Keputusan berimbang
Mengulas keputusan yang dicapai dalam mesyuarat itu, Dr Mohd Nur pula berkata, kerajaan negeri Kelantan membuat keputusan yang berimbang untuk memenuhi tuntutan agama Islam dan keperluan penganut lain di negara ini.
"Nampaknya kenyataan itu adalah keputusan yang berimbangan dan tidak mendatangkan masalah kepada orang bukan Islam," katanya.
Dalam kenyataan media yang dibacakan oleh setiausaha akhbarnya, Nik Aziz turut melahirkan rasa kesal terhadap kerajaan persekutuan kerana masih menghalalkan perjudian secara terbuka yang memberi kesan buruk kepada rakyat Islam dan bukan Islam.
Bagaimanapun jelas beliau, kerajaan negeri mengambil pendirian terbuka terhadap sebarang cadangan dan saranan bersabit larangan penjualan tiket loteri di premis tidak belesen
Dasar haramkan judi Ahmad Fadhli berkata, umumnya dasar mengharamkan perjudian yang dipelopori oleh kerajaan negeri Kelantan tidak berubah sejak dilaksanakan lebih 20 tahun lalu.
"Cuma yang menjadi masalah ialah loteri-loteri yang tidak memerlukan premis berlesen untuk dijual. Jadi kita akan serahkan pada penasihat undang-undang untuk membuat tafsiran. Kita tidak mengubah dasar (tetapi) isu ini perlu dilihat dari dari sudut undang-undang.
"Jadi soal loteri big sweep yang tidak memerlukan premis berlesen untuk dijual, Kerajaan Kelantan bersedia nak menyerahkan pada penasihat undang-undang untuk membuat kajian," katanya ketika dihubungi TV Selangor. Menurutnya, kerajaan negeri juga bersedia memberi penjelasanan sekiranya diperlukan berhubung isu itu pada bila-bila masa.
Dalam pada itu, Mustapa berkata tafsiran undang-undang adalah diperlukan untuk memastikan sebarang bentuk larangan tidak bercanggah dengan undang-undang yang sedia ada.
Anthony pula berkata pihak DAP berpuas hati dengan pendirian Nik Aziz untuk merujuk isu berkenaan kepada penasihat undang-undang.
Apa masalah orang ini ?
TOBRUK, Libya – Moammar Gadhafi's forces overwhelmed rebels in the strategic eastern city of Ajdabiya, hammering them with airstrikes, missiles, tanks and artillery Tuesday in an assault that sent residents fleeing and appeared to open the way for an all-out government offensive on the opposition's main stronghold in the east, Benghazi.
In desperation, rebels sent up two antiquated warplanes that struck a government ship bombarding Ajdabiya from the Mediterranean. But as tanks rolled into the city from two directions and rockets relentlessly pounded houses and shops, the ragtag opposition fighters' defenses appeared to break down.
Only 10 days ago, the rebellion was poised to march on Tripoli, the capital, and had appeared capable of sweeping Gadhafi out after 41 years in power, but the regime's better armed and organized military has reversed the tide. Efforts led by France and Britain to create a no-fly zone to protect the rebels have gone nowhere, and some rebels lashed out at the West for failing to come to their aid.
"This is a madman, a butcher," one rebel fighter said of Gadhafi, speaking to The Associated Press by telephone from Ajdabiya as explosions were heard in the background. "It's indiscriminate fire."
"The world is sleeping," he said. "They (the West) drunk of Gadhafi's oil and now they won't stand against him. They didn't give us a no-fly zone."
Residents of the city of 140,000 streamed out, fleeing toward Benghazi, 140 miles (200 kilometers) northeast. But warplanes and artillery were striking roads in and out of Ajdabiya, several witnesses and fighters said. Some reported private cars had been hit, but the reports could not be independently confirmed. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation from Gadhafi's regime.
Ajdabiya, 480 miles (800 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli, is the gateway to the long stretch of eastern Libya that has been in the control of the opposition since early on in the month-long uprising. With its fall, regime forces would be able to bombard Benghazi, Libya's second largest city and the de facto capital of the opposition, by air, sea and land.
The opposition once had a seemingly unshakable hold on the eastern half of the country and control of several cities in the west. Gadhafi has reclaimed much of that territory, including all but one western city. Gadhafi warned rebels: "There are only two possibilities: Surrender or run away."
He said he was not like the Tunisian or Egyptian leaders who fell after anti-government protests. "I'm very different from them," he said in an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Giornale. "People are on my side and give me strength."
Late Tuesday, addressing selected supporters in Tripoli, Gadhafi called the rebels "rats" and blasted Western nations. "They want Libyan oil," he said. During his appearance, a crowd watching on a TV projection on a wall in Benghazi shouted curses and threw shoes at the image, in video broadcast live by Al-Jazeera satellite TV.
As before, Gadhafi played down the scope of the conflict in his country. "They said thousands have died, but only 150 have died," he said.
Libyan state television aired calls for the opposition to stop fighting, apparently hoping to sway populations in the east away from support of the rebels. "Those who are asking you to put down your arms want peace for you, so please help them and stop shedding blood," the broadcaster said. "Libya is for everyone and by everyone. So let God's word be the highest and the word of evil be the lowest."
Europe and the United States, meanwhile, were tossing back and forth the question of whether to impose a no-fly zone that the opposition has pleaded for.
On Tuesday, top diplomats from some of the world's biggest powers deferred to the U.N. Security Council to take action against Libya, as France and Britain failed to win support for a no-fly zone in the face of German opposition and U.S. reluctance. France said the Group of Eight agreed that a new U.N. resolution should be adopted by week's end with measures to help Libyan rebels.
A U.N. resolution introduced Tuesday includes no-fly provisions. It also calls for increased enforcement of an arms embargo and freezing more Libyan assets, according to U.N. diplomats said who spoke on condition of anonymity because the text has not been released. One diplomat said the Security Council will be looking to see whether members of the Arab League, which is pressing for the no-fly zone, are ready to seriously participate in the establishment and operation of a zone.
The U.S. added sanctions Tuesday, banning business with Libya's foreign minister and 16 companies it owns or controls. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe suggested that the fighting in Libya had already outpaced diplomatic efforts.
"If we had used military force last week to neutralize some airstrips and the several dozen planes that they have, perhaps the reversal taking place to the detriment of the opposition wouldn't have happened," Juppe told Europe-1 radio.
Earlier Tuesday, Gadhafi's forces recaptured the last rebel-held city west of Tripoli. With the victory in Zwara, a seaside town about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the Tunisian border, the only other significant opposition-held city in the western half of the country was Misrata — which for days has been under a punished blockade, its population running out of supplies.
"We are short on antibiotics and surgery supplies and disposable equipment," a doctor said in Misrata, which is east of Tripoli and Libya's third-largest city. "We feel so, so, isolated here. We are pleading with the international community to help us in this very difficult time."
The doctor said naval ships in the Mediterranean port were blocking aid to Misrata. Another resident said water service was cut to many parts of town, and trucks that traditionally supply rooftop tanks weren't able to enter the city. Townspeople were relying on poor quality home-dug wells normally used to irrigate gardens, he said.
The assault on Ajdabiya began in the morning with a heavy bombardment from warplanes and ships off shore and what rebels said were constant volleys of long-range Grad rockets. Opposition fighters had heavily fortified the western entrance to the city, expecting an attack from that direction, but when it came, they were surprised to find they had been flanked, with Gadhafi forces striking the southern entrance at the same time.
"Just now they hit a group of fighters. They are dead, wounded," said rebel spokesman Ahmed al-Zwei, who was among a group of fighters at the western gate.
Mosques in the city blared calls from their minarets for residents to join the defense. Hundreds rushed in, but there weren't enough weapons for all of them. "They don't have the arms, but they have the will to fight," said Lt. Col. Mohammed Saber, an army officer who defected to the uprising and spoke from the front.
At one point, two antiquated warplanes held by the rebels bombed warships off shore to try to stop their bombardment, Saber and another opposition activist said. The activist, who asked not to be named, said rebels procured a handful of "very old" warplanes weeks ago but did not want to use them, believing that Western powers, with Arab diplomatic support, would impose a no-fly zone over Libya.
Now, he said, the opposition would use the planes to bomb "oil wells and oil sites."
Throughout the day, rockets and shelling rained down on residential neighborhoods, several rebels said. Before nightfall, tanks and armored personnel carriers punched into the city from the west and south, facing hit-and-run attacks by rebel fighters using assault rifles and anti-aircraft guns.
"Everybody is defending himself. I am a resident of this city. I am not going anywhere," one fighter told AP. "We have been prisoners of war for 40 years. ... We are civilians — we didn't know how to fight before this war. We are learning how to fight now. Sooner or later we will kick out this madman."
Libyan state television claimed the battle was already won. The report said Gadhafi's troops were "completely in control of Ajdabiya and are cleansing it from armed gangs." In Tripoli, hundreds of Gadhafi supporters celebrated in central Green Sqaure, blaring revolutionary songs, waving green flags and shooting in the air.
Ajdabiya has been a key supply point for the rebellion, with ammunition and weapons depots. Until now, the Gadhafi forces' offensive toward the east has battled over two oil ports on the Mediterranean Sea, and Ajdabiya is the first heavily populated city in the area they have tried to retake.
Its fall would set the stage for a regime march on Benghazi. It is a rebel bastion, but with opposition forces in disarray after Ajdabiya, it is unclear how strong the city's defenses would be.
A Tuareg lieutenant from Mali who has fought for the Libyan government since 1993 said the government wants to retake Benghazi, but doesn't want to attack the city itself. He says the government will try to convince residents to force militants out into the open desert.
KUALA NERUS - Parlimen Hulu Selangor dan Labis di Johor, adalah contoh bagaimana Umno khianati orang Melayu yang menjadi majoriti dalam kedua-dua Parlimen tersebut,Ahlan wasahlan
Malu yang tidak sebarang tanggung !
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[MK] Bekas rakan niaga Ummi Hafilda Ali hari ini mengancam menjelajah ke seluruh negara bagi berceramah untuk mendedahkan apa yang dikatakan "skandal" wanita itu di masa lalu.Baginda Minda, yang mendakwa rakan niaga untuk projek berkaitan pembinaan Lapangan Terbang Antarangsa Kuala Lumpur (KLIA), berkata beliau tidak dapat menahan lagi dakwaan Ummi terhadap Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.Baginda mendakwa, ketika Ummi membuat pelbagai dakwaan, termasuk tentang moral ketua pembangkang itu, wanita itu sendiri mempunyai skandal dengannya di London. Menurut Baginda, Ummi tidak jujur apabila terlibat dalam kempen pilihan raya kecil Merlimau dan Kerdau awal bulan ini.Beliau yang mendakwa cukup mengenali Ummi mendakwa, wanita itu tidak akan melakukan sesuatu perkara jika tidak dibayar. Menyingkap perbicaraan liwat pertama terhadap Anwar pada lebih 10 tahun lalu, Baginda menuduh Ummi membuat perjanjian dengan bekas menteri kewangan Tun Daim Zainuddin supaya membuat pengakuan yang menentang ketua pembangkang.Baginda mendakwa perjanjian itu memerlukan Ummi berbohong di kandang saksi bagi membolehkan diberikan bahagian kecil dalam projek KLIA yang bernilai berbilion ringgit. Justeru, Baginda mendakwa Ummi telah ditipu Daim yang menyebabkan dia tidak mendapat apa-apa dan terpaksa "menjaja" isu Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan bagi mendapatkan wang.- Hazlan Zakaria
AP – Libyan students attend a pro-Gadhafi rally organized in the parking lot of the Rixos hotel where the … TOBRUK, Libya – Moammar Gadhafi's warplanes, artillery and mortar shells can control huge swaths of territory by day, including oil ports, rebel supply routes and even hostile towns. Rebels say anti-government forces can still return in darkness to take advantage of Gadhafi's own thin supply lines and overstretched ground troops.
The eastern port city of Brega has gone back and forth with the setting of the sun in recent days and is key to the battle for Libya's oil centers — so key that both sides claimed control of it nearly simultaneously on Monday. The regime offensive appears to be hampered by a lack of manpower: They can drive out rebels with barrages, but not necessarily hold the territory.
Rebels, on the other hand, didn't dare come out in the open on Monday in Brega, with a spokesman saying they were taking cover instead in the industrial oil area where they believed Gadhafi forces wouldn't fire.
Brega and the city of Ajdabiya about 35 miles (70 kilometers) away again came under government bombardment on Monday, freshly exposing their importance as key crossroads for rebel supply lines, a main weakness in the Libyan region that contains most of its oil wealth. To get ammunition, reinforcements and arms to the front, they must drive along open desert highways, exposed to airstrikes. Gadhafi warplanes struck at least three targets Monday morning in Ajdabiya, missing a weapons storage site but hitting rebel fighters at a checkpoint in an attempt to stop supplies, rebels said.
Oil installations — and the ports that allow Libyan crude exports — are just as key as supply lines, and so the government and rebels both went out of their way late Monday to claim victory in Brega at nearly the same time, with a state television reporter in the town going so far as to show the hour on his watch.
Production has been cut drastically since fighting began and new questions arose Monday about whether the OPEC member was still exporting crude at all. Marsa al-Harigah, the last major oil port firmly under rebel control, is not expecting another tanker for a month, said Rajab Sahnoun, a top executive with the Arabian Gulf Oil Co., and its two functioning storage tanks could be full soon, forcing a production shutdown.
The rebels have pleaded for the West to impose a no-fly zone. France and Britain stepped up calls Monday for other world powers to isolate Gadhafi, but other countries, including the United States, have been cautious about backing the rebels.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said NATO was drawing up contingency plans for a no-fly zone.
"Every day Gadhafi is brutalizing his own people. Time is of the essence," Cameron told the parliament in London. "There should be no let up in the pressure we put on this regime."
Meanwhile, fighting raged in Brega, said Abdul-Bari Zwei, a rebel spokesman. He said the rebels controlled the neighborhoods, but Gadhafi forces were pounding them with bombs from the air, land and sea. He said the rebels were hiding in parts of the industrial oil area, believing Gadhafi forces would hold fire there.
"They won't fire at the fuel trucks, they (Gadhafi's forces) need them," said Zwei.
Libya's east is home to roughly 70 to 75 percent of the country's reserves — the largest in Africa — and Gadhafi has every reason to try to regain control of the region quickly.
Government troops have scored victories using overpowering bombardments with artillery, tanks, warplanes and warships. Such an assault drove rebel fighters out of the oil port of Ras Lanouf several days ago.
After fleeing the bombardment Sunday, the rebels then pushed back into Brega in the evening and claimed to have captured dozens of fighters from Gadhafi's elite Khamis Brigade.
On Monday, about 2,000 rebel fighters — mainly members of a special commando unit that defected to the opposition — held Brega's residential district, while pro-Gadhafi troops controlled the industrial oil facilities some distance away, said Zwei. Rebel fighters were searching the residential area for any remaining Gadhafi troops.
Libyan state TV showed images Monday from Brega's port, claiming that it was in government control and at peace. The announcer urged Russia, China and India to invest in Libya's oil sector.
Western Libya remains Gadhafi's stronghold, centered on Tripoli where his militiamen have crushed any attempts at an uprising. But since early on in the revolt, which began Feb. 15, several cities in the west fell into rebel hands. Regime forces on Friday took back the most crucial of those cities, Zawiya, which lies on the capital's doorstep, after a reportedly bloody and destructive week-long siege.
On Monday, pro-Gadhafi forces launched an attempt to take another, nearby town, Zwara, 70 miles (110 kilometers) west of Tripoli, close to the Tunisian border.
Government troops surrounded the town of 45,000 and bombarded it with tanks and artillery for hours starting in the morning, several residents said. At least four rebel fighters were killed in the barrage, said one resident, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution against him. The sound of gunfire could be heard over the telephone as he spoke.
One rebel fighter, Shukri Nael, said he helped fend off an assault at a rebel checkpoint at one of the entrances to the city.
"I don't care how far the Gadhafi forces went east or how many cities they take back — this is a chance for me to die for this country and become a martyr," he said.
On Sunday, regime forces began shelling the most significant rebel-held city in the west — Misrata, Libya's third largest city, 125 miles (200 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli.
Troops on the city's outskirts and on ships off shore had sealed the city, cutting off water pipes to many of its neighborhoods and preventing water tankers from reaching the residents, said a local doctor and other residents. Residents were conserving existing water and food supplies, he said.
Opposition fighters were building sandbag fortifications and other defenses in anticipation that Gadhafi troops, positioned at an air base and military college about six miles (10 kilometers) from the city could launch an assault.
On Monday morning, a barrage of shelling slammed into houses on the edge of the city, said one resident. But by the afternoon the guns fell silent.
"There are divisions inside the (pro-Gadhafi) militia," said one rebel fighter, citing reports from fellow fighters closest to the government troops. "Some of the forces don't want to enter the town and attack civilians. Others want to attack the city, Others want to join the rebels. Those wanting to attack the town are attacking the refuseniks."
The report of divisions could not be independently confirmed.
The opposition has been pleading with the West to impose a no-fly zone to help balance the scales with Gadhafi's forces. But for weeks, Western nations have been divided and hesitant on the move.
France and Britain were making an accelerated push Monday for a no-fly zone as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other top diplomats from the G-8 group of prominent world economies were gathering in Paris for a previously planned foreign ministers meeting. Other countries, including the United States, have been more cautious.
Dari Keadilan Daily
Mahkamah Tinggi Kuala Lumpur hari ini akan mendengar dua permohonan pendakwa raya – semakan semula keputusan bicara dalam perbicaraan dan permohonan untuk mengarahkan Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim memberi sampel profail DNA.
Permohonan itu akan dibuat Peguam Cara Negara II, Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden mengikut Seksyen 73 dan 165 Akta Bukti 1950.
Jumaat lalu, peguam bela membantah permintaan pendakwa raya dan Hakim Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah yang kemudian menetapkan hari ini untuk mendengar hujah kedua-dua pihak.
Selasa lalu, Zabidin menolak tiga bukti yang diperoleh secara tipu – botol air mineral ‘Cactus’, tuala muka ‘Good Morning’, dan berus gigi – untuk dikemukakan sebagai bukti kerana ia diambil secara tipu helah sewaktu Anwar ditahan secara tidak sah.
Pendakwa raya akan memulakan hujah mereka diikuti hujah balas daripada Karpal Singh.
Berikut adalah laporan langsung dari Mahkamah Tinggi Kuala Lumpur:
8.45 am – Galeri awam masih banyak ruang kosong.
8.51 am – DSP Jude Pereira kelihatan berdiri berhampiran pintu bilik saksi dan melihat-lihat galeri awam.
8.56 am – Anwar tiba di mahkamah bersama Presiden KEADILAN, Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail dan Ahli Parlimen Lembah Pantai, Nurul Izzah Anwar.
9.19am: Mahkamah mula bersidang.
9.24am: Karpal Singh mahu mahkamah membuat keputusan terlebih dahulu terhadap individu yang mengadakan demontrasi mendesak Anwar menyerahkan DNA-nya kepada mahkamah kerana perbuatan itu adalah satu penghinaan kepada mahkamah.
“Ia merupakan satu intimidasi terhadap Yang Arif untuk memerintahkan Anwar membekalkan DNA beliau,” kata Karpal.
Karpal juga mahu mahkamah mengambil tindakan terhadap permohonan penuh pendakwa yang dibocorkan di laman Malaysia-Today dan turut dilaporkan dalam akhbar News Straits Times hari ini.
9.29 am – Zabidin memanggil Karpal dan Yusof berbincang di bilik beliau. Mahkamah ditangguh sebentar.
9.47 am: Mahkamah bersidang semula. Hakim Zabidin mengingatkan kedua-dua pihak agar tidak melakukan sebarang perkara yang boleh merencatkan perjalanan perbicaraan yang sedang berlangsung.
10.13 am: Peguam Anwar, Marissa Regina Fernando tiba di mahkamah. Dalam pembentangannya, Yusuf berkata tanpa mengambil kira sama ada penahanan Anwar sah atau tidak, penahanan beliau dilakukan berdasarkan waran tangkap.
“Sama ada beliau dibawa (ke lokap) secara sah atau tidak, tangkapan dibuat berdasarkan waran tangkap. Anwar dilokap lanjutan daripada penahanan beliau,” tambah Yusof lagi.
10.30am: Karpal mencelah pembentangan Yusof dan menyatakan beliau meleret dalam pembentangannya dan perkara yang dibentangkan juga sudah disentuh sebelum ini.
10.43am: Semua kerusi di galeri awam mahkamah penuh. Sebahagian hadirin kelihatan mengantuk begitu juga dengan Hakim Zabidin.
10.52am: Mahkamah ditangguhkan seketika.
11.28am: Mahkamah bersambung. Yusof membentangkan hujah bagi permohonan kedua iaitu mendapatkan sampel profail DNA Anwar.
12.07am: “Kami meminta mahkamah mempertimbang permohonan ini untuk membenarkan kami mengarahkan tertuduh memberikan sampel DNAnya,” kata Yusof.
12.09am: Karpal berkata permohonan sebegini tidak pernah berlaku sebelum ini dan beliau meminta masa sehingga esok untuk menyediakan hujah balas. Yusof tiada bantahan dan mahkamah dan Hakim Zabidin menangguhkan mahkamah.
Mahkamah akan bersidang semula jam 9 pagi esok.
Pindaan ke atas Perkara 167 dalam perlembaan MCA itu juga menetapkan supaya penangguhan pemilihan parti tidak dibuat sehingga tempoh 36 bulan selepas pilihan raya umum terakhir dijalankan.
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Keputusan itu membolehkan MCA menangguhkan serta merta pemilihan parti yang dijadualkan diadakan tahun ini.
Sebanyak 99 peratus daripada seramai 1,844 daripada para perwakilan menyokong usul pindaan berkenaan dengan mengangkat tangan ketika pengundian dijalankan.
Usul berkenaan dicadangkan oleh setiausaha agung parti, Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha dan disokong oleh timbalan presidennya Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.
Tumpu pilihan raya umum
Sementara itu, presidennya Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek berkata, keputusan pengundian itu menunjukkan bahawa para perwakilan berkenaan bertindak secara matang.
"Mereka meletakkan kepentingan parti lebih tinggi daripada segala apa yang lain.
"Ini menunjukkan bahawa jawatankuasa pusat adalah matang (dalam politik)," kata Chua dalam satu sidang media selepas itu.
Mengulas lanjut, Chua berkata keputusan itu penting bagi membolehkan parti menumpukan kepada usaha untuk memenangi pilihan raya umum akan datang.
"Pilihan raya umum adalah lebih penting daripada pemilihan parti," katanya lagi.
Sementara itu ketika ditanya mengenai kehadiran perwakilan yang hanya sebanyak 80 peratus, beliau berkata mesyuarat parti itu tidak pernah mencatatkan kehadiran 100 peratus.
"80 peratus adalah jumlah keluar mengundi yang baik," katanya yang turut menjelaskan bahawa perwakilan berkenaan tidak hadir atas pelbagai alasan.
AP – Houses swallowed by tsunami waves burn in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture (state) after Japan was struck by …TOKYO – A ferocious tsunami spawned by one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded slammed Japan's eastern coast Friday, killing hundreds of people as it swept away boats, cars and homes while widespread fires burned out of control.
Hours later, the tsunami hit Hawaii and warnings blanketed the Pacific, as far away as South America, Canada, Alaska and the entire U.S. West Coast.
Police said 200 to 300 bodies were found in the northeastern coastal city of Sendai. Another 88 were confirmed killed and at least 349 were missing. The death toll was likely to continue climbing given the scale of the disaster.
The magnitude 8.9 offshore quake unleashed a 23-foot (7-meter) tsunami and was followed by more than 50 aftershocks for hours, many of them of more than magnitude 6.0.
Dozens of cities and villages along a 1,300-mile (2,100-kilometer) stretch of coastline were shaken by violent tremors that reached as far away as Tokyo, hundreds of miles (kilometers) from the epicenter.
"The earthquake has caused major damage in broad areas in northern Japan," Prime Minister Naoto Kan said at a news conference.
The government ordered thousands of residents near a nuclear power plant in Onahama city to evacuate because the plant's system was unable to cool the reactor. The reactor was not leaking radiation but its core remained hot even after a shutdown. The plant is 170 miles (270 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo.
Trouble was reported at two other nuclear plants as well, but there was no radiation leak at any.
Japan's coast guard said it was searching for 80 dock workers working on a ship that was swept away from a shipyard in Miyagi prefecture.
Click image to see photos of quake, tsunami damage
Reuters/Kyodo
Even for a country used to earthquakes, this one was of horrific proportions because of the tsunami that crashed ashore, swallowing everything in its path as it surged several miles (kilometers) inland before retreating. The apocalyptic images of surging water broadcast by Japanese TV networks resembled scenes from a Hollywood disaster movie.
Large fishing boats and other sea vessels rode high waves into the cities, slamming against overpasses or scraping under them and snapping power lines along the way. Upturned and partially submerged vehicles were seen bobbing in the water. Ships anchored in ports crashed against each other.
The highways to the worst-hit coastal areas were severely damaged and communications, including telephone lines, were snapped. Train services in northeastern Japan and in Tokyo, which normally serve 10 million people a day, were also suspended, leaving untold numbers stranded in stations or roaming the streets. Tokyo's Narita airport was closed indefinitely.
Jesse Johnson, a native of the U.S. state of Nevada, who lives in Chiba, north of Tokyo, was eating at a sushi restaurant with his wife when the quake hit.
"At first it didn't feel unusual, but then it went on and on. So I got myself and my wife under the table," he told The Associated Press. "I've lived in Japan for 10 years and I've never felt anything like this before. The aftershocks keep coming. It's gotten to the point where I don't know whether it's me shaking or an earthquake."
Waves of muddy waters flowed over farmland near the city of Sendai, carrying buildings, some on fire, inland as cars attempted to drive away. Sendai airport, north of Tokyo, was inundated with cars, trucks, buses and thick mud deposited over its runways. Fires spread through a section of the city, public broadcaster NHK reported.
More than 300 houses were washed away in Ofunato City alone. Television footage showed mangled debris, uprooted trees, upturned cars and shattered timber littering streets.
The tsunami roared over embankments, washing anything in its path inland before reversing directions and carrying the cars, homes and other debris out to sea. Flames shot from some of the houses, probably because of burst gas pipes.
"Our initial assessment indicates that there has already been enormous damage," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said. "We will make maximum relief effort based on that assessment."
He said the Defense Ministry was sending troops to the quake-hit region. A utility aircraft and several helicopters were on the way.
A large fire erupted at the Cosmo oil refinery in Ichihara city in Chiba prefecture and burned out of control with 100-foot (30 meter) -high flames whipping into the sky.
From northeastern Japan's Miyagi prefecture, NHK showed footage of a large ship being swept away and ramming directly into a breakwater in Kesennuma city.
NHK said more than 4 million buildings were without power in Tokyo and its suburbs. Also in Miyagi, a fire broke out in a turbine building of a nuclear power plant, but it was later extinguished, said Tohoku Electric Power Co. the company said.
A reactor area of a nearby plant was leaking water, the company said. But it was unclear if the leak was caused by tsunami water or something else. There were no reports of radioactive leaks at any of Japan's nuclear plants.
Jefferies International Limited, a global investment banking group, said it estimated overall losses to be about $10 billion.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the 2:46 p.m. quake was a magnitude 8.9, the biggest earthquake to hit Japan since officials began keeping records in the late 1800s, and one of the biggest ever recorded in the world.
The quake struck at a depth of six miles (10 kilometers), about 80 miles (125 kilometers) off the eastern coast, the agency said. The area is 240 miles (380 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo.
A tsunami warning was extended to a number of Pacific, Southeast Asian and Latin American nations, including Japan, Russia, Indonesia, New Zealand and Chile. In the Philippines, authorities ordered an evacuation of coastal communities, but no unusual waves were reported.
Thousands of people fled their homes in Indonesia after officials warned of a tsunami up to 6 feet (2 meters) high. But waves of only 4 inches (10 centimeters) were measured. No big waves came to the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory, either.
The first waves hit Hawaii about 1400 GMT (9 a.m. EST) Friday. A tsunami at least 3 feet (a meter) high were recorded on Oahu and Kauai, and officials warned that the waves would continue and could become larger.
In downtown Tokyo, large buildings shook violently and workers poured into the street for safety. TV footage showed a large building on fire and bellowing smoke in the Odaiba district of Tokyo. The tremor bent the upper tip of the iconic Tokyo Tower, a 1,093-foot (333-meter) steel structure inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
Osamu Akiya, 46, was working in Tokyo at his office in a trading company when the quake hit.
It sent bookshelves and computers crashing to the floor, and cracks appeared in the walls.
"I've been through many earthquakes, but I've never felt anything like this," he said. "I don't know if we'll be able to get home tonight."
Footage on NHK from their Sendai office showed employees stumbling around and books and papers crashing from desks. It also showed a glass shelter at a bus stop in Tokyo completely smashed by the quake and a weeping woman nearby being comforted by another woman.
Several quakes had hit the same region in recent days, including a 7.3 magnitude one on Wednesday that caused no damage.
Hiroshi Sato, a disaster management official in northern Iwate prefecture, said officials were having trouble getting an overall picture of the destruction.
"We don't even know the extent of damage. Roads were badly damaged and cut off as tsunami washed away debris, cars and many other things," he said.
Dozens of fires were reported in northern prefectures of Fukushima, Sendai, Iwate and Ibaraki. Collapsed homes and landslides were also reported in Miyagi.
Japan's worst previous quake was in 1923 in Kanto, an 8.3-magnitude temblor that killed 143,000 people, according to USGS. A 7.2-magnitude quake in Kobe city in 1996 killed 6,400 people.
