With a brutal series of bombings threatening to reverse hard-fought gains in Iraq, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a surprise appearance in Iraq today to reassure the troubled nation. Despite the attacks, which have killed at least 140 people since Thursday, Clinton took an optimistic tone: "Are there going to be bad days? Yes, there are," Clinton told The New York Times. But "If you look at the evidence, overwhelmingly the progress that’s been made has been positive." At a townhall meeting in the US Embassy in Baghdad, Clinton reassured her audience that America is "committed to Iraq, we want to see a stable, sovereign, self-reliant Iraq." In an echo of the Bush administration's talk of "dead enders" in Iraq, Clinton blamed violence on "rejectionists" who are afraid that progress will marginalize them. In the townhall she emphasized the value of a united Iraq: "There is nothing more important than to have a united Iraq. The more united Iraq is, the more you will trust your security services."

As if the international community didn't have enough on its plate already. The World Health Organization has convened an emergency crisis panel to discuss the swine flu outbreak on the U.S.-Mexico border, calling the situation an "international public health emergency." The WHO chief has also told the AP that the flu has "pandemic potential" and admonished all countries to keep a close eye out for further outbreaks. At least 62 people have died in Mexico from the virus; no deaths are thought to have occurred in the U.S. The AP is reporting that all public events in Mexico City have been canceled for the next 10 days. The panel convening today could issue measures that include "travel advisories, trade restrictions and border closures."

These incidents are occurring at an alarming rate. A University of Georgia professor is on the run after a triple shooting left three dead, including his wife. George Zinkhan, a 57-year-old marketing professor at the college, allegedly shot and killed his wife, Maria Bruce, and two men at a community theater group’s reunion in front of 20 witnesses. He reportedly became embroiled in a disagreement with his wife, left, returned with two handguns, and fired eight bullets. His neighbor said he was “shocked” by the news about Zinkhan, whom one colleague described as “a distinguished professor with a national reputation.”

Try to contain your enthusiasm if you were starting to feel optimistic about the economy. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner sounded hesitant to celebrate at a meeting of G-7 finance ministers and central bank leaders in Washington yesterday, saying, "We are right to feel somewhat encouraged, but we would be wrong to conclude that we are close to emerging from the darkness that descended on the global economy early last fall.” While some measures of spending in the U.S. appear to be stabilizing, it would be wrong to confuse the slowing of the deterioration of the economy with the beginning of a recovery, Geithner said. He also called for governments to continue with a unified stance and “keep at implementing our shared agenda,” which were comments in line with those made at last month’s G-20 summit.

The world just became a little less funny. Actress Bea Arthur, most well-known for her role as Dorothy Zbornak in The Golden Girls, died Saturday at the age of 86. Arthur’s personal assistant called her a “brilliant and witty woman” and said she was suffering from cancer in her final days. The tall, deep-voiced woman who “had a way with a line,” also starred in All in the Family as Edith Bunker’s cousin, a role which grew into the spin-off Maude, for which she won an Emmy Award in 1977. She was no stranger to Broadway, and her Tony-winning performance as Vera Charles in Mame was called “a portrait in acid of a savagely witty, cynical and serpent-tongued woman.”

And the clock keeps ticking for Chrysler. The Obama administration is giving the embattled car company until Thursday to reach a cost-cutting deal or join with Italian carmaker Fiat SpA but now Michigan Democrats are speaking out: “The unions have come to the table over and over and over again and have taken huge cuts,” said Senator Debbie Stabenow at a Michigan Democratic Party fundraising event in Detroit. “It is now incumbent on the creditors, in particular those that have taken public funds, to make some concessions and be a part of the solution.” Governor Jennifer Granholm said, “This is going to be a tough week and new battle lines have been drawn.” An agreement reached Friday between the Canadian Auto Workers union and Chrysler demonstrated good-faith reasoning of the unions, and now creditors are being called to follow suit or the company faces potential bankruptcy.

When Bush officials began talking up tougher interrogations, they turned to a military agency tasked with preparing soldiers to resist torture, the JPRA, for advice. But with the advice came repeated — and ignored — warnings that the techniques they used on their soldiers were considered " torture" and produced "unreliable information." According to one July 2002 memo sent to the Penatgon's chief lawyer from the JPRA, "The unintended consequence of a U.S. policy that provides for the torture of prisoners is that it could be used by our adversaries as justification for the torture of captured U.S. personnel." Despite these grave misgivings, the administration approved 10 new interrogation methods derived from the JPRA's training in August.

Too bad reality doesn’t allow time travel. Henry Ian Cusick, the rugged Scotsman who portrays Desmond on ABC’s mind-bender of a show Lost, was just accused of sexual harassment by a former ABC Entertainment employee. Chelsea Stone says that in October 2007 Cusick "placed his hand on her buttocks" and then caressed her back "while making moaning sounds,” reports E! Online. Stone also alleges that no action was taken after she complained to ABC and that nearly two weeks later she was fired. Her lawsuit is asking for unspecified damages to cover the harassment, wrongful termination, infliction of emotional distress, and sexual battery.

Roxani Saberi, the American journalist convicted of spying on the Iranian government in a quick closed-door trial, has begun a hunger strike in protest of her imprisonment. Her father, who, along with her mother is in Iran attempting to secure her release, announced that his daughter was on her fifth day without food. Last week, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed the matter directly, asking the judiciary chief to examine the conviction and ensure that Saberi was treated fairly. Since the request, there have been signs that the verdict will be reconsidered. When Saberi was arrested she was working on a book about Iran without proper press credentials. Iranian investigators have said she was passing classified information onto the U.S. government.

Craigslist users fear not, the "casual encounters" and "erotic massage" sections of the site are not going anywhere in the wake of the shockingly tragic "Craigslist killer" saga. The site's founder has stood up to the Connecticut Attorney General, saying its erotic services postings will remain in place despite Philip Markoff being accused of finding his victims through the site. Everyone knows that trolling for dates on Craigslist is pretty risky and law enforcement officials have long criticized the site as an online brothel that facilitates prostitution. Speaking on ABC News, the site's founder said "Sometimes a bad guy of some sort tries to pull a fast one on our site. We don't want it there, it's wrong, and that's why we have the help of the general community and the law enforcement community getting rid of things like that."

As the western world worries about the rising tide of Islamic extremism, it can take comfort that the nation with the largest Muslim population is not held under its sway. Indonesian voters have resoundingly rejected radical Islamic parties in recent elections, as experts say that average citizens have become much less confident that righteous religious figures are any less prone to corruption. Radical Islam gained ground in the Indonesian government during the end of the dictatorship in 1998, as it advocated anti-corruption measures and "clean government." But in a more broad sense, the radicals' fervor has alienated many Indonesians, who practice a moderate version of Islam. Several fanatical parties went so far as to push for a ban on "everything from displays of partial nudity to yoga" and traditional dances, turning off many voters.

President Obama took some heat in the press last week when his plan to cut $100 million in agency spending was widely panned as a drop in an ocean-sized deficit. Bringing up the issue again, President Obama said in his weekly radio address today that rising deficits were indeed a serious concern. "We came into office facing a budget deficit of $1.3 trillion for this year alone, and the cost of confronting our economic crisis is high," Obama said. "But we cannot settle for a future of rising deficits and debts that our children cannot pay." According to Obama, Congress needed to readopt PAYGO, a set of principles used in the 1990s to trim the deficit in which new spending has to be offset either with new taxes or budget cuts elsewhere.

Add one more item to Rihanna's list of concerns in the wake of her meltdown with Chris Brown: Recovery of her jewelry from the LAPD and District Attorney. Since the infamous night, investigators have held earrings and several rings that the singer was wearing that were tricked out with precious stones and fancy diamonds. The young starlet had borrowed the jewelry and now faces charges of $1.4 million should she not be able to return it. Riahnna also was wearing a borrowed Gucci dress the night of the incident which has yet to surface.

North Korea turned to the nuclear option today in its standoff with the rest of the world over its recent missile test. According to a spokesman for the North Korean Foreign Ministry, "the reprocessing of spent fuel rods from the pilot atomic power plant began," meaning that the military can harvest material for use in atomic bombs. North Korea carried out a nuclear test in 2006 and is thought to have weaponized enough plutonium to make several bombs already. The latest announcement came just hours after the UN Security Council agreed to impose new sanctions on North Korea as punishment for its April 5 missile test.

Time will tell if this is a tactical retreat or a response to government threats. A spokesman for the Taliban says they are withdrawing from their position only 62 miles from the capital of Pakistan after occupying the town for a few days. The Taliban already control key areas of the country, where the government has allowed them to use Sharia law in a peace accord that drew fire from the U.S. government, but their recent aggressive push toward the capital frightened residents. Previously, a spokesman for the Taliban said they had crossed Swat into Buner, a town very close to Islamabad, as "a gesture of solidarity" with friends in the region, and were not leaving. The Pakistani government made clear this week that they would use force to drive the militants out.

Next card in the crappy hand fate’s been dealing us as of late? Deadly swine flu. “A deadly strain of flu never seen before has killed as many as 68 people in Mexico and has spread into the United States, where several people were reported ill,” reports the Associated Press. Designated H1N1, the virus has infected at least seven people in California and Texas, and all have recovered. “Because there is clearly human-to-human spread of the new virus, raising fears of a major outbreak, Mexico's government canceled classes for millions of children in its sprawling capital city and surrounding areas.” Mexico has close to 1,000 suspected cases.

More bad news for banks and consumers: Four additional regional banks failed on Friday, bringing the tally for this year up to a whopping 29. In comparison, only 25 banks went broke during all of 2008. First Bank of Beverly Hills is the fourth bank in California to fail this year, and will cost the FDIC $394 million, while American Southern Bank's deposits were sold to the Bank of North Georgia at a cost of $41.9 million for the FDIC. Level One Bank will take over $151.7 million in deposits and assets of the now-defunct Michigan Heritage Bank. The Obama administration is releasing the full version of its "stress tests" of major banks on May 4, but the Federal Reserve reports that, at least for now, many of the 19 large banks have enough capital to survive.