Palash Ghosh

Boxing legend Muhammad Ali has asked the government of Iran to release two American hikers held in the country for two years since on spying charges.

Up to 80,000 Japanese self-defense forces, firefighters and police officers have mobilized in the quake-ridden regions of northern Japan to search for survivors and locate the deceased, as temperatures drop to freezing levels.

The Japanese government has tried to calm fears about the white radioactive smoke (or steam) rising from the damaged No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant by assuting that the failure of the facility’s containment vessel is unlikely.

The uprising against Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi will be crushed within the next forty-eight hours as forces loyal to the government close in on the rebel stronghold of Benghazi in the eastern part of the embattled country, according to Gaddafi’s son.

A moderate earthquake has struck the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico, according to Red Sismica de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico’s Seismic Network).

As the political crisis in the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom of Bahrain deepens, there is apparently a growing schism within the ruling al-Khalifah family over how to handle the anti-government protests.

State security forces in Bahrain –presumably including recently-invited Saudi Arabian troops – have attacked anti-government protesters in the capitol Manama and driven them out of the central Pearl Roundabout where they had camped out for weeks.

Nuclear authorities in Japan warn that that the No. 3 reactor at the quake-ravaged Fukushima No. 1 power station may be damaged, promoting the release of radioactive steam, while another fire has struck the No. 4 reactor.

Panic-stricken by the growing nuclear crisis in Japan, thousands of immigrants are swamping immigration offices to apply for re-entry permits in case they plan to evacuate the country.

Message to American Citizens from U.S. Ambassador to Japan John V Roos, March 16, 2011

In an extremely rare public gesture, the emperor of Japan, Akihito, appeared on live television to express his concerns about the nuclear crisis confronting his country in the wake of last week's cataclysmic earthquake and tsunami.

Traces of cocaine have again been found at the Kennedy Space Center.

The nuclear crisis in earthquake-ravaged Japan has hit a new peak of worry – engineers are concerned that two more reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex may have become unstable.

The damage to California from last week’s tsunami is expected to exceed $50 million.

One of the most famous Japanese people on earth, Yoko Ono, said Japan will recover from the current earthquake-tsunami tragedy.

Japanese and Japanese-Americans across the U.S. are mobilizing to send help to their homeland after the unspeakable damage wreaked by one of the worst earthquakes and tsunamis in history.

FOMC Statement from March 15, 2011

Tsunami-related damage in Hawaii is estimated to be in the tens of millions of dollars, but may climb higher, according to a spokeswoman of the state’s governor Neil Abercrombie.

The Japanese metropolis of Tokyo, already reeling from reports of higher-than-average radiation levels, was hit by massive tremor. There are also reports of people fleeing Tokyo.

Pro-government forces are battling rebels for control of the oil port of Brega, as Moammar Gaddafi intensifies his assault on opposition groups in the eastern parts of Libya.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have held rallies in Gaza City and Ramallah, West Bank, calling for unity and cooperation between Hamas and Fatah.

Italy has blocked a ferry carrying about 1,800 people, primarily Moroccans fleeing Libya, from docking in Sicily, on orders from Rome’s interior ministry.

American folk singer Bob Dylan will perform in the Communist nation of Vietnam for the first time next month, according to his promoter.

The King of Bahrain has declared emergency powers for three months in the wake of continued unrest in the tiny Persian Gulf nation, according to state television.

Radiation levels rose in Tokyo and some surrounding areas on Tuesday after the nuclear accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan, according to local governments.

The government of Japan, already battling against the deadly ravages of Friday’s earthquake-tsunami, has warned that the troubled No. 2 reactor at the badly-damaged Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant was still unstable, almost nearly five hours after workers poured seawater into it to try to cool down the fuel rods

Observers across the cyberworld have noticed something quite fascinating about the unfolding horror in Japan in the wake of the deadly earthquake and tsunami – a lack of looting by Japanese people, who, rather than take advantage of a crisis for personal gain, appear to be unified and behaving lawfully.

The leader of France’s extreme right-wing National Front party, Marine Le Pen, has said that North African migrants who have arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa to escape from unrest in Tunisia and Libya should be immediately turned back to their native countries.

Forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi have bombed the town of Ajdabiya, as government soldiers appear to be advancing deeper into rebel-controlled areas of the country.