As many as 130 refugees have been missing after their boat broke up in the turbulent seas off the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa.

Billionaire businessman and media mogul Donald Trump has said on the “Today” show that he is a Tea Party supporter. "I'm very proud of some of the ideas they put forth," Trump said, adding, "They want to stop this ridiculous, absolutely killer spending that's going on. What's going on in this country — the way we're spending money like drunken sailors — we are absolutely, I'm telling you, we're going to destroy our own freedom."

In an apparent effort to check the rising inflation, the European Central Bank (ECB) raised its interest rate to 1.25% from 1%, the first increase by the ECB since 2008. Addressing a press conference following the decision, ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said the hike was necessary to "firmly anchor" rising prices. He added that despite the hike, interest rates are still low, "very accommodative" and will boost further economic growth.

The "30 Rock" star Tina Fey is pregnant again. Tina broke the news to Oprah Winfrey, saying that she's expecting a second child with her husband, composer Jeff Richmond. Celebrity website People reported that the 40-year-old 30 Rock creator and star revealed the news during a taping of The Oprah Winfrey Show on Wednesday. Tina said that she is already five months along.

Google’s Vice President of Engineering and head of Android, Andy Rubin, has rejected reports that the company’s hugely popular Android mobile phone operating system is becoming less open, claiming that the Android is as open as ever. Writing on the Android Developers blog, Rubin says “recently, there’s been a lot of misinformation in the press about Android and Google’s role in supporting the ecosystem. I’m writing in the spirit of transparency and in an attempt to set the record straight”.

In a major relief for troubled baseball star Barry Bonds, the judge on Tuesday disallowed a recording discovered by a key witness in the perjury trial against the former San Francisco Giants slugger. District Judge Susan Illston called the 2003 garbled tape "barely intelligible." The prosecutors must be disappointed with the rule as they were planning to use the tape to bolster the credibility of a key government witness.

Following into the footsteps of Los Angeles officials, several New York City council members unveiled a bid on Tuesday to ban fast-food restaurants from giving toys to children. City Council Deputy Majority Leader Leroy Comrie is likely to introduce the bill on Wednesday. Explaining the reason behind his decision, Comrie said that the ban would help in the reduction of the allure of fast-food restaurants for children and would encourage the industry to come up with healthier options.