WORLD

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY on Wednesday said some progress was made in afternoon talks Tuesday meant to break an impasse on the 2011 fiscal year federal budget between House Republicans and Senate Democrats ahead of another possible meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House.

As efforts to forcibly remove Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo have been launched, Ibrahim Coulibaly, a spokesman for the Ivory Coast embassy in France has re-asserted that no French forces were involved in the assault.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) says that the regime of Moammar Gaddafi planned to kill civilians even before the revolt in Libya commenced as a way for the government to stave off the kind of rebellion witnessed in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt.

India's social activist Anna Hazare is on indefinite fast from Tuesday against corruption. India was ranked 87 among 178 countries in Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index for 2010, mainly owing to growing series scandals related to corruption in holding Commonwealth Games and in the distribution of 2G spectrum involving the top minister.

The following is the current status live from IAEA on the earthquake-crippled Fukushima nuclear reactors in Japan:

President Barack Obama and the Republican Congressional leaders, who met at the White House a for a marathon discussion on the proposed budget cuts, failed on Tuesday to resolve the crisis which now threatens a government shutdown in a week's time.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker – who is famously at a political war with his state's public employees over the latter's paychecks – received a firestorm of criticism over staffer Brian Deschane.

The White House, locked in a battle on the 2011 budget, weighed in on the 2012 Republican proposal unveiled on Tuesday, saying it did not do enough to spread the sacrifice needed to reduce the federal budget deficit in the coming years.

President Barack Obama said on Tuesday that if House and Senate leaders could not reach a deal on the 2011 fiscal budget, he wants to meet with them again Wednesday until the matter is settled.

While making his first official visit to Pakistan as Prime Minister, Britain’s leader David Cameron has made some comments about his country’s imperial past that has raised some hackles in London.

Here is the latest up date from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the ongoing nuclear crisis at Fukushima power plant on Japan.

House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are meeting together with their teams to avert a federal shutdown on April 8 -- President Barack Obama's team won't be at the meeting at the Speaker's request, the President said Tuesday.

Soldiers loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi have again taken the key oil port of Brega, driving away rebel forces 20 kilometers away to Ajdabiya under a heavy bombardment of rocket and artillery fire.

According to various reports , two Syrian policemen were killed by unknown gunmen in Kafar Batna, near Damascus.

House Speaker John Boehner did not reach a deal at a meeting at the White House with President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats to fund the federal government for the rest of the fiscal year, his office said on Tuesday.

In the Ivory Coast, Western powers are backing Muslim leader Ouattara against his Christian opponent Gbagbo.

Arab-Americans have made extraordinary contributions to U.S. politics, arts, science, business, medicine, sports and numerous other endeavors.

Republicans in the House of Representatives have proposed a 2012 fiscal budget that is 4.6 percent smaller than President Barack Obama did in Mid-February.

Air strikes on Libyan military targets by western coalition forces are being hampered by the use of “human shields” by Moammar Gaddafi’s regime, according to a senior NATO official.

Seif al-Islam, son of Libyan ruler Moammar Gaddafi, has dismissed the importance of the country’s former foreign minister, Moussa Koussa, who has defected to Britain and reportedly providing intelligence to U.K. officials.

Libya’s government said it is willing to consider reform, but remained adamant that Moammar Gaddafi must remain in power in order to prevent chaos in the country, as witnessed in Iraq and Somalia.

The head of the House of Representatives' appropriations committee introduced a one-week budget stopgap funding measure late Monday, seeking $12 billion in cuts do discretionary spending, as negotiations and the process of obtaining a six-month deal threaten to go beyond an April 8 deadline.

I have noticed that the vast majority of people protesting in the streets of these strife-torn countries in the Arab world appear to be well-fed, well-clothed, with many carrying cell phones, riding on motorbikes, driving cars, etc.

Taking queue from Android and Apple iOS strategy New York City opened its set of data to developers to create apps which could unlock the potential trapped in public data.

Google has a crisis response team working round the clock monitoring the emergencies and coming out with unique applications to cater the affected people anywhere in the world. Person finder was launched within 72 hours of earthquake hitting Haiti. For New Zealand it didn’t take more than three hours, and for Japan, it was just two hours.

A major political crisis ensued in the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire following President Laurent Koudou Gbagbo's refusal to leave office after the election commission declared him the loser of the November elections.

The U.S. Department of Education has released comprehensive guidance for all schools, colleges and universities, explicitly stating for the first time that every school is bound under Title IX to protect its students from sexual violence on campus and address its effects if it happens.

A new pro-government Iranian blogging competition called The Face of '89, in reference to the Persian calendar year 1389, just ended on March 20.

A new microphone system allows broadcasters to zoom in on sounds as well as sights, to pick out a single conversation and could be zoomed in to eavesdrop on conversations between suspicious people.