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Japan

Japan Upgrades Fukushima Alert To Highest Level Since 2011 Meltdown

BBC, REUTERS, AL JAZEERA

Worldcrunch

TOKYO - The Japanese nuclear agency upgraded the severity level of a toxic leak at the Fukushima nuclear power plant from 1 to 3 on the International Nuclear Event Scale (0 to 7). The raising of the toxic level Wednesday marks the first time Japan has issued such a warning since three reactor meltdowns after the massive earthquake and tsunami of March 2011.

Highly radioactive water was found to be leaking from a storage tank into the ground at the plant on Monday, according to the BBC. On Tuesday, officials confirmed that about 300,000 litres of contaminated water had leaked from a tank designed to hold overflows from the site.

According to Reuters, the leaked water is so contaminated that a person standing close to it for an hour would receive five times the annual recommended limit for nuclear workers in a year.

The plant operator TEPCO said the leak does not pose an immediate threat to the sea because the tank is about 100 meters from the coastline, according to Al Jazeera. But a watchdog spokesman said the water could reach the sea via a drain gutter.

Plant workers have surrounded the leaking tank with sandbags and have attempted to suck up the radioactive water. But a BBC reporter in Tokyo said it is clear that most of the toxic water has already disappeared into the ground.

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Society

Should Christians Be Scared Of Horror Movies?

Horror films have a complicated and rich history with christian themes and influences, but how healthy is it for audiences watching?

Should Christians Be Scared Of Horror Movies?

"The Nun II" was released on Sept. 2023.

Joseph Holmes

“The Nun II” has little to show for itself except for its repetitive jump scares — but could it also be a danger to your soul?

Christians have a complicated relationship with the horror genre. On the one hand, horror movies are one of the few types of Hollywood films that unapologetically treat Christianity (particularly Catholicism) as good.

“The Exorcist” remains one of the most successful and acclaimed movies of all time. More recently, “The Conjuring” franchise — about a wholesome husband and wife duo who fight demons for the Catholic Church in the 1970s and related spinoffs about the monsters they’ve fought — has more reverent references to Jesus than almost any movie I can think of in recent memory (even more than many faith-based films).

The Catholic film critic Deacon Steven Greydanus once mentioned that one of the few places where you can find substantial positive Catholic representation was inhorror films.

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