Gaddafi defiant, govt said talking with rebels

TRIPOLI: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi urged his people early on Monday to “liberate Libya” from NATO and traitors, a day after rebels captured a key town on the road west to Tunisia, severing Tripoli’s main supply route.

Late on Sunday, representatives of Gaddafi’s government were holding talks with rebels at a hotel on the southern Tunisian island of Djerba, a source with direct knowledge of the talks said — though the government spokesman denied it.

The talks followed a dramatic advance by the rebels that won them control of the town of Zawiyah, 50 km (30 miles) west of Tripoli on the coast, enabling them to halt food and fuel supplies from Tunisia to Gaddafi’s stronghold in the capital.

Tripoli was not under immediate threat from a rebel attack, but rebel forces are now in their strongest position since the uprising against 41 years of Gaddafi’s rule began in February, controlling the coast both east and west of Tripoli.

The rebels are helped by NATO aircraft which, under a U.N. mandate to protect civilians from Gaddafi’s forces, are bombing military facilities and equipment that are trying to crush the rebel fighters.

Gaddafi’s speech on Monday, delivered over a poor quality telephone line and broadcast by state television in audio only, was his first public address since rebel fighters launched their latest offensive, the biggest in months.

“The Libyan people will remain and the Fateh revolution (which brought Gaddafi to power in 1969) will remain. Move forward, challenge, pick up your weapons, go to the fight for liberating Libya inch by inch from the traitors and from NATO,” the Libyan leader said.

“Get ready for the fight … The blood of martyrs is fuel for the battlefield,” he said, in what state television said was a live speech.

In Djerba late on Sunday, security staff turned away a Reuters reporter from the hotel where the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the talks between rebel and government representatives were being held.

Lights were on inside the hotel and a man in jeans and t-shirt, a list in his hand, was standing outside with hotel security staff.

In Tripoli, government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim blamed Western leaders and the media for the spread of rumours that the government was engaged in talks on the leader’s departure from Libya.

“This information is absolutely incorrect and it is part of a media war against us. Their target is to confuse us, break our spirit, and shake our morale,” he said.

“The leader is here in Libya, fighting for the freedom of our nation. He will not leave Libya,” Ibrahim said.

Gaddafi’s characteristically defiant speech followed a day of action across a swathe of northwest Libya during which rebels said they had seized the town of Surman, next door to Zawiyah, there was fighting in the town of Garyan that controls the southern access to Tripoli, and shooting could be heard near the main Libyan-Tunisian border crossing.

REBEL FLAG

Rebels from the Western Mountains region to the south advanced into Zawiyah late on Saturday, and early on Sunday, about 50 rebel fighters were milling around near the central market, triumphantly shouting “Allahu Akbar!” (“God is greatest”).

The red, black and green rebel flag was flying from a shop. At the point where it passes through Zawiyah, the main highway linking Tripoli to Tunisia was empty of traffic.

Rebel fighters told Reuters there were still forces loyal to Gaddafi in the town, including snipers on tall buildings. Bursts of artillery and machinegun fire could be heard.

One rebel fighter said Gaddafi’s forces controlled the oil refinery on the northern edge of Zawiyah — a strategic target because it is the only one still functioning in western Libya and Gaddafi’s forces depend on it for fuel.

The fighting was spreading west from Zawiyah along the coastal highway towards the main Ras Jdir border crossing with Tunisia. A rebel spokesman called Abdulrahman said rebels had seized Surman, the next town west along the coast from Zawiyah.

But at the border crossing to Tunisia, Libyan customs and immigration officers were operating as usual, despite reports of clashes between rebels and pro-Gaddafi forces in the area late on Saturday.

On another front in Sunday’s fighting, heavy gunfire could be heard from the town Of Garyan, a Reuters reporter in the area said. A rebel fighter told Reuters “We control 70 percent of Garyan. There is still fighting taking place at the moment.”

Government spokesman Ibrahim said Zawiyah and Garyan were “under our full control” but that there were small pockets of fighting in two other locations in the area around Tripoli.

The coastal highway between Tripoli and Tunisia had not been blocked by the fighting, Ibrahim said in a telephone interview on Sunday, but foreigners were not being allowed to use the route “to save them from any bullets here or there”.

Rebels, backed by NATO warplanes, have been trying since February to end Gaddafi’s rule in the bloodiest of the “Arab Spring” uprisings convulsing the Middle East.

After a period of deadlock, the rebels’ advance to the Mediterranean coast near Tripoli represents a major shift in the balance of forces.

Gaddafi says the rebels are armed criminals and al Qaeda militants, and has described the NATO campaign as an act of colonial aggression aimed at stealing Libya’s oil. AGENCIES

Libya state TV says NATO helicopter shot down

CAIRO: Libyan forces shot down a NATO helicopter in the sea off the coast of the town of Zlitan on Friday, Libyan state television said.

It quoted a military spokesman as saying it was the third aircraft to be shot down by Libyan forces since NATO began air strikes on Libya in March. There was no independent confirmation of the report. AGENCIES

Air strikes hit Sabha in central Libya: Libya TV

TUNIS: Western air strikes have targeted military and civilian areas in the town of Sabha, Libyan state television reported on Saturday, quoting a military source.

Ayodhya case: Indian SC rejects deferral plea

The Indian Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a plea to delay judgment on whether Hindus or Muslims should control a disputed holy site, clearing the way for a verdict in the explosive case later this week.
The fight over the compound in the central Indian town of Ayodhya has shaken the core of modern India and led to repeated outbreaks of communal violence that killed thousands of people. A lower court had been scheduled to issue its ruling in the 60-year-old case last Friday on whether the site should be given to the Hindu community to build a temple to the god Rama or returned to the Muslim community to rebuild the 16th-century Babri Mosque.
But the Supreme Court deferred that ruling so it could hear arguments Tuesday on whether a decision on the dispute, which dates back more than 150 years, should be delayed further to allow the two communities a chance to settle it amicably.
I told the court during arguments that there was no chance of a settlement. The High Court should be allowed to pronounce its judgment, said Zafaryab Jilani, a lawyer for the Sunni Waqf Board, a Muslim organization that was part of the original suit. On Tuesday afternoon the court dismissed the motion without giving any reasons for its decision, said Mukul Rohatgi, a lawyer who argued for the delay. The case has been stuck in India’s famously sluggish court system for so long that most of the original petitioners have died awaiting a decision. The Allahabad High Court will issue its verdict Thursday afternoon, said Hari Shankar Dubey, a court official. The court was in a rush to announce the decision before one of the judges on the panel is set to retire at the end of the week, which could force the court to put together a new panel and hear the case from the beginning. The government fears that any verdict could set off a repeat of the communal violence that killed 2,000 people in nationwide rioting in 1992 after a mob of Hindu extremists descended on Ayodhya and tore down the Babri Mosque. Hindus protested that the mosque, built in 1528 by the Mughal emperor Babur, had been erected at the birthplace of Rama.The government had appealed for calm ahead of the verdict, sent thousands of extra police to Ayodhya and barred anyone from sending mass text messages to prevent agitators from mobilizing violent protests.Ravi Shankar Prasad, an attorney who opposed the delay, said the government’s concerns should not affect the court process.The question of consequences is irrelevant, he said.Police and paramilitary soldiers patrolled the streets of Ayodhya on Tuesday and road barriers were erected across roads leading to the town.Anil Kumar, superintendent of police, said vehicles entering the town were checked and police were keeping track of the movement of groups of people.However, there appeared to be little tension in the town ahead of the verdict and all sides were counseling patience. The loser in the case will almost certainly appeal, meaning a final decision could still be years away.

Earthquake rattles southern California

LOS ANGELES: A magnitude 5.4 earthquake rattled Los Angeles, San Diego and parts of southern California on Wednesday, the United States Geological Survey said.

The epicenter of the quake, which struck at 2353 GMT, was located 13 miles (22 kilometers) northwest of Borrego Springs, 58 miles (94 kilometers) northeast of San Diego, and at a depth of 11.7 kilometers (7.3 miles) USGS said on its web site.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. The quake struck just as people headed home from their jobs and it was felt for about 30 seconds in San Diego, Los Angeles and other parts of southern California. It was felt most in high rises. Authorities in Los Angeles, which was 158 miles (245 kilometers) away from the quake”s epicenter, said the city”s international airport was operating normally.

Asian stocks down sharply

TOKYO: Asian markets tumbled Wednesday, extending a worldwide plunge in stocks as evidence mounts that the global economic recovery is stumbling.

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Asian stocks down sharply

Villa goal earns Spain quarter-final spot

CAPE TOWN: A goal by striker David Villa earned Spain a 1-0 win over neighbours Portugal and a World Cup quarter-final place after an entertaining match on Tuesday in which the Portuguese also created several chances.

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Villa goal earns Spain quarter-final spot

Petraeus sees tough fight ahead in Afghan

WASHINGTON: US General David Petraeus, named as the new commander in Afghanistan, touted signs “progress” in the Afghan war but warned of a “tough fight” ahead against Taliban insurgents.

The NATO-led force “has achieved progress in several locations” this year, including in the southern Helmand province, Petraeus told senators at a hearing on his nomination as the next commander.

The general”s insistence that the campaign was making headway came amid fraying public support for the war and growing impatience in Congress about the nearly nine-year-old mission.

US President Barack Obama called on Petraeus to take the helm in Kabul after sacking General Stanley McChrystal as commander last week.

McChrystal was forced to step down over a bombshell magazine article that quoted him and his staff disparaging their civilian counterparts in the administration, including Obama himself, the US envoy to the region and the US ambassador.

Seeking to reassure lawmakers about festering tensions between military and civilian leaders, Petraeus vowed to forge close cooperation with his civilian counterparts in the administration.

“We are all firmly united in seeking to forge unity of effort,” Petraeus told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

He recounted how during his time in Iraq, he worked “very closely” with the then-US ambassador in Baghdad and that he would do the same with the American ambassador in Kabul, Karl Eikenberry, as well as NATO and UN envoys.

McChrystal and Eikenberry had a tense relationship and had sharply disagreed last year over plans for a major troop “surge” in Afghanistan, which Obama approved over the ambassador”s objections, which were leaked to the media.

Petraeus said there had been “security gains” over the past year in Afghanistan and credited McChrystal for reshaping the campaign.

But he warned that violence would likely rise as Islamist insurgents seek to test NATO”s will and push back against US-led offensives.

“My sense is that the tough fighting will continue; indeed, it may get more intense in the next few months,” he said.

“As we take away the enemy”s safe havens and reduce the enemy”s freedom of action, the insurgents will fight back.”

The general”s comments came as the death toll of foreign soldiers in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban came to 100 for the month of June alone.

An announcement by the Pentagon on the death of an American soldier on June 24 in the western province of Farah took the toll for the year to date to 320.

The toll for 2009 was 520.

Suicide bomber kills five as 12 die in Iraq unrest

TIKRIT: A suicide bomber killed five people in northern Iraq on Tuesday as bombs in Baghdad and other deadly attacks raised the toll to 12 dead, including an Iraqi general, security officials said.

The suicide attack in the refinery and power station town of Baiji, 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the capital, targeted a police patrol and also wounded 18 people, said police in the Salaheddin provincial capital of Tikrit.

In Baghdad, the general, whom police identified only by his first name Khodr, was blown up by a magnetic bomb in Aden Square in Kadhimiyah.

A second magnetic bomb killed one person and wounded two outside an army officers” club in Al-Hurriya in northwest Baghdad, police said. There was no immediate word on whether the casualties were soldiers or civilians.

And a roadside bomb killed one person and wounded four in a car in southern district of Dora, police said.

In the heart of Baghdad, meanwhile, police thwarted a bomb attack on a convoy transporting cash to and from the central bank, detonating it in a controlled explosion after clearing the area, the interior ministry said.

The bomb was planted in a rubbish skip in the Rasheed Street area and the explosion was heard across the city centre.

A bomb disposal team was called in after police spotted the device and it was blown up without any casualties, a ministry official said.

There have been a string of attacks by insurgents against economic targets in Iraq in recent weeks, including a suicide attack on the central bank in Baghdad, which killed 18 people, and two suicide car bombings outside the Baghdad branch of the Trade Bank of Iraq that left 26 people dead.

North of Baghdad, four members of a family, including a 10-year-old girl, were killed in the town of Khalis, in Diyala province, a security official said.

“Gunmen carrying rifles and pistols burst in and fired, killing the girl and three men aged between 25 and 35,” said the official.

And west of Baghdad, troops killed a suicide bomber in Al-Anbar province foiling a multiple attack on Muslim worshippers gathering before dawn for prayers, the defence ministry said.

The Iraqi unit had lain in ambush for the bomber after receiving an intelligence tip-off about the planned attack on the Hay al-Akrad mosque in the town of Al-Khaldiya, east of the provincial capital Ramadi, the ministry said.

In another incident on the northern outskirts of the capital, saboteurs blew up a key oil pipeline in Rashidiyeh district, Baghdad operations command said.

The pipeline links an oil refinery and power station in Dora with Baiji, a key junction on the supply network from Iraq”s northern oil fields around Kirkuk.

Bachchans shine at Raavan world premiere

LONDON: Bollywood came to London on Wednesday as Indian cinema’s star couple, husband and wife Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, hit the red carpet for the world premiere of the Hindi film Raavan.

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Bachchans shine at Raavan world premiere

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