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Sunday, March 13, 2011

ICC World Cup : Australia beat Kenya by 60 runs

vice-captain Clarke
(TOI)
BANGALORE.
Reigning champions Australia eased into the quarterfinals of the World Cup with an 60-run win against Group A makeweights Kenya at the Chinnaswamy stadium on Sunday.
Kenya, chasing 325 for an unlikely win, were held to 264 for six for their fifth defeat in as many group matches.
Kenya faced a daunting chase considering their previous best total in this group was the 198 they'd made last time out in a five-wicket defeat by Canada.
Opener Alex Obanda struck fast bowler Shaun Tait for two superb sixes, flaying him over point and driving him high over long-on to the delight of neutral fans in a crowd of 13,600.
But when he was bowled for 14, swinging across a Tait full toss, Kenya were suddenly 46 for three when a mix-up between the Obuya brothers saw David run out.
Collins Obuya (98 not out) and Tanmay Mishra (72) kept Australia at bay with career-best innings in a fourth-wicket stand of 115, although the pair's run-rate never suggested an upset win.
Mishra made a 63-ball fifty featuring a six and six fours. It was his second half-century in as many innings following his 51 against Canada.
The pair played Australia's lead spin duo of Steven Smith and Jason Krejza with relative ease, striking several boundaries off the slow bowlers whose combined 14 wicketless overs cost 72 runs.
Mishra fell for a career-best 72 after a needless run out saw him beaten by Michael Clarke's direct hit from backward point.
Collins Obuya completed his fifty in style with a huge six over long-off against Shane Watson and later pulled him high above square leg.
He needed three off the last ball, from Tait, to get a hundred but could only manage a single.
In all he faced 129 balls with three sixes and nine fours.
Earlier Australia, now unbeaten in 33 matches at the World Cup dating back to 1999, lost three wickets for 16 runs to slump to 143 for four.
But a stand of 114 between vice-captain Clarke (93) and the returning Michael Hussey (54) helped Australia finish on 324 for six.
Clarke, on the ground where he made a hundred on Test debut against India in 2004, struck a six and seven fours during a composed 80-ball knock before he holed out off fast bowler Nehemiah Odhiambo, who took three for 57.
Opening batsman Brad Haddin, dropped twice off tough chances early in his innings, made 65 and helped skipper Ricky Ponting add 89 for the second wicket.
Haddin was caught at deep midwicket by Rakep Patel off Kenya captain Jimmy Kamande, who took two for nine in eight balls with his off-spinners.
Ponting was lbw to leg-spinner Collins Obuya for 36.
Hussey, in at the fall of the fourth wicket, was playing his first match of the tournament after recovering from a hamstring problem and getting a late summons as a replacement for injured fast bowler Doug Bollinger.
The 35-year-old left-hander, in for dropped younger brother David, demonstrated customary calm at the crease during a 43-ball innings.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
score card 
Australia innings (50 overs maximum) R M B 4s 6s SR
SR Watson c †Ouma b Odhiambo 21 32 17 3 1 123.52
BJ Haddin† c Patel b Kamande 65 109 79 9 1 82.27
RT Ponting* lbw b CO Obuya 36 83 54 5 0 66.66
MJ Clarke c Patel b Odhiambo 93 109 80 7 1 116.25
CL White b Kamande 2 6 6 0 0 33.33
MEK Hussey c DO Obuya b Odhiambo 54 72 43 4 0 125.58

SPD Smith not out 17 32 15 2 0 113.33

MG Johnson not out 12 9 7 2 0 171.42

Extras (b 2, lb 5, w 16, nb 1) 24











Total (6 wickets; 50 overs; 229 mins) 324 (6.48 runs per over)
Did not bat B Lee, JJ Krejza, SW Tait
Fall of wickets1-38 (Watson, 7.2 ov), 2-127 (Haddin, 24.4 ov), 3-131 (Ponting, 25.4 ov), 4-143 (White, 26.6 ov), 5-257 (Hussey, 43.1 ov), 6-304 (Clarke, 48.1 ov)










Bowling O M R W Econ


TM Odoyo 10 0 50 0 5.00 (1w)

E Otieno 8 0 75 0 9.37

NN Odhiambo 10 1 57 3 5.70 (2w)

JO Ngoche 8 0 56 0 7.00 (1w)
JK Kamande 10 0 46 2 4.60 (2w)
CO Obuya 4 0 33 1 8.25 (1nb, 1w)









Kenya innings (target: 325 runs from 50 overs) R M B 4s 6s SR
MA Ouma† c †Haddin b Lee 4 14 13 0 0 30.76
View dismissal AA Obanda b Tait 14 20 10 0 2 140.00

CO Obuya not out 98 199 129 9 3 75.96
DO Obuya run out (Hussey/†Haddin) 12 27 16 2 0 75.00
T Mishra run out (Clarke) 72 92 89 8 1 80.89
TM Odoyo b Tait 35 59 38 4 1 92.10
RR Patel run out (Krejza/Tait) 6 10 7 1 0 85.71

JK Kamande* not out 0 1 0 0 0 -

Extras (b 2, lb 6, w 12, nb 3) 23











Total (6 wickets; 50 overs; 214 mins) 264 (5.28 runs per over)
Did not bat NN Odhiambo, E Otieno, JO Ngoche
Fall of wickets1-12 (Ouma, 2.5 ov), 2-21 (Obanda, 3.6 ov), 3-46 (DO Obuya, 9.4 ov), 4-161 (Mishra, 35.3 ov), 5-247 (Odoyo, 47.3 ov), 6-263 (Patel, 49.4 ov)










Bowling O M R W Econ

B Lee 8 1 26 1 3.25

SW Tait 8 0 49 2 6.12 (2nb, 5w)

MG Johnson 8 1 40 0 5.00 (2w)

SPD Smith 6 0 36 0 6.00


JJ Krejza 8 0 36 0 4.50


MJ Clarke 5 0 21 0 4.20


SR Watson 7 0 48 0 6.85

------------------------------------------------------------------

New Zealand thump Canada to make last eight

Brendon McCullum
(TOI)
MUMBAI.
New Zealand's in-form Ross Taylor and opener Brendon McCullum blitzed Canada on Sunday, helping to fire the Black Caps into the World Cup quarter-finals with a thumping 97-run win in Mumbai.
New Zealand scored a mammoth 358 for 6 in their 50 overs and it proved too much for the minnows, who never looked remotely like challenging the target and ended on 261-9 after their 50 overs.
Canada were in a perilous position at 4-2 before captain Ashish Bagai (84) and Jimmy Hansra (70 not out) came together to put on 125 for the fourth wicket and give the scoreboard a look of respectability.
Veteran John Davison was dismissed in bizarre fashion, run out by a direct hit from wicket-keeper Brendon McCullum as he ambled a single when he was in no danger.
Kyle Mills did the early damage for the Black Caps, dismissing Ruvindu Gunasekera and Zubin Surkari with just four runs on the board but he had to leave the field injured midway through his third over. Jacob Oram took 3-47.
Earlier, stand-in skipper Taylor came to the crease at the Wankhede Stadium in the 30th over with his side on 149-2 after a steady start and injected urgency into the innings.
In one devastating over Taylor, who smashed 131 in 124 balls against Pakistan, took 28 off Harvir Baidwan, smashing four sixes and a four.
He was caught by Hansra off the bowling of Balaji Rao for 74 off just 44 balls, including five sixes and six fours.
Brendon McCullum was the mainstay of the innings, scoring 101 in 109 balls as New Zealand had few problems with the toothless Canada attack.
Kane Williamson (34 not out) and Scott Styris (35) also joined in the onslaught, as the Canadian bowlers wilted, before a stunning cameo of 31 from James Franklin off just eight balls including three sixes and two fours.
New Zealand lashed 31 off the final over.
The pick of the bowlers for Canada was Davison, whose 10 overs of spin yielded 1-30 but they were ragged in the field, dropping catches amid the New Zealand onslaught.
Baidwan went for a whopping 84 runs in his 9.1 overs and Rizwan Cheema was thrashed for 64 off just 4.5 overs.
The victory for New Zealand, without injured skipper Daniel Vettori, takes them to top spot in Group A with eight points, one clear of Sri Lanka, the only other team who have qualified for the quarter-finals.Canada have two points after one win and four defeats.
-------------------------------------------
score card 
New Zealand innings (50 overs maximum) R M B 4s 6s SR
MJ Guptill c †Bagai b Baidwan 17 45 29 3 0 58.62
BB McCullum† c Gunasekera b Baidwan 101 163 109 12 2 92.66
JD Ryder c Osinde b Davison 38 80 56 3 0 67.85
LRPL Taylor* c Hansra b Balaji Rao 74 60 44 6 5 168.18
NL McCullum c & b Balaji Rao 10 30 9 2 0 111.11

KS Williamson not out 34 38 27 4 0 125.92
SB Styris c Davison b Baidwan 35 21 20 3 2 175.00

JEC Franklin not out 31 12 8 2 3 387.50

Extras (b 2, lb 3, w 11, nb 2) 18











Total (6 wickets; 50 overs; 226 mins) 358 (7.16 runs per over)
Did not bat JDP Oram, KD Mills, TG Southee
Fall of wickets1-53 (Guptill, 9.5 ov), 2-149 (Ryder, 29.2 ov), 3-185 (BB McCullum, 36.4 ov), 4-254 (Taylor, 40.5 ov), 5-259 (NL McCullum, 42.1 ov), 6-318 (Styris, 47.6 ov)










Bowling O M R W Econ


Khurram Chohan 7 0 40 0 5.71 (3w)

H Osinde 7 0 52 0 7.42 (2w)
HS Baidwan 9.1 0 84 3 9.16 (1w)

Rizwan Cheema 4.5 0 64 0 13.24 (2nb)
WD Balaji Rao 10 0 62 2 6.20 (1w)
JM Davison 10 1 30 1 3.00


AS Hansra 2 0 21 0 10.50










Canada innings (target: 359 runs from 50 overs) R M B 4s 6s SR
R Gunasekera c Taylor b Mills 2 9 7 0 0 28.57
H Patel c †BB McCullum b Oram 31 61 35 5 1 88.57
ZE Surkari c Taylor b Mills 1 10 11 0 0 9.09
A Bagai*† c †BB McCullum b NL McCullum 84 145 87 10 0 96.55

AS Hansra not out 70 140 105 4 1 66.66
Rizwan Cheema c †BB McCullum b Oram 2 5 4 0 0 50.00
JM Davison run out (†BB McCullum) 15 37 21 2 0 71.42
WD Balaji Rao c NL McCullum b Oram 9 13 9 1 0 100.00
HS Baidwan c Franklin b Southee 8 14 6 1 0 133.33
Khurram Chohan c Taylor b Ryder 22 23 16 2 1 137.50

H Osinde not out 0 1 0 0 0 -

Extras (b 5, lb 2, w 9, nb 1) 17











Total (9 wickets; 50 overs; 237 mins) 261 (5.22 runs per over)
Fall of wickets1-2 (Gunasekera, 2.1 ov), 2-4 (Surkari, 4.3 ov), 3-50 (Patel, 12.3 ov), 4-175 (Bagai, 36.6 ov), 5-179 (Rizwan Cheema, 38.1 ov), 5-185* (Hansra, retired not out, 40.1 ov), 6-205 (Balaji Rao, 42.5 ov), 7-213 (Davison, 44.1 ov), 8-222 (Baidwan, 45.2 ov), 9-261 (Khurram Chohan, 49.4 ov)










Bowling O M R W Econ

KD Mills 2.4 1 2 2 0.75

TG Southee 10 1 36 1 3.60 (1w)
JD Ryder 1.2 0 15 1 11.25 (1w)
JDP Oram 10 1 47 3 4.70 (1w)

JEC Franklin 4 0 31 0 7.75 (1nb)
NL McCullum 8 0 56 1 7.00


SB Styris 10 0 41 0 4.10 (1w)

KS Williamson 4 0 26 0 6.50 (1w)

----------------------------------------------------------

What can Mexican billionaire Slim's money buy?

(TOI)
MEXICO CITY.
Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim strengthened his grip on the title of world's richest man this week, piling up billions of additional dollars between himself and his nearest rivals Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.
Over the past year, the 71-year-old Slim added $20 billion to the value of his assets, making him worth $74 billion, according to Forbes.
Equivalent to 6.6 per cent of Mexico's annual economic output, Slim could in theory use his fortune to transform the lives of millions, slash public debt or wallow in boundless luxury.
Following are a few examples of what the money could buy.
* Slim could cover Mexico's entire education budget for the next decade or pay the statutory minimum wage for nearly four out of 10 Mexicans for an entire year.
* The cash could feed all of Mexico's 112 million people with 80 kilos of tortilla -- the average amount of the staple foodstuff Mexicans eat annually -- for the next 11 years.
* The $74 billion is more than double what Mexico, the world's No. 7 oil exporter, earned from crude exports last year and could entirely cover the state-run oil firm Pemex's annual tax bill, roughly a third of the Mexican government's budget.
* Slim, a widower who has been romantically linked to Queen Noor of Jordan and Spanish socialite Silvia Gomez-Cuetara, could afford 1,617 pink diamonds like the rare 24.78 carat stone sold by Sotheby's for $45.75 million last year.
* His astronomical wealth could fund the operations of U.S. space agency NASA for four years.
* The avid sports fan could pay four times the budget of Brazil's Olympics Public Authority, the agency in charge of coordinating investment for the 2016 games.
* The money could also cover eight times the $9 billion annual cost for global HIV treatments as estimated by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS.
* An art collector who earlier this month opened a 60,000+ piece museum in Mexico City, Slim could buy 528 Jackson Pollock "No. 5, 1948", which reportedly sold for $140 million -- the highest price ever paid for a painting.

Harvard is world's top university

(TOI)
WASHINGTON
. Harvard University, which is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States, has been ranked as the world's top varsity.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology made it to number two, with the University of California Berkeley coming in at number four in the list of top 10 most highly regarded universities in world.
Britain's prestigious Cambridge University and Oxford University ranked three and six respectively, with University of Tokyo in Japan securing eighth place in 'The Times Higher Education' world reputation rankings.
In total, the US had a massive 45 universities in the top 100, while the UK had 12 and Japan had five. Australia, Germany, Canada and the Netherlands each had four universities in the top 100 rankings based on a survey of 13,388 academics from 131 countries, the 'Daily Mail' online reported.

Britain won't accept Musharraf arrest warrant

(TOI)
LONDON.
The British government is disinclined to entertain a request from Islamabad to extradite former Pakistani dictator, General Pervez Musharraf, a "wanted fugitive" in his country in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case.
The UK Home Office said on Friday, "There are no general extradition arrangements between the UK and Pakistan." In absence of such a pact, a spokesman said the two countries can enter into a special protocol, but this would "involve negotiating effectively a 'mini-treaty' for the extradition of one individual". This is almost unheard of.
The home office did not confirm or deny the extradition request, although the Pakistani high commissioner claimed such a note was handed over to UK's Foreign & Commonwealth Office.
The British reaction followed a Pakistani anti-terrorism court issuing an arrest warrant for Musharraf for failing to provide adequate security to Bhutto, who was murdered in 2008. She was twice prime minister of Pakistan ˆ 1988-90 and 1993-96. Musharraf's spokesman Fawad Chaudhry said, "There is no basis for the case. This is a politically motivated court ruling and won't comply."

No military intervention in Libya, says European Council

(TOI)
BUDAPEST ( HUNGARY).
Military intervention in Libya, at present, was not an option, the president of the European Council has said.
Hermann Von Rompuy told the press in Budapest: "We don't live in a colonial era any more where foreign powers intervene where they like."
Von Rompuy said options beyond economic and political sanctions would be taken if deemed necessary, and if they had the backing of countries in the region.
"If the civilian population's safety is in danger we must examine what options exist," he was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

Libya unrest: Gaddafi forces take oil town of Brega

(TOI)
BENGHAZI (Libya).
Troops loyal to Muammar Gaddafi shelled an oil town in eastern Libya on Sunday, pounding pockets of resistance during their swift advance on the country's poorly equipped and loosely organized rebels.
Rebel officials in their stronghold of Benghazi told The Associated Press that Brega, the site of a major oil terminal, came under heavy shelling Sunday. Libyan state television reported that government troops had retaken the town, but the report could not immediately be verified.
Libyan TV has issued faulty reports claiming territory in the past.
The loss of Brega would be the latest in a series of setbacks for opposition forces who just a week ago held the entire eastern half of the country and were charging toward the capital, Tripoli. But Gaddafi's troops have reversed many of those early gains, bearing down on the rebels with superior firepower from the air.
The rebels are fighting to oust Gaddafi from power after more than 41 years, inspired by protesters who managed to topple authoritarian rulers in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt. However, the Libyan uprising has already proved much more violent, and could be the start of a drawn out and bloody civil war.
Gaddafi's forces pushed the front line miles deeper into rebel territory Saturday to just 25 miles (40 kilometers) outside Brega. Sunday's report declared the city has been "cleansed from armed gangs."
As the government gains momentum, the Arab League asked the U.N. Security Council to impose a no-fly zone. In surprisingly aggressive language, the 22-member bloc said Saturday the Libyan government had "lost its sovereignty" and asked the United Nations to "shoulder its responsibility" and impose the restriction.
The rebels have called for a no-fly zone as well, saying they are no match for the Gaddafi regime's fighter jets.
The U.S. and many allies have expressed deep reservations about the effectiveness of a no-fly zone, and the possibility it could drag them into another messy conflict in the Muslim world. Western diplomats have said Arab and African approval was necessary before the Security Council voted on imposing a no-fly zone, which would be imposed by NATO nations to protect civilians from air attack by Gaddafi's forces.
Also Sunday, residents reported fighting between government forces and rebels on the outskirts Gaddafi's territory in Misrata, Libya's third-largest city, 125 miles (200 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli. One resident, who did not want his name used because he fears for his safety, said the city is sealed but he can hear tanks, anti-aircraft fire and machine guns nearby.
A day earlier, the Libyan government took reporters from the capital, Tripoli, 375 miles east by plane and bus to show off its control of the former front-line town of Bin Jawwad, the scene of brutal battles six days earlier between insurgents and Gaddafi loyalists using artillery, rockets and helicopter gunships.
A police station was completely destroyed, its windows shattered, walls blackened and burned and broken furniture inside. A nearby school had holes in the roof and a wall. Homes nearby were empty and cars were overturned or left as charred hulks in the road.
Rubble filled the streets and a sulfurous smell hung in the air.
The tour continued 40 miles (65 kilometers) to the east in Ras Lanouf, an oil port of boxy, sand-colored buildings with satellite dishes on top.
The area was silent and devoid of any sign of life, with laundry still fluttering on lines strung across balconies. About 50 soldiers or militia members in 10 white Toyota pickups, holding up portraits of Gaddafi, smeared with mud as camouflage guarded it. A playground was strewn with bullet casings and medical supplies looted from a nearby pharmacy whose doors had been shot open.
On Saturday, Al-Jazeera cameraman Ali Hassan al-Jaber was killed in what the pan-Arab satellite station described as an ambush outside Benghazi.
Correspondent Baybah Wald Amhadi said the crew's car came under fire from the rear as it returned from an assignment south of Benghazi. Al-Jaber was shot three times in the back and a fourth bullet hit another correspondent near the ear and wounded him, Amhadi said.
"Even areas under rebel control are not totally safe," he said. "There are followers, eyes or fifth columns, for Col Gaddafi."

US report on 'notorious markets' upsets China

(TOI)
BEIJING.
China is upset about the United States including Chinese companies in its list of "notorious markets". The list will damage the reputation of Chinese firms including the most popular portal, baidu, the Chinese commerce ministry said.
"We have studied the report thoroughly," Li Chenggang, head of the department of treaty and law under the ministry of commerce said. "Such move might have negative impacts on the reputation of the involved companies and we are concerned about it," he said.
It is not clear if China would counter it by releasing its own list of foreign companies that violate copyright laws and standards. The Chinese government has made it a practice to release its own human rights report showing violations in the US immediately after Washington releases its list every year.
The list of companies allegedly involved in selling counterfeit and pirated goods was released by the Office of the United States Trade Representative last month. It includes Chinese e-commerce firm Taobao, TVAnts and 91.com. Li said it is not proper to issue a list without providing detailed information.
At the same time, China has assured the international community it will continue to fight against copyright violations. Chinese authorities have arrested 3,001 people in their latest crackdown on rampant product piracy and seized fake or counterfeit medicines, liquor, mobile phones and other goods, officials said.
"Intellectual property protection is essential for building an innovation-oriented country and achieving a shift from `China manufactured' to `China innovated,"' Li said. Chinese leaders have said they want the industry to change its focus from low cost imitations to creation of profitable technologies. The country's own software, music and other creative companies have been devastated by unlicensed copying.

Lost city of Atlantis, swamped by tsunami, may be found

(TOI)
NORTHAMPTON, Mass.
A US-led research team may have finally located the lost city of Atlantis, the legendary metropolis believed swamped by a tsunami thousands of years ago in mud flats in southern Spain.
"This is the power of tsunamis," head researcher Richard Freund told Reuters.
"It is just so hard to understand that it can wipe out 60 miles inland, and that's pretty much what we're talking about," said Freund, a University of Hartford, Connecticut, professor who lead an international team searching for the true site of Atlantis.
To solve the age-old mystery, the team used a satellite photo of a suspected submerged city to find the site just north of Cadiz, Spain. There, buried in the vast marshlands of the Dona Ana Park, they believe that they pinpointed the ancient, multi-ringed dominion known as Atlantis.
The team of archeologists and geologists in 2009 and 2010 used a combination of deep-ground radar, digital mapping, and underwater technology to survey the site.
Freund's discovery in central Spain of a strange series of "memorial cities," built in Atlantis' image by its refugees after the city's likely destruction by a tsunami, gave researchers added proof and confidence, he said.
Atlantis residents who did not perish in the tsunami fled inland and built new cities there, he added.
The team's findings will be unveiled on Sunday in "Finding Atlantis," a new National Geographic Channel special.
While it is hard to know with certainty that the site in Spain in Atlantis, Freund said the "twist" of finding the memorial cities makes him confident Atlantis was buried in the mud flats on Spain's southern coast.
"We found something that no one else has ever seen before, which gives it a layer of credibility, especially for archeology, that makes a lot more sense," Freund said.
Greek philosopher Plato wrote about Atlantis some 2,600 years ago, describing it as "an island situated in front of the straits which are by you called the Pillars of Hercules," as the Straits of Gibraltar were known in antiquity. Using Plato's detailed account of Atlantis as a map, searches have focused on the Mediterranean and Atlantic as the best possible sites for the city.
Tsunamis in the region have been documented for centuries, Freund says. One of the largest was a reported 10-story tidal wave that slammed Lisbon in November, 1755.
Debate about whether Atlantis truly existed has lasted for thousands of years. Plato's "dialogues" from around 360 B.C. are the only known historical sources of information about the iconic city. Plato said the island he called Atlantis "in a single day and night... disappeared into the depths of the sea."
Experts plan further excavations are planned at the site where they believe Atlantis is located and at the mysterious "cities" in central Spain 150 miles away to more closely study geological formations and to date artifacts.

Pakistan's ISI chief to get his second extension

(TOI)
ISLAMABAD.
Pakistan's ISI chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha is set to get an extension in service, the country's defence minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar confirmed today.
Pasha, a close confidant of Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, is to retire next week.
Asked by reporters if Pasha is being given an extension, Mukhtar, who is also a senior leader of the ruling Pakistan People's Party, said: "Yes, it is being given."
But the minister did not spell out the duration of the extension. Media reports had said that Pasha is likely to get a two-year extension tenure.
Responding to a query on whether Pasha would remain in service till 2013, Mukhtar said, "He is being given an extension according to the requirement."
This would be a second extention for the ISI chief who was earlier given a year-long extended tenure.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani last year announced an unprecedented three-year extension for Kayani.

Man saved from rooftop that floated 15km to sea

Good News
(TOI)

TOKYO.
Hiromitsu Shinkawa was pushed out to sea while he clung to the roof of his home after a tsunami engulfed Japan's northeastern coast. For two days, he tried to get the attention of helicopters and ships that passed by - to no avail.
Finally, on Sunday, a Japanese military vessel spotted the 60-year-old waving a red cloth. He was about 15km offshore from the earthquake-ravaged city of Minamisoma, said Yoshiyuki Kotake, a defence ministry spokesman.
Shinkawa told his rescuers that the tsunami hit as he and his wife returned home to gather some belongings after Friday's quake.
"I ran away after learning that the tsunami was coming," Shinkawa said. "But I turned back to pick up something at home, when I was washed away." His wife was swept away, Kotake said.
"Several helicopters and ships passed by, but none of them noticed me," he was quoted by another defence agency spokesman as saying.
Japanese troops used a small boat to pluck him from the ocean. Military officials said Shinkawa was lucky that mild weather and relatively calm seas enabled him to stay afloat for nearly two days, the Kyodo news agency reported.
"I thought today was the last day of my life," it quoted him as saying.
The government has said that at least 1,000 people are believed to have lost their lives in the disaster, and police estimate more than 215,000 people are huddled in emergency shelters.
However, the police chief of Miyagi prefecture said that the death toll was certain to exceed 10,000 in his district alone.

Japan facing worst crisis since World War II: PM

(TOI)
TOKYO.
Japan is facing its worst crisis in the 65 years since the end of World War II, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said on Sunday, calling on the nation to unite after it was devastated by a huge earthquake. ( Japan scrambles to avert meltdowns as nuclear crisis deepens )
The situation at a quake-stricken atomic power plant also remains grave, Kan said as engineers battled a nuclear emergency sparked by the massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake and the devastating tsunami it triggered. (Read: Quake moved Japan by 8 feet: USGS)
"The current situation of the earthquake, tsunami and the nuclear plants is in a way the most severe crisis in the past 65 years since World War II," Kan said at a press conference.
"Whether we Japanese can overcome this crisis depends on each of us," Kan said, calling for the nation to unite.
"I strongly believe that we can get over this great earthquake and tsunami by joining together."
Japan battled a feared meltdown of two reactors at a quake-hit nuclear plant on Sunday, as the full horror of the disaster emerged on the ravaged northeast coast where more than 10,000 people were feared dead. (Read: More than 200 bodies at new site - Japan police)
An explosion at the ageing Fukushima No. 1 atomic plant blew apart the building housing one of its reactors Saturday, a day after the biggest quake ever recorded in Japan unleashed a monster 10-metre (33-foot) tsunami.
The atomic emergency widened Sunday as the cooling systems vital for preventing overheating failed at a second reactor, and the government warned there was a risk it too could be hit with a blast.

Japan scrambles to avert meltdowns as nuclear crisis deepens

(TOI)
FUKUSHIMA (Japan).
Japan fought on Sunday to avert a disastrous meltdown at two earthquake-crippled nuclear reactors as estimates of the death toll from the tsunami that charged across its northeast rose to more than 10,000.
Officials worked desperately to stop fuel rods in the damaged reactors from overheating after some controlled radiation leaks into the air to relieve pressure.
The government said a building housing a second reactor was at risk of exploding after a blast blew the roof off the first the day before at the complex, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo.
The fear is that if the fuel rods do not cool, they could melt the container that houses the core, or even explode, releasing radioactive material into the wind. (Read: Quake moved Japan by 8 feet: USGS)
Broadcaster NHK, quoting a police official, said more than 10,000 people may have been killed as the wall of water triggered by Friday's 8.9-magnitude quake surged across the coastline, reducing whole towns to rubble.
Almost two million households were without power in the freezing north, Japanese media said. There were about 1.4 million without running water.
Kyodo news agency said about 300,000 people were evacuated nationwide, many seeking refuge in shelters, wrapped in blankets, some clutching each other sobbing. (Read: More than 200 bodies at new site - Japan police)
Authorities have set up a 20-km (12-mile) exclusion zone around the Fukushima Daiichi plant and a 10 km (6 miles) zone around another nuclear facility close by. Around 140,000 people have been moved from the area, while authorities prepared to distribute iodine to protect people from radioactive exposure.
The nuclear accident, the worst since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, sparked stinging criticism that authorities were ill-prepared for such a massive quake and the threat that could pose to the country's nuclear power industry.
Chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano said there might have been a partial meltdown of the fuel rods at the No. 1 reactor at Fukushima. Engineers were pumping in seawater, trying to prevent the same happening at the No. 3 reactor, he said in apparent acknowledgement they had moved too slowly on Saturday.
"Unlike the No.1 reactor, we ventilated and injected water at an early stage," Edano told a news briefing.
The No. 3 reactor uses a mixed-oxide fuel which contains plutonium, but plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) said it did not present unusual problems.
Asked if fuel rods were partially melting in the No. 1 reactor, Edano said: "There is that possibility. We cannot confirm this because it is in the reactor. But we are dealing with it under that assumption ."
He said fuel rods may have partially deformed at the No. 3 reactor but a meltdown was unlikely to have occurred.
"The use of seawater means they have run out of options," said David Lochbaum, director of the Union of Concerned Scientists Nuclear Safety Project.
TEPCO said radiation levels around the Fukushima Daiichi plant had risen above the safety limit but that it did not mean an "immediate threat" to human health.
Edano said there was a risk of an explosion at the building housing the No. 3 reactor, but that it was unlikely to affect the reactor core container.
The wind over the plant would continue blowing from the south, which could affect residents north of the facility, an official at Japan's meteorological agency said.
The disaster prompted an angry response from an anti-nuclear energy NGO in Japan which said it should have been foreseen.
"A nuclear disaster which the promoters of nuclear power in Japan said wouldn't happen is in progress," the Citizens' Nuclear Information Centre said. "It is occurring as a result of an earthquake that they said would not happen."

SEARCH FOR THE MISSING
Thousands spent another freezing night huddled in blankets over heaters in emergency shelters along the northeastern coast, a scene of devastation after the quake sent a 10-metre (33-foot) wave surging through towns and cities in the Miyagi region, including its main coastal city of Sendai.
In one of the heavily hit areas, Rikuzentakata, a city close to the coast, more than 1,000 people took refuge in a school high on a hill. Some were talking with friends and family around a stove. The radio was giving updates. On the walls were posters where names of survivors at the shelter were listed.
Some were standing in front of the lists, weeping.
Kyodo news agency reported there had been no contact with around 10,000 people in one town, more than half its population.
A Japanese official said there were 190 people within a 10-km radius of the nuclear plant when radiation levels rose and 22 people have been confirmed to have suffered contamination. Workers in protective clothing were scanning people arriving at evacuation centres for radioactive exposure.

GOVERNMENT CRITICISED
The government, in power less than two years and which had already been struggling to push policy through a deeply divided parliament, came under criticism for its handling of the disaster.
"Crisis management is incoherent," blared a headline in the Asahi newspaper, charging that information disclosure and instructions to expand the evacuation area around the troubled plant were too slow.
There has been a proposal of an extra budget to help pay for the huge cost of recovery. Edano said the cabinet would meet later on Sunday to discuss economic steps.
The Bank of Japan is expected to pledge on Monday to supply as much money as needed to prevent the disaster from destabilising markets and its banking system. It is also expected to signal its readiness to ease monetary policy further if the damage from the worst quake since records began in Japan 140 years ago threatens a fragile economic recovery.
Before news of the problem with reactor No. 3, the U.N. nuclear safety agency said the plant accident was less serious than both the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 and Chernobyl in 1986.
An official at the agency said it rated the incident a 4 according to the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES). Three Mile Island was rated 5 while Chernobyl was rated 7 on the 1 to 7 scale.
The earthquake was the fifth most powerful to hit the world in the past century. It surpassed the Great Kanto quake of Sept. 1, 1923, which had a magnitude of 7.9 and killed more than 140,000 people in the Tokyo area.
The 1995 Kobe quake killed 6,000 and caused $100 billion in damage, the most expensive natural disaster in history. Economic damage from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was estimated at about $10 billion.