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8A – Daily News – Wednesday, March 16, 2011 WORLD BRIEFING Japanese race to cool reactors SOMA, Japan (AP) — A nuclear power plant damaged by fire and explosions emitted a burst of radiation Tuesday, pan- icking an already edgy Japan and leaving the government struggling to contain a spiraling crisis caused by last week’s earthquake and tsunami. Radiation levels in areas around the nuclear plant, which rose early in the afternoon, appeared to subside by evening, offi- cials said. But the unease remained in a country try- ing to recover from the massive disasters that are believed to have killed more than 10,000 people and battered the world’s third-largest economy. The leak caused the government to order 140,000 people living within 20 miles (30 kilo- meters) of the plant to seal themselves indoors to avoid exposure, and authorities declared a ban on commercial air traffic through the area. Worries about radiation rippled through Tokyo and other areas far beyond that cor- don. The stock market plunged for a second day, dropping 10 percent. The troubles cascaded Tuesday at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, where there have already been explosions at two reactor buildings since Friday’s disasters. An explosion at a third reactor blasted a 26-foot (8-meter) hole in the building and, experts said, damaged a vessel below the reactor, although not the reactor core. Three hours later, a fire broke out at a fourth reactor, which had been offline for maintenance. In a nationally tele- vised address, Prime Min- ister Naoto Kan said radi- ation had seeped from four of the plant’s six reactors. The Internation- al Atomic Energy Agency said Japanese officials informed it that the fire was in a pool where used nuclear fuel rods are stored and that ‘‘radioac- tivity is being released directly into the atmos- phere.’’ Long after the fire was extinguished, a Japanese official said the pool might still be boil- ing. Disaster weighs on economy Japan’s earthquake and nuclear crisis have put pressure on the already fragile global economy, squeezed supplies of goods from computer chips to auto parts and raised fears of higher interest rates. The disaster frightened financial markets from Tokyo to Wall Street on Tuesday. Japan’s Nikkei average lost 10 percent, and the Dow Jones indus- trials fell so quickly after the opening bell that the stock exchange invoked a special rule to smooth volatility. Yet the damage to the U.S. and world economies is expected to be relatively moderate and short-lived. Oil prices are falling, helping dri- vers around the world. And the reconstruction expected along Japan’s northeastern coast could even provide a jolt of eco- nomic growth. A weaker Japanese economy could help ease global commodity prices because Japan is a major importer of fuel, agricul- tural products and other raw materials, notes Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. House votes stopgap government spending bill WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Tuesday passed a measure blend- ing $6 billion in budget cuts with enough money to keep the government running for an additional three weeks. The measure would buy additional time for talks between Capitol Hill Republicans and the Obama administration on a bill to fund the day-to- day operations of the gov- ernment through the end of September. Those negotiations haven’t got- ten very far yet and House GOP leaders haven’t shown much flexibility. The measure passed by a 271-158 vote despite opposition from some tea party-backed conserva- tives who said it ‘‘kicks the can down the road’’ instead of imposing steep and immediate spending cuts. The $6 billion cut by the measure includes many items that the Obama administration and Democrats agree can be axed. Fifty-four Republicans opposed the bill, which meant that Democratic support was required to pass it — a prospect that GOP leaders must avoid to keep con- trol of the debate in future rounds. ‘‘It’s a small down payment on our commit- ment to the American people that we’d have real fiscal responsibility,’’ said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. Libya forces overwhelm rebel city TOBRUK, Libya (AP) — 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 resi- dents fleeing and appeared to open the way for an all-out government offensive on the opposi- tion’s main stronghold in the east, Benghazi. In desperation, rebels sent up two antiquated warplanes that struck a government ship bom- barding Ajdabiya from the Mediterranean. But as tanks rolled into the city from two directions and rockets relentlessly pounded houses and shops, the ragtag opposi- tion fighters’ defenses appeared to break down. Only 10 days ago, the rebellion was poised to march on Tripoli, the cap- ital, and had appeared capable of sweeping Gad- hafi out after 41 years in power, but the regime’s better armed and orga- nized 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 fight- er said of Gadhafi, speak- ing to The Associated Press by telephone from Ajdabiya as explosions were heard in the back- ground. ‘‘It’s indiscrimi- nate fire.’’ Gingrich funnels $150K to Iowa groups WASHINGTON (AP) — Potential presidential candidate Newt Gingrich quietly lined up $150,000 to help defeat Iowa justices who threw out a ban on same-sex marriage, routing the money to conservative groups through an aide’s political committee. Gingrich, the former U.S. House speaker who has aggressively courted the conservatives who dominate Iowa’s lead-off presidential caucuses, raised the money for the political arm of Restoring American Leadership, also known as ReAL. That group then passed $125,000 to American Family Association Action and an additional $25,000 to the Iowa Christian Alliance — two of the groups that spent millions before last November’s elections that removed three of the state’s seven state Supreme Court jus- tices. The court had unani- mously decided a state law restricting marriage to a man and a woman violated Iowa’s constitution. The financial transfers, which appear to comply with campaign finance laws, were part of a steady flow of cash into Iowa from conservative groups such as the National Organiza- tion for Marriage and the Family Research Council. Obama says 4 of 5 schools could fail; is that right? President Barack Obama declared this week that four of five public schools could be labeled as ‘‘failing’’ this year under the No Child Left Behind Act if Congress does not take action to rewrite the law. ‘‘That’s an astonishing number,’’ he said Monday at a Virginia middle school. ‘‘We know that four out of five schools in this country aren’t failing.’’ Obama’s terminology wasn’t quite right, though. There is no ‘‘failing’’ label in the No Child Left Behind Act. And schools that do not meet growth targets — aimed at getting 100 percent of students proficient in math, reading and science by 2014 — for one year are not subject to any interven- tion. Those unable to do so for two or more consecutive years are considered ‘‘in need of improvement.’’ The consequences then become stiffer each year, starting with offering students an opportunity to attend anoth- er school, and escalating if the targets remain unmet. For those schools, there’s at least the implica- tion of failure, and that’s one reason Obama says the 2001 law needs to be changed. There are many ways for a school to fall short of its requirements, even if most of its students are improving and succeed- ing. A school where all but one group of students are considered proficient in reading, science and math would be lumped into the same category as schools where no students are profi- cient in those subjects.