Meltdown is Near as Third Explosion Rocks Sendai Plant

Radiation is spewing from damaged reactors at a crippled nuclear power plant in tsunami-ravaged northeastern Japan in a dramatic escalation of the four-day-old catastrophe.

Japan's prime minister Naoto Kan has warned residents to stay inside or risk getting radiation sickness following a fire at the at the number-four reactor at the quake-hit Fukushima No.1 atomic power plant.

A government spokesman said radiation emanating from the plant is high enough in nearby areas to damage health.

Radiation levels have risen considerably, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said.

In a televisised press conference this afternoon, Kan told people within 30 kilometres of the troubled nuclear power plant to stay indoors.  Another evacuation may have to take place.

Japanese officials who have said for sometime that the problem was contained are now changing their tone a little. 

Workers were earlier evacuated from the number-two reactor plant.

'‘We have moved our staff to a safer area,’’ the TEPCO spokesman said this morning.

An official from Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said ‘‘that workers near the reactor No.2, excluding those who are pumping water to cool the reactor, have been evacuated.’’

Floods Ravage Queensland, Australia

Australia has endured its wettest spring on record, causing six river systems in tropical Queensland to flood, as soaring temperatures in the states of Victoria and South Australia sparked warnings of devastating bushfires.

The heavy rain has flooded coal mines and hit farming hard, with many roads still impassable, and prompted warnings of the dangers of crocodiles and snakes in flooded homes.

The inland sea that stretches across Queensland is dotted with the roofs of flooded homes, islands of dry ground crowded with stranded livestock and small boats ferrying people and emergency supplies.

On Saturday, coastal areas were preparing for the worst. Evacuations were under way in the town of Rockhampton where the Fitzroy River, one of Australia's largest river systems, was expected to flood sometime that day.

Also closed was the town's airport and warnings say the flood may go as high as 30 feet.

As the northeast struggled to recover, a new storm was brewing off the coast of mineral-rich Western Australia.