TOKYO (Reuters) - Following are main developments after a massive earthquake struck northeast Japan Friday and set off a tsunami.
* Work has been halted at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and workers moved to a safe place after a rise in radiation, suggesting the crisis was out of control.
* The Japanese government says it is trying cool spent nuclear fuel pools at reactors No.5 and No. 6 where temperatures are up from normal levels.
- Authorities prepare to pour water into crippled reactor No.4 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant where a fire broke out earlier Wednesday. The reactor houses spent fuel rods in a cooling pool.
- Japan seeks direct U.S. Military help to cool reactors.
- No plans yet to extend evacuation zone near the facility, 240 k (150 miles) north of Tokyo.
- Japanese television pictures show white smoke coming from a quake-crippled nuclear facility. The smoke was rising from the No.3 reactor of the Fukushima , Fuji TV said.
- The power plant operator Tokyo Electric Power says it is considering dispersing boric acid, a fire retardant, over the Fukushima Daiichi plant's No. 4 reactor from a helicopter.
- Fuel rods in the No. 1 reactor were 70 percent damaged and the rods in the No. 2 reactor were 33 percent damaged, Kyodo says.
- Winds over the radiation-leaking nuclear power plant in northern Japan will blow from the northwest and out into the Pacific Ocean Wednesday, the Japan Meteorological Agency says.
- Japan's benchmark Nikkei average rises more than 6 percent in early trading Wednesday after suffering its worst two-day rout since 1987.
- The radiation level in Tokyo was 10 times normal on Tuesday evening, but there was no threat to human health, the city government says.
- People within a 30-km radius of the nuclear facility urged to stay indoors.
- Food and water in short supply in parts of the northeast. hundreds of thousands have been evacuated, shelters are packed.
- Rolling power blackouts will affect 5 million households Tuesday, TEPCO says.
- Some residents leave the capital. Others stock up on food.
- Death toll is expected to exceed 10,000, and rescue workers are continuing to search coastal cities for survivors.
(Tokyo bureau; Compiled by World Desk Asia)
