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The San Francisco Bay Area shook with its second earthquake of the day Thursday night, likely an aftershock from the earlier 4.0 temblor that struck near Berkeley. According to USGS, the latest jolt measured 3.9 on the richter scale and hit at 8:16pm PST.
The quakes came on the heels of California's "ShakeOut" drill, during which residents across the state prepared for disaster.
This is a developing story...
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PHOENIX (AP) ? Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will read aloud in the audio edition of her upcoming book, allowing many people to hear for themselves for the first time how she is recovering.
A spokesman for the Arizona congresswoman confirmed Thursday that Giffords will read the final chapter of the memoir she wrote with her husband, Mark Kelly.
Spokesman Mark Kimble says Giffords has completed the recording of that chapter.
Since she was shot in the head Jan. 8 at an event outside Tucson, Giffords has appeared in public only a few times. She has spoken only with friends, family and at small gatherings.
Scribner is publishing the memoir, called "Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope." It says the book details the couple's marriage, Giffords' political career, Kelly's career as an astronaut, and their experiences stemming from the shooting.
The book is scheduled for release Nov. 15.
The couple is living in Houston, where Giffords continues therapy at TIRR Memorial Hermann hospital.
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FUKUSHIMA, Japan?? At last, victims of Japan's nuclear crisis can claim compensation. And they are angry.
They are furious at the red tape they have to wade through just to receive basic help and in despair they still cannot get on with their lives seven months after the huge quake and tsunami triggered the world's worst nuclear disaster in 25 years.
Shouts fill a room at a temporary housing complex where seven officials, kneeling in their dark suits, face 70 or so tenants who were forced to abandon their homes near the Fukushima nuclear plant after some of its reactors went into meltdown after the March 11 quake struck.
"We don't know who we can trust!" one man yelled in the cramped room where the officials were trying to explain the hugely complex procedures to claim compensation.
"Can we actually go back home? And if not, can you guarantee our livelihoods?"
About 80,000 people were forced to leave their homes by the nuclear crisis.
While the owner of the plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co, has made temporary payments to some victims, it was only last month that it finally began accepting applications for compensation.
But the procedure is so complicated that it seems to just make things worse.
After claimants have read a 160-page instruction manual, they then have to fill in a 60-page form and attach receipts for lodging, transportation and medical costs.
"It's too difficult. I'm going to see how it goes. I don't want to rush and mess up," said Toshiyuki Owada, 65, an evacuee from Namie town, about 20 km (12 miles) away from the plant.
Owada is one of many who still has not applied for compensation even though they have lost jobs or businesses and are running out of cash.
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Complex and unfair
The complexity of the task is one deterrent.
There is another ? ?the perception that Tepco is not playing fair.
Confidence in the authorities is low. The government is seen as having bungled its early response to the crisis and being secretive about what was really happening.
Tepco is accused of failing to take sufficient safety measures at the Fukushima plant even though it knew the risks and then deliberately underplaying the extent of the accident.
It is also seen as insensitive.
One clause in the original instruction booklet telling victims they would have to agree to waive their right to challenge the compensation amount in order to receive payment provoked a public uproar.
Chastised by the government, the company promised to drop the clause, issued a simplified 4-page instruction booklet and assigned 1,000 employees to Fukushima prefecture to help victims with the process.
"There may be times when the content is difficult to understand or in some cases our employee in charge may not grasp it fully, but we would like to explain and respond as carefully as possible," said Tepco spokesman Naoyuki Matsumoto.
A government panel overseeing the compensation scheme estimates claims are likely to reach 3.6 trillion yen ($46.5 billion) in the financial year to next March.
Few claimants
But so far just 7,100 individuals have applied to Tepco for compensation out of the 80,000 it send forms to.
And of the 10,000 businesses in the Fukushima area, a mere 300 have submitted claims.
The company expects a total of 300,000 claims from businesses given that the impact of the radiation crisis has been so widespread.
Victims can sue but that is rare.
Junichi Matsumoto, a Tepco official, said the utility faces about 10 lawsuits so far. He declined to disclose details but said some were seeking more than the firm deemed appropriate.
Yuichi Kaido, an attorney and the secretary-general of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, said lawsuits are considered a last resort in conservative rural northeast Japan.
"In the end, many lawsuits could take place," he said.
"But the majority is thinking of first speaking with Tokyo Electric or seeking mediation."
Sense of resignation
The final compensation depends on whether and when victims will be able to return to homes within a 20-km evacuation zone. That question remains unanswered, breeding a growing sense of resignation among evacuees.
Some said they doubt they will ever be able to go home and suggested their entire towns simply be relocated and many worry about long-term health effects of radiation.
An Asahi newspaper poll showed this month that 43 percent of evacuees still want to return, down from 62 percent in June.
For many, what is now on the table -- reimbursement for moving and transportation costs associated with evacuating, compensation for damage to health, lost jobs, and psychological suffering -- only deepens frustration over what they have lost.
Tokyo Electric said it will pay about 100,000 yen a month for the period to end of August as compensation for psychological trauma. After that, the sum will be halved.
"Evidence that we have lived our lives is completely destroyed and for that, we are told that we will be compensated 100,000 yen for our psychological suffering. That's it?" said 75-year-old restaurant owner Sumiko Toyoguchi, who had to leave her home in Namie.
"What's at the root of our frustration is that we cannot see what our tomorrow will be like."
Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44947085/ns/world_news-asia_pacific/
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LONDON (Reuters) ? International mediators will press Israel and Palestinians to table their ideas on security arrangements and the borders for a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict within three months, envoy Tony Blair said on Wednesday.
Blair said the mediators would hold separate meetings with the Israelis and Palestinians next week in Jerusalem, the latest effort to revive the peace process.
Blair is the representative for a Quartet of mediators, made up of the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations.
By arranging separate meetings, the Quartet failed to meet a goal set out in a September 23 statement to bring the parties together for a "preparatory meeting" aimed at reviving the peace talks which broke down more than a year ago.
Blair said the September 23 statement had also called on the parties to set out their "detailed proposals on borders and security in three months".
"If we can get the parties to agree to do this, then within three months we'll know where everyone stands on two of the central issues," Blair told Reuters.
"If we can get to a point where within three months you see what the parties' proposals are on the borders, you'd see where the gaps are. And that would be in my view a huge advance," he said.
The last round of peace talks between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu broke down over a year ago, just a few weeks after it started, because of a dispute over Jewish settlement expansion.
The Palestinians say Israel must halt all settlement building on land where they seek to establish their independent state before any more talks.
Abbas also wants Israel to agree to clear terms of reference which make clear its agreement in principle to the idea of a Palestinian state emerging in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.
Netanyahu says he is ready to sit down for talks with Abbas right away but has refused to impose new restrictions on the expansion of the settlements.
Israel recently unveiled plans for new settlement building including 2,600 homes on land near East Jerusalem, where the Palestinians aim to found their capital.
"The settlement decision is a problem, I mean there's no doubt about that. The Quartet has continually made clear its concerns and disagreement with this. But I go back to one very simple thing, which is that in the end the best way to resolve this settlement question is to resolve borders," Blair said.
Blair has faced increasingly vocal criticism from Palestinian officials who have accused him of being pro-Israeli. Some have suggested he should be replaced. Blair denied the accusation of bias.
Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian official, criticized the Quartet on Wednesday over what he described as its weak response to the latest Israeli settlement building announcements.
"We had hoped from the Quartet to hear, at the very least, one sentence saying Israel is responsible for destroying the peace process," Erekat told Voice of Palestine radio.
"This is what we will discuss with them," he said, referring to next week's meetings.
(Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
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