Have you been listening carefully to our Simon Hobbs, who has been providing near-hourly updates on the nuclear reactor situation in Japan?
The bottom line is...there is still not much reason for optimism. We don't know if there has been any positive effect from dropping water, and even if power is restored tomorrow it's not clear that the water pumps will operate: they too may have been damaged.
Pres. Obama will make a statement at 3:30pm ET. The U.S. is flying drones over the site and is getting more information than it had been from the Japanese, but it is unlikely he will announce a resolution of the crisis.
If the opposite happens — and the President announces an evacuation of all U.S. and civilian personnel from Tokyo — then you know it's going to get worse fast.
Meantime, Libya keeps rearing its head. Oil spiked up, and stocks briefly dipped as the Libyan defense said Libya would hit civilian and military targets in response to any foreign attack, a reference to the (very late) attempts to put together a coalition of countries to support a no-fly zone.
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