Plans to vent radioactive gas at one of the reactors at the country's tsunami-damaged nuclear complex have been scrapped after the plant's operators said the pressure inside has stabilised.

Tokyo Electric Power company officials said there is no immediate need to vent the pressure at the Unit 3 reactor of the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant.

They say the pressure is relatively high, but that it has stabilised.

Police disclosed that an 80-year-old woman and a teenage boy have been rescued from the wreckage of a house in north-eastern Japan, nine days after the devastating earthquake and tsunami.

Rescuers found the 16-year-old boy on the roof of his house in the city of Ishinomaki, calling out for help, according to the Miyagi Prefectural Police.

He then led rescuers inside, where they found the elderly woman. Both were weak but conscious.

The pair were airlifted by helicopter to a nearby hospital.

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