JAPAN - Fish caught in waters off the coast of northern Japan, where an earthquake triggered a radiation leak at the Fukushima power plant, are still as contaminated today as a year ago, a study found. Contamination levels were particularly high among species dwelling at the bottom of the ocean, as sinking radioactive materials tainted the seafood, the research showed. The findings, published today in the journal Science, suggest there is a continued source of radiation from the seafloor that will have a lasting impact, said Ken Buesseler, the study’s author. “This means that even if these sources were to be shut off completely, the sediments would remain contaminated for decades to come,” said Buesseler.

USA - Given all the roiling debates about how America’s children should be taught, it may come as a surprise to learn that students spend less than 15% of their time in school. While there’s no doubt that school is important, a clutch of recent studies reminds us that parents are even more so. A study published earlier this month finds that parental involvement — checking homework, attending school meetings and events, discussing school activities at home — has a more powerful influence on students’ academic performance than anything about the school the students attend.

UK - A shipment of powerful anti-tank mines have been stolen from a goods train. Thieves are thought to have snatched the mines, used by British troops in Afghanistan, when the train was forced to stop because of a body on the track. Investigators are concerned that the mines, which the British Army use to blow up bridges and buildings in Helmand, could fall into the wrong hands. A military source told the Mail: ‘If extremists or criminal gangs got their clutches on the munitions and managed to get someone to prime and charge them, which is difficult but not impossible, there is the potential for carnage.’

UK - Britain now has the financial firepower to quit the EU straight away and go it alone, experts declared last night. The country’s best performance for five years means the UK now leads the world as we ease out of recession, economists said. Ours was the strongest major economy on the planet between July and September, according to research group Capital Economics. And it predicted we will continue to outstrip the rest of Europe until at least 2015. Tory MPs last night said it was now time for Britain to unshackle itself from the EU’s economic “corpse” as they led fresh calls for a referendum on cutting ties with Brussels altogether.

UK - British officials have rejected US requests to use UK military bases for the growth of forces in the Gulf - as fears continue to grow over Iran’s nuclear capabilities, it was reported last night. The Americans are also said to have asked to use British bases in Cyprus - and fly from US bases on the British territories of Ascension Island in the Atlantic Ocean and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. But British ministers have referenced legal advice from the Attorney General, insisting Iran - which is still denying any plans for nuclear weapon development - does not pose ‘a clear and present threat’. One source said the US was ‘surprised’ Britain is ‘reluctant to provide assurances’ on assistance.

SPAIN - The unemployment rate in Spain is above 25 per cent for the first time - with more than half of young people out of work, new figures have revealed. Between July and September, 85,000 more people joined the ranks of the unemployed raising the total to 5.78 million, the National Statistics Institute said today. For those under 25, the unemployment rate edged down marginally to 52 per cent. Spain is one of the focal points in Europe's debt crisis because if it defaulted or needed a full-blown bailout, the finances of the 17-country group that uses the euro could be severely stretched.

FUKUSHIMA, JAPAN - Though the mainstream media has long since abandoned the issue, the precarious situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility in Japan is only continuing to worsen, according to a prominent Japanese official. During a recent interview, Mitsuhei Murata, the former Japanese Ambassador to both Switzerland and Senegal, explained that the ground beneath the plant's Unit 4 is gradually sinking, and that the entire structure is very likely on the verge of complete collapse.

USA - Hurricane Sandy has swept through the Caribbean, killing 21 and leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. As the storm advances on US shores, fears are mounting that it could merge with another weather system, creating a super-storm. Sandy gathered speed and strength in the Caribbean Sea, tearing through the Bahamas at winds reaching up to 180 miles per hour.

USA - The US Armed Forces recently sent soldiers to Turkey amid the incidents in Syria and the soldiers deployed in Turkey have been sharing intelligence, US Army Europe Commander Lieutenant General Mark Hertling has said, according to USNews.com. “We have had a relatively few number of US Army Europe personnel in Turkey recently,” the general said. “Some of that has been sharing intelligence.” Turkey is concerned about how to handle the humanitarian crisis on its border with Syria, Hertling added.

USA - Hurricane Sandy will probably grow into a “Frankenstorm” that may become the worst to hit the US Northeast in 100 years if current forecasts are correct. Sandy may combine with a second storm coming out of the Midwest to create a system that would rival the New England hurricane of 1938 in intensity, said Paul Kocin, a National Weather Service meteorologist in College Park, Maryland.

BAMAKO, MALI/PARIS, FRANCE/BERLIN, GERMANY - The German government has announced that the Bundeswehr will intervene in Mali. Following Chancellor Merkel's declarations on Monday, Foreign Minister Westerwelle confirmed yesterday, Tuesday, that Berlin wants to "stabilize" Mali and therefore send soldiers, to train Mali's military for the war against the insurgents in the North of this West African country.

BERLIN, GERMANY - Two democratic US Senators and the head of Germany’s 105,000 member Jewish community urged German deputies, from the Bundestag’s German-Iranian parliamentary group, to pull the plug on their slated trip to the Islamic Republic on October 27. Critics of the trip such as Dr Wahied Wahdat-Hagh see the human rights argument as a mere cover for the German deputies to advance economic interests. Germany is Iran’s largest trade partner, with bilateral trade hovering around 4 billion euros each year, and the members of the FDP have strong business ties with Iranian companies.

USA - The Pentagon said yesterday it plans to send a US air force detachment to Poland to support fighter jets and transport planes, marking the first time that US soldiers have been stationed there. The announcement was made at the end of talks between US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and his Polish counterpart Tomasz Siemoniak. The detachment “will arrive this fall to support quarterly F-16 and C-130 deployments beginning in 2013 and will be the first US forces stationed on Polish soil,” Pentagon spokesman George Little said in a statement. “The arrival of this detachment will mark a new step forward in the relationship between the United States and Poland and enable closer military cooperation.”

LEBANON - Hezbollah’s launching of a pilotless spy plane, which was shot down by Israel’s air force in the southern part of the country in early October, has been seen as more evidence that the Lebanese militia is preparing for war. Israelis assume that the drone was gathering visual intelligence to help Hezbollah in its goal of bombarding distant targets with long-range surface-to-surface missiles.

EUROPE - Germany and France are being sucked into the abyss as the crisis in the eurozone deepens, economists warned last night. The slump that began in Greece has spread to the core – with the region’s two biggest economies now heading for recession. Research group Markit said its closely watched index of activity for private firms in the eurozone – where anything below 50 represents decline – fell from 46.1 in September to 45.8 this month. It is the worst reading since June 2009 and indicates that the recession across the region is deepening. But even more worrying is the slump in Germany – Europe’s biggest economy – where the barometer of activity has fallen from 49.2 to 48.1.