WORLD

Libya said it will free four employees from the New York Times who had been captured by soldiers allied with Moammar Gaddafi.

As a reflection of the fiscal crisis that has city and state governments across the country in its grip, the town of Costa Mesa in southern California has sent out layoff notices to almost half of its public employees.

A new study says upcoming wind farm and solar energy projects in in Hawaii could reliably provide energy for 25 percent of the state.

In the wake of an intensifying crackdown against anti-government protesters (including the killing of at least 30 demonstrators earlier today in the capitol Sanaa), the president of Yemen has declared a state of emergency in the restive country.

As expected, President Barack Obama on Friday signed H.J. Res 48 into law on Friday, enacting a 3 week measure to fund the government until April 8.

Nuclear energy experts in the U.S. believe that the quake-damaged atomic plant in northeastern Japan that is at the center of an unrelenting crisis has a dire breach in the wall or floor – a predicament that will pose serious problems when they seek to refill the spent fuel pool with coolant in order to prevent the release of extremely harmful radioactivity.

Two Deutsche Bank analysts based in Singapore just compiled a research report that shed light on who drives the spot forex (FX) market.

Microsoft and federal agents took down Rustock, a botnet responsible at its peak for nearly half of the world's spam.

Congress averted a partial federal shutdown on Thursday as the Senate voted to pass a three week extension already approved by the House that gives lawmakers time to negotiate a long term deal.

Japan’s embattled Prime Minister Naoto Kan said his administration has been revealing all the information that it has access to regarding the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

At least 30 protesters have been killed by Yemeni security forces in the capital city of Sanaa, according to media reports, and scores have been wounded.

The government of Libya has declared it will cease all military operations following a decision by the United Nations Security Council to support a no-fly zone over the country.

Billionaire real estate magnate and television star Donald Trump – who may or may not run for President on the Republican ticket in 2012 – has expressed his doubts about where President Barack Obama was actually born.

The mastermind behind the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981, who has been released from prison since the fall of Hosni Mubarak regime, has plans to take part in post-Mubarak political future of Egypt, according to reports.

The nuclear crisis at the quake-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant is now rated just two notches below the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine after Japanese authorities raised the alert level at the site to five from four (on a seven-point global scale for such incidents.

A former hospital director in Britain has been convicted of keeping an African woman as a slave in her London home for four years and ordered to pay her £25,000 in damages.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) introduced legislation, “The StartUp Visa Act of 2011,” H.R. 1114, to encourage innovation and economic growth by permitting immigrant entrepreneurs greater access to temporary U.S. visas. The bill matches legislation introduced this week by Senators John Kerry, Richard Lugar, and Mark Udall in the Senate.

Impending 8-magnitude aftershock is yet to come and it may devastate Tokyo and surrounding regions, says UC Davis seismologist.

Saudi Arabian king will likely make announcements today regarding a ministry reshuffle, anti-corruption drive and more welfare dole outs, according to media reports.

Bahrain, a tiny island in the western shores of the Persian Gulf, saw no reprieve from the recent anti-government protests.

The United Nations Security Council has approved military strikes on Libyan air defenses, a move following weeks of talks led by France, Britain and the United States to mobilize the international community to take action against the regime of Muammar Gaddafi, which is engaged in armed conflict with rebels.

The United Nations Security Council on Thursday voted to approve a no-fly zone over Libya and all necessary measures to protect civilians from attacks by forces led by Muammar Gaddafi.

The following is a White House transcript of remarks by President Barack Obama on the situation in Japan delivered from the Rose Garden at the White House on Thursday March 17, 2011.

President Barack Obama made a visit to the Japanese embassy in Washington D.C. on Thursday, an unannounced arrival meant to show how heartbroken America was over the tragedy Japan faces in the wake of a massive earthquake and tsunami which have killed thousands of people and triggered a nuclear crisis.

Japanese engineers have been able to lay an external grid power line cable to the No. 2 unit at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan, according to The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog.

U.S. officials in Japan will pay for the voluntary departure of any family members of diplomat at several locations in the country, amid growing concerns about radiation from a troubled nuclear plant in Fukushima, Japan.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) described the situation at the Fukushima nuclear power plant as very serious, but that it appears to have become stable.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), the operator of the troubled nuclear power plants in northeastern Japan, said that high-pressure streams of water shot Thursday evening by plant workers effectively cooled down an overheating spent fuel pool.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday that establishing a no-fly zone over Libya would require the bombing of air defenses, as the U.S. seeks broad action to protect civilians fighting Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime.