Europe seems to be really close to doing what the country said it would not do in Libya – jump in to the situation for the efforts of ousting Moammar Gadhafi.

On Wednesday, France said that they have sent a couple of their military officers to help the rebels fight Gadhafi’s forces on the ground. They also announced that they will step-up their airstrikes in Libya. Britain and Italy are also sending their military officers to Libya.

European officials will help the rebels turn the tide on Gadhafi’s reign in Libya without breaking the rules of the U.N. The National Transitional Council’s acting foreign minister said that they will do whatever it takes to topple the longstanding Libyan leader. The rebels need a more official army and weapons to help them battle with Gadhafi’s people.

Ali al-Issaoui, one of the rebel leaders, said that they have not handed out official demands from France and all the other countries that are willing to help but they are open to all possibilities. The opposition said that arms have been received but they are unfortunately insufficient.

On the other hand, the White House is planning to extend non-lethal assistance by donating $25 million. This is the first direct aid offered by the Obama administration after assessing their intentions and capabilities.

The aid is intended to help the Transitional Council and protect the civilians especially in areas that are under attack. There is no complete list of aid yet but they may contain things like medical supplies, boots, tents, personal protective gear, and uniforms, among many others.

The owners of a well-known Mexican restaurant chain have been charged with tax evasion and immigration charges. On Wednesday, federal officials said that this is a part of their campaign to bring down employers who hire illegal immigrants.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement of the United States said that the arraignment for the owners of Chuy’s Mesquite Broiler restaurant will start on Thursday in a Tucson court. Mark Evenson and his son Christopher are facing as much as 19 counts of offenses like unlawful hiring. Joining the father-and-son owners of the restaurant is their accountant Diane Strehlow.

The three defendants were arrested on Wednesday following a series of raids on all 4 Chuy’s restaurants in California and 11 in Arizona. These are all a part of the government’s plan to step-up federal immigration enforcements to stop the hiring of illegal workers.

ICE spokesperson for Arizona, Vincent Picard, said that they also arrested 41 people who are suspected for immigration violations during the raids. Most of them will be placed on proceedings for deportation, while some others will be asked to stay to serve as witnesses.

The three defendants are alleged to have paid their illegal workers with no payroll taxes withheld or reports to the IRS. The Evensons are said to have knowingly hired undocumented people to work in their kitchens.

If proven guilty on all 19 charges, Mark Evenson could face 86 years in prison on top of a $5.33 million fine; his son Christopher may stay in prison for up to 81 years plus an additional fine of $5.08 million; while their accountant Diane will be asked to pay a fine of $2 million in addition to a maximum of 40 years in prison.

A man from New Jersey was sent behind prison bars, Tuesday. He was given a 50-month sentence after the racist threats he did online against a couple of Latino groups.

61-year old New Jersey man Vincent Johnson launched an online campaign called “hate-filled campaign of fear.” Thomas Perez, Assistant Attorney General of the civil rights division said that Johnson sent vicious messages to a lot of people online.

Johnson has been reported to have sent emails threatening several groups sucj as the National Council of La Raza. The said group represents the majority of the Latino community as they fight to secure Hispanic civil rights.

After calling himself “Devilish” on his messages, he pleaded guilty to all counts of threatening conduct October 10 of last year. Judge Ann Thompson finally sentenced Johnson to prison last April 18.

Special agent Michael Ward said that Johnson intentionally sent those emails to strike fear among Hispanic and Latino activists in the hopes of putting off their activities and what they are fighting for.

The emails sent to the Latino groups contained foul messages and said that “Mexicans are scum.” Johnson’s racist implications in his messages have no place in our civilized society said Perez. He also said that the Department of Justice is committed to persecuting those who engage in these acts. He

Republican Arizona Governor Jan Brewer vetoed two highly controversial bills, Monday. One bill mandates that those running for presidency should submit proof of U.S. citizenship; the other is supposed to allow guns on college campuses.

Brewer is remembered as one of the governors who drew attention to themselves. She grabbed headlines after signing a law that will crack down and is meant to get tough with immigrants last year.

The “birther bill” was supposed to mark Arizona as the first state that submitted a law asking presidential candidates to present proof of citizenship such as (but are not limited to) birth, circumcision, or baptismal certificates. The said documents shall be positioned on the state ballot.

The said state legislature was passed in the heat of President Barack Obama’s questioned citizenship. It has been noted that television tycoon Donal Trump openly questioned the president’s birth in Hawaii. He even dared Obama to present his birth certificate in public. The white house remained mum regarding the controversies.

Moreover, Brewer also vetoed a bill that would have allowed individuals to carry guns inside college campuses. They would have not been the first state to do this but the governor said that it was so poorly written; she had no choice but to veto it.

Arizona Senator Steve Gallardo said that the governor’s move did well for Arizona. He said that both bills will only make the state look bad and it will put them in a National spotlight for all the wrong rea

Libyan rebels held out under continues bombing and sniper fire from Moammar Gadhafi’s forces last Sunday in the city of Misrata – the last city that rebels have a grip on in Western Libya. 17 people were killed said and opposition activist.

Government forces have been trying to take siege in the Mediterranean coast of Libya for weeks, forcing NATO to intensify their airstrikes on Gadhafi’s men.

A resident in Misrata said that on Sunday, government troops pushed through the city center and pounded them with rocket-propelled grenades. By then, residents have already gotten used to the sound of missiles and gun shots. He also said that there were snipers everywhere prepared to shoot on anything that has a hear beat in the city center.

Rida al-Montasser, an activist reached via Skype, said that the rebels are fighting government troops from a central produce market. He further said that the hospital report a doctor gave him showed that 17 people were killed and 74 others were severely injured. Gadhafi’s people allegedly fired even at hospitals.

The airstrikes led by NATO were able to ensure that rebels were not defeated but there are still no signs that the war will end anytime soon. Furthermore, NATO dismissed rumors that they lack aircrafts. Defense Minister of France Gerard Longuet said that what they lack is concrete ground information.

On Sunday, spokesperson of the Libyan Government Moussa Ibrahim denied allegations of human rights supporters that the government used heavy weapons. He also said that they gathered reports that members of al-Qaida terror network have joined the rebels; and now, NATO is helping them too.

Texas Governor Rick Perry asked for additional help from the federal government as they battle against wildfires in their state. At least six houses in Austin have caught fire last Sunday and a few more hundreds are threatened to suffer from the same demise.

Around 1.5 million acres of grasslands and brushes have caught fire in Texas starting January 1^st; half of that has gone up in flames only in the past week wherein Texas is experiencing its driest condition in the state’s history. A total of 220 houses have burned down since the wildfires started and a firefighter was killed in Eastland, Texas just this Friday.

Flames blazed rather fiercely the past few weeks in West Texas and Governor Perry admitted in one of his statements that Texas is almost running out of resources to deal with emergencies and they are already in need of federal assistance in order to put out the fire more quickly.

On Sunday afternoon, 80 acres of juniper and oak woodlands in Austin have been charred. Averages of 10 houses were destroyed just mere hours after the fire started. Cargo planes from the Air Force dumped fire retardants in the area. There were also helicopters in the area for water-dropping.

The fires have forced hundreds of people from rural areas of Texas to move across the state. However, Austin is still the most heavily populated city that could be in huge trouble.

Gadhafi’s daughter said Friday that the US airstrikes did not defeat them 25 years ago, they will not pull it off now. The crowd cheered for her as she said this from her father’s compound.

Aisha, Gadhafi’s daughter, pumped her fist in the air while leading her audience from the balcony of the severely damaged compound. Just a few hours earlier, NATO launched an airstrike in Tripoli.

During the NATO foreign ministers meeting, Secretary Hillary Rodham of the United States said that Gadhafi is clearly cutting his international alliance by attacking cities held by rebels. Gadhafi has held the greatest power in Libya for the past 42 years and people would love to see this stop. NATO is one with the rebel forces and would like to see Gadhafi go to end the situation in the country.

Gadhafi has a very long and distressed history with the West. Many believe that he sponsored militant groups in the 80s. Moreover, secret service of Libya is said to be responsible for the Berlin disco bombing in 1986; two American servicemen died in the incident. A little over a week later, the United States launched an air attack in Tripoli and Benghazi. The president’s Bab Aziziyah compound was one of the places that were badly damaged by the bombing. Now, it stands as a museum and a constant reminder of his relationship with the U.S.

Although a lot of protesters want Gadhafi to leave his office, many still believe in him. They gathered and cheered for Aisha as she relieved the bombing in 1986. She said that many children were killed in that incident buy the country survived. She added that Libyans are people that refuse to be defeated.

Robert Bobb, the emergency manager of Detroit, said Thursday that he will send layoff notices to 5,466 unionized employees. This is in line with their attempt to regain the public school system’s financial stability.

Bobb which is a temporary head in the district announced that in order to match Detroit’s declining enrollment rate, he will send notices to all the members of Detroit Federation of Teachers. He added that they somehow need to reduce their number of teachers since there is also a significant decline in enrollees.

He, however, said that not all teachers will be laid off. They are just required to send the notice under the union’s current contract. 2,200 notices were also sent last year but only a portion of them were actually laid off. He assured the teachers that any layoffs will only take effect around the end of July.

The Public Act 4 says that Bobb, as the emergency financial manager, has the power to do whatever means necessary to make sure that the financial emergency in the district be resolved; even if it means they need to layoff a few teachers, and even throw away current union contracts.

Robert Bobb was appointed the position for Detroit’s schools about two years ago by Governor Jennifer Granholm after a long-standing budget deficit due to the decline in the number of enrollees per year. Since then, he has laid off workers and closed schools and yet, Detroit still faces a whooping $327 million deficit.

The ruling party of Prime Minister Naoto Kan suffered losses from the local elections held over their weekend after the nuclear power plant crisis further weakened his governance.

Shintaro Ishihara still won his fourth term regardless of what he said; that the disastrous earthquake and tsunami was a divine punishment for the country.

Ishihara is popular for his criticisms about China, including the elite bureaucrats at home. He urged residents in Tokyo to conserve energy after the problems of the quake-hit nuclear power plant caused power shortages and blackouts in the capital city.

Moreover, Kan was already pressured to step down even before the earthquake and tsunami occurred on March 11. The incident left his government coping up with the worst crisis that hit Japan since World War II.

Yet, Prime Minister Kan is unlikely to be forced out of Japan while the country is still regaining control over the crippled Fukushima power plant located north of Tokyo. Today, it is the biggest nuclear crisis in the world since the tragic Chernobyl occurred.

Kan’s ruling Democratic Party lost 69 seats during the votes cast on Sunday for the prefectural assemblies. The party also lost three gubernatorial elections.

Still, Democratic Party takes over the parliament’s lower house. However, it needs the opposition, as well as the funding legislation in the upper house to assist them in passing the bills.

Analysts has previously expected the Democratic Party to have a heavy loss in the elections, which was likely to be blamed on Kan.

Japan widened its evacuation zone surrounding the quake-hit nuclear power plant due to increased levels of radiation, which have had accumulated, as a strong aftershock hit the area on Monday, a month after the devastating incident occurred.

Tokyo and eastern part of Japan was shook with a 7.1 magnitude earthquake on Monday evening, which then triggered a small tsunami alert. State television said the aftershock caused an off-site power supply for the damaged reactors to shut down.

Geological survey conducted by the United States said that the aftershock hit 38 kilometers (24 miles) west of the Iwaki city at a depth of 14 kilometers (8 miles).

Workers at Tokyo Electric Power Co had ceased pouring cooling waters on reactors no. 1, 2 and 3 at the Fukushima power plant.

Families living in towns and villages outside the 20 kilometer evacuation zone, where more radiation have had accumulated, would be evacuated, according to Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano. He said hospitalized patients, children and pregnant women should avoid the area within 20-30 kilometers from the Fukushima complex.

Also, Edano said that the decision to expand the evacuation area was based on the data analyzed from the accumulated radiation exposure information. He said the evacuation precautions are meant to secure the safety of the people who might live in the area for 6 months to one year. However, it is not necessary to evacuate immediately, he added.

Previously, Japan did not agree to the proposed plans to extend the evacuation zone despite concerns from neighboring countries regarding the radiation that might spread from the damaged nuclear reactors at Fukushima.