WORLD

The tiny nation of Lebanon, squeezed between Syria to the east and Israel to the south remains untouched by the spirit of revolution sweeping across the Middle East and North Africa.

House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Thursday hardened their public stances on negotiating a budget and policy deal to avert a shutdown of the federal government ahead of a third meeting on the matter with President Barack Obama.

At least 13 people have been killed and more than 20 wounded after a gunman opened fire in a school in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Japan’s NHK World TV reported that all tsunami alerts in the country have been lifted, following a 7.4-magnitude earthquake that struck off the ruined northeastern coast.

Japan’s NHK public television has reported that today’s earthquake off the coast of northeast Japan has not caused any additional damage to the Fukushima nuclear power plant, quoting the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO).

High Tide Time and Estimated Tsunami Arrival Time at each place

Here are some potential ”candidates” for the role of first US woman president:

Another massive earthquake measuring 7.4 on Richter hit Japan with the epicenter about 250 miles from Tokyo.

The Japanese government will look at altering the threshold for radiation exposure as it evaluates whether people can return to the exclusion zones around the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

With a Friday midnight deadline to avert a shutdown of the federal government a Republican aide said in a published report that there will not be enough time to pass a six-month agreement and a one week extension would need to be approved.

Diego Iscaro, senior economist at IHS Global Insight , warns that the bailout will not solve Portugal’s economic woes.

In another concession to unprecedented waves of protest, Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad has ordered a decree to grant Syrian nationality to thousands of Kurds whose citizenship has been revoked in the early 1960s in a census.

President Barack Obama said late Wednesday that averting a shutdown of the federal government will require sufficient urgency from all parties involved as negotiating House and Senate teams worked throughout the night to reach a package deal to pass a federal budget and non-budget policy elements by a midnight Friday deadline.

The government of Bahrain’s increasingly brutal crackdown on protesters has even turned local hospitals into dangerous places, according to a new report from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)

Rebel forces in eastern Libya allege that thirteen of their soldiers were accidentally killed by at least four missiles fired during a NATO air strike.

It is said that behind every successful man is woman, however Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has two wives, a doting daughter, hundreds of gun toting female guards, a Ukrainian nurse and female supporters behind him.

The US Army has released the video of futuristic XM-25, smart gun being fired in trials.

UN atomic watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency has released the following update on the status of the earthquake-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan:

Renowned actor, filmmaker and political activist, Juliano Mer-Khamis was shot dead in his car by masked militants on Monday in the West Bank city of Jenin.

Gold is the world's most stable asset and the best gauge of inflation. The National Inflation Association (NIA) says this brand new breakout in the price of gold leads us to believe that the Federal Reserve is getting ready to unleash QE3 at the end of June.

The rebel forces in Libya, whose vanguard has been blunted by fierce attacks by Gaddafi, have accused the NATO of failing to stop crucial supplies to the government forces.

In moves to appease the country’s conservatives, the Syrian government has dropped a rule that banned teachers from wearing a niqab (a veil that covers a woman’s face, except for her eyes) and closed the nation’s lone casino.

Turkey wants Moammar Gaddafi to step down as the ruler of Libya, according to the Turkish Foreign Ministry, in the wake of discussions with both Libyan government officials and representatives of the opposition.

President Barack Obama and allied Senate Democrats are sparring with House Republicans on non-budget related items attached to a budget measure that would keep the government funded for the rest of the fiscal year and avoid a shutdown of non-essential government services.

Moammar Gaddafi has sent U.S. President Barack Obama a three-page letter in which he asked the western coalition to stop bombing Libya.

Two prisoners in a Lebanese prison have been killed after security forces stormed the jail complex to stamp out a riot. Another six or more inmates were wounded in the melee.

'Nonstop' negotiations on passing a federal budget for the remainder of the fiscal year were continuing ahead of a Friday deadline to avert a shutdown of a big portion of the government, as House Republicans and Senate Democrats allied with President Obama sought to break an impasse that could put hundreds of thousands of workers on leave without funding in place.

Libyan gunmen are reportedly shooting sub-Saharan refugees who seek to escape Libya by boat, according to a report in the UK newspaper The Independent.

If a shutdown does begin after a Friday deadline passes, hundreds of thousands of federal employees would be furloughed, tax refunds from paper-based filers would not be processed and federal loans for small businesses and new federal home loans would not be processed, Senior Obama Administration officials said on Wednesday.