Forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi have launched air strikes and engaged in ground fighting with rebel forces advancing from the eastern part of the country.
Fighting in Libya is now well into its third week with both sides claiming successes.
Around the central town of Bin Jawwad, fighting intensified Sunday as government forces pushed back rebels who previously had gained ground.
Early in the day, Libya's state television reported that pro-Gadhafi groups retook towns in the disputed western and eastern parts of Libya.
Opposition spokesman Wanif Bou Hanada disputed the reports. "The revolutionaries continue to control the territories that they liberated and the information broadcast on the government radios is not correct," he said. "Their forces are not where they say they are and journalists can see that for themselves."
Outside the port city of Ras Lanuf, rebel fighters are in control. The fighters said they have repelled several attacks by fixed wing aircraft and helicopters.
Ras Lanuf is a major oil facility and rebels manning anti-aircraft weapons said they will defend their positions against any attack by government forces.
In the city of Zawiyak, west of the capital, Tripoli, there are reports that rebel groups have repelled government counter offensive.
In Tripoli, residents awoke Sunday to the sound of gunfire, but the city remains in government control.
As the day wore on, Mr. Gadhafi's supporters took to the streets to show support for their leader.
With both sides declaring that they have the momentum, the crisis here is volatile. Neither the rebels nor the Libyan government seem willing to back down.
The United Nations is calling on Libya to allow it immediate access to the rebel-held western city of Misrata, following reports of fighting and deaths in the area.
U.N. emergency relief coordinator Valerie Amos said Sunday that people "are injured and dying and need help immediately." She also called on all sides of the conflict to "ensure that civilians are protected from harm."
The U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the Red Crescent Society in Benghazi reported that Misrata, 200 kilometers east of Tripoli, is under attack by government forces, and that the Libyan Red Crescent is trying to get ambulances from Tripoli in to collect the dead and injured.
Libyan leader Moammmr Gadhafi's government has retained control of Tripoli in western Libya, while rebel forces trying to topple his government have taken over much of the east.
Protests against Mr. Gadhafi erupted in mid-February, with demonstrators calling for an end to his 42-year rule. The Libyan leader has refused demands to step down, at one point saying he expects to die a "martyr."
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A British diplomatic team that reportedly includes special forces soldiers has left Libya after being detained by rebels near the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
Britain says the team left Libya Sunday after running into "difficulties." It did not confirm the presence of special forces but Foreign Secretary William Hague said Britain would send another delegation to meet rebel leaders soon.
Britain's Sunday Times newspaper earlier reported that Libyan rebels had captured as many as eight British special forces soldiers and a junior diplomat Friday who were on a covert mission to put the diplomat in touch with rebel leaders.
The newspaper said the rebels were angered by the presence of foreign troops on Libyan soil because they fear Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi could use any evidence of western forces in the country to rally patriotic support for his regime.
The Times said the Britons were taken to the rebel stronghold city of Benghazi to be questioned.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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(( Title: U.S./Libya/No-Fly Zone HEAD: US Senators Push for a Libya No-Fly Zone DATE: 03/06/11 19:12:07.000 BYLINE: William Ide DATELINE: Washington, D.C. NUMBER:648387 TYPE: CR ))
They downplay Pentagon concerns about its risks
Several prominent U.S. senators on Sunday stepped up their push for a no-fly zone over Libya and downplayed Pentagon concerns about its risks.
Democrat John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CBS television's "Face the Nation" program that the United States and its allies should plan to set up a no-fly zone over Libya. "[We should] prepare a no-fly zone in conjunction with our allies, not implement it. Certainly, [the] first hope would be, if it were called on, to be done only in the context of international agreement and sanction," he said.
Kerry said the last thing the United States should consider is military intervention in Libya. But Kerry added he does not believe that establishing a no-fly zone crosses that line. "We don't want troops on the ground; they don't want troops on the ground. That would be counterproductive. I think there are a number things we can do in between that and we need to do them," he said.
In comments to lawmakers last week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said a move to suppress Libyan air forces would begin with an attack on Libya to destroy the country's air defenses.
Pentagon officials have also said that setting up a no-fly zone would be an extraordinarily complex operation.
But Senator Kerry has a different view. "It's not a big air force [i.e., the Libyan Air Force]. We are not talking about this gargantuan kind of force that we face. But more importantly, I would only consider it's implementation if [Moammar] Gadhafi himself were using it as a means of terror, as a means of massacring large numbers of civilians. And I think it is only then that the global community would say, 'Uh-oh, we've got to do something'," he said.
Kerry added that the United States could bomb Libyan airports and runways, making them unusable.
John McCain, the senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told ABC television's "This Week" program that setting up a no-fly zone would send a message to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and encourage rebels, who are outgunned in the air.
"Their air assets are not large. Their air defenses are somewhat antiquated and this would send a signal to Gadhafi that President [Obama] is serious when he says we need for Gadhafi to go," he said.
Other U.S. lawmakers, including Senate Minority Leader Republican Mitch McConnell, are calling for consideration of a no-fly zone as well as other measures, including aiding and arming rebels who are fighting against Moammar Gadhafi.
Senator John McCain says the United States can assist in several ways. "[W]ith humanitarian, intelligence, providing them with some training and other things that we could do as they form up a provisional government in Benghazi," he said.
On Sunday, the United Nations called on Libya to grant it immediate access to the rebel-held western city of Misrata, following reports of fighting and deaths there. The world body called on all sides to ensure that civilians are protected from harm.
Protests against Mr. Gadhafi erupted last month, with demonstrators calling for an end to his 42-year rule. The Libyan leader has refused to step down, saying he expects to die a "martyr."
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Egypt's new prime minister named a caretaker Cabinet Sunday as armed men in plain clothes attacked hundreds of protesters demanding reform of the country's hated state security services at a rally outside the Interior Ministry in Cairo.
Dozens of men wielding knives, firebombs and rocks confronted demonstrators as Egyptian soldiers fired into the air and used stun guns to disperse a crowd that wanted to storm the state security agency inside the ministry building.
In the last two days, protesters have broken into 11 offices belonging to the state security police across the country, seizing documents they feared would be destroyed by officers to cover up alleged abuses by the force.
Dismantling the agency has been a key demand of the protest groups that led the uprising against former president Hosni Mubarak.
In a move designed to respond to such demands, Prime Minister Essam Sharaf named Mansour el-Essawy the country's new interior minister Sunday. He will replace Habib al-Adly, who is on trial for corruption charges. Mr. Sharaf also replaced the key foreign affairs and justice ministers.
His purge of Mubarak-era Cabinet officials meets some of the demands by reformers.
Nabil Elaraby, a former judge at the International Court of Justice, accepted his appointment as foreign minister. He will replace Ahmed Aboul Gheit, who has held the post since 2004 and is the most prominent of Mr. Mubarak's ministers to remain this long.
The reshuffle is another step by Egypt's ruling military council to respond to popular demands as it charts a course to parliamentary and presidential elections later this year. Last week, the council appointed Mr. Sharaf, a former transportation minister, to replace Ahmed Shafiq, whom Mr. Mubarak appointed during his last weeks in power.
Mr. Sharaf, a civil engineer, has the backing of pro-democracy youth protest groups. The new Cabinet will require the approval of the council, which is headed by Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi.
Late Saturday, protesters stormed the main state security headquarters in the Cairo suburb of Nasr City, seizing documents, lists, photos, maps, diagrams and videotapes. On Friday, protesters said they found burned and shredded documents when they raided another security compound in the northern city of Alexandria.
A series of suspicious fires in security and financial investigation offices has some Egyptians convinced that senior officials are trying to destroy evidence.
By Sunday, protesters already were uploading some of the seized documents onto the Internet and disseminating them via Twitter and other social media sites. Egypt's prime minister and state prosecutor have urged people to return materials, in order to preserve national security.
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Thousands of anti-government demonstrators in Bahrain rallied Sunday outside the prime minister's office -- their latest push in a weeks-long campaign for political reform.
The protesters chanted slogans against the ruling family. Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa has been in power for 40 years and is the uncle of King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa.
The Shi'ite-led opposition in the small Gulf island nation has been demanding the resignation of the entire government, which is dominated by the al-Khalifa family.
Protesters say they want the Sunni monarchy to transfer powers to an elected government that is representative of the Gulf state's majority Shi'ites.
The opposition also complains about unemployment being particularly high among Shi'ites. It claims that the government grants Bahraini citizenship to Sunni foreigners, which the opposition says takes away jobs Shi'ites can potentially access and boosts Sunni numbers in the small Gulf state.
In a move analysts say is a gesture toward the opposition, King Hamad has ordered the creation of 20,000 new government jobs.
A government crackdown on opposition protests that began February 14 killed seven demonstrators before the island state's rulers agreed, under pressure from their Western allies, to allow peaceful demonstrations to continue.
Manama's Pearl Square has been the epicenter of the protests.
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The head of the African Union Commission has wrapped up talks in Ivory Coast by inviting both of the country's rival presidents to a meeting in Ethiopia to resolve their political crisis.
African Union Commission chief Jean Ping left Ivory Coast's commercial capital after separate talks with incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo and the United Nations-certified winner of November's presidential vote, former prime minister Alassane Ouattara.
Ping went to Abidjan with a message from the presidents of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania, South Africa, and Tanzania. Those five heads of state make up an African Union panel given the task of solving Ivory Coast's political crisis by the end of March.
During his time in Abidjan, Ping did not publicly disclose the content of that message, but he did invite both Gbagbo and Ouattara to African Union-sponsored talks in Addis Ababa Thursday.
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Ouattara says he plans to attend that event. If he does, it will be the first time he has left the besieged Abidjan resort-hotel where he has been living since election results were announced in early December. There has been no response so far from Gbagbo or from the head of Ivory Coast's constitutional council, Paul Yao N'Dre, who was also invited.
Gbagbo's claim to the presidency is based on N'Dre's council annulling as fraudulent nearly ten percent of all ballots cast. Ivory Coast's electoral commission and the United Nations have certified results that show Mr. Ouattara won that vote.
The standoff between their rival governments in Abidjan has grown increasing violent over the past week. On Thursday, Gbagbo security forces shot dead at least seven women during a protest calling for Mr. Gbagbo to step down.
Gbagbo militants have set up barricades in pro-Ouattara neighborhoods. And Ouattara supporters say Gbagbo's youth wing is ransacking the homes of members of Ouattara's cabinet.
There was also fighting in western provinces, near the border with Liberia, were Gbagbo government troops and rebels who back Ouattara have broken a six-year-old ceasefire.
The United Nations says at 365 people have been killed in violence since November's vote.
African Union efforts to end the conflict follow failures by the West African regional alliance and the former presidents of Nigeria and South Africa.
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Estonia's center-right coalition will hold on to power after winning the most seats in Sunday's parliamentary election.
With almost all the votes counted, Prime Minister Andrus Ansip's Reform Party appears headed to win 33 seats, while its partner, the Pro Patria and Res Republica Union, is set to win 23 seats.
That would give their coalition a 56-seat majority - a gain of six seats.
According to the preliminary results, the main opposition Center Party won 26 seats and the Social Democrats won 19 seats. Six other parties failed to win any seats.
Voters rewarded Mr. Ansip's government for pulling Estonia out of a deep recession without turning to the European Union or International Monetary Fund for help.
Estonia, which adopted the euro currency in January, is predicted to have the lowest deficit among euro countries this year.
But despite recent job growth, unemployment remains high.
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North and south Sudanese negotiators are reporting progress on a range of difficult issues that need to be settled before the South becomes independent in July. But the potentially explosive issue of control over the oil-rich Abyei region is being put aside for settlement at a higher level.
The recent deadly flare-up in Abyei was on everyone's mind during five days of talks on matters that were either too complex or too sensitive to settle before South Sudan's independence referendum.
The importance of these talks was underlined by the presence of Southern People's Liberation Movement Secretary-General Pagan Amum even though he is being treated for malaria. The government side was led by a minister in President Omar al-Bashir's office.
But Abyei is considered too sensitive even for these high-level talks. The humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders says tens of thousands of people have fled Abyei in the past week after an outbreak of fighting left at least 70 people dead.
The leader of the African Union mediation panel for Sudan, former South African president Thabo Mbeki, says the sensitivity of the Abyei issue requires that it be taken up at the highest level.
"In 10 days or thereabouts, we will be having a meeting of President Bashir and First Vice President Salva Kiir, the president of the Government of Southern Sudan on the Abyei matter. Last time the panel had an interaction with them on the issue they had agreed they would try to have it resolved by the end of March. But even this violence that erupted now emphasizes the point that this matter should be resolved," said Mbeki.
Observers reported a harmonious atmosphere at this opening session on issues ranging from oil-revenue sharing to settling $38 billion in external debt to the establishment of a South Sudanese currency. The two sides agreed to make a joint appeal for debt relief at upcoming World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings.
A separate ad hoc committee on border demarcation is said to have reached agreement on 80% of the frontier, though the final 20% will be the hardest. Mbeki expressed confidence all outstanding issues could be settled in time for the July 9th independence date.
"There is a shared commitment between the two Sudanese parties to resolve these issues, and indeed to make sure there is no return to war. Indeed, that is why the matter of Abyei it was decided it would be dealt with not even at the level of the secretary-general here, but it must be dealt with at the level of the presidents," said Mbeki.
The 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, or CPA, that ended more than two decades of war in Sudan called for Abyei's status to be settled by a referendum. The poll was to be held at the same time as the independence referendum, but was called off, partly because of disagreement over who would be eligible to vote.
Mbeki said a referendum remains one of the options being looked at to settle the sensitive issue.
The next session of broader talks will be held next month, probably again in Ethiopia. Settlement of these outstanding issues is expected to be the final push in completing the terms of the CPA.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has told the commander of U.S.-led NATO forces in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, that civilian casualties by foreign troops are "no longer acceptable."
Mr. Karzai spoke Sunday in Kabul during a meeting with his security advisers which the general attended.
During the meeting Petraeus again apologized for the deaths of nine Afghan boys in a NATO airstrike last Tuesday in northeast Kunar Province. But Mr. Karzai said the apology was "not enough" and that the civilian casualties at the hands of coalition forces are "the main cause of strained relations between the United States and Afghanistan."
The killing of the nine children, who were collecting firewood when they were attacked, sent hundreds into the streets of the Afghan capital earlier on Sunday where they shouted "Death to America."
Also on Sunday, 12 Afghan civilians were killed when their vehicle was destroyed by a roadside bomb near Afghanistan's border with Pakistan. Among the dead were five children.
Mr. Karzai immediately condemned the bombing, which took place in Paktika Province. He said it violates "all principles of Islam." The U.S. embassy in Kabul also condemned the attack, calling it a "brutal terrorist act that demonstrates the insurgents have no respect for human life."
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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In Washington, Democrats and Republicans appear no closer to bridging sharp disagreements on reducing America's trillion-dollar federal deficit and slowing the nation's ballooning national debt. For now, legislators of both parties are holding firm to partisan budget proposals for current-year federal spending, which ends in September.
Last week, Congress averted a government shutdown by enacting a stop-gap spending measure that funds federal agencies for a two-week period. The rationale was to give legislators and the Obama administration a brief window to negotiate a budget deal for the remainder of the fiscal year.
But with the clock ticking towards another potential funding expiration, signs of compromise and progress remain elusive. Republicans in the House of Representatives have already passed a funding bill that would slash current spending levels by more than $60 billion. The bill is expected to die in the Senate, where Democrats hold a majority.
<!--IMAGE-->Appearing on CBS' Face the Nation program, Democratic Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts blasted the Republican budget blueprint as reckless and damaging.
"I do not believe what we have from the House is a serious economic plan," he said. "I think it is a very dangerous plan. It cuts teachers, it cuts education, it cuts research, it cuts energy research - all the things we need to do to make America number one again and to move into the global marketplace, their [Republican] budget sets us back."
Democrats have proposed more modest budget cuts, leaving the two parties tens of billions dollars apart in proposed funding levels. The Senate's top Republican, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky also appeared on Face the Nation.
<!--IMAGE-->"What is reckless is the $1.6-trillion deficit we are running this year," he said. "What is reckless is the $3 trillion we have added to our national debt. Our national debt is not the size of our economy. We begin to look a lot like Greece [in danger of defaulting on debt]."
Republicans say deep and painful spending cuts are needed to put America's fiscal house in order so that the private sector can flourish without the burden of a bloated government sector.
Democrats say drastically slashing spending will throw Americans out of work, imperil a fledgling economic recovery, and rob the nation of a better-educated workforce and the technological innovation that will drive economic growth in the future.
The debate illuminates the classic divide in American politics between conservatives, who see the government as a burden to the free market, and liberals, who see the government as a necessary promoter of progress and the common good.
Despite partisan differences, the Obama administration insists compromise is possible. White House Chief of Staff William Daley spoke on NBC's Meet the Press program.
"We are not that far apart," said Daley. "We [Democrats] are at over $50 billion in cuts. The House passed [a bill] that is $100 billion. So we are over half way there [to a deal]."
Republicans say the White House's budgetary math is misleading, noting the administration's cuts come from a proposed 2011 budget that was never enacted and which would have boosted spending.
Even if current-year spending levels are agreed to and a government shutdown is averted, negotiators have yet to tackle next year's budget, meaning the current partisan stand-off could be repeated six months from now.
In addition, neither party has submitted proposals to reform entitlement programs that provide income and medical care for retirees. Those programs are projected to add trillions of dollars to America's national debt in coming decades.
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Japan's foreign minister abruptly quit Sunday, after admitting he received an illegal $600 campaign donation in 2008 from a foreign national.
Seiji Maehara was foreign minister for just six months, and was seen as a leading candidate to succeed embattled Prime Minister Naoto Kan.
In an apology to the Japanese people Sunday, the 48-year-old Maehara said he regretted causing "mistrust" despite what he called "his pledge to seek clean politics."
Maehara's admission is widely seen as undermining the prime minister's promise to root out "money politics," following a political fundraising scandal by a member of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, Ichiro Ozawa.
Japanese law prohibits foreign campaign donations to Japanese candidates. Maehara said Friday that his campaign took a $610 donation in 2008 from an ethnic Korean woman he has known for years who runs a barbecue restaurant in Kyoto.
Maehara said he did not know about the donation at the time, but took responsibility for it.He said he would return the money.
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VOA Correspondents Elizabeth Arrott and Phil Ittner are in eastern Libya. Elizabeth Arrott filed this on scene report late in the day Sunday.
"We have just left Ras Lanuf, and at the moment it is pretty much a ghost town. On the outskirts to the east is an oil refinery and there is a volunteer rebel security force set up there, and it has anti-aircraft guns and various other fighters.
They did come under attack earlier today Sunday. You can see where some rockets had been shelled and that was in the early afternoon, and ... there was an explosion, but to the south of the town.
The rebels, probably about 100 or so, are at the highway entrance to the town. It is not clear how many had been there all the time, but there were reports of fighting. People were saying they had been coming back from Bin Jawwad, where there is fighting.
The rebel forces had moved beyond Ras Lanuf on Saturday, but now there seems to be some kind of opposition and airstrikes, as well as ground clashes with the pro-Gadhafi forces there. So this line is sort of moving back and forth between these little towns about halfway between Benghazi and Sirte, which is still a Gadhafi stronghold and which is very symbolic."
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The U.S. government is urging Americans not to travel to Yemen and said those already there should consider leaving.
In a travel warning issued Sunday, the State Department said the threat level in Yemen is "extremely high" due to terrorist activities and civil unrest.
The department said it has authorized the voluntary departure of family members of U.S. Embassy staff and non-essential personnel. It said that in the event of a crisis, evacuation options would be extremely limited.
Yemen has faced weeks of demonstrations by anti-government protesters calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to leave office. Clashes between government forces and opposition activists have turned deadly.
Terrorist organizations, including the Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, are also active in the country.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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Egypt has appointed a new foreign minister and interior minister following demands by reformers for a purge of Cabinet officials named by ousted President Hosni Mubarak.
Egypt's state news agency says Nabil Elaraby, a former judge at the International Court of Justice, has accepted the job of foreign minister. He will replace Ahmed Aboul Gheit, who has been foreign minister since 2004 and stayed in the job after the ouster last month of the longtime president.
Elaraby's appointment comes three days after Egypt's military, which has assumed temporary control of the country, named a new prime minister for the caretaker government, civil engineer Essam Sahaf, a former transportation minister.
Activists in the popular uprising that forced the resignation of President Mubarak have continued to demand the ouster of Mubarak associates from the interim government.
Elaraby had previously served as Egypt's permanent representative to the United Nations, and as director of a non-profit international organization, the Regional Cairo Centre for International Commercial Arbitration.
The new interior minister is Mansour el-Issawi. He takes over the ministry responsible for the state security police, reviled by many Egyptians for its reputation for brutality. In his acceptance statement, the new minister said he would take all necessary measures to restore confidence between citizens and the police.
The reshuffle is another step by Egypt's ruling military council to respond to popular demands as it charts a course to parliamentary and presidential elections later this year.
Last Thursday, the council appointed a former transportation minister, Essam Sharaf, as prime minister to replace Ahmed Shafiq, who was appointed by Mr. Mubarak during his last weeks in power. Sharaf, a civil engineer, has the backing of pro-democracy youth protest groups.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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Forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi have launched air strikes and engaged in ground fighting with rebel forces advancing from the eastern part of the country.
Government forces pushed rebels out of the town of Bin Jawwad Sunday. A VOA correspondent Elizabeth Arrott who visited Ras Lanuf to the east said some rebels were regrouping there after the fighting in Bin Jawwad.
The rebels say they are going to continue fighting until they get to Mr. Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte and eventually to the capital Tripoli.
Pro-Gadhafi forces remain in control of Sirte, about 150 kilometers west of Bin Jawwad. Earlier Sunday, rebel commanders said government loyalists were reinforcing the town.
To the west of Sirte, toward the capital Tripoli, residents of the rebel-held town of Misrata told news agencies by phone that government artillery and tanks were attacking Sunday. It is unclear if there were any casualties.
In Tripoli, heavy gunfire broke out before dawn Sunday and continued for at least two hours. Libyan authorities said the gunfire was to celebrate the retaking of the rebel-held cities of Misrata and Ras Lanuf. Residents and eyewitnesses in both those cities deny any government takeover.
Gadhafi supporters poured into the streets of Tripoli following the claims of the government successes, waving flags, honking car horns and firing guns into the air.
Mr. Gadhafi's government has retained control of Tripoli in western Libya while rebel forces trying to topple his government have taken over much of the east.
Protests against Mr. Gadhafi erupted in mid-February, with demonstrators calling for an end to his 42-year rule. The Libyan leader has refused demands to step down, at one point saying he expects to die a "martyr" in Libya.
Libyan government forces advanced with tanks Saturday into Zawiyah, the rebel-held town closest to the capital. Western news organizations say there was heavy shelling as the security forces attempted to push into the town.
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Estonians are voting in the Baltic state's first parliamentary elections since entering the euro zone in January. Opinion polls show that the ruling party is set to win, but a large number of undecided voters may still rock the results.
In January this year, Estonia adopted the euro. It was the first of the Baltic countries to do so, and it was a landmark achievement for the government of Prime Minister Andrus Ansip.
His center-right coalition is seeking re-election on the back of this triumph. If it succeeds, it will be the first administration to serve two consecutive terms since independence in 1991.
Recent opinion polls predict Ansip's center-right Reform Party and its coalition partner, the conservative Pro Patria Res Publica Union, should gain a comfortable 54 percent of the vote. But victory is far from certain. A poll cited by the Estonian Public Broadcasting organization found 44 percent of voters were undecided on the eve of the vote.
Estonian Public Broadcasting Editor Steve Roman told VOA he believes the undecided voters are former supporters of the Reform Party, but he said the ruling party will still find popular support.
"My feeling is that the reform party will still come out ahead, but the big question is whether the combined total of the Reform Party votes and their coalition party, IRL, would reach 50 percent, which means that they would be able to keep their coalition and continue to keep their government into the next term."
With just 1.3-million people, Estonia is one of Europe's smallest countries, but it was one of the worst hit by the global economic crisis. In the two years after the 2008 financial crunch the economy contracted by 20 percent.
Ansip's government responded with a package of drastic austerity measures that appears to have paid off. The tiny country is now the second-fastest-growing economy in Europe and a sense the country is on the road to recovery is driving support for the current government.
But Estonia is still facing problems - unemployment is at 14 percent, one of the highest rates in the European Union. Further recovery and reducing unemployment levels will remain on the agenda for whoever wins the election.
But a victory for Ansip and his conservative allies would parallel the trend of political stability across the Baltics. Last October, Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis was re-elected, and in Lithuania the ruling party won a victory last week in municipal elections.
This draws a stark contrast between the Baltic states and other European countries like Ireland, where voters have punished their government for harsh austerity measures by voting for the opposition in last month's parliamentary elections.
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Chinese authorities are tightening controls on foreign journalists, following the third week of calls for protests to show solidarity with the Jasmine Revolutions in the Middle East. Although there was no apparent demonstration last week, foreign journalists at the scene were harassed.
Tight security in Beijing is a regular feature of the annual legislative session of the National People's Congress.
The situation this year has been made more complicated by online calls for Chinese citizens to protest injustice at home and to show solidarity with the so-called "Jasmine Revolutions" sweeping the Middle East.
Sunday was to have been the third consecutive week that anonymous organizers called for Chinese to come out to designated demonstration sites in cities around the country. But there have been no immediate reports of any major incidents.
Last week, Chinese policemen and foreign journalists outnumbered obvious protesters at the designated Beijing site, Wangfujing Street. There was no apparent protest, yet unidentified men beat or physically harassed foreign journalists at the scene.
This Sunday, Chinese authorities tried to prevent a repeat of those incidents by persuading foreign journalists not to go there. Many reporters were warned they would be expelled from the country if they were caught breaking the law.
The Beijing city government called a news conference Sunday afternoon, at exactly the same time as the would-be demonstration.
Beijing officials echoed central government authorities, in denying that there are changes to formal State Council rules governing journalist activities.
But Li Honghai, with the Beijing Foreign Affairs office, said a booklet distributed at the briefing shows how the city's laws, in his words, "build on" the State Council's laws.
Li says Beijing's policy is that foreign correspondents who want to do reporting in downtown Beijing need to first apply to city authorities for permission.
Authorities did not grant permission to any foreign news organization for any reporting from Wangfujing this Sunday.
Beijing's spokeswoman, Wang Hui, says stability is the paramount concern. She also responded to questions about the beating of an American journalist last Sunday.
Wang says the incident was reported to the police, who are treating the issue with what she described as "full seriousness" and are conducting an investigation.
At the same time, she did not address a question about how this kind of violence could have happened in broad daylight, in a public place in downtown Beijing, with so many policemen around.
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Supporters of Ivory Coast's incumbent president, Laurent Gbagbo, have allegedly looted the homes of at least eight ministers in the rival government of Alassane Ouattara.
Aides of Ouattara say members of a pro-Gbagbo youth group, the Young Patriots, raided and ransacked the homes in the commercial capital of Abidjan beginning on Thursday.
There were no reported injuries from the attacks. The United Nations says at least 365 people have died in post-election violence between Gbagbo and Ouattara supporters since early December.
Gbagbo is refusing to give up power in Ivory Coast, despite intense international pressure. Most of the international community recognizes Ouattara as the winner of a November presidential election.
On Saturday, Ouattara said he will attend an upcoming meeting of African Union leaders as part of efforts to resolve the country's political crisis.
The trip would mark the first time since the November 28 election that Ouattara leaves the country. The former prime minister has been barricaded in an Abidjan hotel, surrounded by troops loyal to Gbagbo. U.N. peacekeepers are guarding the hotel.
A panel of African leaders is trying to find a solution to the standoff. A top African Union official, Jean Ping, met with both of the rival presidents in Abidjan on Saturday. He said he passed a message to both of them but did not elaborate on its contents.
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Iraqi officials say a roadside bomb blast has killed six people and wounded 12 others in the southern city of Basra.
Provincial officials say Sunday's attack seemed to target a U.S. military convoy, but hit a civilian bus instead. Authorities say women and children are among the victims, but the number is unclear.
Under the 2008 security agreement between the United States and Iraq, all American troops must leave the country by the end of the year. There currently are about 50,000 U.S. troops stationed in Iraq, mainly in a non-combat role.
Overall, violence has declined in Iraq from the height of sectarian conflict several years ago. But militants still carry out bombings and shootings almost daily.
Meanwhile, unknown gunmen raided a local radio station in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq and broke some equipment. No one was injured.
The Voice radio station in the town of Kalar is the second media outlet to be attacked in the north since protests erupted last month in the main city of Sulaimaniyah against the region's two major Kurdish political parties.
Both media outlets had been covering the demonstrations, in which protesters have been demanding political reform from the dominant parties in the Kurdish autonomous region.
On February 20, masked men wearing military-style clothes attacked a local television station that had aired footage of a deadly protest against the dominant political bloc. Station officials said the attackers shot and wounded a guard before firing at equipment and fleeing the scene.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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The fighting in Libya topped the agenda at the Sunday Israeli Cabinet meeting. Robert Berger reports from the VOA bureau in Jerusalem.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opened the weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem by denouncing what he described as the "massacre" taking place in Libya.
Netanyahu said it is clear to everyone that Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is slaughtering his own people. He said one can only imagine the extent of the bloodshed if Gadhafi had not abandoned his nuclear weapons program in 2003, as part of a deal with the United States and Britain to lift sanctions against Libya.
Netanyahu drew a parallel with Iran's nuclear program, which Israel sees as an existential threat.
He said the government in Iran is also slaughtering its own people, but unlike Libya, he said, it is developing nuclear weapons.
The prime minister said the international community has come to realize that it has a moral responsibility to take a tough stand on Libya. He said the world should show the same determination in dealing with Iran, which he described as a ruthless dictatorship.
Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but Israel believes Tehran could acquire nuclear weapons within the next few years. So while the world's attention is focused on Libya, Netanyahu sought to remind the international community of what Israel sees as a much more ominous regional threat, and to warn that Iran must be stopped before it is too late.
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Residents of the tiny southern Italian island of Lampedusa are bracing for an influx of refugees fleeing political violence in North Africa. Island officials and business leaders are concerned the mass migration could adversely affect the tourism industry.
More than 6,000 immigrants have already landed in Lampedusa since the start of the year. Mayor Bernardino De Rubeis, like the population, knows that tourism, the island's livelihood, could be at risk.
Mayor De Rubeis says Lampedusa is a land of reception, door to Europe, a land of tourism and fishing. He adds that the island residents want to be identified in this way, knowing that immigration will continue. But, he insists, the territory must live off tourism and this is the concern of the population.
Lampedusa island residents are accustomed to the arrivals of immigrants and have opened their doors to people in search for a better future. But they very aware the number of arrivals from North Africa, where political violence has forced many to flee, could be unprecedented.
Local hoteliers and restaurant-owners say there is serious concern about the upcoming tourist season. Antonio Martello owns more than one hotel on the island and is a tour operator.
Martello says he and other hoteliers thought they would have a good season but the number of arrivals to the island has dramatically increased. He says this has led to major problems because the bookings they had been receiving were all put on stand-by. He adds that now they do not know whether these room reservations will be reconfirmed, if the situation is not resolved.
Many Lampedusa residents say they feel a moral duty to help people fleeing political violence. But they say the Italian government and other European nations must take concrete measures to deal with this problem.
Hotel owner Antonio Martello says refugees must be helped in their own country. The international community, he says, must go to them and help them with employment projects, projects that can help them find work. He adds that aid must be taken to the refugees because it is unthinkable that all them can be hosted in Italy and elsewhere in Europe.
The European Union dispatched a fact-finding mission to the Libyan capital, Tripoli, on Sunday. The international mission, the first since the recent violence erupted, is charged with reporting back on humanitarian and evacuation needs there to an E.U. crisis summit on Libya to be held in Brussels next week.
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