Rescue teams searched through matchstick rubble Saturday for thousands of people missing in flooded areas of northeastern Japan, beginning one of the most complex relief efforts in history.

Japanese authorities said Sunday that efforts to restart the cooling system at one of the reactors damaged by Friday's earthquake had failed, a major setback in the struggle to contain what has become the most serious nuclear power crisis in a quarter century.

An explosion rocked one of Japan's nuclear power plants, causing a portion of a building to crumble, sending white smoke billowing into the air and prompting Japanese officials to warn those in the vicinity to cover their mouths and stay indoors.

A bulldozing tsunami triggered by an 8.9-magnitude earthquake devastated the northeast coast of Japan on Friday, turning cars into driftwood, washing away neighborhoods and leaving this industrialized country bracing for an epic humanitarian disaster.

More than 50 reported dead after waves as tall as 20 feet hit buildings, vehicles; tsunami warnings issued for a dozen countries, including the U.S.

CAIRO - On the banks of the Nile, in the middle of a roiling protest Wednesday by hundreds of chanting Christians, a man raised a Koran in one hand and a wooden cross in the other. "I came here because we don't want sectarian strife," said Ahmed Moustafa, a 37-year-old Muslim. "Muslims and Christians are united."

Clinton to meet with representatives of transition council; administration wrestles with how to achieve goal of pushing Gaddafi from power while ensuring that something better replaces him.

LOGAN, UTAH - Here's how you run for reelection if you're a powerful Republican senator from a state where powerful Republican activists want somebody new:

CAIRO - For years, Marwa Farouk lived in fear of Egypt's state security agents, who arrested and interrogated her several times for her work as an activist.

Some Egyptian leaders fear religious rioting that left 13 people dead is indication that post-revolution's unity is deterioriating.