An earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale jolted Solomon Islands at 0416 GMT on Saturday, the US Geological Survey said.

Toyota on Monday resumed operations at all its domestic plants that had been halted since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, with production volume still at around 50 per cent due to a parts shortage.

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.

At least four people were killed and 140 injured in the most powerful aftershock that jolted Japan since the devastating March 11 quake and tsunami, heightening concerns over the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant where engineers battled hard to tackle an atomic crisis.

Workers at Japan’s stricken nuclear plant on Thursday pumped nitrogen into a crippled reactor in a bid to prevent a possible explosion, as the government mulled widening an exclusion zone around the site.

The level of radioactive iodine in the sea off Japan’s disaster-hit Fukushima nuclear plant has soared to its highest reading yet at 4,385 times the legal limit, the plant operator said on Thursday.

Japan's health ministry has asked water purification plants nationwide to stop taking in rainwater and cover pools with tarpaulins to shield them from radiation from a crippled nuclear plant.

New Zealand: The first text message said: "Mommy, I got buried." About 40 minutes later: "Mommy, I can't move my right hand." Then, a brief call from New Zealand's earthquake rubble to parents in the

Wellington: Christchurch's mayor declared a state of emergency on Tuesday, saying it was a 'black day' for the earthquake-hit New Zealand city.

"Everybody needs to understand that this is going to be