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Continued fighting in Libya and the union faceoff in Wisconsin fueled the No. 1 and No. 2 stories overall last week. But the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on Friday March 11 quickly overwhelmed every other story—including a controversial hearing on Islamic terrorism.

Attention to the health of both Gabrielle Giffords and civic discourse helped fuel continuing coverage of the Tucson shooting spree last week. Some White House summitry, hard times for state treasuries and another round in the legislative battle over health care reform also generated significant coverage.

The violence in Libya and the political standoff in Wisconsin continued to drive the news agenda last week while a potential government shutdown and a significant health care development got about the same attention as the misadventures of a troubled actor.

Two very different issues led the conversation on the blogosphere last week: the record U.S. deficit and the post-Mubarak transformation in Egypt. On Twitter, the No. 1 topic was self-referential— a list of influential English people who use Twitter.

While the violence in Libya was one of the top stories on Twitter, bloggers homed in on domestic policy as they debated the potential impact of proposed Republican budget cuts and the prospects of a government shutdown. On YouTube, three videos that brought home the devastation of the earthquake in New Zealand garnered millions of views.

Senator John McCain’s support for President Obama’s speech at the Arizona memorial and the dawn of a new GOP-led House of Representatives focused bloggers’ attention last week. On Twitter, stories about Apple’s financial health drew the most interest. And on YouTube, the dramatic floods in Australia revealed the impact of the tragedy to the world.

The economy topped the news for the sixth straight week, while a string of tragedies—the death of a top diplomat, the suicide of Bernie Madoff’s son, and the suicide of an unstable Florida gunman—also made headlines. And health care, after months of absence, returned to the news in a significant way.

For much of last week, the dominant topic in the news was the installation of a new Congress as well as its impact on politics, public policy and the Obama administration. But over the weekend, an attack that occurred about 2,000 miles from Washington D.C. quickly commandeered the attention of the media and the nation.

The arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and the death of Elizabeth Edwards both received substantial coverage, but it was the reaction to a compromise on the expiring Bush-era tax cuts that really galvanized the press last week.