Here is a look at this and some of the other stories CNN plans to follow this week:

Arab League sending mixed signals about air strikes in Libya

After an international military coalition began implementing a no-fly zone over Libya and pounding Libyan air defenses over the weekend, U.S. President Barack Obama and his national security team has been trying to shore up support for the operation among Arab governments. The Arab League, which earlier this month asked the United Nations to authorize a no-fly zone to protect Libyan civilians during the country's civil war, has been sending mixed signals about its current stance, with Secretary-General Amre Moussa reportedly saying Sunday that the operation is different from what was intended. U.S. officials, including Obama himself, are calling Arab governments, insisting that the coalition's actions - including air strikes on air-defense targets to ensure pilots can enforce the no-fly zone safely - are necessary and fall under the authorization of a U.N. resolution that passed last week.

Libyan rebels had called on international action to help them stave off assaults by Libyan government forces on their positions in Benghazi and other enclaves. The coalition's intervention, which started Saturday, comes two days after the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution authorizing the use of force, including a no-fly zone, to "protect civilians and civilian populated areas" from government attack.

To get a feel for what may lie ahead in Libya, watch this review of the first two days of the coalition's air strikes, and read this report, and this column by CNN senior political analyst David Gergen, on what the coalition's endgame might be.

Protests continue in parts of Middle East

Libya was one country caught in a wave of anti-government protests that hit some North African and Middle Eastern nations earlier this year. Protests - and clashes between demonstrators and security forces - continue in some of these countries. In Syria,  witnesses said one person died Sunday in clashes in the southern Syrian city of Daraa - bringing the number of deaths in Daraa since Friday to five, according to witnesses. In Yemen, President Ali Abdullah Saleh dismissed his Cabinet on Sunday, according to a spokesman for the country's ruling party, after a government crackdown on protesters left 52 people dead last week. Check this page for a roundup of the unrest in the region.

Gates, Obama on trips abroad

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates this week will be in Moscow, Cairo and Jerusalem, to meet with various leaders, with the situation in Libya expected to be one topic in focus.

In Moscow, Gates also is expected to discuss how Russia can assist with the U.S. mission in Afghanistan and how Russia and the United States can cooperate on missile defense.

U.S. President Barack Obama is in the middle of a five-day trip in Latin America. This week he'll be in Chile and El Salvador before returning home Wednesday night. His trip focuses on trade, but as he did in Brazil over the weekend, he'll likely address military action in Libya publicly.

Japan restricts some food products as it deals with nuclear plant, tsunami recovery

Crews are continuing efforts to cool reactors at Japan's distressed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, where radiation levels spiked in the days following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in that country. Workers resumed spraying water at the damaged facility on Monday, according to Kyodo News, and the Japanese government has put restrictions on some food produced around the plant.

An expert has told CNN that the radiation levels found in food posed little or no health concerns. But the Japanese government nonetheless has banned the sale of raw milk from Fukushima Prefecture, where the Fukushima Daiichi plant is located, and prohibited the sale of spinach from neighboring Ibaraki Prefecture after finding levels of radioactive iodine and cesium higher than government standards, the country's Health Ministry reported. And officials in Fukushima halted the distribution of locally grown vegetables outside the prefecture.

The concerns about food may add an economic shock to the beating Japan has taken from the quake, which has so far left more than 23,000 dead, injured or missing.

Lohan to decide whether to accept plea deal by Wednesday

Actress Lindsay Lohan must decide by Wednesday whether she will accept a plea deal relating to a felony grand theft charge.

Los Angeles police began the theft investigation in January after a jewelry store owner alleged that the 24-year-old left the premises wearing a $2,500 necklace for which she had not paid. A judge has said that a plea deal would include jail time, but she could opt for a trial.

iReport assignment: The NCAA tourney and you

The NCAA men's basketball tournament, one of the biggest spectacles in American sports, is well under way, and CNN's iReport wants to hear from the people in the schools and communities involved.  In a short (one minute or less) video, show us your school and community pep rallies, celebrations, and viewing parties, and share the mood of students and supporters.

http://ireport.cnn.com/ir-topic-stories.jspa?topicId=564440