arrived. The whole world is anxiously watching the video footage showing plumes of smoke rising from the stricken plant, and questions are being asked in most countries about the safety of nuclear power.

But the reaction has been strikingly angst-ridden in Germany, which is over 5,500 miles away from Japan. The Japanese, one could be forgiven for thinking, are facing their plight with a lot more stoicism than the Germans. The fear is driven in part by the evident similarities between the two highly developed, industrial nations, both known for their technological prowess and rigorous safety standards. If it can happen in Japan, then it could certainly happen here, say Germans, who have a high level of respect for Japanese engineering.

German commentators have proclaimed the end of nuclear power as a global source of energy - even as China and India reaffirmed their commitment to invest heavily in new plants to satisfy their surging energy needs.

Questions persisted for decades about the ability of the Mark 1 to handle the immense pressures that would result if the reactor lost cooling power, and today that design is being put to the ultimate test in Japan. Five of the six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, which has been wracked since Friday's earthquake with explosions and radiation leaks, are Mark 1s.

"The problems we identified in 1975 were that, in doing the design of the containment, they did not take into account the dynamic loads that could be experienced with a loss of coolant," Bridenbaugh told ABC News in an interview. "The impact loads the containment would receive by this very rapid release of energy could tear the containment apart and create an uncontrolled release."

The situation on the ground at the Fukushima Daiichi plant is so fluid, and the details of what is unfolding are so murky, that it may be days or even weeks before anyone knows how the Mark 1 containment system performed in the face of a devastating combination of natural disasters.

But the ability of the containment to withstand the events that have cascaded from what nuclear experts call a "station blackout" - where the loss of power has crippled the reactor's cooling system - will be a crucial question as policy makers re-examine the safety issues that surround nuclear power, and specifically the continued use of what is now one of the oldest types of nuclear reactors still operating.

The most obvious way would be through tax bills, if Europe agrees to ride to the rescue and help Greece deal with its mounting public and foreign debts. It is not yet clear what leaders of eurozone nations have agreed to do, but one thing is certain: any assistance will come at a cost that will ultimately have to be borne by taxpayers in the nations that contribute.

European citizens, both those within and those outside the eurozone, would even have to contribute indirectly if the International Monetery Fund was to get involved, since it is funded by a charge - known as a "quota" - paid by member nations. But their contribution would have been reduced proportionally with contributions made by non-European countries. In other words, the financial burden would have been more widely shared.

So the reasons why people outside Europe should care are broadly the same as the reasons why the Greeks should care. Going forth, they too are facing slower wage growth, rising taxes and rising retirement ages as governments everywhere - in the eurozone, the UK, the US and Japan - start slashing their debts.

"The consequence of a political crisis would worsen the risks for our economy and lead to intervention," he said. Portugal is burdened with high levels of debt, and is struggling to avoid an international bail-out similar to those of Greece and the Republic of Ireland. The government of Prime Minister, Jose Socrates, unveiled the latest in a series of austerity measures last Friday.

The plans, which included cuts to health and welfare budgets, were meant to reassure investors and fellow European Union members that it can meet its debt obligations without the need for outside help. However, the austerity package has met with fierce opposition, and the prime minister has warned that if the measures fail to win support, his country may be forced into a bail-out.

The main opposition party has now decided to formally oppose the plans which could lead to political deadlock. This could bring down the current minority government forcing a general election. "I have been fighting to avoid this scenario for six months," Mr Socrates told Portuguese television.

Ratings agency Moody's has decided to downgrade Portugal's sovereign debt rating by two notches from A1 to A3. "The cost of market funding is likely to remain high until the deficit has been reduced to a sustainable level and the prospects for economic growth have improved," it said in a statement. The downgrade will make it more expensive for Portugal to raise money on the international money markets. Moody's has also given a negative outlook on the new rating, which means its rating could be downgraded further.

The AP news agency said government supporters later broke up the rally by punching and attacking the protesters. A Facebook group, The Syrian revolution against [President] Bashar al-Assad 2011, is said to have called the march. A similar appeal on Facebook last month failed to bring protesters to the streets, but critics blamed a heavy security presence for the failure of that campaign.

Tuesday's march started after noon prayers in the old town of Damascus and fanned out to neighbouring streets, the witness told the BBC. He said the security forces did not use force against the protesters, but detained six of them. He added that more people were expected to join demonstrations after the evening prayers. A video posted on YouTube appeared to show the protest, with hundreds of marchers chanting slogans calling for freedom and an end to the emergency laws.

Calls for protests in Syria surfaced on Facebook after Egyptian activists succeeded in overthrowing President Hosni Mubarak last month after weeks of street demonstrations. Syria - like Egypt - is ruled through emergency law and suffers from high poverty and unemployment. Critics say corruption and cronyism are rife in Syrian business and political circles.

President Bashar al-Assad - who came to power in 2000 after three decades of rule by his father Hafez - has moved slowly to open up the economy, but his administration does not tolerate any dissent. There are thousands of political prisoners in Syrian jails, and major opposition groups are banned. The government also blocks access to several internet sites and maintains strict control of the media.

About half of the existing cables running across the Pacific are damaged and "a lot of people are feeling a little bit of slowing down of Internet traffic going to the United States," said Bill Barney, chief executive of Hong Kong-based cable-network operator Pacnet. He declined to name the damaged cables operated by other companies, but said Pacnet's cable system connecting Japan to the US isn't damaged so far.

Most international Internet-data and voice phone calls are transmitted as pulses of light via the hundreds of undersea fiber-optic cables. The cables, which can cost hundreds of millions of dollars, are typically owned by consortia of telecom companies, who share costs and capacity. While the clusters of glass fibers are enclosed in protective material, they remain vulnerable to undersea earthquakes, fishing trawlers and ship anchors. There are also many choke points around the globe, where a number of cables converge.

While the extent of the damage to undersea cables is unclear and financial losses unknown, operators said they are undergoing an inspection and looking to expedite restoration. More than 5,000 people have been confirmed dead or missing because of the quake and ensuing tsunami, according to Kyodo News. Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has called the earthquake and its aftermath the biggest crisis in Japan's post-war history.