Palash Ghosh

At least five Palestinians, including two children, have been killed by Israeli artillery strikes in the northern Gaza strip, according to various media reports, in retaliation for rockets fired into Israel on Saturday.

One of Moammar Gaddafi’s sons has reportedly been killed by a “kamikaze” Libyan air force pilot. Khamis Gaddafi, 32, a brigade commander, was reportedly blown up when a jet flown by a rebel airman crashed into a military compound in Tripoli Tuesday night.

The official death toll from Japan’s epic earthquake-tsunami catastrophe has now surpassed 22,000 (including people who are listed as missing), according to the National Police Agency.

A chorus of voices from government officials around the world have condemned (or at least questioned) the decision by a handful of western countries (in tandem with some Arab allies) to launch air strikes on military targets in Libya.

Summary of Conditions at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

Despite bombardments on Libyan military by western and other foreign military aircraft, fighting on the ground between forces loyal to and against Moammar Gaddafi continue unabated.

Americans who are opposed to the U.S. participating in air strikes against Libya have held small (and thus far peaceful) demonstrations across the country, although there doesn’t appear to be a large national movement against the action yet.

The military strikes in Libya is costing the British taxpayer about £3 million a day, according to UK defense experts.

The president of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, has written a lengthy a column in The New Vision newspaper of Uganda in which he condemned the western alliance’s military strikes on Libya. He also proposes a resolution to the Libyan crisis through the auspices of the African Union.

Some prominent African leaders have expressed their condemnation of western air strikes on Libya.

U.S. President Barack Obama said his country will relinquish its leading role in the Western alliance against Libya’s Moammar Gaddafi within days in order to guarantee that the responsibility of enforcing the UN-mandated “no fly zone” resolution Gaddafi is shared by various nations

Legendary blues musician/pianist Joe Willie “Pinetop” Perkins has died at his home in Austin, Texas at the age of 97, according to a family website.

Forces in Libya loyal to Moammar Qaddafi are reportedly using foreign journalists as human shields in order to prevent air strikes by western militaries that are reluctant to be accused of bombing civilians.

Japanese authorities are struggling to ascertain data and information on the number and status of foreigners who were in Japan when the earthquake and tsunami struck ten days ago.

The financial impact to Japan from last week’s earthquake-tsunami could be as high as $235-billion, according to a report issued on Monday by the World Bank.

The crisis in Libya has led to the revelation of a rare public disagreement between the two most powerful political leaders in Russia, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.

Some Japanese are outraged by the alarmist tone and sensationalistic reporting of the earthquake-tsunami tragedy by foreign media. Some media sources have just plain printed factual errors.

Police have broken up a small protest outside the interior ministry in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, leading to the arrest of at least a dozen people.

In one of the few happy stories to come from the earthquake tragedy in Japan, an 80-year-old woman and her 16-year-old grandson have been rescued from the rubble of their home in the coastal city of Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture, the epicenter of the tragedy, according to Kyodo news agency.

As anti-government protests continue to rage in Syria, demonstrators have reportedly set fire to several government buildings – including the headquarters of the ruling Baath party -- in the southern city of Deraa.

Egyptian voters have passed a raft of constitutional amendments by an overwhelming majority, according to official results

An air strike by western coalition forces upon the Libyan capitol Tripoli has reportedly destroyed a three-story building which was a command center used by Moammar Gaddafi.

The king of Bahrain has blamed a “foreign plot” for stoking unrest in his country and also thanked the invited troops from neighboring countries for foiling the conspiracy and preserving order after many weeks of unyielding protest.

In response to airstrikes on his country by a coalition of western nations, Col. Moammar Gaddafi has threatened that Libya will fight a long war.

Anti-government sentiments in Syria turned a deadly corner after security forces fired tear gas into crowds attending a funeral of two people who were killed in a prior protest, according to reports

As a coalition of western nations launch airstrikes on Libyan military targets, British Prime Minister David Cameron warned that the UK could face terrorist reprisals should Moammar Gaddafi’s regime somehow remains in power.

French fighter jets have bombed and destroyed a Libyan military target, marking the first act of enforcement of the United Nations mandate to impose a no-fly zone over Libya

Japanese nuclear officials reported that temperatures have been lowered at the troubled reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant as emergency workers continue to try to stabilize the facility to prevent the release of dangerous radioactive materials

Following reports that President Nicholas Sarkozy has ordered French fighter jets to fly to Libya, British Tornado jets are also prepared to commence with a similar mission.