Nearly 2,000 African migrants, many of them Eritrean and Somalis, have arrived on Italy's tiny, overcrowded Lampedusa Island in the past 24 hours. It is one of the biggest migrant waves to reach Lampedusa this year.

British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal is up for sale on the Ministry of Defence's auction website. The Royal Navy's former flagship was decommissioned two weeks ago after 25 years in service as part of the government's defence budget review.

Israel may cancel a visit by Argentina's foreign minister after a report that the country told Iran it would stop investigating two bombings of Jewish targets in exchange for better trade relations.
Argentinean Foreign Minister Hector Timerman is scheduled to visit Israel next week.

The March 9 earthquake and tsunami destroyed most of Japan’s profitable salmon industry, but Japan’s loss may be Chile’s gain. <br />
The catastrophe directly hit the main fishing areas in the provinces of Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima, Ibaraki and Chiaba, destroying 20% of the salmon industry and completely shutting down fishing ports.

Latin American policy makers should withdraw fiscal and monetary stimulus to prevent their economies from overheating before turning to capital controls to limit foreign currency inflows, said Nicolas Eyzaguirre, the International Monetary Fund Western Hemisphere director.

The Fukushima syndrome hit hard in Germany for Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition that suffered bruising losses in two state legislative elections Sunday, losing control of the main prize, Baden-Wuerttemberg state.
The west has already scripted the ouster of the Libyan strongman Colonel Muammar Qadhafi. Coalition forces have given a severe blow to the Libyan Air Force and Army. Now, NATO has taken over the military command. Qadhafi’s one son has reportedly been killed. Qadhafi can be dethroned anytime.

Radioactivity levels are soaring in seawater near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant, Japan's nuclear safety agency said, two weeks after the nuclear power plant was hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami.

Agreement is close on a transfer of power from Yemen's veteran President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, a government minister says. After six weeks of protests, Mr Saleh has said he is willing to step down this year. But the demonstrators want him to go immediately

BBC Caribbean Service has made its final broadcast, ending seven decades of programming for the region. The service is being shut as part of budget cuts announced by the BBC World Service in January.