Radioactivity in water at reactor 2 at the quake-damaged Fukushima nuclear plant has reached 10 million times the usual level, company officials say.

Survivors surveyed the wreckage of their Myanmar villages on Saturday as details of an earthquake that left 75 dead and reduced homes to rubble began to trickle out of remote areas.

Libyan rebels backed by allied air strikes have recaptured the strategic town of Ajdabiyah, signaling that the tide may be turning against Muammar Gaddafi's forces in the east.

Lights went off around the world as landmark buildings and ordinary homes flipped their switches while the annual "Earth Hour" circled the planet in what was dubbed the world's largest voluntary action for the environment.

Japanese engineers struggled on Sunday to pump radioactive water from a crippled nuclear power station while the world's chief nuclear inspector said the country was "still far from the end of the accident."

Gaza militant groups signaled on Saturday they would halt rocket fire at Israel if the Jewish state stopped shootings as well, after a surge in cross-border violence prompted fears of a possible escalation into war.

Libyan rebels backed by allied air raids say they have seized control of the frontline oil town of Ajdabiya from Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's forces.

The opposition toppled Canada's Conservative government on March 25, accusing it of sleaze and mismanagement, and set the scene for a May election that polls indicate the Conservatives will win.

Highly radioactive water has been found at a second reactor at a crippled nuclear power station in Japan, the plant's operator said, as fears of contamination escalated two weeks after a huge earthquake and tsunami battered the complex.

Western warplanes bombed Muammar Gaddafi's tanks and artillery in eastern Libya on March 25 to try to break a battlefield stalemate and help rebels take the strategic town of Ajdabiyah.