WORLD

IBTimes Daily Edition: Tuesday March 29, 2011

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer D-NY urged House Republicans on Tuesday to abandon Tea Party demands for higher budget cuts and strike a compromise with Democrats that will prevent a federal government shutdown on April 8.

France, which has been the most aggressive foreign nation to move against Libya, said it was prepared to discuss providing weapons to the Libyan opposition – even if the UN mandate on Libya did not specifically provide for this feature.

This may sound cruel, but the family tragedy of Mao Zedong was the best thing that could have happened to China.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in London on Tuesday at an international gathering focusing on the political future of Libya, said no decision has been made as to arming Libyan rebels but said such an option was a possibility under a United Nations resolution passed last week.

While Western powers and some of their Arab allies are meeting in London to discuss military action in Libya and that country’s future, the UK Prime Minister David Cameron told the gathered parties there were better days ahead for Libya and that coalition forces will continue to impose ther no-fly zone over the North African country.

The European Commission has adopted a roadmap of 40 concrete initiatives for the next decade to build a competitive transport sector that increases mobility and cuts emissions. Under EU's ambitious plan, the Commission wants cities cities across Europe to be free of conventionally fuelled cars by 2050.

All eyes are now riveted on the upcoming Wednesday’s key semi-final tie between India and Pakistan in the tenth edition of the World Cup Cricket tournament to be played in the north Indian city of Mohali.

The International Community is meeting to support Libya's people to find a political transition away from current leader Muammar Gaddafi, a move President Barack Obama backed in a speech Monday as he outlined a support role the U.S. will play while an international coalition carries out military attacks on Libyan defenses to enforce a no-fly zone.

As part of the resignation of the Syrian government cabinet, President Bashar al-Assad has named outgoing Prime Minister Muhammad Naji Otari as caretaker prime minister until a new government is named, the state-controlled Syrian news agency stated.

About 4,000 bodies remain unidentified in the three prefectures at the very center of the March 11 earthquake-tsunami catastrophe, according to Japan’s National Police Agency (NPA).

The Syrian cabinet has resigned in the face of unyielding anti-government protests, according to state-controlled television.

There has been twister postings suggesting that Libyan foreign minister Mousa Kousa has fled the country and probably defected. The BBC cited a twitter posting saying that Kousa has been cited in Tunisia with family and luggages. BBC said it can’t verify the authenticity of the information.

The much-criticized operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), may become nationalized when the government completes its review of the utility’s handling of the ongoing crisis.

The U.S. sixth fleet has attacked Libyan ships near the port city of Misrata, where pro-Gaddafi forces had made significant advances, according to the latest reports from the Libyan war theater.

Libyan rebels retreated from Sirte, Gaddafi's hometown, as official forces unleashed heavy weapon fire on them on Tuesday, according to reports. The rebels who were pushed back into Bin Jawad are now digging their toes in there as fight is on for the control of the town.

Japan has gone into a state of maximum alert after plutonium was found in the soil around the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant and radioactive water leaked from a reactor in the plant.

Syria on Tuesday offered olive branch to the swelling ranks of protesters by announcing the intent to carry out a full clean-up of the government even as the country slipped into a visible division between those who support president Bashar Al-Assad and those baying for his blood.

Live Update from IAEA on Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant

Tests are more punitive than educational tools for both schools and students, feels the president.

The United States Army has offered an apology for any distress caused by recently published images of some of its soldiers posing with corpses of Afghan civilians they are accused of killing for sport.

President Barack Obama's speech on Libya, Gadhafi sparks off a wave of rhetoric from Sarah Palin, Donald Trump and other 2012 Presidential hopefuls ahead of the poll. Start slideshow to see quotes and photos:

Work crews at Fukushima's Daiichi nuclear complex have found new pools of radioactive water at the complex and plutonium in the soil surrounding the complex.

Reactions to President Barack Obama's speech on Monday varied broadly, from supporters calling it ambitious to concern that it was too vague, not clearly outlining when U.S. military force would be used in the future.

President Barack Obama spoke to the nation on Monday about the situation in Libya, saying the NATO alliance of nation to which the United States belongs will take over command on Wednesday and adding that the wider changes arising from popular outcry in the Middle East cannot be changed back.

The following is a White House transcript of remarks by President Barack Obama to the nation on Libya from the National Defense University in Washington D.C. on March 28, 2011.

In response to the large numbers of North Africans continuing to swarm into the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa in the Mediterranean, local fishermen have barricaded the entrance of to the harbor with seagoing vessels seized from the migrants in order to stop anymore boats from coming ashore.

IBTimes Daily Edition: Monday March 28, 2011

U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy called on Libyan's to organize a transition that will oust current Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi from power.