Protests

Yesterday thousands of protesters were out in the streets of Tokyo calling for the Japanese Government to forgo nuclear power, a day before the second anniversary of an earthquake and tsunami that triggered the world's worst atomic disaster in 25 years. The nuclear meltdown at Tokyo Electric Power's (Tepco) Fukushima Daiichi plant forced 160,000 people from their homes, to which many will never return. It also sparked an unprecedented protest movement against nuclear power.

A Malaysian court has given the go ahead to Australian company Lynas to start production at a controversial rare earths processing plant near the city of Kuantan.

Malaysian regulators have paved the way for Australian miner Lynas Corporation to fire up its controversial rare earth plant by issuing a temporary operation license, despite fierce opposition from green activists and local residents.

A Malaysian court has dismissed a bid to stop a rare earths plant run by Australian miner Lynas from going online over fears it will harm the environment by producing radioactive pollution, according to a report by AFP.

Police fired teargas to break up demonstrations on Thursday over a proposed power plant in a southern China town, where protests have escalated into clashes with police this week and officials tried to calm tempers by suspending the project, according to a Reuters report.