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Libya

On March 19, following the UN Security Council's approval of the No-Fly zone over Libya (with 5 abstentions from Brazil, China, Germany, India, and Russia), Allied forces started bombing Gadhafi's troops, destroying most of the Libyan air force in the process, prompting a new advance of rebel forces. 

Mr. Gates acknowledged on the same show that what was unfolding in Libya was not a threat to the United States and was “not a vital national interest to the United States,” but that the intervention was justified because of “the engagement of the Arabs, the engagement of the Europeans, the general humanitarian question that was at stake.”

NY Times: Clinton and Gates Defend Mission in Libya, March 27, 2011

The White House: Press Briefing by National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, Deputy National Security Advisor For Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes and Press Secretary Jay Carney on the Situation in Libya, March 21, 2011

Guardian: Turkey offers to broker Libya ceasefire as rebels advance on Sirte, March 27, 2011

Guardian: Libya: Nato takes full control of military operation, March 27, 2011

Foreign Affairs: The Mythology of Intervention, March 28, 2011

Syria

Following widespread protests in which several demonstrators were killed, the Syrian regime decided to lift the state of emergency which has been in effect for 50 years, but it remains unclear when this will go into effect as the protests and the violence continue. 

Even as the Obama administration defends the NATO-led air war in Libya, the latest violent clashes in Syria and Jordan are raising new alarm among senior officials who view those countries, in the heartland of the Arab world, as far more vital to American interests.
Deepening chaos in Syria, in particular, could dash any remaining hopes for a Middle East peace agreement, several analysts said. It could also alter the American rivalry with Iran for influence in the region and pose challenges to the United States’ greatest ally in the region, Israel. 

NY Times: Unrest in Syria and Jordan Poses New Test for U.S. Policy, March 26, 2011

Elsewhere

Japanese government confirmed that there was a partial meltdown in one of the reactors in Fukushima. 

The German Greens celebrated victories in two regional elections.

Until Japan’s nuclear catastrophe, Baden-Württemberg’s ruling coalition, a partnership between the CDU and the Free Democrats (FDP), looked like it was headed for a narrow victory. The state’s conservative premier, Stefan Mappus, is not the most likeable politician in Germany. But voters enjoy Baden-Württemberg’s fast economic growth and low unemployment (the lowest youth unemployment rate in Europe, Mr Mappus often boasted). Why tinker with that?

Mr Mappus, however, happens to be the CDU’s leading cheerleader for nuclear power.  

The Economist: Angela's trauma, March 28, 2011 

Ernst Strasser, head of the ÖVP delegation to the European Parliament, stepped back after allegations of corruption.