Launch: A Tomahawk cruise missile is fired at Libyan defences from the the deck of the destroyer USS Barry on the first day of Operation Odyssey Dawn. A senior Federal Reserve official warned today that America is going broke as fears grow the Libyan bombardment could cost more than $1 billion. With the U.S. now fighting three wars, the massive new military drain on the budget could not have come at... 

Legendary actress Elizabeth Taylor, a two-time Oscar winner and Hollywood beauty whose screen success was sometimes overshadowed by her tumultuous personal life, died on Wednesday at age 79. She died after a long battle with congestive heart failure at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles surrounded by her four children after having been hospitalized six weeks ago, her spokeswoman said in a statement. In... 

Some countries Monday blasted the ongoing West-led military operation against Libya government forces, saying the air raids went beyond the UN resolution and must be scrapped immediately. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin severely criticized the U.S. role in the “Odyssey Dawn” operation against Libya. “The use of force against other countries became a steady trend in the U.S.... 

Unsure: Libyan rebels retreat from the outskirts of the city of Ajdabiya, south of Benghazi. Nato members are also fighting over who will take command of allied forces. * Tensions with Britain as Gates rebukes UK government over suggestion Gaddafi could be assassinated * French propose a new political ‘committee’ to oversee operations * Germany pulls equipment out of NATO coalition over... 

Crashed: Onlookers surround the wreckage of a U.S Air Force F-15E fighter jet after it crashed near the eastern city of Benghazi. Six Libyan villagers are recovering in hospital after being shot by American soldiers coming in to rescue the U.S. pilots whose plane crash-landed in a field. The helicopter strafed the ground as it landed in a field outside Benghazi beside the downed U.S. Air Force F-15E... 

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu responds to questions during a press briefing in Beijing where China reiterated its opposition to the use of force in Libya amid Western air strikes there and called for an immediate ceasefire in the country’s conflict. China Tuesday called for an immediate cease-fire in Libya, where a United Nations “no-fly zone” is being enforced. After... 

Medvedev visits a base in the town of Shchelkovo outside Moscow. Less than one year ahead of presidential elections, the conflict in Libya has finally laid bare tensions between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his predecessor Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long claimed to have detected disputes on issues ranging from the construction of a road through a forest outside Moscow to... 

An RAF Typhoon jet fighter takes off from Gioia del Colle air base near Bari, southern Italy, for a mission over Libya. All things considered, it was rather thoughtful of the Libyan rebels in Benghazi to shoot down their only fighter aircraft on Saturday, killing the poor unfortunate pilot. Otherwise, the British and French aircraft enforcing the UN-endorsed no-fly zone might have been obliged to do... 

The operation to create a no-fly zone in Libya has just begun, but already conservative Fox News pundit Bill Kristol is wishing the U.S. would send in ground troops “sooner rather than later.” U.S. President Barack Obama said Saturday the “Odyssey Dawn” operation launched under a UN Security Council resolution was a “limited military action,” unlike the regime change... 

President Barack Obama greets deployed service members and civilians during a surprise visit to Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. During his visit he thanked the troops for all their hard work and dedication to the United States. Prior to Obama meeting the troops he flew to Kabul to meet with Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai. The Bolivian President and a Russian political leader have launched a... 

Radioactive Moss - Landmannalaugar, Iceland. Miniscule amounts of radioactive particles believed to have come from Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant have been detected as far away as Iceland, diplomatic sources said on Tuesday. They stressed the tiny traces of iodine — measured by a network of international monitoring stations as they spread eastwards from Japan across the... 

Libyans inspect the wreckage of a US F15 fighter jet after it crashed in an open field in the village of Bu Mariem, east of Benghazi, eastern Libya, Tuesday, March 22, 2011, with both crew ejecting safely. The U.S. Africa Command said both crew members were safe after what was believed to be a mechanical failure of the Air Force F-15. The aircraft, based out of Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England,... 

An “urgent” dispatch from Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) chief Mikhail Fradkov to President Medvedev that is circulating in the Kremlin today says that the Chinese warship Xuzhou is preparing to offer protection to Libyan leader Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi and his family to protect them from assassination from the US-led air assault on that North African Nation. In what this report... 

Russia’s Prime Minister Putin listens to Governor of Sakhalin Region Alexander Khoroshavin during their meeting in the Far Eastern city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin Monday likened the U.N. Security Council resolution supporting military action in Libya to medieval calls for crusades. Putin, in the first major remarks from a Russian leader since a coalition of Western... 

Chancellor Angela Merkel's helicopter came close to crashing. The German Chancellor had a narrow escape when her police chopper fell like a stone from the sky just hours after dropping her off. The pilots managed to restart the engines just moments before it hit the ground. The Super Puma 332 had left Mrs Merkel at an election campaign event in Waldshut-Tiengen on the Swiss border when disaster...