Fighting flared around the rebel-held city of Misrata and air strikes were reported elsewhere in Libya, after Muammar Gaddafi’s regime rejected a rebel offer of a ceasefire. The US military was poised to withdraw its combat jets and Tomahawk cruise missiles from the air campaign against Libya's regime starting this weekend, as NATO allies take the lead in bombing Gaddafi’s forces.

India-Pakistan relations -- a challenge at the best of times, and in the doldrums since the terrorist attacks on Mumbai of November 2008 -- received an unexpected boost last month from an unlikely source: cricket.