NPR News

Libya's rebels beat a panicked retreat from withering rocket and tank fire along their western front lines Tuesday, adding to speculation that they cannot stand against Moammar Gadhafi's troops without international intervention.

The battlefield reversal on the outskirts of Gadhafi's hometown, Sirte, came a day after President Obama pledged that no U.S. ground forces would be used in Libya and outlined a strategy to "hasten the day when Gadhafi leaves power."

Actress Elizabeth Taylor, who died last Wednesday at the age of 79, "amassed a huge fortune estimated between $600 million and $1 billion, most of that from her savvy business dealings," reports Rob Shuter at Pop Eater's Naughty But Nice blog.

Authorities in Japan are encouraging people who live near the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear reactor complex — even those outside the mandatory 12-mile evacuation zone — to move farther away from the plant.

Life near the plant is becoming increasingly difficult, officials say, as supplies of food, fuel and potable water in the area dwindle.

How To Move Forward?

Patients hearing about palliative care for the first time can get a little scared about implications that it spells the beginning of the end of life. But a bigger barrier to wider acceptance of the approach isn't patients' resistance but foot-dragging by their doctors.

Consumer confidence fell this month, according to a widely watched index put together by The Conference Board, a business research group.

It says its reading slipped to 63.4 from 72 in February, and that inflation fears and anxiety about what higher prices mean for personal income drove the decline.

The February reading was a three-year high.