• We’re supposed to be all Libyans, we are all brothers, but this is what the Gadhafi militia men did to me.
• A reported rape victim • Talking to hotel staffers who were trying to restrain her (and her story) at the hotel where members of the press were invited by Gaddafi’s government. We’d like to note one thing: The AP notes in their article that the policy on naming rape victims is to only do it when they volunteer their names, as she did in this case. We think that we don’t have to necessarily follow that standard in this case. We greatly debated it, though. We can tell the story just as well without it. source

• Stephen Harper has some pretty huge problems right now. The Canadian Prime Minister’s government was found in contempt by the House of Commons — the first time that’s happened in the country’s history. The situation, pushed by a coalition led by the minority Liberal party, promises to add an interesting twist to Canadian politics over the next six weeks. “The principle at stake in this debate goes to the heart of parliamentary democracy: the obligation of a government to provide members of this House with the information they need in order to hold the government accountable to the people of Canada,” said Liberal Party leader Michael Ignatieff. Now, we understand that many of our readers may not know much about Canadian politics, so here’s a quick explanation of what’s going on:

• What happened? Stephen Harper’s Conservative minority government was found in contempt — the first time that’s happened in Canadian history. The contempt vote, pushed by minority parties, also doubled as a no-confidence vote.
• What’s next? Tomorrow, Harper is expected go to the Governor-General David Johnston to dissolve parliament. In May, Canadians would vote in the country’s 41st election — the country’s fourth election in roughly seven years.
• The reason The three major minority parties — Liberals, New Democrats and Bloc Quebecois — say that the Harper government kept them in the dark on the budgetary elements of certain pieces of legislation, which led to the contempt vote. source

• » Other frustrations: The minority parties also have shared frustrations in Harper’s corporate tax cuts and push for increased defense spending on military jets — allowing for the opposition parties to find common ground. If they were to gain control, expect these things to be targets.

How the party lines break down

• A plurality government with no majority: The House of Commons — the main voter-elected body in the Canadian government — has led with a plurality government for a few years, strengthening their hold in 2008, but with the 308 seats up for grabs a little over four weeks, the body could change significantly. While polls suggest Harper’s Conservatives could gain a majority this time out, if they don’t, it’s possibile that the three main minority parties (along, possibly, with the Greens, who currently don’t have a seat in the House of Commons) could form their own coalition, forcing Harper off his perch entirely. Here’s what the House of Commons looks like now:

• 143 Conservatives seats in the House of Commons

• 77 seats are held by the Liberal Party
• 47 seats are held by Bloc Quebecois
• 36 seats are held by the New Democratic Party

• » Minor members and the Senate: On top of the parties here, two of House of Commons seats are held by independent candidates, and three seats are currently empty. Also of note: The Canadian parliament also has a Senate, but it isn’t directly elected, is kind of a messy situation of its own, and holds no say over the situation with Harper or the government.  Harper’s job lies in the hands of the confidence of the House of Commons — which he just lost. (By the way, our boy Ilya Gerner has a pretty interesting take on the whole Canadian plurality system worth checking out.)

Harper’s take on the issue

• Don’t consider the situation at Fukushima settled just yet. That’s the message that Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan, in his first statements on the matter in over a week, would like to make clear. “We are making efforts to prevent it from getting worse, but I feel we cannot become complacent,” he said. “We must continue to be on our guard.” Kan’s comments come in the wake of high instability at some of the plants — yesterday, two workers got radiation burns on their feet while working on Fukushima’s No. 3 unit, which is the most dangerous of the bunch due to its use of a mixture of uranium and plutonium. The situation led to fresh concerns about whether there might be a leak in that reactor. TEPCO officials are still looking for the cause of the high radiation levels. source

• 6.8 the magnitude of the quake that hit Myanmar about a day ago
• 74+ people have been killed by the quake, which was just over 6 miles deep
• 111+ people have been injured … landslides are still a major risk source

• In the blog entry we’re linking at the end of this post, Andrew Sullivan threw up two videos from Syria. This one shows a wounded man lying on the ground, and another person taking his belt and using it as a tourniquet for his wound. While harrowing, it shows nothing particularly violent. The other clip, however, is bloody. And scary. The crowds today were very large — with some putting the numbers at around 20,000 — but the scene was also very bloody. Dozens have died this week, but the Jerusalem Post says the number could be much higher. source

• What we have decided today is that NATO will enforce the no-fly zone. We are considering whether NATO should take on overall responsibility. That decision has not been made yet.
• NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen • Speaking about NATO’s plan to help enforce the no-fly zone in Libya. However, Obama wanted more than this from NATO.  He wanted them to take over the whole UN-backed operation — including the airstrikes bit. From what it sounds like, something’s holding them back from doing something like that. Hm. We wonder what. source

• before Thousands upon thousands of Egyptians rallied at Tahrir Square, engineering an overthrow of Hosni Mubarak by peaceful protest. It was a grandly inspirational moment, one that we all watched with exhilaration.
• now The military-led Egyptian government just approved a law imposing an enormous fine or prison time for inciting protests that interfere with “public or private work.” Well, it was certainly nice while it lasted. source

• Close call for NBC’s Richard Engel: Engel, a truly fantastic foreign correspondent (and NBC’s chief correspondent in the Middle East) is on the ground in Libya, covering the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi. While interviewing rebel forces, an artillery strike hit that sent Engel scrambling for cover behind a tiny cement wall, a harrowingly close call. Not to be overlooked is the sight Engel was describing as the explosion hit; a rebel fighter who was carrying a plastic toy gun around, presumably to try to trick enemies into thinking he’s lethally armed, a toy gun he amazingly darts out of cover to try to retrieve during the strike. source

• 24 year sentence for Jeremy Morlock in Afghan murders source

• » “The plan was to kill people.” So says the man himself, in pleading guilty to three counts of murder, and one count each of conspiracy to commit assault and battery, illegal drug use, and obstructing justice. He’s expected to testify against fellow soldiers who are allegedly party to the plot, all this legal brew-ha-ha unfolding after German newspaper Der Spiegel published pictures (warning: the images are graphic and terrible … you can go find them yourself) of Morlock and his cohorts posing with the corpses of Afghan civilians.