AP – Torrential rain battered eastern Sicily on Wednesday, where mudslides have killed at least three people and muddy torrents have swept away cars and washed out bridges, authorities said.

AP – From 1,000 feet (300 meters) up, the view of the tsunami-battered Japanese seaside communities shows striking progress: much of the rubble, crumpled cars and other debris are gone.

AP – Japan has banned shipments of rice grown near a tsunami-hit nuclear power plant for the first time after detecting radiation exceeding the legal limit.

Reuters – Unpopular Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Tuesday refused to step down in the face of a no-confidence motion in parliament this week, saying he wanted first to resolve the world’s worst nuclear crisis in 25 years.

AFP – An explosion was heard Tuesday at Japan’s tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, but no rise in radiation levels nor any injuries were reported, the plant operator said.

AFP – A month after a deadly quake-tsunami hit a Japanese nuclear plant, the risk of a huge radiation leak has fallen but the danger is far from over, experts say — a risk brought sharply into focus by a powerful tremor Monday.

Reuters – Japan is considering raising the severity level of its nuclear crisis to put it on a par with the Chernobyl accident 25 years ago, the worst atomic power disaster in history, Kyodo news agency reported on Tuesday.

AFP – Japan added to the evacuation zone around a stricken nuclear plant on Monday, as a powerful aftershock rattled the nation a month after its biggest recorded earthquake wrought devastation.

Time.com – One month after Japan was devastated by a massive quake and tsunami, the questions are mounting: Why have officials waited so long to finalize the death toll? Why did the Prime Minister wait over three weeks to visit the disaster zone? And w…

AP – Germany and France offered little help to Italy on Monday when it asked for assistance in handling what it called a “human tsunami” of thousands of Tunisians fleeing their country for Europe via Italy.