AFRICA - Scientists can't predict when it will erupt as it's in the middle of a war zone. Mount Nyiragongo is one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world - and scientists say it is only a matter of time before it makes the city below a modern day Pompeii. But they don't know when since, located as it is in the war-torn eastern edge of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the two mile high cauldron of lava is also one of the least well understood.
PORTUGAL - Portugal insisted it could cope with looming debt repayments, after analysts warned it does not have enough money to meet its obligations. The debt-laden nation faces around 9 billion euros (7.9 billion pounds) in bond redemptions by June, but currently has no more than 5 billion euros in cash, analysts at Barclays Capital estimated.
USA - US consumers face "serious" inflation in the months ahead for clothing, food and other products, the head of Wal-Mart's US operations warned Wednesday.
AFRICA/MIDDLE EAST - Anwar al-Awlaki, al-Qaeda's most influential English-language preacher, said revolts sweeping the Arab world would help rather than harm its cause by giving Islamists freed from tyranny greater scope to speak out. Western and Arab officials say the example set by young Arabs seeking peaceful political change is a counterweight to al-Qaeda's push for violent militancy and weakens its argument that democracy and Islam are incompatible.
LIBYA - Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa is in Britain and "no longer willing" to work for Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime, the UK Foreign Office says. He flew in from Tunisia on a non-commercial flight and was questioned for several hours by British officials. "He travelled here under his own free will. He has told us he is resigning," said a Foreign Office spokesman.
IVORY COAST - Forces loyal to one of Ivory Coast's rival presidents, Alassane Ouattara, have captured the administrative capital Yamoussoukro, residents say. Fighting erupted when they later entered the key port of San Pedro on their advance from the north against incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo. Mr Gbagbo continues to cling to power in the main city Abidjan.
JAPAN - Hundreds of people evacuated from towns and villages close to the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant are being turned away by medical institutions and emergency shelters as fears of radioactive contagion catch on.
HOLLAND - A 12 year-old Dutch schoolgirl gave birth to a baby girl during a school trip, according to local health services. "Neither the girl nor her family had realised she was pregnant, and there were no external signs to show it," a spokesman for the health services said, adding he did not know how many months pregnant the girl had been.
CHICAGO, USA - The threats came in the mail and to date, there have been 25 letters that warn of nuclear bombs destroying America. People who got them called the FBI and CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman learned, the Bureau's Chicago office is leading the investigation. FBI Special Agent Andre Zavala said, "Yes, they alarmed a lot of people."
LONDON, UK - The Lloyd's of London insurance market said it would be able to deal easily with claims from Japan's earthquake as it reported that natural disasters almost halved profits last year.
UK - A campaign to put controls on cloned meat and milk was killed off yesterday by the UK Government and Brussels. The move signals the start of a free-for-all in 'Frankenfood' - despite claims the technology is cruel and unethical.
EUROPE - In the battle to save its common currency, Europe is too busy focusing on the same old failed policies. Rather than set aside ever higher sums for bailouts, the bloc needs to set up an independent institution to oversee the debts of EU nations.
NASA - The first spacecraft ever to circle Mercury has beamed home the first-ever photo taken of the small rocky planet from orbit, showing a stark landscape peppered with craters. NASA's Messenger spacecraft snapped the new Mercury photo today (March 29) at 5:20 am EDT (0920 GMT). The photo shows the stark gray landscape of southern Mercury, a view that is dominated by a huge impact crater.
MIDDLE EAST - Opec, the oil producers' cartel, will reap $1,000 billion in export revenues this year for the first time if crude prices remain above $100 a barrel, according to the International Energy Agency. The cartel has been one of the main beneficiaries of high oil prices, which have soared in recent weeks amid the civil uprisings in the Middle East and north Africa.
JAPAN - Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has said his government is in a state of maximum alert over the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. Plutonium has been detected in soil at the facility and highly radioactive water has leaked from a reactor building. Officials say the priority remains injecting water to cool the fuel rods.