Link: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/the-usmexico-border-where-the-drugs-war-has-soaked-the-ground-blood-red-1924634.html

The border between Mexico and the United States is chaotically reverting to historical type, the place of horror it was for most of the 19th and 20th centuries. Nearly 19,000 people in Mexico have been slaughtered in drug violence since 2006, the year the conservative Felipe Calderon was elected president and began deploying some 50,000 troops and federal police in support of the US-convened struggle against street drugs.

Link: http://www.metro.co.uk/news/818379-iceland-volcano-eruption-leads-to-huge-evacuation

Shortly before midnight, the Eyjafjallajokull glacier, the island's fifth largest, started to spew smoke and lava from several craters along a rift which is popular with hikers.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/21/sarkozy-france-regional-elections-2010

France is expected to deal a bloody nose to Nicolas Sarkozy's ruling rightwing party today in regional elections viewed as a key indication of the president's unpopularity more than halfway through his time in office.

Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/03/2010320162053153537.html

Israeli forces have killed a Palestinian teenager during violent clashes in the occupied West Bank, medics have said.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/21/binyamin-netanyahu-palestinians-israel

Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has bowed to American demands to suspend the construction of settlement homes in east Jerusalem ahead of his departure today for a visit to Washington DC, it was reported last night.

Link: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/21/2851676.htm?section=world

A national "Day of Anger" in Russia has brought out thousands of demonstrators and a tough government response. Demonstrations against the government of Vladimir Putin attracted more than 1,000 people in several cities, but in many places rallies were banned.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/8997240

MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) — A shootout erupted in the streets of a northeastern Mexican city Friday, killing two suspected drug cartel gunmen and wounding a soldier

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/8997230

A pro-democracy activist jailed for months in Myanmar after trying to visit his sick mother in prison arrived home in the United States on Friday, capping weeks of discussions between the ruling military junta and the U.S. State Department.

Link: http://en.rian.ru/world/20100320/158259636.html

Washington says it is ready to be engaged in the Six Party talks as soon as North Korea decides to resume the stalled negotiations, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of State said.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/8997246

Pope Benedict XVI addresses Ireland on Saturday in a letter apologizing for the sex abuse scandal here — a message being watched closely by Catholics from Boston to Berlin to see if it also acknowledges decades of Vatican-approved cover-ups.

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8575627.stm

Hundreds of Cuban government supporters have heckled members of the "Ladies in White" rights group marching in protest through the streets of Havana. The women - wives and mothers of jailed dissidents - are staging a week of protests on the anniversary of Fidel Castro's 2003 Black Spring crackdown.

Link: http://www.economyincrisis.org/content/chinese-asking-us-look-other-way

The Chinese government is fiercely resisting U.S. and international pressure to allow its currency to appreciate to a market-based level, launching an offensive on multiple fronts to try and discredit the allegations, garner international sympathy and lobby behind the scenes to prevent any action from being taken.

Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/03/2010318153714888868.html

Russia and the United States have made "substantial progress" in negotiating a new nuclear arms disarmament deal, the US secretary of state has said.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/17/us-muslims-court-pakistan-terror

Five young US Muslims were charged today with plotting terrorism in Pakistan in a case that has generated concerns that Americans are heading to the country to join militant groups.