A provisional estimate put the cost of the ECONOMIC DAMAGE from the earthquake at $235 billion, which would make it the most expensive natural disaster in history.
Hamid Karzai announced a plan to make AFGHANISTAN'S army and police assume responsibility for the country's security, starting in July. Seven areas controlled by the American-led international force are to be transferred to Afghan command, including Lashkar Gah in Helmand, until recently a hotbed of Taliban activity.
Meanwhile, one of five American soldiers accused of killing AFGHAN CIVILIANS for sport pleaded guilty and was given a 24-year prison sentence. DER SPIEGEL magazine published damning photographs taken by the soldiers posing with the corpse of one victim.
INDIA'S opposition claimed that Manmohan Singh had misled parliament, accusing the prime minister of having falsely denied that he knew about a cash-for-votes scheme exposed by WikiLeaks. It has been a season of scandals in India, but no one had yet accused Mr Singh of dishonesty.
TIBETANS in exile cast votes for a new political leader to replace the Dalai Lama, who wants to retire. NEPAL prevented 20,000 Tibetans who live there from voting, presumably bowing to Chinese pressure.
Jose Socrates resigned as PORTUGAL'S prime minister after his government lost a parliamentary vote on the latest round of austerity measures. Speculation rose that an EU summit in Brussels would postpone the approval of a new reserve fund for the euro.
There was a rare outbreak of disharmony in RUSSIA'S ruling tandem. Vladimir Putin, the prime minister, compared the UN Security Council resolution authorising military action against Libya to a "medieval crusade". Dmitry Medvedev, the president, said Mr Putin's language was "unacceptable" and risked stoking a "clash of civilisations". Mr Putin downplayed the split.
FRANCE'S far-right National Front did well in the first round of local elections, reaching the second round in a fifth of the total districts and almost displacing President Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP party, which came second by share of the vote. The Socialists came first, with a quarter of the votes.
CANADA'S three opposition parties said they would bring down the Conservative minority government at the first opportunity and force an election, either by rejecting its budget or through a no-confidence vote. Polls suggest the composition of Parliament after an election would be unlikely to change much.
HAITI held a run-off in its presidential election. The vote went well by comparison with the chaotic first round. Both candidates, Michel Martelly and Mirlande Manigat, said they were ahead in the count.Barack Obama called for a reduction of $4 trillion over 12 years in the BUDGET DEFICIT, to be paid for by a mixture of spending cuts and tax rises on the rich.
With just minutes remaining to a deadline that would have shut down the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, Republicans in Congress reached an agreement with the White House to fund services in return for more extensive spending cuts.
In COTE D'IVOIRE Laurent Gbagbo was detained by troops loyal to Alassane Ouattara. Mr Gbagbo lost to Mr Ouattara in a presidential election last year but had refused to leave office, plunging the country into strife. Mr Ouattara's troops were backed by France, the former colonial power, and the UN.
The British and French governments criticised NATO for failing to destroy enough heavy weaponry used by Muammar Qaddafi's forces in LIBYA to allow rebels to break an ongoing stalemate.
Demonstrations escalated in SYRIA as the government cracked down hard, arresting 100 people in a single day.
Hosni Mubarak, the former EGYPTIAN president, was detained for up to 15 days for questioning about charges of corruption and abuse of office.
A jury in Texas acquitted Luis Posada Carriles, an alleged anti-communist terrorist, of perjury and obstruction of justice. CUBA and VENEZUELA condemned the verdict and accused the United States of sheltering him.
URUGUAY'S Senate voted to annul a law that had given military officers immunity from prosecution for crimes committed during the country's 1973-85 military dictatorship (it must be approved by the lower house of Congress to take effect). The immunity law was upheld in two referendums, in 1989 and 2009.
Daniel Ortega, NICARAGUA'S president, issued a decree moving three municipalities with large numbers of opposition voters from one electoral department to another. The unconstitutional gerrymandering should help Mr Ortega's party win more seats in an election this November.
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