Stop Syria of Baath party members. reported military defections - Los Angeles Times

Syrian families arrive on foot in the region of Wadi Khaled of North of Lebanon, near the Lebanese-Syrian border. Hundreds of children and Syrian women crossed the northern border of the Lebanon, fleeing the violence in Syria. (Omar Ibrahim, Reuters / April 28, 2011)

Cracks appear in the Syrian regime Thursday with the resignation of the members of the Baath party to power and continuous reports of military divisions before another confrontation with demonstrators expected Friday.

About 200 people resigned from the Baath party in the past two days to protest Government's violent response disorders. Most of the resignations came from members of the party in the cities of Dara and Baniyas, points have been hot opposition.

"My resignation was a message and the duty," former party member Mohammad Sheghri said in Baniyas. "Security officials has clearly abused of peaceful demonstrators and unarmed." This ruthless violation and the oppression of citizens has never been something the party Baath represented. ?

He also continued reports of dissension within the armed forces. A resident of Dara said an entire army unit, a division or brigade, had broken and was hidden among the people.

His claim could not be verified. Media of the Syrian State cited Thursday a military employee without name dismissing these reports as a "distortion of the media", confirming the unity of the armed forces in "conspiracies."

Access to the sites of protest was widely denied to foreign journalists.

The pro-democracy movement erupted in Dara six weeks after the arrest and torture of a group of adolescents accused of writing graffiti policy opposition to the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. It has quickly spread across the country.

Thursday from Dara resident, reached by telephone satellite, said 42 people had been killed by security forces, in the city since Monday when 4th Division Army, the armoured, directed by his brother Maher Assad, stormed the city. Residents described the military assault as a "massacre" and complained about severe food and fuel shortages.

"They are bombing us from the South," said the resident, who requested anonymity for the sake of security. "We have no milk, no gas, light step, no electricity;" they cut everything. ?

He said the army and the shabiha, pro-Government armed plainclothes men who played a central role in the repression, filled the streets.

A witness, Mohamad al-Homsi, said the pan-Arab satellite channel Al Jazeera that three women who were captured in bringing milk to children in the city were forced to kiss the feet of soldiers until they were allowed to pass.

Homsi "our children have died of hunger," said on air shortly before the station announced that it had suspended operations in Syria in response to "restrictions and attacks on its staff."

Elsewhere in the country, the authorities took measures on the movement and communication as the militants and Government forces prepared for the Friday prayer, often followed by massive protests by anti-Government.

Video posted on the Internet appears to show Government forces open fire on the crowd in the third city of the Syria, Homs, kill several people. The video has been downloaded Thursday but could not be confirmed.

The United Nations Human Rights Council should hold a session of emergency Friday to draft a resolution calling on the Syrian Government and its supporters to stop the use of violence against the demonstrators. Organization of Syrian rights sawasiah reported arrested thousands and more than 500 civilians killed so far, Reuters news.

Even former allies of the Syria Turkey and the Iran appear to be increasingly uncomfortable with repression. Istanbul, Turkey, organized a series of top-level between the Syrian opposition meetings, and a group of prominent poets and writers of autour region Thursday issued a statement here condemning the "massacres committed by the Syrian regime against unarmed civilians."

Another sign that it is less than pleased with his neighbour, the Turkey also sent a delegation headed by the National Intelligence Agency Assistant Hakan Fidan and State Planning Organization under Secretary Kemal Madenoglu in Damascus, the Syrian capital", Thursday to discuss the recent incidents" "The unofficial Turkey Anatolia news agency reported."

The Turkey and the Syria maintains healthy trade and diplomatic relations and the sending of those responsible for security and trade could be considered a warning veiled in Syria.

Lutz and Hajjar are special correspondents.

Personal time writer Borzou Daragahi contributed to this report.

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Explosion of the photojournalists tue Libya Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros - Los Angeles Times

Tim Hetherington, left, is helped in a building by a rebel in Misurata hours, in Libya, before being killed. Chris Hondros, right, Misurata mission this week. (AFP/Getty Images.) (Associated Press) reports of Misurata, Libya and Los Angeles-, barely two months ago combat photographer Tim Hetherington sent a tweet of the Academy Awards, where his Afghanistan war film "restrepo" was for the best documentary trophy.

Non-"to the # Oscars with Josh Fox of @ gaslandmovie and Director of http://ow.ly/i/8Dl6 Wasteland," he asked, referring to two of his fellow nominees in the category. The tweet was accompanied by a photo of Hetherington, beaming in a tuxedo.

On Tuesday, Hetherington has sent a very different report of the shattered and besieged the Libyan city of Misurata: "bombardment by the forces of Qathafi blind." No sign of NATO. ?

These significantly dissimilar dispatches reflect both disparate but complementary Hetherington, 41, who was killed Wednesday in an explosion which seems to have been caused by mortar fire to Misurata. The town held the rebels in the West of the Libya was under siege for several weeks by forces loyal to the Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi.

The mortally wounded even mortar explosion Chris Hondros of Getty Images, a veteran photographer combat whose work appeared on the cover of the edition of the Wednesday of the Los Angeles Times and appears in the edition of today as well.

Hondros, 41, has suffered a serious head injury in the blast and taken to hospital, where he died a few hours later.

Hondros has received several awards, including the highest distinction of photography of the war, Robert Capa 2005 Gold Medal. He was finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for his work in Liberia.

Two other photojournalists were injured in the explosion: Michael Brown, Corbis and Guy Martin of Panos Pictures Agency.

Doctors at the Hospital of Misurata Hikma said seven rebel fighters and a Ukrainian doctor also were killed Wednesday in the bombing, and 120 people were injured.

Hondros took photographs in Misurata Wednesday morning under the protection of a rebel militia commanded by a hunter named Salahidin. His photos capture the militia in the action she tried emptying loyal snipers to Kadafi from their hiding places.

After the transmission of images to his employers to Getty Images, he returned to the line of front with Salahidin and his men in the afternoon.

Hetherington and Hondros were part of a group of six photographers who made their way up to a dangerous band of Tripoli Street, a front line where Kadafi snipers hide in buildings of the city held the rebels.

At some point, at some of the photographers has broken with Salahidin for a more secure position, less said Guillermo Cervera, a free-lance photographer who was part of the group. They were hit by shrapnel from a mortar shell.

"We were trying to go to a safe place." It was too quiet. "He considered dangerous," said Cervera, who was a few meters more below at the time of the explosion. "I heard the sound of an explosion, and everyone was on the ground."

Rebels have photographers at the Hikma hospital.

Hetherington was pallid and bleeding from a leg bad injury, and he also was hit in the head, Cervera said.

Through his photographs, which sometimes overlapped the line between journalism and fine art photography, Hetherington has sought the perceptual gap between the chaotic events in developing countries and the most privileged worlds of Western readers. Its projects had included facilities multi-screen and downloads for the portable device.

Born in Liverpool, England, he studied literature at Oxford University and later returned to College to study photography, according to a biography on its website.

A photographer contributing to Vanity Fair, he lived for eight years in West Africa before making his first travels to Afghanistan, a few years ago.

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Violence spreads to the Yemen as foreign diplomats strive to put an end to the crisis - Los Angeles Times

Anti-government demonstrators shout slogans during a demonstration demanding the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sana'a. (Mohammed Huwais / AFP/Getty Images)Reports of Manama, Bahrain - shooting and funerals were spread across the Yemen as the international negotiators have yet to come up with a plan on Board President Ali Abdullah Saleh of power and prevent protests generalized to switch the impoverished nation into a civil war that could stimulate unrest in all the region.

Main cities of the country explosion almost daily violence as security officials and the thugs loyal to the Government attacked demonstrators anti-Saleh with tear gas and live ammunition. On Wednesday, a man armed motorcycle fired on a crowd in the city of port of Hudaydah West, killing a demonstrator.

As the protest movement approaches its third month, the international community, including the United States and Arab States, forced not Saleh to resign from his reign of 32 years, while the tribes and the Government representatives have abandoned him. Volatile leader, whose popularity has fallen in the midst of corruption and has no economic policy, has for weeks as contradicting the signals which have exasperated his allies and a growing list of enemies.

Saleh was quoted by the news agency saying that he would not be overthrown by "conspiracies or blows...." Those who want power or to gain the seat of power should be towards the ballot box. ?

A day after that of the United Nations Security Council could not agree on a statement on the Yemen, tens of thousands of anti-government protesters Wednesday sweeping the old streets of the capital, Sana'a. The demonstrators have is emboldened in recent days, pushing close to the heavily protected government offices.

The cooperation Council of the Gulf, which is composed of Saudi Arabia and five other Persian Gulf States, is concerned by the prospect of economic chaos and civil war from a Yemen already with a divided army, a secessionist movement, and a growing threat of Al Qaeda. As leader Libyan Muammar al-Gaddafi and Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, Saleh is in relying on the brutality and veiled hints of compromise to silence dissent.

"We are close to a consensus of the GCC on the significance of departure of this regime," said Sultan Atawani, leader of the opposition of the nasserite Unionist Party, who met this week with senior diplomats from the United Arab Emirates United and other neighbouring countries.

The difficulty centred on the research of a mixture of solicitations will persuade Saleh to resign. One of the elements under discussion proposes the President and his family, including his son and parents who control the military and intelligence units, the immunity from prosecution in the deaths of more than 100 demonstrators. Western countries are calling on Saleh to hand power to his Vice President and for the elections to be held within 60 days after his departure.

"The issue of such guarantees may be used by the President to gain more time and commit new crimes," said Atawani. "We say to our brothers in the Gulf that such an approach can be made to the table of negotiations, but only by a new Government when it comes".

Officials insist on the fact that a post-Saleh scenario emerges. Under proposals supported by the countries of the Gulf, of Yemen, an incongruous collection of Socialist, Islamic and other opposition, would take the Presidency in a transitional Government. Representatives of the Party of the President Tuesday officials GCC in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in what appeared to foreshadow the eventual exit of Saleh met separately.

"The President has to negotiate to ensure a transfer of power now, or he will never have the chance," said Murad Azzani, policy analyst at the University of Sana'a. "What he wants to do now is to avoid the Egyptian scenario the President under arrest and his party dissolved." Saleh wants his party to survive and to exercise power through it. ?

But the General Congress of the people of the Saleh is in danger. Prominent members broke away to form the Justice and development. This political insurgency challenges directly control of near-monopoly of the ruling party of the Government to reach out to hundreds of thousands of young demonstrators angry with poverty and high unemployment.

"Above all, solidarity with the popular claims we represent and see that the Yemeni common interest lies with the immediate resignation of the President," said Abdul Aziz Jabbari, a former member of Parliament and founding member of the new party.

However, many young demonstrators, Don't feel represented by any political group. Slogans of "Not to the parties" and no impartiality glued to the tents of the demonstrators in Sana'a indicate that a new Government will have to deal with a powerful voice, deprived of their rights. It was the demonstrators, opposition groups or other parties, which forced the international community to intervene and put Saleh on the edge.

"Future leaders will have to have some resonance with the people," said Azzani. "These parties go anywhere if they are not anchored in the culture of the movement to the Yemen has been the witness".

Jeffrey.Fleishman@LAtimes.com

A special correspondent of Sana contributed to this report.

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Israel under pressure to offer peace plan - Los Angeles Times

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center, talks to Israeli soldiers during a visit to Ashkelon, where an Iron Dome missile defense system is deployed. (Ariel Schalit, Associated Press / April 19, 2011)Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under mounting pressure to unveil a new plan for solving the longstanding Israeli-Palestinian conflict or risk having the U.S. and international community move ahead with a strategy of their own.

Israel won some breathing space with the postponement last week of a meeting of international powers in Berlin, but American and European Oxford are continuing to prod Netanyahu to lay out his vision for restarting peace talks and ending the occupation of the West Bank. If he does not, Oxford warned, the so-called Mideast quartet--the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations - may attempt to jump-start the process by formally endorsing, for the first time, the creation of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borderswith East Jerusalem as its capital. Netanyahu's government has vehemently opposed such a move.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton signaled last week that international patience over the stalled peace process was growing thin and that the recent Arab world unrest made a resolution of the conflict more pressing. She promised "active American leadership" and a reinvigorated U.S. approach that would be announced in coming weeks.

"The status quo between Palestinians and Israelis is no more sustainable than the political systems that have crumbled in recent months," Clinton told an audience at the U.S. - Islamic World Forum in Washington. Some viewed the statement as a signal to Netanyahu to move quickly with his own plan.

"the israelis are facing a bit of pressure with the way things are proceeding," said a Western diplomat in Israel, who did not want to be identified while speaking about the sensitive matter. "People are starting to look to the U.S. for some kind of action."

Netanyahu's conservative government formally endorsed a two - state solution at the start of his term two years ago, but U.S. - brokered peace talks later collapsed when Israel resumed settlement construction in the West Bank and the Palestinians walked away from negotiations in protest.

Netanyahu has been hinting that he plans to announce a bold initiative by May, when he is expected to visit the U.S. and may unveil his proposal during a speech to Congress. But his Cabinet, which includes right-wing parties opposed to ceding land for peace, appears divided.

Last month, Israeli government aid floated the idea of an interim peace plan with temporary borders, but the Palestinians rejected it. Now Netanyahu is considering handing the Palestinian Authority more control over some areas in the West Bank or calling for an international conference aimed at restarting talks.

In a speech to European Union envoys last week, Netanyahu offered no. clues. "I have not decided what to say, and when to say it," the prime minister reportedly told the group. On Thursday, Netanyahu struck a defiant tone, saying he would not succumb to outside pressure. "we will stand firm against anyone who attempts to dictate conditions to us that will leave us without security and without peace."

Government spokesman Mark Regev said the international community should be holding the Palestinians more responsible for the breakdown in talks.

"In some circles there is an automatic knee-jerk siding with the Palestinian position, and it makes Palestinians think they have a free pass," Regev said. "people are inadvertently hurting the peace process." "If there were a serious message from the international community that the time has come to return to negotiations, there would be a much better chance at negotiations."

Moderate members of Netanyahu's Likud Party are urging the prime minister to sixteen the moment by offering a fresh approach.

"We should take an initiative," said Intelligence Minister Dan Meridor. "time passing is not helping."

President Obama has said he wants to welcome a Palestinian state into the U.N. in September. Not coincidentally, that's also when the Palestinians are promising to take their statehood bid to the U.N. General Assembly, which most predict will approve it.

Though such a step may not change the reality in the Middle East, it would create momentum that many Israelis fear would reduce their leverage at future negotiations over borders and security guarantees.

Palestinian officials expressed disappointment at the delay in this month's quartet meeting. Palestinian official Saeb Erekat called the decision regrettable.

U.N. and EU representatives were hoping to use the meeting to push for a quartet statement endorsing the pre-1967 war borders, with agreed-upon swaps, as a basis for future talks. But U.S. officials argued for a delay, saying they first wanted a guarantee from the Palestinians that if such a statement were released, they would return to the negotiating table. The U.S. also worried that the move might lead to boycott talks Israel.

The Palestinians gave no clear indication that a quartet statement would be enough to persuade them to resume talks, officials said. Some Palestinian leaders are insisting that Israel must also agree to halt all settlement construction on land it seized during the 1967 Middle East War.

"Why should the quartet go out on a limb when there is no hard and fast insurance that the Palestinians would return to the table?" the Western diplomat in Israel said.

Public skepticism about peace talks among Palestinians has only hardened in recent months, with most urging Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to boycott the process unless Israeli settlement construction is halted, according to Palestinian pollster Khalil Shikaki.

"If he returns to talks, he makes the public very angry," Shikaki said. "my conclusion is he will not."

Palestinian leaders are nonetheless increasingly confidant that their September statehood strategy is gaining steam. At an international donors conference in Brussels last week to aid the Palestinians, a U.N. report was released that praised Palestinian Authority institutions dealing with finance, law, education and infrastructure as being ready for statehood. But U.N. officials worry that progress could stall if a peace deal is not reached soon.

Israel staunchly opposed U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state, saying the Palestinians are trying to avoid the difficult decisions that should be made at the negotiating table.

Israeli analysts say Netanyahu's alternative plan, if he announces one, would need to be ambitious and detailed enough to rival the Palestinians' initiative. U.S. and European officials are pushing Netanyahu to formally embrace using the 1967 borders as a basis for talks, as some of his predecessors have done, and agree to East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital.

Opposition leaders expressed doubt that Netanyahu's coalition would be able to overcome its differences to propose such a plan.

"I don't see in the current government a political plan for moving forward," said lawmaker Shaul Mofaz of the opposition Kadima party. Yet, he added, "a do-nothing policy is very dangerous for the future of Israel."

Edmund.Sanders@LATimes.com

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With the United States in the role of support, Libya of the NATO mission ' to go in circles - Los Angeles Times

A jet fighter anti-Government traverse Street Tripoli in clashes with forces loyal to Muammar al-Gaddafi in central Misurata, the only city in the West of the Libya which remains in the control of the rebels. (Odd Andersen / AFP/Getty Images)Reports from Washington and Benghazi in Libya - a month ago in Libya, loyal to Muammar al-Gaddafi troops advancing on the opposition-held areas, tens of thousands of civilians feared for their lives, and the rebel forces are appeared in disarray with little chance of driving Kadafi of power.

After four weeks and hundreds of air strikes by the United States and their NATO allies, in many ways little has changed.

Tanks and artillery of the Al-Gaddafi is more threatening the capital of a de facto rebels of Benghazi in eastern Libya, and warplanes Kadafi and combat helicopters are based. But disorganized rebel forces are still out sighted and outnumbered by the Libyan army units, who, with their Chief, showed no sign to surrender.

On the contrary, al-Gaddafi has intensified its counter-offensive these days. Grad mounted on truck rockets to bomb residential areas of Misurata, the only city in the West of the Libya still in the hands of the rebels and rights groups of the military accused man of Kadafi of the use of cluster bombs.

"We precipitate in this without a plan," said David Barno, a former army General who commanded once United States and NATO forces in Afghanistan. "Now, we are in the Middle, go in circles."

The failure of the air campaign to force the expulsion of the Al-Gaddafi, or even to stop his army of bombing of civilians and to recapture the cities held rebel, pose a dilemma Crescent for President Obama and other NATO leaders: what future?

In private, the American authorities acknowledge that some of their assumptions until they intervened in the Libyan conflict may have been defective. Among them was the notion that only air power degrade military of the Al-Gaddafi to the point where it would be obliged to put an end to its attacks, and that the United States could leave the air strikes mainly to Britain combat aircraftFrance and other European countries.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron, who leads the NATO to launch air campaign in Libya, said last week that the alliance had to intensify its attacks to the mandate of the United Nations to protect civilians. But win agreement to back intervention could further divide the alliance already evil split.

The US army moved in a supporting role earlier this month, and Obama gave no indication that it will send U.S. aircraft in combat missions, a fortiori again reconsider his promise not to use troops to the ground in Libya.

His decision to intervene in the Libya was not popular at the Pentagon, where the Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates and top uniformed officers showed little interest in taking a major role in the conflict, while they are engaged in the war in Afghanistan. Obama has successfully overcome the objections of his advisors by promising to keep the role of the United States limited.

If the most powerful member of the alliance is not prepared to degenerate, a few other members will be eager to do so.

But the longest Kadafi brandishes under the NATO attacks, the pressure more there will be in the Washington capitals and European deal with the escalation of the military campaign, arming the rebels or ratchet sanctions and other indirect measures, in the hope of forcing the power.

Admiral James Stavridis, the American commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has asked the NATO members for additional attack aircraft - a request that the American authorities have clearly that other members of the alliance will have to meet.

Decision of the Obama to limit the military role of the United States left NATO without A - 10 Thunderbolt II or combat AC - 130 spectrum, we had U.S. designed for accurate and close to the ground troops air support attacks against targets on the ground.

The United States allows A-10 and other aircraft to strike pending in cases of emergency. But bring the aircraft in the fight is not the review, a NATO officer said.

However, the air campaign has clearly weakened army of Kadafi. Allied air strikes have destroyed about 40% of equipment and headquarters military installations Libya, according to a senior U.S. military officer.

With an area of maritime exclusion preventing Kadafi supply sea, there are also signs that his Government is struggling to provide ammunition, transportation and food to the troops on the ground. They include the 32nd Brigade, an elite unit headed by the Al-Gaddafi more young sons, Khamis and the main target of the air strikes, said the U.S. official.

The Al-Gaddafi to stay in power long term prospects are not good, insist the United States authorities. They cite the defection of several assistants top of the page, including its former head of the information and the loss of billions of dollars in oil revenues that he used only once to help ensure the loyalty in a tribal society.

But these gains have not changed the balance of military power.

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Mubarak suffers from heart problems during the interrogation, - according to a report, Los Angeles Times

Mubarak at the Presidential Palace in Cairo. For the last year it was hit by rumours of health, especially after he underwent a surgery of the gallbladder in Germany in March 2010. (Amr Nabil / Associated Press / January 28, 2010)President of the former Egyptian Hosni Mubarak was hospitalized in the Red Sea resort after suffering heart problems during questioning by prosecutors on allegations of corruption and abuse of power arising from its nearly 30 year rulethe News reported State media.

"Hosni Mubarak went into intensive care in hospital International Sharm el Sheik, with heart problems," said the official news agency MENA. The authorities said that Mubarak was accompanied by his sons, Alaa and Gamal, who were also questioned by prosecutors.

The news agency quoting a hospital Manager, reported that the deposed President State is stabilized and that it "may be questioned." State TV said that Mubarak has refused to eat or drink Tuesday morning after being informed that he and his son could be questioned.

Mubarak, 82, ill for more than a year. Media status indicated, however, that the visit to the hospital may have been a ploy to escape his legal problems. The former leader and his son were summoned by the Attorney General of the Egypt for questioning on charges of illicit gains and violence against the protesters in an uprising which began on 25 January and led to the resignation of Mubarak on 11 February.

Mubarak was admitted to the hospital "with the pretext of illness to avoid appearing before the authorities of the interrogation", the journal of State Al Ahram reported. He and his son Gamal, an official of the former ruling party, have been accused by political opponents of enriching themselves through private connections and the Government.

In a speech to the nation broadcast Sunday by Al Arabiya, the elder Mubarak denied that he had bank accounts or property outside the Egypt. New reports on investigations of the family of Mubarak reports have fascinated and angry of a country trying to move beyond its repressive mandate.

Since his eviction and a resumption of Government by a military Council, Mubarak live in his palace private in Sharm el-Sheikh. The Attorney General has frozen its financial assets and forbidden members of his family to leave the country.

Concerns regarding the health of Mubarak has increased after he underwent gall bladder surgery and had a growth removed from his intestine in a German hospital, a year ago.

Jeffrey.Fleishman@LAtimes.com

Hassan is a news assistant in the Office of the Cairo of The Times.

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The ocean of the Japan radiation strikes 7.5 million times legal limit - Los Angeles Times

A broker walks between fish market fish Hirakata in Kitaibaraki, the Japan, trade for the first time since the disaster of earthquake and tsunami on March 11. (Toru Yamanaka / AFP/Getty Images / April 5, 2011)The operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster of the Japan said Tuesday that he had found radioactive iodine to 7.5 million times the legal limit, in a sea water sample taken near the facility and officials imposed a new limit of radioactivity in fish health.

The reading of iodine-131 was registered Saturday, said Tokyo Electric Power Co.. Another sample taken Monday found at level 5 million times the legal limit. Monday samples were also found to contain radioactive cesium to 1.1 million times the legal limit.

The exact source of the radiation was not immediately clear, although Tepco said that highly contaminated water was leaking a pit near the No. 2 reactor. The utility initially believed that the leak was from a crack, but several attempts to seal the crack failed.

Tuesday, the company said that the leak instead could come from a defective joint, where the sky meets a duct, allowing the water to seep into a layer of gravel below radioactive. The utility said that it might inject "liquid glass" gravel to stop more than leak.

In the meantime, Tepco continued releasing what he described as water contaminated with low levels of radiation in the sea to make space in the storage tanks on-site for more highly contaminated water. In all, the company said it expected release 11 500 tonnes of water, but by Tuesday morning, he had left less than 25% of this amount.

Although the Government has authorized the publication of the 11 500 tonnes and said that any radiation could be quickly diluted and dispersed in the ocean, fish with high readings of iodine are located.

Monday, officials detected more than 4 000 becquerels of iodine 131 per kilogram in a type of fish called a lance took less than three miles off the coast of the city of Kita-Ibaraki. Young fish contained also 447 becquerels of cesium-137, which is considered as more problematic than iodine-131, because it has a much longer half-life.

Tuesday the Secretary to the cabinet Chief Yukio Edano said that the Government impose a standard of 2 000 becquerels of iodine per kilogram of fish, the same level it enables in vegetables. Previously, the Government lacks a specific level for fish. Another route of Lance with 526 becquerels of cesium was detected Tuesday, more than the standard of 500 becquerels per kilogram.

Fishing for sand lances has been suspended. Local fishermen called Tepco to stop the release of radioactive water into the sea and demanded that the company compensate them for their losses.

Fishing was banned near the plant, and the vast majority of the fishing activities in the region was interrupted because of damage to the boats and ports by the tsunami on March 11 and the earthquake. Yet, some fishermen are to catch, to see the lack of interested buyers because of fears of radiation.

It was not clear that Tepco may provide fishermen, but the company said Tuesday that he had offered "condolence payments", for a total of 180 million yen ($2 million) for the residents who had to evacuate their homes due to the radiation of the Fukushima plant. A city, however, refused payment.

The company has yet to decide how it will compensate residents near the plant in damages, although analysts say that the claims could be tens of billions of dollars. Executive Vice President of TEPCO said Takashi Fujimoto on damages company's decision hinges on how much of the burden the Government will do share.

Edano urged the company to accelerate its decisions on compensation.

For now, the company has offered to give 20 million yen ($ 240,000) each of the 10 villages and towns within 12 miles of the plant, Fujimoto said.

"We hope they will find of some use for the moment," he said.

Namie, a city of would be, located approximately 6 miles north of the plant, refused to lend money. Official city Kosei Negishi said that he and other officials working out of an Office of fortune in the city of Nihonmatsu in Fukushima Prefecture and had more pressing.

"The coastal areas of Namie have been hit by the earthquake of Earth and the tsunami, but due to radiation and the evacuation order, we did not have the opportunity to search for 200 people missing," said Negishi. "Why would we use our resources below 1,000 yen ($12) each resident?

Tokyo Electric Power Fujimoto acknowledged that he had a "divide" in the views of the company and officials Namie.

TEPCO shares dropped to a record, passing down Tuesday by the maximum daily commercial - about 18% - to 362 yen, below the previous record low of 393 yen reached in December 1951. The company has lost 80% of its value - almost 1.1 billion yen - since the earthquake and tsunami, according to the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

"We take very seriously the decline in the price of the shares," Fujimoto told journalists.

Annual earnings report said Fujimoto of the company, which was originally scheduled for April 28, would be postponed, but he declined to give other details.

Julie.MAKINEN@LAtimes.com

Hall special correspondent is.

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