Verizon Wireless Provides Quick And Easy Way To Help Japan Relief

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. – March 14, 2011 –

Verizon Wireless has quickly implemented a mobile giving program for customers looking for a quick and easy way to contribute to Japan relief efforts. The company announced today that customers can use their mobile phones to make $10 donations to a host of non-profit organizations responding to the earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

Customers can easily make a $10 donation by simply sending a text message and may choose from nine organizations aiding those in need in Japan, including the American Red Cross. Donating $10 is easy – simply text the specific word to the organization’s designated short code:

ADRA Relief: text SUPPORT to 85944 American Red Cross Relief: text REDCROSS to 90999 Convoy of Hope: text TSUNAMI or SUNAMI to 50555 GlobalGiving: text JAPAN to 50555 International Medical Corps: text MED to 80888 Mercy Corps: text MERCY to 25383 Salvation Army: text JAPAN to 80888 Save the Children Federation, Inc.: text JAPAN or TSUNAMI to 20222 World Relief Corp. of National Association of Evangelicals: text WAVE to 50555 World Vision, Inc.: text 4JAPAN or 4TSUNAMI to 20222

Text messages are free for customers donating to any of these organizations. Verizon Wireless always waives text-messaging fees for disaster relief, and 100 percent of each $10 donation goes to the relief organization. For Verizon Wireless customers who pay monthly bills, the $10 donations will appear in customers’ next regular monthly bill. For customers using the company’s prepaid services, the $10 donations will be taken from customers’ prepaid balance.

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless operates the nation’s fastest and most advanced 4G network and largest and most reliable 3G network, and serves more than 94 million customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 82,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) and Vodafone (LSE, NASDAQ: VOD). For more information, visit www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

####

View the original article here

Verizon Offers Free Calls to Japan From March 11 to April 10

NEW YORK – March 14, 2011 –

To help its customers contact loved ones in the aftermath of Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami, Verizon is enabling most wireless and residential customers to make free calls to Japan through April 10.

All Verizon Wireless post-paid customers will receive free calling to Japan from March 11 through April 10.  Post-paid customers are those who receive a monthly bill from the company.  In addition, Verizon Wireless post-paid customers will receive free text and multimedia messaging to Japan for the same time period.

Verizon Wireless has also made it easy for customers to text donations to a host of nonprofit organizations responding to the earthquake and subsequent tsunami.  Customers can easily make a $10 donation by simply sending a text message and may choose from nine organizations aiding those in need in Japan. 

All calls made from a Verizon residential landline to Japan will be rated at $0.00 per minute, from March 11 through April 10.  Customers with Verizon World Plan (300, 500 or unlimited minutes of long-distance calling) can call Japan without using any minutes from their time-allotment blocks.

Additionally, Verizon Prepaid Phone Card charges for all long-distance calls placed to Japan from the U.S will also be waived from March 11 until April 10.

The company is also providing FiOS TV customers who are not subscribed to TV Japan with free access to the channel, through March 17.  The channel location is 1770. 

* Only long-distance usage charges associated with calls made from residential landlines terminating to wireline or wireless destinations in Japan will be waived from Mar. 11 - April 10.  All other fees including taxes, surcharges, monthly recurring charges (MRCs), minimum spend levels (MSLs), monthly minimum charges (MMCs), etc will continue to apply.  Post-paid calling card charges to Japan will also be waived.

** If long distance calling fees were charged, credits will be issued in a future bill statement.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, NASDAQ:VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers.  Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, serving 94.1 million customers nationwide.  Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America's most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers innovative, seamless business solutions to customers around the world.  A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of more than 194,000 and last year generated consolidated revenues of $106.6 billion.  For more information, visit verizon.com/news.

####

View the original article here

Japan nuclear reactors 'must pass tsunami test before reopening' - The Guardian

Japanese prime minister Naoto Kan has ordered nuclear power plants to undergo more stringent safety tests before restarting reactors. Photograph: Everett Kennedy Brown/EPA

Japan's idle nuclear reactors will not be allowed to restart unless it is proven they can survive giant tsunamis and other extreme events, the country's government has said.

But with no timetable decided for two rounds of "stress tests" and electricity demand soon to reach its summer peak, concern is growing that Japan may experience power shortages at the hottest time of year.

The first round of tests will focus on reactors that have completed routine safety checks and would have already restarted had the accident at Fukushima Daiichi power plant not plunged Japan's nuclear industry into crisis.

The tests will examine the reactors' ability to withstand natural onslaughts of far greater force than previously factored into safety checks.

They will, for example, examine their ability to withstand an unusually severe event similar to the magnitude-9 earthquake and 15m tsunami that knocked out back-up generators at Fukushima Daiichi, leading to core meltdowns in three reactors.

In the second stage, all of Japan's nuclear power facilities will undergo a general safety assessment.

Only 19 of the country's 54 nuclear reactors are in operation due to delays in restarting those that have undergone maintenance checks or were shut down after the 11 March tsunami.

In addition, reactors that are operating could be forced to close immediately if they fail the first round of tests, the government has said in a statement.

As it attempts to calm public fears over safety, the government must contemplate a worst-case scenario in which every last nuclear reactor will be idle by next April as more come offline for regular inspections.

That would seriously compromise the country's ability to produce enough electricity and could result in power shortages lasting into the summer of 2012.

Major users of electricity have already been told they must cut peak power use by 15% from this month to avoid blackouts this summer.

Nuclear provided about 30% of Japan's energy before the crisis. Plans to increase supply to more than 50% by 2030 were ditched after the prime minister, Naoto Kan, ordered a review of energy policy and promised a much bigger post-Fukushima role for renewables.

"Safety and a sense of security are the top priority," said Yukio Edano, the chief cabinet secretary. "One the other hand the government must fulfil its responsibility to provide a stable supply of electricity … we will make every effort to secure that in the medium and long term."

Edano could not say when the first round of tests would begin, only that they would happen "soon" and be overseen by Japan's nuclear safety commission, which is considered more independent of the government than the nuclear safety agency.

Last week's surprise decision to conduct stress tests has caused confusion among the public and angered industry officials who want idle reactors restarted as soon as possible.

In June government officials, citing reviews by the nuclear safety agency, said reactors that had been shut down for regular checks were safe to restart.

At the time the economy minister, Banri Kaieda, said: "There is no problem regarding safety concerning the continued operation and restart of nuclear power stations."

On Friday Kan apologised for dithering over the tests, which will be modelled on those being conducted on reactors in European Union member states. "My instructions were inadequate and came too late," he said. "I take responsibility for that."

Officials in Fukushima prefecture said they had detected high levels of radioactive caesium in straw fed to cattle at a farm in Minamisoma, a town near the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

Tests were carried out on feed and water samples from the farm after caesium at levels three to six times higher than the provisional legal limit of 500 becquerels per kilogram were found in 11 cows, according to the Tokyo metropolitan government.

The cows had been shipped to a meat packing plant in Tokyo and slaughtered but their meat did not go on sale, Kyodo news agency said.

View the original article here