American actorCharlie Sheen loses custody of his two sons Bob and Max following claims by their mother Brooke Mueller that he made threats ofdomestic violence.(TMZ)
Business and economy
Ally Financial, the company formerly known as General Motors Acceptance Corporation, announced in a filing with theSecurities and Exchange Commission that the U.S.Treasury Department will be selling some of Ally's preferred securities. This is part of the unwinding of the Treasury's investment in the auto industry as a result of the 2008 financial crisis.(Bloomberg).
Colonel Gaddafi claims thatLibya's oil fields are "safe" and "under control" and warns against foreign intervention.(Associated Press)
A spokesman for the "interim national government council" inBenghazi calls for the international community to carry outair strikes againstmercenaries fighting for Colonel Gaddafi.(New York Times)
Private and independent newspapers inIvory Coast cease publication to protest violence and harassment by supporters of incumbent PresidentLaurent Gbagbo. Radio broadcasts by theBBC andRFI are taken off air.(Bloomberg)
Xinhua reports that 35,860 Chinese nationals have been evacuated from Libya in one of the largest overseas operations in Chinese military history.(Xinhua)
President Obama calls on Colonel Gaddafi to stand down and advises that the United States is looking at "full range" of military options.(AFP via Yahoo! News)
The suspect in a deadly attack on US airmen atFrankfurt Airport allegedly targeted US servicemen and had portrayed himself as anIslamist on the Internet according to German sources.(Stars and Stripes)
The Gaddafi regime blocks foreign journalists in aTripoli hotel to stop them from reporting on the conflict supposedly for their safety.(AGI)
Shots are fired by government forces during an anti-government protest in Tripoli.(Reuters)
Interpol issues an international alert for Gaddafi and 15 of his family members and close associates to help enforce the UN sanctions against his regime.(AP via Forbes)
The marketing chief atResearch in Motion, the Canadian company best known for theBlackBerry smart phone, is leaving. This surprise announcement concerningKeith Pardy may have an impact on the launch of a new product, thePlayBook tablet.(Reuters)
Thousands of people demonstrate outside theAl-Qudaibiya Palace, where the government meets inManama, calling for the prime minister to resign and voicing their discontent with the king.(Al Jazeera)
The Washington Post reports that the military forces imprisoned allegedwhistleblowerBradley Manning to strip each night and sleep naked, having confiscated his boxers earlier this week following Manning's protest that restrictions imposed on him were "absurd". A spokesperson for the facility denies "any sort of humiliation or embarrassment" is intended.(The Washington Post)
Al Jazeera claims to have video that shows aLibyan Army officer being executed for refusing to fire on opposition positions west of the capitalTripoli.(Al Jazeera)
Pro-Gaddafi forces launch an offensive on the rebel held town ofZawiya.(BBC)
Activists in London calling themselvesTopple the Tyrants occupy the mansion of Gaddafi's son, saying they would stay "until this property can be returned to the Libyan people."(BBC)(Huffington Post)
Egypt has been secretly aiding Libyan rebels, apparently has sent around 100 Special Forces troops, while Cairo has made no official comment on the report.(UPI)(Daily Mirror)
A government-sponsored study inCanada concludes that heavy metals andpolycyclicaromatic compounds found in theAthabasca River downstream ofoil sands plants, are not a natural occurrence but pollution resulting from those plants.(Reuters)
Thousands of people inBahrain protest over the country's naturalisation policy, which they say favours foreigners at their expense.(Al Jazeera)(The National)
KingMohammed VI ofMorocco pledges democratic reforms to the country's constitution, after demonstrations last month.(Al Jazeera)
TheSaudi Foreign Minister,Saud al-Faisal, says dialogue is the best way to bring about reform, rather than protest.(Al Arabiya)
TheSenate in the US state ofMichigan approves a proposal to allow state-appointed emergency managers authority to break labor deals to turn around failing schools and cities most notably inDetroit.(Reuters via Yahoo News)
KingMohammed VI of Morocco promises ""comprehensive constitutional reform" to expand individual and collective liberties in a televised address to thenation.(BBC)
The threeRoyal Netherlands Navy personnel captured 12 days ago by armed men loyal to Libyan leaderMuammar Gaddafi are released after negotiations after Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Dimitris Dollis secured their release and oversaw their evacuation toAthens,Greece. The crew was trying to rescue aDutch citizen fromLibya when armed men captured them.(NPR)[permanent dead link]
An explosion is heard at the site of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant with four workers injured and residents warned of radiation leaks.(BBC),(AP via MSNBC),(Kyodo),(Sky News)
Donald Elmer, the Chief Executive of a small U.S.–based pharmaceutical company,Koronis, said that he is looking to raise money through London'sAlternative Investment Market, thus enabling the next stage of clinical tests for his company's anti-HIV product, KP-1461.(Reuters)
Bob Parker, the mayor of theNew Zealand city ofChristchurch, estimates that the city centre is still "very, very dangerous" with up to a third of the buildings needing to be demolished.(TV New Zealand)
TheTokyo Stock Exchange falls more than five per cent in opening trade in the first day of trading since the 2011 Sendai earthquake.(The Australian)
China adopts anew 5-year plan which aims to boost spending on public services, decrease economic inequality, and increase employment and wages.(Xinhua)
The Libyan opposition arrests four men as suspects in the murder of anAl Jazeera journalist and claim thatMuammar Gaddafi's regime is sending undercover squads to assassinate people.(The Independent)
Hundreds of people stage a rare protest in theSyrian capitalDamascus calling for greater freedoms and the release of political prisoners.(BBC)(AFP via Google News)
TheIsraeli Navy intercepts the cargo shipVictoria which was carrying a long list of advanced weapons that were smuggled fromIran and were allegedly bound for the militant organizations operating in theGaza Strip.(Ynetnews)
Business and economy
Nasdaq OMX Group is preparing a bid forNYSE Euronext. Such a bid would, at the least, complicate the planned merger between NYSE andDeutsche Boerse. Reuters reported the planned counter-bid citing "a source familiar with the situation."(Reuters)
Dozens of workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex (also calledFukushima I) have stayed behind to end the radiation leaks, known as theFukushima 50, risking fatal radiation exposure.(Guardian)
Chief Cabinet SecretaryYukio Edano reports that as of 10.22 a.m. local time, radiation levels of 30 millisieverts per hour were measured between the No. 2 and No. 3 reactors, while at the No. 3 reactor 400 millisieverts per hour were detected, a harmful level to humans.(Bloomberg)
A senior adviser to thePrime Minister of JapanNaoto Kan says that a fire has broken out in a fourth reactor at the Fukushima I power plant but it is later extinguished, with the radiation reading at 0831 local time (2331 GMT) climbing to 8,217 microsieverts an hour.(CNN)(AP)(news.com.au)(BBC)
Prime Minister Kan warns people living within a 30 kilometre radius of the plant to stay indoors and a 30-kmno-fly zone is established around the plant.(AP viaThe Guardian)(IAEA)
TheJapanese yen reaches a postwar high against theUnited States dollar on the basis that Japanese insurers will redeem overseas assets to pay for the cost of the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.(Business Week)
Police inCambodia ask prosecutors to charge recruitment firm T&P with illegally detaining its staff.(BBC)
Raymond Davis, an official with theUnited States embassy inPakistan, is acquitted of charges of two counts of murder and released from jail after compensation is paid to the victims' families, the result of intense diplomatic talks between the United States and Pakistan.(CNN)(Times of Pakistan)
Indian Railways driverSurekha Yadav loco pilot mail drives the Deccan Queen from Pune to Mumbai CST, for Central Railways division, and becomes the first woman from this country to do so.
At least 40 people, most believed to be civilians, are killed nearMiranshah afterUnited States drones bombPakistan in the deadliest such attack by the United States since 2006. Tribesmen describe a "massacre" as tribal people, elders, local traders and members of the tribal police are killed.(BBC)(The Nation)
TheUnited Nations Security Council after the failure of Libyan authorities to comply with its "1970 resolution" of 26 February 2011, adopts "Resolution 1973"(UN Security Council resolutions 1970 & 1973) that imposes aNo-fly zone over Libya(The Guardian),(CNN), enforcing the arms embargo, freezing Libya's assets, and banning travel of Libyan officials involved in recruiting mercenaries, by "All means necessary" an addition that bypasses the UNSCR 1970's military intervention prevention and imposes a "no-fly zone", initially rejected on UNSCR 1970.
TheUnited Nations human rights chiefNavi Pillay condemns the "shocking" use of force against protesters.(BBC). While UN Secretary GeneralMr. Ban Ki-moon spoke by telephone with Bahrain’s King Hamad ibn Isa al Khalifa, expressing his deepest concern over reports of excessive and indiscriminate use of force by the country’s police and security forces against unarmed civilians, including medical personnel.(UN News Centre)
Gennady Yanin, the director of the RussianBolshoi ballet troupe, resigns and is replaced byYan Godovsky. Russian media wonders if erotic photos which appeared on the internet, allegedly of him, were part of a smear campaign.(BBC)
PresidentHugo Chávez backtracks on plans to develop nuclear power inVenezuela saying he has noted the ongoing crisis in Japan and that the use of nuclear energy is "something extremely risky and dangerous for the whole world".(BBC)
ChancellorAngela Merkel announces a "measured exit" from nuclear power for Germany as it can no longer be "business as usual" following events in Japan.(BBC)
China suspends new nuclear plans due to events in Japan.(BBC)
Officials suggestHaiti's first democratically elected presidentJean-Bertrand Aristide is to return there tomorrow after seven years exile inSouth Africa. The U.S. expresses concern at this development, fearing Aristide could "destabalise" Haiti.(BBC)
Tribal leaders inPakistan issue a statement vowing action against theUnited States after yesterday's botched U.S. drone attack which killed more than 40 civilians, mainly elders and police at an open-air meeting, the deadliest such attack by the United States on Pakistan since 2006.(BBC)
Police use guns to kill between at least two and four people for protesting against the corruption of theBashar al-Assad regime and lack of freedom in the southern city ofDaraa.(BBC)
More than 50 mortar rounds are fired from theGaza Strip at an area in the Western Negev,Israel, injuring two Israeli civilians in response to Israeli airstrikes earlier in the week, which was itself a response to a previous Palestinian mortar attack from Gaza. Israel counterresponds with artillery and airstrikes killing twoPalestinian militants.(Ynetnews)(Haaretz)
Police in theGaza Strip break up a student rally calling for unity betweenFatah andHamas and raid offices of foreign media covering the event.(UPI)
Robert Cooper, special adviser toBaroness Catherine Ashton (High Representative of the European Union for political, foreign affairs and security), meets with Bahraini Interior Minister Lt. Gen. Sheikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa(Saudi News Today) to discuss the security situation of the Country and measures taken towards resolution under the light of therecent protests.
A Libyan army spokesman says Libyan armed forces have been issued a command to observe an immediate ceasefire following air bombardment from American, French and British forces aiming to implement a UN resolution authorising the use of force to protect Libyan civilians from government troops.(The Jerusalem Post)
The Opposition claim that more than 8,000 people have been killed.(Al-Jazeera)
TheArab League speaks out against the military airstrikes on Libya as civilians are killed.(Press TV)
Germany's foreign ministerGuido Westerwelle defends his country's refusal to participate in the invasion of Libya, speaking of "the risks of a lengthy mission".(Press TV)
Thousands of people demonstrate for a third consecutive day inDaraa,Syria, with crowds setting fire to the headquarters of the rulingBaath Party while one protester is killed by security forces.(The Jerusalem Post)(BBC)
The Syrian government announces its intention to release children it locked up for their pro-democracy actions.(Al Jazeera)
Saudi forces arrest and take away around 15 people as they gather outside the interior ministry building to request details of the whereabouts of their friends or family members who have been imprisoned without trial. Such expressions of opinion are outlawed in Saudi Arabia.(Al Jazeera)
The bodies of two 17-year-old Palestinians, shot dead by theIsraeli military near the Gaza-Israel border yesterday, are retrieved; the military says the army opened fire on two men who were spotted moving suspiciously toward a frontier "no-go" zone, after fierce cross-border exchanges in which militantsfired dozens of shells into Israel.(AFP via Google News)(BBC)
Israel shuts down every crossing with the Gaza Strip, citing "security reasons", ahead of thePurimJewish holiday.(Press TV)
Police are growing concerned for the safety ofSian O'Callaghan, a 22-year-old woman who went missing while walking home from a nightclub in the English city ofSwindon in the early hours of Saturday 19 March.(BBC)
TheU.S. Supreme Court declines to take an appeal from an appellate court ruling that ordered the disclosure of information about theFederal Reserve's emergency lending to banks during the2008 financial crisis. The Supreme Court's refusal means the ruling of the court below stands.(Reuters)
Robert Cooper, special advisor toBaroness Catherine Ashton (High Representative of the European Union for political, foreign affairs and security), despite serious concerns over excessive and indiscriminate use of force expressed byUN Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon(UN News Centre), speaking toMEPs in the foreign affairs committee in Brusselsafter visiting Bahrain (Saudi News Today), defendedBahrain's protests crackdown: "It's not easy dealing with large demonstrations in which there may be violence. It's a difficult task for policemen. It's not something that we always get right in the best Western countries andaccidents happen" (Guardian). Cooper's endorsement disturbed one MEP at the debate. "'Accidents happen?' ... I'm sorry this is a funny picture as you describe it," German Green deputyFranziska Brantner said. "What are you talking about? I find this very scary."
AU.S. federal court judge dismisses part of a lawsuit brought byLions Gate Entertainment against its shareholder,Carl Icahn, holding that Icahn had met certain statutory disclosure requirements.(Reuters)
FormerDenis O'Brien employee and journalist Sarah Carey's "significant leaking" of tribunal information is judged by the tribunal to have been "irresponsible" and "not remotely justified".(The Irish Times)
Witnesses andrights activists say Syrian government security forces killed at least 15 anti-government protesters inDaraa, bringing the death toll for the week to 21.(The Australian)(BBC)
The Syrian government pledges a series of reforms in response to the unrest, including lifting the state of emergency law and allowing other political parties.(Al Jazeera)(BBC)
Thousands of people are stranded by flash flooding inTasmania, amid record falls of rain. Roads are closed,blackouts occur and people are flown away in helicopters.(The Sydney Morning Herald)
Japanese earthquake, tsunami and nuclear incidents
British Police find the body of 22-year-oldSian O'Callaghan inOxfordshire, five days after she went missing inSwindon,Wiltshire. A 47-year-old man is arrested on suspicion of murder and police are also searching for the body of an unnamed missing woman who is feared to have been murdered.(BBC)
Libertas founder and chairmanDeclan Ganley urges Michael Lowry to resign, calling it "embarrassing for Ireland to have someone like that in Dáil Éireann".(The Irish Times)
Journalist Sarah Carey uses her column inThe Irish Times to call her lies to the tribunal a "black spot on my record" amid calls for her to be immediately dismissed by the newspaper.(The Irish Times)(Irish Central)
Mr Justice Moriarty judges that Michael Lowry and his associates "went to great lengths" to cover up payments of thousands and then to mislead the tribunal.(The Irish Times)
The death toll from the2011 Burma earthquake near theThailand border reaches at least 75 with the potential for "many more casualties" as dozens of buildings are destroyed.(BBC)(Xinhua)
Delroy Grant, a 53-year-oldLondon taxi driver who was found guilty on a total of 29 charges including indecent assault, burglary and rape committed against 10 elderly people between 1992 and 2009, is sentenced tolife imprisonment atWoolwichCrown Court with a recommendation that he should serve at least 27 years in prison beforeparole can even be considered.(BBC)
Libyan authorities detain and forcibly driveIman al-Obeidi to an unknown location, declaring her "possibly mentally challenged", after she publicly accusesMuammar Gaddafi's troops of gang-raping her.(Associated Press)
Al Wefaq, the leadingShi'ite opposition party, claims that 250 people have been detained and 47 held in detention since the declaration ofmartial law.(Reuters)
Fighters backing internationally recognised presidentAlassane Ouattara launch a "general offensive" in the west, centre-west and east ofIvory Coast.(France 24)
45,000 Inca artefacts taken byYale University fromMachu Picchu almost a century ago, and described by the president as "the dignity and pride of Peru", arrive inLima after a long campaign by Peruvians to have them returned.(BBC)
TheTokyo Electric Power Co. says that it will scrap at least four units at the Fukushima I Power Plant and warns that fixing the problem will be a drawn out process.(Kyodo)
19 people are trapped after a tunnel under construction collapses in southwestChina.(The Straits Times)
International relations
Former U.S. PresidentJimmy Carter ends a three-day visit toCuba, saying that the American trade embargo and travel ban has damaged the people and disrupted progress.(BBC)
Kuwait recalls its ambassador toIran after it convicted three people on charges of spying for Iran.(Al Arabiya)
The World Cup semi-final inMohali betweenIndia andPakistan is watched by over 1 billion people as both countries come to a standstill and both prime ministers attend.(BBC News)
Philippine authorities are to seek long jail terms for sixChinese poachers as part of a crackdown on foreigners stealing marine wildlife.(Sin Chew Jit Poh)
