DEARBORN, MICHIGAN, USA - Florida Pastor Terry Jones is headed out of town, but only for a week before coming back to protest in Dearborn next Friday. In a statement released Saturday, Jones said he would protest at 5pm outside Dearborn City Hall. A jury decided Friday that Jones must pay a so-called "peace" bond ahead of his planned demonstration outside a Dearborn mosque.
USA - The twister left behind what a National Weather Service meteorologist called "an incredible trail of devastation" - but no deaths or life-threatening injuries - across nine western Missouri communities. Earlier Saturday, officials had said that they expected operations at Lambert-St Louis Airport to resume Sunday, as the work continued to restart power, conduct safety checks and clean up the damage.
UK - The smog health risk was raised yesterday as air pollution levels rose even higher. The smog health risk was raised yesterday as air pollution levels rose even higher. Temperatures set to reach 26C, making it the hottest Easter on record. As dawn broke over Britain's cities, the dense smog, full of irritating pollutants, could be seen hanging in the air.
EUROPE - The Dutch have banned barbecues, camp fires and outdoor smoking this Easter, while the Swiss are forecasting potentially the worst drought in Europe for more than a century. Either way, prayers in Europe this Easter holiday weekend are as likely to call for rain as anything else - with serious fears over the wheat harvest, its impact on already sky-high global food prices and, of course, devastating brush fires.
JAPAN - Scientists are trying to establish if the Magnitude 9.0 Tohoku earthquake has altered the chances of a major tremor under Tokyo - or increased the risk of another tremor powerful enough to generate a tsunami. The massive Sumatra quake in 2004 was followed by many others above Magnitude 7.0, including two above Magnitude 8.0 in 2005 and 2007.
SOUTH PACIFIC - An expedition is getting under way in the South Pacific to investigate one of the most seismically-active fault lines in the world. Researchers are planning to study the Tonga Trench - a deep feature where the Pacific tectonic plate is being forced under the Indo-Australian plate.
LIBYA - Armed US Predator drones are to carry out missions over Libya, Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said. Mr Gates said their use had been authorised by President Barack Obama and would give "precision capability" to the military operation. Unmanned US drones are already used to target militants along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
EUROPE - Unelected and inexperienced European judges risk triggering a constitutional crisis by acting outside of their agreed powers, a Tory MP has said. Dominic Raab said judges at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg were taking on a legislative function and were "fully aware" governments had little power to exercise any democratic oversight over them.
NIGERIA - Post-election unrest in Nigeria has left more than 200 people dead and hundreds of arrests have been made, a Nigerian civil rights group said on Wednesday. "In the whole region, from reports reaching Civil Rights Congress, the death toll is over 200," Shehu Sani, head of the organisation, told AFP. The numbers were compiled through his organisation's staff and associates.
USA - Cost of containing fires throughout the state has spiralled to more than $8 million
* 22 separate blazes burning throughout Texas
* Temporary improvement in weather conditions expected to last only a few days
* One fire in Stephen County increased in acreage by nearly 90,000 in just 24 hours
* Hundreds have been evacuated and fears grow of flames spreading to big cities
* Some fires burning dangerously close to Oklahoma border, where conditions are also ripe for spread
Rain forecast for next few days giving weary firefighters some hope.
USA - For all the rhetoric about cutting government spending, NASA's space mission remains sacred in Congress. A handful of powerful lawmakers are so eager to see an American on the moon - or even Mars - that they effectively mandated NASA to spend "not less than" $3 billion for a new rocket project and space capsule in the 2011 budget bill signed by the president last week.
USA - As set in a law passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama on February 12, 2010, the legal limit on the national debt is $14.2940 trillion. As of the close of business Tuesday, according to the Daily Treasury Statement released at 4:00 pm today, the portion of the national debt subject to this legal limit was $14.268365 trillion. (The total national debt, including the portion exempted from the legal limit, was $14.3205 trillion.) Federal borrowing is on pace to hit the legal limit on the national debt in less than a week.
NEW YORK, USA - The dollar fell against most major currencies Wednesday, hitting a 15-month low against the euro, after solid earnings from major US companies and a healthier reading on the housing market fueled investors' appetite for currencies linked to higher benchmark interest rates.
UK - Forty-seven dangerous fugitives cannot be named by officials - because of their 'human rights'. They include criminals convicted of child sex offences, murder and rape. All have breached the terms of their licence and should have been returned to prison. They are assessed by officials as being at 'high or very high risk' of committing further criminal offences. But the Ministry of Justice has refused to name them.
UK - Muslim fanatics plan to hijack the royal wedding by burning effigies of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Extremists belonging to the group Muslims Against Crusades were behind the poppy-burning outrage on November 11 last year. According to police, they have now vowed to turn the wedding celebrations into a 'nightmare'. They plan a 'forceful demonstration' with thousands of protesters set to burn the Union Flag, images of the Crown, and the bridal couple.