Migrants fleeing North Africa turmoil land on Lampedusa

BBC News reports on the massive influx of migrants into Italy.  Overnight, about a 1000 migrants, mostly from Tunisia and Libya, arrived on the island of Lampedusa on a dozen boats.  These migrants are in addition to the several thousand that have arrived since mid January when unrest in Tunisia began.  The Italian government is transporting migrants from Lampedusa to facilities on the mainland, but they are being overwhelmed.  Italy has called on other European nations to provide aid and housing for these migrants.

Western leaders mull over Egypt

Al Jazeera is reporting on a conference of Western Leaders discussing the upcoming political transition in Egypt.  The main debate seems to be over whether or not elections should occur sooner rather than later.  The United States representative is Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is pushing for elections to occur much earlier than the scheduled date in the fall.  British PM David Cameron supports this view.  Arguing on the side of allowing some time to pass before attempting an election are German chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi.  Clinton has also stressed the need for other Middle Eastern leaders to make meaningful democratic reforms.