U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden arrives in Beirut ahead of June parliamentary elections. He’s the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Lebanon since the early 1980s.

Pakistan troops claim they have encircled the Taliban in the Swat Valley. Fighting there has displaced over two million civilians.

A radio journalist is killed in Somalia as government troops battle al-Shabab militants for control of Mogadishu. The fighting has killed over a 100 and displaced 46,000.

Malawi’s president Bingu wa Mutharika wins re-election among charges of vote rigging.

Three former military commanders that led a 300-man tank battalion in a revolt against the Georgian government are shot by Georgian police, one fatally.

Japan closes 4,800 schools in response to an increasing number of swine flu cases as mask shortages continue.

Fathi al-Jami, Libya’s best-known dissident, dies of at 68 of apparent untreated complications from a heart ailment. Jami was convicted in 2005 of trying to overthrow the Libyan government by calling for a free press and fair elections.

North Korea launches a limited mobile internet service targeted at government-approved users.