Japan earthqauke costliest disaster ever

Japan has estimated the total cost of the damage suffered from it's devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami could reach 309 billion dollars, making it the most costly natural disaster in the history of the world. The estimate includes damage to roads, homes, factories and infrastructure.

Meanwhile, officials in Tokyo are warning residents not to give babies tap water because of leaking radiation from the crippled nuclear power plant at Fukushima. Concern is growing over food safety from radiation  and the United States has blocked some food imports from Japan.

Authorities are still trying to bring the damaged plant under control, however work is often interrupted by conditions that warrant evacuation and stoppage of work.

The 9.0 quake and tsunami has left over 23,000 people dead or missing in Japan.

Elizabeth Taylor dies at 79

***Breaking News***

Legendary actress Elizabeth Taylor has died. She was 79. Taylor had been hospitalized for several weeks at
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and apparently succumbed to congestive heart failure.

She appeared in more than  50 movies, from the children's classic "National Velvet" and the sentimental family comedy "Father of the Bride" to Oscar-winning transgressions in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and "Butterfield 8." The historical epic "Cleopatra" is among Hollywood's greatest on-screen performances.


Taylor won three Academy Awards, including a special one for her humanitarian work. She  was a defender of gays in Hollywood when AIDS was still a stigma in the industry and beyond. But she was afflicted by ill health, failed romances (seven husbands).

Hollywood will miss one of the most beautiful actresses and loyal friends of all time.

U.S. Warplane crashes in Lybia

A Unites States Air Force F-15 fighter jet crashed in Lybia today while on a strike mission. The apparant cause of the crash was mechanical failure. The pilot was rescued by an Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft from the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge, about 100 miles off the coast of Libya. The second crew member was rescued by Lybian rebels and was taken care of until he could be extracted and taken to safety. Both crew members are said to be in good condition.

Meanwhile, Lybian leader Moammar Gadhafi's whereabouts have been in question since his compound in Triploi was bombed by U.S. and British forces early Monday. A second wave of attacks were called off when information surfaced that international journalists were touring the damage at the compound.

The United States has  fired 20 Tomahawk cruise missiles into Libya in the past 12 hours, a military spokeswoman said early Tuesday morning. A total of 159 Tomahawks have been fired by the United States and the United Kingdom since Operation Odyssey Dawn started Saturday. The mission includes enforcement of a no-fly zone.

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Gadhafi's compound struck in coalition bombing

***Breaking News***

A central portion of Moammar Gadhafi's compound in Tripoli was heavily damaged earlier today by allied bombing. Gadhafi's whereabouts are unknown at this time. U.S. officials say they the Libyan leader is not being actively targeted, but if he happens to be in an area where coalition attacks are occurring, "that is his "problem"

 A second bombing run by British forces targeting the compound was called off for fear of hitting civilians, a Ministry of Defence spokesman told CNN Monday, declining to be named in line with British tradition.
The ministry said earlier that Royal Air Force GR4 Tornadoes were told not to launch weapons after "information came to light that identified a number of civilians within the intended target area." At the time it did not identify the target of the aborted mission

The Security Council resolution, which passed Thursday, allows member states "to take all necessary measures to protect civilians under threat of attack in the country ... while excluding a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory."

CNN's Nic Robertson was among several Western journalists taken inside Gadhafi's bombed compound by Libyan officials to survey the destruction.
Robertson reported a four-story building was heavily damaged. He held a chunk of metal retrieved from the site -- with writing in English -- that appeared to be from a cruise missile.

The U.S. military mission in Libya may have peaked, spokesman Vince Crowley said Monday.
"We are moving from the action phase to a patrolling phase," said Crowley, a spokesman for the military's Africa Command. "Our aircraft participation has... plateaued, if not reduced somewhat."

 

Attacks continue as Gadhafi remains defiant

***Breaking News***

Coalition forces continue to target government forces on the ground for a second day, as Colonel Moammar Gadhafi vowed a "long war.""We promise you a long war," he said.
He called the international assault "simply a colonial crusader aggression that may ignite another large-scale crusader war."

 Ghadhafi's air force has resumed bombing the town of Misrata. "Misrata is the only city in western Libya not under Gadhafi's control; he is trying hard to change its position," said al-Warfali, who told The Associated Press he was in touch with residents in the city. Gadhafi vowed to fight on. In a phone call to Libyan state television Sunday, he said he would not let up on Benghazi and said the government had opened up weapons depots to all Libyans, who were now armed with "automatic weapons, mortars and bombs." State television said Gadhafi's supporters were converging on airports as human shields.

The first night of strikes began with assaults by French warplanes, followed by a barrage of 112 cruise missiles fired by U.S. and British warships and submarines in the Mediterranean Sea targeting radar systems, communications centers and surface-to-air missile sites. A wave of bombings mainly from American aircraft — including B-2 stealth bombers and F-15 and F-16 fighter-bombers — then targeted Libyan ground forces and air defenses, the U.S. military said. One senior military official said the early judgment was that the attacks had been highly successful, while not fully eliminating the threat posed by Libyan air defenses

Operation Odyssey Dawn continues

***Breaking News***

U.S. Navy ships launched over 110 cruise missiles at selected air defense systems around Tripoli and other Libyan cities as French warplanes attacked vehicles on the ground. Coalition forces will evaluate the damage inflicted to determine if further attacks are needed to insure the safety of aircraft enforcing the no fly zone over Libya. President Obama said today that no American ground troops will enter the country. No coalition injuries have been reported as of yet. More to come as news breaks.