A Libyan government spokesman says Moammar Gadhafi's youngest son and three of his grandchildren have been killed in a NATO airstrike, but that the leader and his wife were unharmed in what he said was a "direct operation" intended to kill Mr. Gadhafi.
Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim told reporters that the son who was killed is 29-year-old Saif-Al-Arab Gadhafi. He is the sixth son of the Libyan leader and a brother to the better known Saif al-Islam Gadhafi.
He said the strike on the house in Tripoli Saturday also wounded several people. Journalists taken to the site of the home reported seeing extensive damage.
Ibrahim denounced the airstrike as a deliberate attempt to assassinate the Libyan leader.
The spokesman said, "This was a direct operation to assassinate the leader of this country. This is not permitted by international law; it is not permitted by any moral code or principle. If people claim that they want to protect civilians, we have again and again declared that we are ready for negotiation, ready for roadmaps for peace, ready for political transition periods, ready for elections, ready for referendum."
Ibrahim said NATO and the West do not care to test Libyan government statements, only to steal Libyan freedom and oil.
NATO said it had staged airstrikes in Tripoli Saturday, but could not confirm that Saif Al-Arab Gadhafi and the three young grandchildren were killed. An official denied targeting Mr. Gadhafi or his family.
As word of the incident spread across the country, Libyans in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi fired celebratory shots into the air and honked car horns.
Other airstrikes in recent days have hit buildings while Mr. Gadhafi was nearby. Libya says NATO air forces bombed a site near the national broadcast offices early Saturday while the Libyan leader was inside delivering an address to the nation. Last Monday, a NATO airstrike in Tripoli destroyed a building in the complex where Mr. Gadhafi lives.
NATO says it targeted a communications headquarters used to coordinate attacks against civilians.
Earlier Saturday, NATO rejected an offer from Mr. Gadhafi for negotiations to end the conflict. A NATO official said the organization wants to see "actions not words," and that the Libyan government has announced cease-fires several times before only to continue attacking civilians. Libyan rebels have also rejected Mr. Gadhafi's call for talks saying the time for compromise has passed.
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Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has survived an apparent NATO airstrike that killed one of his sons and three grandchildren.
Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim announced the deaths in a Saturday news conference. He said 29-year-old Saif al-Arab Gadhafi and the grandchildren were killed during what he called a direct attempt to assassinate the Libyan leader. Ibrahim described the younger Gadhafi as a student.
Ibrahim says Mr. Gadhafi and his wife were in their son's home at the time but were not injured. However, he said several other people at the home were hurt.
Also, reporters were taken to the site of the home, where they saw extensive damage.
There was no immediate reaction from NATO. However, as word of the apparent strike spread across Libya, celebratory gunfire was heard in the rebel stronghold, Benghazi.
Earlier Saturday, NATO rejected an offer from Mr. Gadhafi for negotiations to end the conflict in his country.
A NATO official said Saturday NATO wants to see "actions not words." He said the Libyan government has announced ceasefires several times before only to continue attacking civilians. The official said NATO operations will continue as long as civilians in Libya are threatened.
Libyan rebels also rejected Mr. Gadhafi's call for talks saying the time for compromise has passed.
Mr. Gadhafi said in an hour-and-a-half long televised speech on Saturday that he was ready for negotiations provided that NATO stop its attacks, but he said would not step down from power.
Libya says NATO bombed a site near the national broadcast offices while Mr. Gadhafi was inside delivering his address. The Libyan government says the bombing shows allied forces are specifically targeting Mr. Gadhafi.
Also Saturday, NATO said it is working to clear anti-ship mines laid by pro-Gadhafi forces in the harbor of the rebel-held city of Misrata.
NATO operations commander Brigadier Rob Weighill said the alliance intercepted several small boats laying mines on Friday. He said the incident shows what he called Mr. Gadhafi's complete disregard for international law by trying to keep humanitarian aid from being delivered to civilians.
Several aid ships have not been able to arrive in the port because of the threat of mines. The port is the only lifeline for the city of 300,000, which has been under siege for two months.
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After a bloody day of anti-government protests Friday in which say at least 62 people were reported killed, eyewitnesses said Saturday that Syrian tanks and helicopters had entered the southern city of Daraa, where the uprising began six weeks ago. Syrian activists say six people were killed Saturday, after the military and snipers opened fire on civilians. Activists say a woman and her two daughters were among those killed when a tank shell hit their home.
The dead in Daraa appeared to go unburied as residents stayed indoors, afraid of what witnesses said were at least two dozen military vehicles, including tanks and helicopters, that had entered the city.
It has become increasingly difficult to reach residents in the sealed off town since Monday when the government of President Bashar al-Assad first sent the military in to crush the protests. But Khaled El Ekhetyar, a Syrian activist based in Beirut, was able to contact some residents in Daraa Saturday.
He tells VOA they said the town is under heavy shelling. El Ekhetyar said residents told him that the Syrian army is also targeting refrigerator trucks which are being used as makeshift morgues.
"They said that the army actually are targeting those [trucks] just to erase any evidence of the crime. Because if they get rid of the bodies nobody would know that anybody was killed," he said.
He added that witnesses say there are also serious shortages of basic necessities and services. "The humanitarian situation is really miserable. They lack flour, water, medications, gas, fuel, even bread. Everything," said Ekhetyar.
On Friday, tens of thousands of people took to the streets nationwide, including in the capital Damascus, shouting anti-government slogans. In several places, the government used violent means to disperse them leading to numerous casualties.
Syrian authorities blame armed gangs and infiltrators supplied with weapons from Lebanon and Iraq for inciting the protests. The Assad regime claims its military crackdown is intended to protect citizens.
But human rights groups say more than 500 demonstrators have been killed since the uprising began on March 15 and the U.N. Human Rights Council has ordered an investigation into the violence.
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Yemen's main opposition group says President Ali Abdullah Saleh has refused to sign an agreement that calls for his resignation as part of a plan to end the country's unrest.
Opposition officials said Saturday that the head of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC Secretary-General Abdullatif al-Zayani) that brokered the deal had left Yemen without the president's signature. They say Mr. Saleh refused to sign the agreement as president - as stipulated in the document. The Reuters news agency quotes officials who say Mr. Saleh wanted to sign the initiative as head of the ruling party.
Gulf Cooperation Council officials had traveled to Yemen on Saturday to finalize the agreement, ahead of an official signing ceremony planned for Monday in Saudi Arabia.
The plan calls for President Saleh to hand over power to a deputy and resign within 30 days of signing the initiative. It would establish a unity government that would include opposition members. The agreement was designed to end weeks of deadly unrest that erupted from opposition protests calling for Mr. Saleh's immediate resignation.
The deal has divided members of the opposition between those who support the plan and those who say it does not go far enough. Many protesters have objected to a stipulation in the deal that grants the president and his family immunity from prosecution.
Earlier Saturday, violence erupted in the southern port city of Aden. Activists and medics say at least two protesters were killed after security forces moved in to clear a square occupied by opposition activists.
Also, Yemeni officials say at least two security officers were killed and two injured in a separate incident in the city. The French news agency quotes local officials as saying protesters opened fire on the security officers who were trying to dismantle roadblocks set up by demonstrators.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.
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German officials say three suspected al-Qaida members arrested on Friday had been planning a bomb attack in the country.
Prosecutor Rainer Griesbaum told a news conference Saturday that the trio had planned to attack a crowded place but had not yet picked a target. He said they were still in the experimentation stage.
Authorities said they decided to arrest the three when surveillance indicated they were pursuing making a detonator, a sign they might be close to carrying out an attack. The suspects had reportedly discussed planting the bomb on a bus.
The three men, all from Morocco, were taken into custody Friday in the western German cities of Duesseldorf and Bochum.
The main suspect, a 29-year-old Moroccan citizen identified as Abdeladim El-K., has been charged with membership in a foreign terrorist organization. Officials say he trained last year in an al-Qaida camp in the Pakistani region of Waziristan near the Afghan border.
The other suspects are a 31-year-old and a 19-year-old.
Police arrested the men on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack and said they posed a "concrete and imminent danger" to the country.
In a statement, Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said the incident proves that Germany remains a target of international terrorists.
Germany had previously received information that al-Qaida may have been planning a "Mumbai-style" attack in the country later this year - a reference to the 2008 terrorist siege in India's financial capital in which 166 were killed.
Officials said the three suspects had praised Thursday's deadly bomb attack on a cafe in Marrakech, Morocco.
Moroccan officials say the bombing appears to be the work of al-Qaida.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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The Taliban has pledged to launch a spring offensive against the U.S.-led coalition and its allies in Afghanistan. The militant group says the operation will begin Sunday, but did not say how long the surge will last.
In a statement released Saturday, the Taliban said they plan to target military bases and convoys, as well as Afghan officials, including members of the peace council.
The insurgents urged Afghan citizens to stay away from the centers and activities of the coalition forces.
The announcement of the militant operation comes one day after senior officers with the U.S.-led coalition and Western diplomats in Afghanistan warned they expected a surge in militant attacks.
The Associated Press quoted a NATO official, speaking on condition of anonymity, as saying that the Taliban's announcement Saturday is a "sign of their impotence and desperation."
The official said NATO expects the Taliban will try to gain a propaganda victory through coordinated attacks and that the coalition has tightened security.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
Morocco's interior minister says the bomb that killed 16 people in a historic square in Marrakech appears to have been the work of al-Qaida.
The minister told reporters late Friday the bomb was detonated remotely, in a style normally used by the terrorist organization.
The blast tore the facade off a two-story cafe in Jemaa el-Fna square - a bustling tourist destination in the heart of Marrakech. Authorities say at least 10 foreigners were among the dead, many of them French citizens.
Morocco was rocked by a series of Islamist extremist attacks in 2003 that left 45 people dead, including 12 suicide bombers.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday described the bombing as a cowardly attack and offered U.S. assistance.
U.N. Secretary Ban Ki-moon said he was "appalled" by the bombing and said "no political objective justifies or is served by such heinous acts."
Some information for this report was provided by AFP.
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A key Japanese adviser on radiation leaks at the country's disabled Fukushima nuclear power facility has quit in protest over the government's handling of the disaster.
The adviser, Toshiso Kosako, a radiation safety expert at the University of Tokyo, said the government-set limits for radiation exposure at schools near the nuclear site are too high. At a tearful news conference late Friday, Kosako said he could "not allow this as a scholar."
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan appointed Kosako to advise the government after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. In quitting his position, Kosako criticized the government for what he said is its "impromptu" handling of the crisis and slow pace of bringing the nuclear facility's radiation leaks under control.
A new survey released Saturday by the Kyodo news agency showed that the Japanese public is growing increasingly disenchanted with Kan's leadership in dealing with the recovery effort, with about three-fourths of those polled saying they are dissatisfied. That negative view of Kan was up markedly from a similar survey in late March. Nearly a quarter of those surveyed said he should resign immediately.
Meanwhile, the lower house of the Japanese parliament passed an emergency budget of more than $48 billion as a down payment on the rebuilding effort in the country's northeastern sector devastated by the twin natural disasters. The upper house of parliament is expected to approve the spending plan on Monday.
The emergency budget is likely to be followed by other spending packages to cover the overall reconstruction. The region's damage has been estimated at more than $300 billion.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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U.S. authorities say the death toll has risen to at least 350 from this week's tornadoes and severe weather.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says Wednesday was the second deadliest single day of tornadoes in U.S. history. It was topped only by the 747 killed in a series of twisters that struck through the central part of the country in 1925.
Survivors and volunteers across seven southern states continued their searches Saturday through rubble for possessions and signs of people still missing.
U.S. President Barack Obama surveyed the devastation Friday in Alabama, where at least 254 people were killed and whole portions of communities were flattened. The president said he had "never seen devastation like this. It is heartbreaking."
Obama consoled survivors and talked with state and local officials about the rescue and cleanup efforts. He pledged to "make sure" the storm-damaged region is "not forgotten." He said "maximum federal help" would be provided.
President Obama signed a disaster declaration for Alabama Thursday and on Friday for portions of the neighboring states of Mississippi and Georgia. That makes federal funds available to help residents, businesses and local governments. About 2,000 National Guard soldiers have been deployed in Alabama to assist local emergency crews.
In addition to the large number of deaths in Alabama, 34 people were killed in both Tennessee and Mississippi, and about 15 each in Georgia and Arkansas. Other fatalities were reported in Virginia, Louisiana and Kentucky.
This week's tornadoes were the second in a wave of severe weather to affect the southern United States in April. A series of storms early in the month killed at least 45 people in the region.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.
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Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni says he will "defeat" a series of deadly opposition protests, originally triggered by high food and fuel prices.
Museveni spoke Saturday in Nairobi, Kenya, a day after riots in Uganda's capital left at least two people dead and 120 others wounded.
Rioters burned tires and set up blockades in parts of Kampala Friday to protest the latest arrest of opposition leader Kizza Besigye. During the riot, police fired at protesters with live ammunition, rubber bullets and tear gas and arrested at least 360 people.
Authorities arrested Besigye on Thursday for the fourth time this month after security forces stopped his car in Kampala. Video showed police smashing the car window and spraying the opposition leader with pepper spray.
He was later released on bail and late Friday arrived in Kenya for medical treatment.
President Museveni said police used the pepper spray in self-defense after they had been sprayed first with the chemical.
Besigye has led a series of "walk-to-work" demonstrations to protest high food and fuel prices.
Previously, President Museveni warned that such protests would not be tolerated. But Saturday, he said that he had no problem for Besigye "either to walk to work or to walk as an exercise." However, he said Besigye needs to inform police about planned protests to avoid riots.
The president has blamed soaring food and fuel prices on poor weather and global economic factors.
Besigye has led Uganda's opposition for a decade. He has lost three straight presidential elections to Mr. Museveni, who has ruled Uganda since 1986.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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Thousands of pilgrims are gathering in Rome for Sunday's beatification of the late Pope John Paul II.
St. Peter's Square was filled with excitement Saturday despite steady rain.
The Vatican says at least 300,000 people are expected to attend the beatification. The St. Peter's Square ceremony will be the centerpiece of a three-day celebration that begins with a prayer vigil Saturday.
It is an important milestone on the road to Catholic sainthood for one of the most popular pontiffs in history.
During his 26 years as head of the Roman Catholic Church, John Paul II is credited with helping to bring down communism, energizing young Catholics and bolstering the church's presence in the developing world.
John Paul's successor, Pope Benedict, fast-tracked the canonization process -- instead of taking centuries, the Catholic Church will beatify the late pontiff just six years and 29 days after his death.
Benedict has proclaimed John Paul "Blessed" - the last step before sainthood - with proof that John Paul performed a miracle after death. The miracle was reported by French nun Marie Simon-Pierre, who said she was mysteriously cured from Parkinson's disease after she prayed to the late pontiff. John Paul suffered from the same illness. A second miracle must be attributed to John Paul before he can be declared a saint.
Sister Marie will appear with one of John Paul's closest aides, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, and longtime Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls at the prayer vigil at the Roman-era Circus Maximus stadium.
Before the beatification, John Paul's coffin was brought from a crypt below St. Peter's Basilica and placed before the main altar for viewing.
After the beatification mass, Pope Benedict and cardinals will pray before the newly Blessed John Paul II. There also will be a Mass of Thanksgiving on May 2.
Opponents of the beatification believe the pope may have had a role in covering up the sexual abuse of children by priests. Other critics think he was too accepting of indigenous customs.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.
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As the late Pope John Paul II is beatified in the Vatican, many in his home country, Poland, are jubilant. But Poland's attachment to the late Pope stems from more than just national pride, since many credit him with helping to overthrow the communist state.
In the town of Wadowice in southern Poland, John Paul II is everywhere. His face flutters from flags lining the streets, and he beams down on passers by from statues and photographs. Wadowice is the late Pope's home town. He was born Karol Wojtyla in 1920, in a three-room flat that now houses a museum filled with his personal affairs - his cradle, his skis and a doily made by his mother.
John Paul II is set to be beatified on Sunday, the first step on the road to sainthood. In Wadowice, tens of thousands of people, including the Polish Prime Minister, are expected to descend on the main square to watch a live broadcast of the ceremony. Marek Dyjaczynski, who works for the museum, explains that while the late Pope was important to Poles, Poland was also of vital importance to him.
"The problems of his country were important for him. The whole time he was Pope, he thought about his country. He talked to Poles, and he tried to motivate them to change something, especially before 1989," he said.
John Paul II was the first non-Italian Pope since the 16th century, and the first Polish Pope in history. But the sense of attachment many Poles feel toward him has as much to do with politics as with religion.
According to historian Tadeusz Ruzikowski of the Warsaw-based Institute of National Remembrance, the Pope's visit to Poland in 1979 dealt an important blow to the communist regime of the time. The Solidarity trade union was born the following year, and went on to spearhead the overthrow of communism in the Eastern Bloc.
"For a few decades, the government tried to show the Polish People's Republic as the natural consequence of history, and the values - Leninism, Marxism, and so on - were the best for the people. The visit of John Paul II in 1979 showed that hundreds of thousands of people, even millions of people, share other values than those of the government. It is said by historians that without this first visit of John Paul II in Poland, it could be not possible to form Solidarity in 1980. He gave people hope, he gave people more courage to express their real attitude toward many issues," he said.
He adds that to many Poles, the sense of moral support from the Vatican played a crucial role in encouraging people in their struggle against the communist authorities. "It was very important for Polish people to have consciousness that outside Poland is a person who understands our problems, who wishes us all the best. In the outside world, this was the person who spoke with our voice, because he personally experienced what communism was, what repression took place in Poland for many years," he said.
Since his death in 2005, statues and images of John Paul II have proliferated in Poland. His face is emblazoned on countless t-shirts, and you can even buy Pope-shaped garden gnomes. Not everyone is happy with the way his memory has been popularized, including Julia Koszewska of the Warsaw-based Club of Catholic Intellectuals.
"We have many monuments. Sometimes all of his life, all of his teachings, all of the actions that he made are put into one material object, and I think it's a very dangerous thing because it could lead to forgetting about the real meaning. For the beatification there are already plenty of badges and baseball caps, almost everything you can imagine. What is needed is deeper reflection about what he really was," he said.
Still, for many Poles, their relationship with John Paul II is deeply personal.
One woman, gazing at the exhibits in the Family Home of the John Paul II Museum in Wadowice, explains that the late Pope is very important for her and her family because she was pregnant when he died, and she will always remember the emotional outpouring that followed. She says that like all of Poland, she is very proud of him.
Since the late Pope's death, thousands of people have come to Wadowice each year to see the place where he was born. Thanks to the beatification on Sunday, the town expects many more visitors in the years to come.
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U.S. President Barack Obama is renewing his call to end $4 billion tax breaks for oil and gas companies that are generating billion-dollar profits amid rising gas prices.
During his weekly address Saturday, Obama said the tax giveaways are neither right, nor smart, and they should be stopped.
The president has been urging Congress to act on his request, but opposition Republicans say his plan would cost Americans jobs.
In the Republican weekly address, Congressman James Lankford said by the president's own admission, ending subsides for big oil companies would not have an immediate impact on gas prices.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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NATO has rejected an offer from Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi for negotiations to end the conflict in Libya. A NATO official said that NATO operations will go on as long as civilians in Libya are threatened.
Witnesses in the besieged western Libyan port city of Misrata say that forces loyal to Colonel Gadhafi shelled the city indiscriminately, once again Saturday, causing numerous casualties. The attacks came just hours after the embattled Libyan leader demanded that rebels in the city surrender, and urged NATO to accept a ceasefire and to begin peace negotiations.
NATO rejected the offer saying it wanted to see threats to civilians in Libya end.
Colonel Gadhafi made his demands during a rambling speech on Libyan TV early Saturday which lasted close to an hour and a half. The Libyan leader reiterated previous claims that he holds no official government post from which to resign and insisted he would never leave his country.
He said that he handed power over to the people after the revolution and that no one can force him to leave his country and that he will fight to defend it. He added that his ancestors fought Italy in 1911, and that Libyans will do so, once again.
Colonel Gadhafi stressed that Saturday is the anniversary of the Battle of Cartaba, during the 1911 Italian invasion of Libya, and vowed to take the current battle, which he calls an "open war," to Italian soil.
NATO planes bombed a Libyan government building in the capital Tripoli during Gadhafi's speech. It was not clear if he was in the building at the time, but he continued speaking despite brief blackouts of the TV signal. Gadhafi went on to condemn NATO for trying to kill him.
He asked if the United Nations actually decided to impose various blockades on Libya or to assassinate him by bombing his office? Is that, he asked, part of U.N. Security Council resolution 1970, or does destroying Libyan government buildings mean protecting civilians?
Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, deputy head of Libya's rebel Transitional National Council, replied by saying that the Libyan leader had proven his bellicose intentions, despite his repeated insistence that he would adhere to a ceasefire.
He said that Colonel Gadhafi's message to the world is clear: that he is mocking the will of the international community by refusing to put an end to military operations, despite his repeated assertions that he had done so.
Ghoga added that the ongoing government attacks on Misrata prove that Gadhafi has no concern for the lives of civilians.
On Friday, NATO warships intercepted Gadhafi forces as they tried to mine Misrata harbor. NATO operations commander Rob Weighill said several small boats were intercepted as they tried to lay anti-ship mines. Misrata harbor is a lifeline for supplies for the residents of Misrata.
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Witnesses say U.S. pastor Terry Jones' anti-Islam rally in the state of Michigan Friday night was cut short by loud counter-demonstrators, who heavily outnumbered his supporters.
The controversial pastor from the state of Florida returned to Dearborn, home to a large Muslim community, where a jury denied his request last week to protest in front of the Islamic Center of North America.
The Detroit Free Press newspaper said Jones lashed out against Islam and President Barack Obama on the steps of Dearborn's city hall before being escorted away by police, following a heated exchange with counter-demonstrators.
Police in riot gear arrested at least two people.
Last month, Jones burned a Quran, the Muslim holy book, sparking several days of deadly protests in Afghanistan. Jones, who heads a small fundamentalist church in Florida denied responsibility for the violence.
tnesses say U.S. pastor Terry Jones' anti-Islam rally in the state of Michigan Friday night was cut short by loud counter-demonstrators, who heavily outnumbered his supporters.
The controversial pastor from the state of Florida returned to Dearborn, home to a large Muslim community, where a jury denied his request last week to protest in front of the Islamic Center of North America.
The Detroit Free Press newspaper said Jones lashed out against Islam and President Barack Obama on the steps of Dearborn's city hall before being escorted away by police, following a heated exchange with counter-demonstrators.
Police in riot gear arrested at least two people.
Last month, Jones burned a Quran, the Muslim holy book, sparking several days of deadly protests in Afghanistan.Jones, who heads a small fundamentalist church in Florida denied responsibility for the violence.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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