Mark Memmott

"Japanese police raced Thursday to find thousands of missing bodies before they completely decompose along a stretch of tsunami-pummeled coast that has been largely off-limits because of a radiation-leaking nuclear plant," The Associated Press writes from Minami Soma, Japan.

About 382,000 Americans filed first-time claims for unemployment benefits last week, the Employment and Training Administration just reported. That's 10,000 fewer than during the previous week and marks the third dip in the past four weeks.

The Associated Press says the news is "a sign that layoffs are dropping and employers may be hiring more workers."

In case you missed it:

The incredibly popular Decorah Eagle Cam captured the scene last evening as the third and final egg in an Iowa bald eagle family's nest hatched.

We, and at many times hundreds of thousands of other viewers, have been following developments atop that three in Iowa for several days now.

Iman al-Obeidi, whose story about allegedly being raped and beaten by forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has captured attention around the world, wants international humanitarian groups to come to Libya and "see how life is here," she has told CNN in what's believed to be her first face-to-face interview with Western journalists since her dramatic appea

With less than 48 hours to go before much of the federal government would have to shut down, there's been progress but no deal yet as President Obama, his fellow Democrats and Republican leaders in Congress try to settle on how much to cut from this year's federal budget.

Here's a waiting game we're not eager to be a part of:

At the Bronx Zoo, "staffers were waiting Sunday for an escaped, poisonous Egyptian cobra to get hungry enough to come out of hiding." (The Daily News.) They think it's still in an area protected from the public.

Japan continues to struggle with the lingering effects of the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami that pummeled cities along its northeastern coast and crippled a nuclear power plant in Fukushima.