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Rebels kill seven pro-Assad militiamen: activists

May 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

88324758429188cd27414716c8fbd4ab Rebels kill seven pro Assad militiamen: activists

() – Syrian killed at least seven militiamen loyal to al-Assad in an attack on a bus carrying the fighters through a suburb, opposition said.

The attack with rocket-propelled grenades destroyed the vehicle on the edge of Irbin, 5km (3 miles) east of the capital’s main Abbasid Square at around 9.30 a.m. (0630 GMT), activists said.

“Troops sealed off the area then began shelling. A five-storey building was badly hit but it was empty,” activist Mohammad told Reuters, saying he was speaking by satellite phone from the suburb.

Irbin was among several northern and eastern Damascus suburbs that briefly fell under rebel control before the seized them back at the end of January.

has barred most independent journalists from the country, making it is difficult to verify reports of attacks and casualties.

(Reporting by Khaled Oweis, Amman newsroom; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

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Activists: 4 Syrian soldiers killed in ambush

December 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

c59a1b15b61eddc135a1489b400a42fc Activists: 4 Syrian soldiers killed in ambush

BEIRUT (AP) – Activists say at least four soldiers have been killed and 12 others wounded in southern Syria in an ambush carried out by a group of defectors.

The British-based Syrian for Human Rights says the ambush targeted a joint military and convoy on the road between the villages of Khirbet and Dael, in Daraa province.

Thousands of defectors in Syria have grown increasingly bolder in attacking forces.

Wednesday’s ambush comes as observers began a second day of work touring districts in the central city of Homs.

The observers are also expected to visit Daraa and other under an agreement to monitor Syria’s compliance with a plan to end the country’s nearly 10-month-long crisis.

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Why Women Want Viking Sperm

June 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment

559b57169ebb8cafed156c535e91331a Why Women Want Viking Sperm

(Phatforums Blog/ MSN) – The next big thing to come out of Denmark (after , beer, and Helena Christensen)? Sperm. The tiny Scandinavian country has become the world’s leading exporter of donated sperm, thanks to an of willing young male donors and a superefficient sperm-bank industry.

With a population of just 5. people, Denmark has far greater reserves of deposited sperm than it can use at . Now the country is trading on its for Nordic good looks and healthy living to export its gene pool around the . The of one major sperm bank is “Congratulations, it’s a Viking!”

Ole Schou, the founder and of Cryos sperm bank in Aarhus, Denmark’s second-largest city, has 439 approved donors on the books and exports sperm to fertility clinics and private customers in 65 countries. “We are the world’s largest sperm bank. Around 2,000 a year are born as a result of our product,” he says proudly. “The vast majority of our donors are young male students who aren’t interested in becoming fathers ? they mainly want to earn some extra cash.”

The quality of their is “exceedingly high,” he adds, since the young donors are “in the prime of health.” One of the most enthusiastic donors at Cryos has so far produced 101 children … and counting.

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Troops kill Tripoli protesters as revolt swells

February 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment

3657ba7a1277cebfa07f6b7896c4c0b2 Troops kill Tripoli protesters as revolt swells

(Reuters) – shot dead two protesters in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Friday, Al Jazeera reported, as a popular uprising against Muammar Gaddafi closed in on his main power base.

Pro-Gaddafi forces opened fire after hundreds of people in the Janzour district in western Tripoli started a protest march after Friday prayers, a resident, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters in an email.

He said protesters were also shouting anti-Gaddafi slogans in Fashloum in the city’s east, and another resident said security forces had fired into the air there.

Al Jazeera said two people had been killed and several wounded in heavy shooting in several districts.

Tripoli and the surrounding area, where Gaddafi’s forces had managed to stifle earlier protests, appear to be his last main stronghold as the revolt that has put the east under rebel control has also reportedly advanced through the west.

Zawiyah, an oil refining town on the main coastal highway 50 km (30 miles) west of Tripoli, has on successive nights fought off attempts by government forces to take control, said witnesses who fled across the Tunisian border at Ras Jdir.

“There are corpses everywhere … It’s a war in the true sense of the word,” said Akila Jmaa, who crossed into Tunisia on Friday after traveling from the town.

Saeed Mustafa, who also drove through the town, said:

“There are and police checkpoints around Zawiyah but there is no presence inside.”

REBEL CONTROL

Army and police in the eastern city of Adjabiya told Al Jazeera television they had gone over to the opposition.

Other reports say the third city, Misrata, 200 km east of Tripoli, is also under rebel control. Such reports are hard to verify, with foreign correspondents unable to travel around western Libya, and telephone and broadband connections poor.

But Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam said the government was in control of the west, south and center, and that his family had no intention of leaving.

“We have plans A, B and C. Plan A is to live and die in Libya. Plan B is to live and die in Libya. Plan C is to live and die in Libya,” he told Turkey’s CNN Turk television.

People in Benghazi, under rebel control, said friends in Tripoli had told them protesters had demonstrated at mosques throughout Tripoli and planned to converge on Green Square.

“At around 14:10 pm (7:10 a.m. EST), hundreds of protesters at the Slatnah Mosque in the Shargia district of Janzour were chanting anti-Gaddafi slogans, such as ‘With our souls, with our blood we protect Benghazi!’,” the Tripoli resident said.

Hadar, a businessman who declined to give his full name, told Reuters by telephone: “I saw two men fall down and someone told me they were shot in the head.”

Ali, another businessman who declined to give his full name, told Reuters by phone that he was standing with a crowd near a mosque on a road leading to Green Square.

“They just started shooting people. People are being killed by snipers but I don’t know how many are dead,” he said.

U.N. High Commissioner for Rights Navi Pillay said “thousands” may have been killed or injured by Gaddafi’s forces in the uprising, and called for international intervention to protect civilians.

OIL FACILITIES

The rebels who have seized Libya’s east said they controlled almost all oil facilities east of the Ras Lanuf terminal. A Reuters reporter saw that the other main terminal, Marsa el Brega, was in rebel control, with soldiers securing the port.

Industry sources said oil shipments were near standstill.

Prosecutor-general Abdul-Rahman al-Abbar became the latest senior official to resign, and told al Arabiya television he was joining the opposition.

In the first practical attempt to enroll the support of Libya’s 6 million citizens since the uprising began, state television announced the government was raising wages and food subsidies and ordering special allowances for all families.

Gaddafi’s four decades of totalitarian rule have stifled any organized opposition or rival political structures, but in the east, ad hoc committees of lawyers, doctors, tribal elders and soldiers appeared to be filling the vacuum left by Gaddafi’s government with some success.

There was little sign of the radical Islamists whom Gaddafi has accused of fomenting the unrest.

The turmoil, inspired by successful revolutions in neighboring Tunisia and , has caused particular global concern because Libya supplies 2 percent of the world’s oil, the bulk of it from wells and supply terminals in the east.

Abdessalam Najib, a petroleum at the Libyan company Agico and a member of the Feb 17. coalition that says it is running Benghazi on an interim basis, said the rebels controlled nearly all oilfields east of Ras Lanuf.

But industry sources told Reuters that crude oil shipments from Libya, the world’s 12th-largest exporter, had all but stopped because of reduced production, a lack of staff at ports and security concerns.

Benchmark Brent oil futures were steady at around $111 on Friday, after a Saudi assurance that it would replace any shortfall in Libyan output brought prices back from Thursday’s peak of nearly $120.

INTERNATIONAL STEPS

President Barack Obama consulted the French, British and Italian leaders on Thursday to discuss coordinated steps.

The U.N. Security Council was to meet on Friday to discuss a French-British proposal for sanctions against Libyan leaders, although a vote is not likely until next week.

French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said the draft would ask for an arms embargo, financial sanctions and a request to the International Criminal Court to indict Libyan leaders.

A German diplomatic source said the European Union was likely to agree its own sanctions early next week.

Switzerland said it was freezing any assets owned by the Gaddafi family.

But Anders Fogh Rasmussen said NATO members had not yet discussed trying to impose a no-fly zone to protect rebel-held areas from air attacks.

Foreign governments mostly focused on evacuating thousands of their citizens trapped by the unrest.

Chinese official media said Beijing had so far evacuated 12,000, or about one third, of its citizens from Libya. A U.S.-chartered ferry that had been trapped in Tripoli for two days by bad weather finally set off for Malta.

Britain said it was sending a naval destroyer and drawing up plans to pull out British oil workers stranded in desert camps.

Gaddafi appealed for calm on Thursday in a telephone call to state television, blaming the revolt on al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

State television said on Friday that each family would get 500 Libyan dinars ($400) to help cover higher food costs, and wages for some public sector workers would rise by 150 percent.

Gaddafi’s on power could depend in part on the performance around Tripoli of an elite military unit led by one of his younger sons, U.S. and European officials and secret diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks showed.

The 32nd Brigade, led by Gaddafi’s son Khamees, is one of three last-ditch “regime protection units” totaling 10,000 men. They are better equipped and more loyal than the rest of the military, which has seen heavy desertion, officials said.

A witness told Reuters the unit had attacked anti-government militias controlling Misrata, although residents said the forces were beaten back by lightly armed local people.

(Additional reporting by Alexander Dziadosz, Ali Abdelatti in Cairo, Amena Bakr in Riyadh, Michael Georgy on the Tunisian border, Stephanie Nebehay and Robert Evans in Geneva; Writing by Kevin Liffey; Editing by Andrew Roche)

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5 killed as Iraqis protest in ‘Day of Rage’

February 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment

5ca1bbeb17ac5e992b92692e53daac3e 5 killed as Iraqis protest in ‘Day of Rage’

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi forces trying to disperse crowds of demonstrators in northern killed 5 people Friday as thousands rallied in cities across the country during what has been billed as the “Day of Rage.”

The Iraqi capital was virtually locked down, with soldiers deployed en masse across central Baghdad, searching protesters trying to enter Liberation Square and closing off the plaza and side streets with razor wire. The heavy security presence reflected the concern of Iraqi officials that demonstrations here could gain traction as they did in and Tunisia, then spiral out of control.

Iraqi helicopters buzzed overhead, while Humvees and trucks took up posts throughout the square, where a group of about 2,000 flag-waving demonstrators shouted “No to unemployment,” and “No to the liar al-Maliki,” referring to Iraqi Nouri al-Maliki.

The protests stretched from the northern city of Mosul to the southern city of Basra, reflecting the widespread anger many Iraqis feel at the ’s seeming inability to improve their lives.

A crowd of angry marchers in the northern city of Hawija, 150 miles (240 kilometers) north of Baghdad, tried to break into the city’s municipal building, said the head of the local city council, Ali Hussein Salih. That prompted security forces to into the air.

“We had given our instructions to police guards who are responsible for protecting this governmental building not to open fire, only if the demonstrators broke into the building,” he said.

Three demonstrators were killed and 15 people wounded, according to the Hawija police chief, Col. Fattah Yaseen.

In Mosul, hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the provincial council building, demanding jobs and better services, when guards opened fire, according to a police official. A police and hospital official said two protesters were killed and five people wounded. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to brief the media.

Black smoke could later be seen billowing from the building.

While in the south, a crowd of about 4,000 people demonstrated in front of the office of Gov. Sheltagh Aboud al-Mayahi in the port city of Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city, 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad. They knocked over one of the concrete barriers and demanded his resignation, saying he’d done nothing to improve city services.

They appeared to get their wish when the commander of Basra operations, Maj. Gen. Mohammad Jawad Hawaidi, told the crowd that the governor had resigned in response to the demonstrations. Iraqi state TV announced that the prime minister asked the governor to step down but made no mention of the protests.

Around 1,000 demonstrators also clashed with police in the western city of Fallujah 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Baghdad clashed with authorities, witnesses said.

The demonstrations have been discussed for weeks on Facebook and in other groups, inspired by the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. More people were expected to join after Friday prayers.

While demonstrations in other Middle Eastern countries have focused on overthrowing the government, the protests in Iraq have centered on corruption, the country’s chronic unemployment and shoddy public services like electricity.

“We want a good life like human beings, not like animals,” said one protester in Baghdad, 44-year-old Khalil Ibrahim. Like many Iraqis, he railed against a government that locks itself in the highly fortified Green Zone, home to the parliament and the Embassy, and is viewed by most of its citizens as more interested in personal gain than public service.

“The government of the Green Zone is terrified of the people’s voice,” he said.

Iraq has seen a number of small-scale protests across the country in recent weeks. While most have been peaceful, a few have turned violent and seven people have been killed. The biggest rallies have been in the northern Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah, 160 miles (260 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad, against the government of the self-ruled region.

But Iraqi religious and government officials appeared nervous over the possibility of a massive turnout for Friday’s rally, and have issued a steady stream of statements trying to dissuade people from taking part.

On the eve of the event, al-Maliki urged people to skip the rally, which he alleged was organized by Saddamists and al-Qaeda — two of his favorite targets of blame for an array of Iraq’s ills. He offered no evidence to support his claim.

The Baghdad Operations Command said terrorists wanting to infiltrate the demonstration may dress up as police or army troops.

Shiite religious leaders have also discouraged people from taking part, making it unlikely that much of the country’s majority Shiite population would turn out.

In the Sunni enclave of Azamiyah, one of the residents said that people there did not want to attend because they feared being labeled Saddamists.

“The government has already convicted anyone who takes part in the demonstrations by accusing them of terrorism,” said 41-year-old Ammar al-Azami.

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General ordering probe into report of mind tricks

February 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

539f07a02be435c7d172da9cbc2eac6e General ordering probe into report of mind tricks

WASHINGTON – The top commander in is ordering an investigation into charges that an army unit trained in psychological operations was improperly told to manipulate American senators to get more and troops for the war.

A senator allegedly targeted said Thursday that he’s confident there will be a review of the facts, but played down the idea that he was manipulated.

The staff of Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, head of the effort to train Afghan security forces, ordered the information operations unit to compile profiles, records and other information on visiting lawmakers to leverage in a campaign to get more assistance, said a story Thursday on Rolling Stone’s website. It says the campaign also improperly targeted the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, and others.

Caldwell’s office denied that the command used information operations cell to influence distinguished visitors. But a press statement from said that the commander of forces in Afghanistan, Gen. would order a probe “based on the information” in the article.

But the episode underscores how murky the dividing line can be between information operations and public affairs officers — one the has wrestled with in recent years as it struggled to win the hearts and minds of populations in and Afghanistan.

Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan said Thursday that the probe will look at the actions taken by Caldwell and his staff and determine whether they were inappropriate or illegal.That distinction, he said, depends on the circumstances.

“It just depends on what it is they are doing. It’s the actions not just the assignment,” said Lapan. “It all depends on how the information is used. There is no blanket prohibition against having that information provided.”

As an example, he said an information operations could be asked to look up someone’s biography online. He added that Petraeus will announce who the investigating will be, but said it does not necessarily have to be someone of the same or higher rank than Caldwell.

The military cell devoted to what is known as “information operations” believed their mission on arriving in Afghanistan in November 2009 was to assess the effects of U.S. propaganda on the Taliban and local Afghan population, Rolling Stone said, quoting Lt. Col. Michael Holmes, whom it identified as the leader of the five-man team.

Holmes said they resisted the order to compile information on congressional delegations that were visiting there and think of what information “to plant inside their heads.” He said they were subjected to retaliation for resisting.

“My job in psy-ops is to play with people’s heads, to get the enemy to behave the way we want them to behave,” Holmes is quoted as saying. “When you ask me to try to use these skills on senators and congressman, you’re crossing a line.”

Those singled out in the campaign included Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., Jack Reed, D-R.I., Al Franken, D-Minn., and Carl Levin, D-Mich. Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., of the House Appropriations Committee; the Czech ambassador to Afghanistan; the German interior minister, and a host of influential think-tank analysts, the story said, without identifying the international figures by name.

Levin pointed out Thursday that he has long been in favor of building up Afghan forces.

“For years, I have strongly and repeatedly advocated for building up Afghan military capability because I believe only the Afghans can truly secure their nation’s future,” Levin said in a statement. “I have never needed any convincing on this point. Quite the opposite, my efforts have been aimed at convincing others of the need for larger, more capable Afghan security forces, and that we and NATO should send more trainers to Afghanistan, rather than more combat troops.”

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Magazine says Army ordered ‘psychological operations’ on lawmakers

February 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

84c6f6eb9f247dabcf48e542a9cc2e89 Magazine says Army ordered ‘psychological operations’ on lawmakers

Some more trouble for President ’s policy, courtesy of Rolling Stone magazine.

It is reporting that “the illegally ordered a team of soldiers specializing in “psychological operations” to manipulate visiting American senators into providing more troops and funding ” for the Afghanistan war.

Among the alleged targets: Senators John McCain, Joe Lieberman, Jack Reed, Al Franken and Carl Levin; Rep. Steve of the House Appropriations Committee — and Adm. Mike Mullen of the Joint of Staff.”

From the Rolling Stone story:

The orders came from the command of Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, a three-star general in charge of training Afghan troops — the linchpin of U.S. strategy in the war.

Over a four-month period last year, a cell devoted to what is known as “information operations” at Camp Eggers in was repeatedly pressured to target visiting senators and other VIPs who met with Caldwell.

When the unit resisted the order, arguing that it violated U.S. laws prohibiting the use of propaganda against American citizens, it was subjected to a campaign of retaliation.

“My job in psy-ops is to play with people’s heads, to get the enemy to behave the way we want them to behave,” says Lt. Colonel Michael Holmes, the leader of the IO unit, who received an official reprimand after bucking orders. “I’m prohibited from doing that to our own people. When you ask me to try to use these skills on senators and congressman, you’re crossing a line.”

Michael Hastings writes that “the incident offers an indication of just how desperate the U.S. command in Afghanistan is to spin American civilian leaders into supporting an increasingly unpopular war.”

Hastings, by the way, is the same writer whose story last year about Gen. Stanley McChrystal cost the Afghanistan commander his job.

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Egypt’s cabinet, under attack, meets for first time

February 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

5856f0f1cc38370552ed13f82419acc6 Egypt’s cabinet, under attack, meets for first time

() – ’s new cabinet met for the first time on Wednesday with high on its agenda and under from the Muslim Brotherhood and others who want it purged of ministers appointed by ousted president Hosni Mubarak.

In preparation for polls that military rulers have promised to hand over power to civilian rule in six months, announced the forming of a new political party on Wednesday.

The Brotherhood and other political groups have called for another million--march on Friday to fill Cairo’s central Tahrir Square, which was the nerve-center for opposition to Mubarak’s 30-year iron rule, to call for a new cabinet.

Banned under Mubarak and playing an increasingly active role in Egyptian political life since the 18-day uprising that toppled Mubarak, the Brotherhood wants the lifting of emergency , freeing of political prisoners and a purge of the cabinet.

The cabinet will discuss security issues in the post-Mubarak era and the provision of basic foods and subsidies on Wednesday, political sources said. Despite political pressure, there are unlikely to be further changes in the cabinet, they added.

Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces that is running the Arab world’s most populous nation, swore in 10 new ministers on Tuesday, some who had opposed Mubarak, but key portfolios were unchanged.

“The main ministries of defense, justice, interior and foreign remain unchanged, signaling Egypt’s remain in the hands of Mubarak and his cronies,” senior Brotherhood member Essam el-Erian told Reuters, reacting to the new line-up.

In the run-up to presidential and parliamentary elections, a committee is amending the constitution to dismantle the apparatus that propped up Mubarak’s rule and political parties are being registered ahead of the polls.

“EGYPT THE FREE”

A former diplomat, Abdallah Alashaal, was quoted by MENA news agency on Wednesday as saying he was setting up a new political party “Egypt the Free” to participate in the polls.

“The establishment of the party comes within the framework and desire to make a real representation of the youth of January 25 revolution during the coming period,” Alashaal said.

The Brotherhood and youth groups are anxious that the emergency law, imposed after the assassination of Anwar Sadat by Islamist soldiers from his in 1981, be lifted but some Cairo residents were not so sure.

“For now, they shouldn’t cancel the emergency law because there are thousands and thousands of thugs out there but ultimately, yes, they have to remove it because police were mistreating lot of people through it,” Somaya Mohamed, a retiree, told Reuters on Wednesday.

“I don’t see anything wrong with the politics of () Ahmed Shafiq, he has a white track record,” he said, adding: “I think the youth is simply against anything that the president said that’s all, they wanted to put an end to him and whatever he said.”

Another priority facing the cabinet is getting the nation back to work and to stop the protests and strikes that have damaged an economy that had already been damaged by the turmoil of the revolution which erupted on January 25.

The Egyptian stock market, which closed two days after the uprising started, has announced that it will stay shut until next week.

(Writing by Peter Millership)

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Libyans: Food shortage, more violence by security forces in Tripoli

February 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

6189480bd3936a5b3855cc01498b3952 Libyans: Food shortage, more violence by security forces in Tripoli

(Phatforums) - This update is unconfirmed - information is sourced from groups.

The burning of the soldiers who did not want to shoot the protesters is unconfirmed yet, you must know that there are other people that would do such thing so that people think it's the president and more people go against him, I cannot say anything about that.

There were always small protesters against him, but now it's bigger.
Yes, Youtube was blocked 1 year ago (or 2 not sure sry) because many were flaming him on the Youtube videos showing him.

Facebook has been blocked 3-4 days ago, I still access it with a private proxy though, and is blocked too.

The is slow, and phone connections are hard to reach, but we all got a big bonus We got 10 credits in our phone!

I do not want to go on your radio station or whatever, I might get in trouble. I can get many images and videos (I already have some images like a dead body of a 50 cal sniper bullet shot through his head, I do not want to post it, it's very very strong and ugly).

I was also thinking to make a Libyan Facebook, but that might get me in trouble

UNCONFIRMED NEWS: People say that a meeting will be held, or is being now, that the high ranked government people offered the president the same payment as he is getting now, everything same, offering him FULL security in Libya, and his family, but just to leave his current position as a leader. It is an important meeting, but unconfirmed.

(Reuters) - Libya's Muammar Gaddafi used tanks, helicopters and warplanes to fight a growing revolt, witnesses said on Tuesday, as the veteran leader scoffed at reports he was fleeing after four decades in power.

The U.N. refugee agency urged to Libya's neighbors not to turn back those fleeing the violence, as hundreds of refugees streamed into on tractors and trucks, describing a wave of killing and banditry unleashed by the revolt.

In the eastern town of Al Bayda, resident Marai Al Mahry told Reuters by telephone that 26 people including his brother Ahmed had been shot dead overnight by Gaddafi loyalists.

"They shoot you just for walking on the street," he said, sobbing uncontrollably as he appealed for help.

Protesters were attacked with tanks and warplanes, he said.

"The only thing we can do now is not give up, no surrender, no going back. We will die anyways, whether we like it or not. It is clear that they don't care whether we live or not. This is genocide," said Mahry, 42.

In Tripoli, residents told Reuters there was no visible security force presence on the streets. The only police present were directing traffic, they said, the day after reports that warplanes had bombed portions of the capital and mercenaries had shot civilians.

Refugees fleeing into Egypt told of a wave of violence and crime.

"Five people died on the street where I live," Mohamed Jalaly, 40, told Reuters at Salum on his way to Cairo from Benghazi. "You leave Benghazi and then you have ... nothing but gangs and youths with weapons," he added. "The way from Benghazi is extremely dangerous," he said.

Libyan guards have withdrawn from their side of the border and Egypt's new military rulers -- who took power following the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak on February11 -- said the main crossing would be kept open round-the-clock to allow the sick and wounded to enter.

Libyan security forces have cracked down fiercely on demonstrators across the country, with fighting spreading to Tripoli after erupting in Libya's oil-producing east last week, in a reaction to decades of repression and following uprisings that have toppled leaders in Tunisia and Egypt.

Watch says at least 233 people have been killed and opposition groups put the figure much higher but independent verification is impossible.

The revolt in OPEC member Libya has driven oil prices to a 2 1/2 year high above $108 a barrel.

As the fighting has intensified some supporters have abandoned Gaddafi. Tripoli's envoy to India, Ali al-Essawi, resigned and told Reuters that African mercenaries had been recruited to help put down protests.

"The fall of Gaddafi is the imperative of the people in streets," he said. The justice minister also quit and a group of army officers urged soldiers to "join the people." Two pilots flew their warplanes to nearby Malta.

DEFIANCE AND CONDEMNATION
Gaddafi's son Saif on Sunday vowed his father would keep fighting "until the last man standing" and the Libyan leader appeared on television after days of seclusion to dismiss reports he had fled to the Venezuela of his ally Hugo Chavez.

"I want to show that I'm in Tripoli and not in Venezuela. Do not believe the channels belonging to stray dogs," said Gaddafi, who has ruled Libya with a mixture of populism and tight control since taking power in a military coup in 1969.

World powers have condemned the use of force against protesters, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon accusing Libya of firing on civilians from warplanes and helicopters. The Security Council was to discuss Libya at 9 a.m. EST.

Washington and Europe have demanded an end to the violence and Germany's Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said: "A ruling family, threatening its people with civil war, has reached the end of the line."

Demonstrations spread to Tripoli from the second city Benghazi, cradle of the revolt that has engulfed a number of towns and which residents say is now in the hands of protestors.

Residents said anxious shoppers were queuing outside stores to try to stock up on food and drink. Some shops were closed.

In Tripoli, one resident said locals were patrolling their neighborhood at night to protect it from roaming mercenaries, reporting sniper and the use of military transport helicopters to ferry security forces about.

"Gaddafi obviously does not have any limits. We knew he was crazy, but it's still a terrible shock to see him turning mercenaries on his own people and just mowing down unarmed demonstrators," he told Lisa Goldman, a Canadian-Israeli journalist based in Tel Aviv.

ENERGY DISRUPTION

Spain's Repsol suspended all operations in Libya and trade sources reported operations at Libyan oil ports had been disrupted due to the unrest. Others said gas supplies from Libya to Italy had slowed since Late Monday but Italy said they had not yet been interrupted.

Shell said it was pulling out its expatriate staff from Libya temporarily and a number of states were seeking to evacuate their nationals.

The upheavals which deposed the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt have shaken the Arab world and inspired protests across the Middle East and North Africa, threatening the grip of long-entrenched autocratic leaders.

A flamboyant figure with his flowing robes and bevy of female bodyguards, Gaddafi was famously branded a "mad dog" by one president and has long been accused by the West of links to and revolutionary movements.

But this changed when Libya renounced its weapons of mass destruction to secure an end to its international isolation and a rapprochement with western governments, keen to tap its oil and gas wealth and lucrative trade and investment deals.

0ddd2c5ccb45847be6b7c8bac9bef84f Libyans: Food shortage, more violence by security forces in Tripoli

(Reporting by Tarek Amara, Christian Lowe, Tarek Amara, Marie-Louise Gumuchian, Souhail Karam; Brian Love, Daren Butler; Henry Foy in New Delhi; Writing by Jon Boyle; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Giles Elgood)

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Libya divided as revolt hits Tripoli

February 21, 2011 By 1 Comment

1530918e55985319907d1d5015da73eb Libya divided as revolt hits Tripoli

() – Dozens of people were reported killed in Libya overnight as anti-government protests reached the capital for the first time and several cities in the east appeared to be in the hands of the opposition.

One of Muammar Gaddafi’s sons said the veteran leader would fight the popular revolt that has shaken his 40-year rule until “the last standing”.

Anti-government protesters rallied in Tripoli’s streets, tribal and religious leaders spoke out against Gaddafi, and units defected to the opposition in a revolt that has cost the lives of more than 200 people.

Protesters said they had taken control of Benghazi and other cities, severely testing Gaddafi’s iron grip, with some analysts suggesting the country was heading for civil war.

“Libya is the most likely candidate for civil war because the government has lost control over part of its own territory,” said Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Doha Center in Qatar.

Output at one of the country’s oil fields was reported to have been stopped by a workers’ strike and some European oil companies withdrew expatriate workers and suspended operations. Most of the country’s oil fields are in the east, south of Benghazi, the cradle of the current unrest.

Anti-government protests have also broken out in the central town of Ras Lanuf, the site of an oil refinery and petrochemical complex, Libya’s Quryna newspaper reported on its site on Monday.

In signs of disagreement inside Libya’s ruling elite, the justice minister resigned in protest at the “excessive use of violence” against protesters.

In India, Libya’s ambassador said he was resigning in protest at the violent crackdown.

A coalition of Libyan Muslim leaders told all Muslims it was their duty to rebel against the Libyan leadership because of its “bloody crimes against humanity”.

European nations watched developments in Libya with a growing sense of alarm after the government in Tripoli said it would suspend cooperation on stemming the flow of illegal immigrants across the Mediterranean.

British David Cameron, on a visit to the region, said in Libya were appalling and unacceptable.

Al Jazeera quoted medical sources as saying 61 people had been killed in the latest protests in Tripoli.

It said forces were looting banks and other government institutions in Tripoli, and protesters had broken into several police stations and wrecked them.

A Reuters reporter in Tripoli said residents were stocking up on essential goods, apparently in anticipation of new clashes after nightfall. There were long queues at food shops and long lines of cars at fuel stations.

The building where the General People’s Congress, or parliament, meets in Tripoli was on on Monday, as was a police station in one of the eastern suburbs.

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