Citizen Cartwright

The CIA in Libya

Operatives have been working in the country for several weeks, collecting intelligence for military operations and trying to figure out the loyalties of opposition fighters, officials say.

President Obama signed a secret finding several weeks ago authorizing the CIA to arm and otherwise support the Libyan rebels, the officials say. But no weapons have been shipped yet.

In a related development, Libya's foreign minister, Moussa Koussa, defected to Britain on Wednesday, according to the British foreign ministry.

Experts tell Japan: Evacuate more

The U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency and Japan's own nuclear safety agency have advised Prime Minister Kan's government to consider widening the 12-mile zone around the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

High radiation has been detected at twice that distance from the plant, Reuters says.

Several plant workers have shared their experiences in interviews with The New York Times.

Obama's energy policy

The president on Wednesday called for reducing oil imports by a third in the next decade and stressed that nuclear energy will remain an important source of electricity in the United States.

Gabrielle Giffords for Senate?

Several of her longtime aides are "whispering behind the scenes" that she may recover in time to run for the seat opening up with the retirement of Arizona's Republican Sen. Jon Kyl, The New York Times says.

Also in the news

Syrian president falls short on expected reforms

Hopes raised that Ivory Coast crisis will soon be over

Possible budget deal would cut $33 billion

Ohio Legislature passes bill restricting public-sector unions

Elizabeth Warren seeks 'common ground' with Chamber of Commerce

What to do about Libya

As Moammar Gadhafi’s forces turned the opposition's speedy advance into a panicked retreat on Tuesday, world leaders meeting in London agreed that Gadhafi should step down.

Meanwhile, there's a "fierce" debate, as The New York Times describes it, in the Obama administration about whether to supply the rebels with weapons, with some officials worried that it would increase U.S. involvement in a civil war and that some of the fighters may be linked to al Qaeda.        

The United States has a deep, often unsuccessful, history of arming insurgencies, the Times notes.

It's the end of the line for 4 Japanese nuclear reactors

Tokyo Electric Power says it will decommission all but two of the Fukushima Daiichi plant's reactors, possibly covering them with a special material to stop the spread of radiation.

And as new readings show a spike in radioactive iodine in the sea off the plant at 3,355 times the legal limit, the company says its president has been hospitalized because of overwork.

No agreement on lessons for U.S. nukes

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Executive Director Bill Borchardt told the Senate Energy Committee on Tuesday that the 104 nuclear reactors are safe and that early information about the Fukushima Daiichi plant doesn't suggest that changes are needed here.

But David Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer with the Union of Concerned Scientists, said: "If the past three decades have demonstrated anything, it's that the NRC will likely come up with a solid action plan to address problems revealed at Fukushima, but will be glacially slow in implementing those identified safety upgrades."

A tech support care package for parents

I just came across the website TeachParentsTech.org, created by Google employees who tired of answering their parents' questions about how to use their computers.

There are more than 50 basic how-to videos on the site "to send to mom, dad, your old college roommate, your neighbor or anyone else who could use a little help with tech tasks," Google employee Jason Toff wrote on the company's blog.

Also in the news

EU wants to ban cars from cities by 2050 to cut oil use, carbon emissions

House votes to kill main Obama foreclosure aid program

Cantor at odds with Boehner on budget compromise

Virginia Tech gets maximum fine in massacre response

FDA examines link between food dyes and hyperactivity