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8 May 2012 Last updated at 10:03 gmt

Japan evacuates residents beyond Fukushima no-go zone

Residents have been moved further away from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant in northern Japan as the no-go zone is extended and there is a new setback at the plant.

Residents of the towns of Kawamata and Iitate were sent to evacuation centres.

Attempts to stabilise one of the plant's stricken reactors have had to be halted amid fears that highly radioactive water is leaking.

The power plant was badly damaged by the earthquake and tsunami on 11 March.

More than 80,000 local residents living within a 20km (12 mile) radius of the plant have been evacuated from their homes. A "stay indoors" policy has been operating in the area 20-30km from the plant.

A wider evacuation zone was decided upon last month as radiation levels were expected to increase, making the move necessary.

The towns are more than 30km (19 miles) from the Fukushima plant, which is continuing to leak radioactive material.

About 5,000 people have been moved into public housing, hotels and other facilities in nearby cities.

Theses first evacuees were reported to be mainly those with small children and pregnant women, who are thought to be more vulnerable.

The Mayor of Kawamata, Michio Furukawa, told the first group of evacuees: ''I know you are worried but we will overcome difficulties together."

More evacuations are expected in the coming days.

Efforts to control the collapse of Fukushima are continuing to face problems.

The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), had intended to cool reactor 1 by filling the containment chamber with water.

But Tepco has now discovered that melting fuel rods have created a hole in the chamber, allowing 3,000 tonnes - more than could fit inside an Olympic-sized swimming pool - of contaminated water to leak into the basement of the reactor building.

Some experts fear the water could pose a serious environmental hazard to groundwater and the Pacific.

Tepco says it will come up with a new plan to stabilise the reactor by Tuesday. Such a scheme is likely to involve capturing the water and storing or processing it.

Amid similar fears of a water leak at reactor 3, Tepco said it would transferring highly radioactive water from that reactor to a waste-disposing facility on Tuesday, reported Kyodo News.

A giant water-storage barge - a Megafloat - has been dispatched to Fukushima as a possible storage site for contaminated water, and is set to arrive at the end of the month.

The earthquake and tsunami knocked out cooling systems to the reactors, fuel rods overheated, and attempts to release pressure in the chambers led to explosions in some of the buildings housing the reactors.

The government and Tepco have said it would take until next January to achieve a cold shut-down at the plant.

Last week the government agreed a huge compensation package for those affected by the disaster.

Analysts say the final bill for compensation could top $100bn (£61bn).

In a separate development, the operators of Japan's ageing Hamaoka nuclear plant south-west of Tokyo said all reactors were in a state of cold shutdown.

The plant is located in the Tokai region near a tectonic faultline just 200km from Tokyo, and Prime Minister Naoto Kan called for its closure in light of the catastrophic events at the Fukushima plant.

№2

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8 May 2012 Last updated at 16:32 GMT

Man fined for shooting swan 'thinking it was goose'

A man who shot a swan thinking it was goose is believed to be the first person in England prosecuted for using lead shot illegally on wildfowl.

Electrician Simon Quince, 36, from Harthills, Barnsley, was fined £445 for shooting the swan and £100 for using the wrong shot.

He appeared at Harrogate Magistrates' Court and admitted killing the swan near Knaresborough last December.

An investigation found he had been using the shotgun cartridges illegally.

North Yorkshire Police and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds found Quince had been using gun cartridges that contained lead shot.

'Significant difference'

Quince was on a shoot on a freezing cold, but clear day last winter.

He noticed four birds flying over and thinking they were geese, he opened fire.

One of the birds came crashing down badly injured and Quince realised he had shot a swan, which is protected by law.

The bird was later put down by a local vet.

Wildlife Officer for North Yorkshire Police Pc Gareth Jones said: "The onus is on the person to identify their quarry.

"There is a significant difference between a goose and a swan. If he wasn't sure, he shouldn't have taken the shot."

It has been against the law to use lead shot on wildfowl shoots in England since 1999.

Lead is banned because it can easily find its way into the food chain of foraging birds on wetlands and is poisonous.

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8 May 2012 Last updated at 11:52 GMT

Air France Rio crash: Black box recorder data 'intact'

Flight recordings from an Air France jet that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009 have been preserved and are readable, French investigators have said.

They said the material from the voice and data recorders, retrieved earlier this month off the Brazilian coast, will now be analysed.

The readings include the last two hours of the cockpit voice recordings.

All 228 people on board were killed in the disaster.

"Following operations to open, extract, clean and dry the memory cards from the flight recorders, BEA safety investigators were able to download the data over the weekend," the BEA air investigation agency said in a statement.

"These downloads gathered all of the data from the flight data recorder, as well as the whole recording of the last two hours of the flight from the cockpit voice recorder."

Summer report

Any information gleaned from the cockpit voice and flight data recorders will take months to process, investigators have said.

Continue reading the main story

The long hunt for answers

The report into the cause of the crash itself will not be ready before early 2012, although an interim report will be published in the summer, the BEA said on Monday.

Flight AF 447 went down on 1 June 2009 after running into an intense high-altitude thunderstorm, four hours into a flight from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil to Paris.

Those on board came from more than 30 countries, though most were French, Brazilian or German.

The wreckage of the plane was discovered after a long search of 10,000 sq km (3,860 sq miles) of sea floor.

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