World News!

European Union

• German Chancellor Angela Merkel, speaking about yesterday's reports of a possible second bailout for Greece, indicated that she would only discuss the possibility of further aid for the spendthrift nation after reviewing the joint EU/IMF report on how well they implemented their current plan.

Iran

• The Bushehr nuclear power plant was brought to the "minimum controllable level of power" on Sunday, bringing it a critical step closer to becoming fully operational.

Japan

• In the wake of the earthquake, and tsunami, and Fukushima nuclear disaster, Prime Minister Naoto Kan has stated that Japan will be reexamining its energy plans.  "The current basic policy envisages that over 50% of total electricity supply will come from nuclear power while more than 20% will come from renewable power in 2030," he said, "But that basic plan needs to be reviewed now from scratch after this big incident."

Libya

• NATO carried out a series of missile strikes on Tripoli that were also not assassination attempts, despite directly targeting the home of Muammar Gaddafi.
• Baroness Valerie Amos, the current UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, called for a cease fire in Libya to allow UN humanitarian aid to enter the nation, and then asked for funds to help meet those humanitarian needs.  Neither side in the conflict appears to be in agreement.

Pakistan

• In a move to stabilize relations between the United States and Pakistan in the wake of the "Osama Bin Laden was apparently living 35 miles from Islamabad for years" controversy, Pakistani government officials indicated that they may allow US investigators to question Osama Bin Laden's wives.  No final decision has been made, however.
• Do you think our relationship with Pakistan is strained right now?  It could have been far worse.  It was revealed yesterday that President Obama insisted that the force that infiltrated Pakistan and killed Osama Bin Laden be large enough to fight its way back out of Pakistan if confronted by hostile local police officials or soldiers.  "Their instructions were to avoid any confrontation if at all possible.  But if they had to return fire to get out, they were authorized to do so."  Additional details about the mission are that there were two teams of specialists on standby - one to bury Bin Laden if he was killed, and the second to interrogate him if he was captured alive.

Samoa

• The island nation is set to leap forward 1 day in time, as it prepares to switch which side of the international date line it is on in order to facilitate trade with Australia and New Zealand.

United States

• If you're a comic book fan (like I am), then you'll be excited to hear that Marvel Studios will spend two weeks in the Cincinnati area filming The Avengers.
• US Attorney General Eric Holder said that the United States would close the Guantanamo Bay prison, and insists we should believe him this time even though the government did not close "Guantanamo within the time period that we initially indicated"[1]. There is, as yet, no word about when, or what would be done with the current prisoners.
• The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit will consider today whether a lower court was correct in striking down a provision in President Obama's healthcare law that requires Americans to buy health insurance.  The law, which would require Americans to buy insurance by 2014 or pay a penalty, was ruled unconstitutional last year.
• Representative John Boehner has stated that any increase in the US debt limit - currently at $14.3 trillion and due to be maxed out on May 16 - must be tied to spending cuts.  "We're not talking about billions here," he said in a speech at the Economic Club of New York, "we should be talking about cuts in trillions if we're serious about addressing America's fiscal problems."  He does not appear to have given any specifics, however, beyond a general statement that "there needs to be actual cuts, real reforms to these programs, not broad deficit or deficit targets that punt the questions to the future."[2]
• TSA agents performed a full pat down search on an 8 month old infant at the Kansas City International Airport.  According to the TSA, "After the child's stroller alarmed during explosives screening, officers followed protocol to conduct additional screening on members of the family, who were very cooperative."
• Flooding along the Mississippi River has peaked at just under 48 feet in Memphis, a level not seen since the 1930's.  The Army Corps of Engineers does not believe the levees will give way, but acknowledge that the water has been rising faster than expected.

[1]  Quote from the Attorney General.

[2]  Which programs "these programs" are is not specified.