U.S. HOUSE DATA NOT READY UNTIL APRIL, STATES’ DATA AFTER JULY

The U.S. Census Bureau is aiming to deliver the long-delayed numbers used for divvying up congressional seats by the end of April, but a holdup on redistricting data could disrupt several states’ abilities to redraw their own legislative maps before upcoming elections, an agency official said Wednesday.

The new goal for finishing data processing for the apportionment numbers used for congressional seats is now April 30. But a separate set of data used for redrawing districts for states and local governments won’t be ready until after July in the most likely scenario, Kathleen Styles, a top bureau official, said during a presentation for the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The delay in the release of redistricting data could be problematic for states that have deadlines this year for redrawing their districts. New Jersey and Virginia also have elections this year.

Indonesian volcano unleashes river of lava in new eruption.

YOGYAKARTA » Indonesia’s most active volcano erupted Wednesday with a river of lava and searing gas clouds flowing nearly 10,000 feet down its slopes. No casualties were reported.

The sounds of the eruption could be heard 18 miles away, officials said. It was Mount Merapi’s biggest lava flow since authorities raised its danger level in November, said Hanik Humaida, leader of Yogyakarta’s Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center.

After morning rain, the ashfall turned into muck in several villages. More than 150 people, mostly older, living within 3 miles of the crater were evacuated to barracks set up for displaced people.

Authorities in November had evacuated nearly 2,000 people living on the mountain in Magelang and Sleman districts, but most have returned.

Newly found contamination at Fukushima plant may delay cleanup.

TOKYO» A draft investigation report into the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown, adopted by Japanese nuclear regulators Wednesday, says it has detected dangerously high levels of radioactive contamination at two of the three reactors, adding to concerns about decommissioning challenges.

The interim report said data collected by investigators showed that the sealing plugs sitting atop the Nos. 2 and 3 reactor containment vessels were as fatally contaminated as nuclear fuel debris that had melted and fell to the bottom of the reactors after the March 2011 tsunami and earthquake.

The experts said the bottom of the sealed plug, a triple-layered concrete disc-shaped lid 39 feet in diameter sitting atop the primary containment vessel, is coated with high levels of radioactive Cesium 137. The No. 1 reactor lid was less contaminated, presumably because the plug was slightly knocked out of place and disfigured because of the impact of the hydrogen explosion, the report said.

Racial profiling by French police challenged in lawsuit.

PARIS» Three leading rights organizations joined with grassroots groups Wednesday to launch France’s first class-action lawsuit targeting the country’s massive police machine, contending that it propagates a culture leading to systemic discrimination in identity checks.

The NGOs — including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Open Society Justice Initiative — allege that police target Black people and people of Arab descent in choosing whom to stop and check. The groups say the practice is alienating those populations and is a danger to society.

The issue of racial profiling has festered for years. Now the organizations want deep law enforcement reforms, including a change in the article in the penal code that governs checks and gives police carte blanche with no trace of the encounter. They seek no monetary damages.