Japan raised the severity of its nuclear disaster to the highest level on Tuesday, putting it on a par with the world's worst disaster nuclear accident at Chernobyl after another major aftershock rattled the quake-ravaged East.

Japan on Monday said it was to widen the evacuation area around a crippled nuclear plant to include territory outside the current 20-kilometre (12-mile) exclusion zone.

"The government has designated

Japan authorities have issued a tsunami warning after a fresh 7.1 quake hit the country's northeast today.

The tremor also caused buildings to sway in Tokyo. The quake's epicentre was in Fukushima pr

A magnitude 7.1 earthquake jolted the Eastern and Northeastern regions of Japan on Monday, immediately after which a tsunami alert was issued, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

A tsunami warning was issued for Eastern Japan after a powerful quake hit the country with an epicentre close to the nuclear plant crippled by a huge tsunami a month ago.

As Japan is rocked by a powerful 6.6-magnitude earthquake shortly after holding a minute's silence to mark a month since the massive March 11 quake and tsunami which sparked a nuclear emergency, here is a list of the key events since then:

Once Japan's leaky nuclear complex stops spewing radiation and its reactors cool down, making the site safe and removing the ruined equipment is going to be a messy ordeal that could take decades and

Prime Minister Naoto Kan paid another visit to Japan's tsunami-devastated coast Sunday, promising officials in a fishing-dependent city that his government will do whatever it can to help.

Kan visite

Japan hopes to stop pumping radioactive water into the sea on Sunday which should help ease concerns in neighbouring China and South Korea over the spread of radiation from the worst nuclear crisis si

A moderate earthquake hit off southwest Japan late on Saturday but there no immediate reports of casualties or damage, seismologists said.

The tremor hit off southwestern Tanegashima island 1,000 kil