BERLIN, March 18 (UPI) -- Germany temporarily shut down seven of its nuclear plants for precautionary safety checks in the wake of Japan's nuclear crisis, Chancellor Angela Merkel said.
Merkel, speaking to the Bundestag, the lower house of Parliament, urged Germans to donate money to help Japan rebuild following last week's 9-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that damaged the six-reactor Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, the BBC reported Friday.