Armed rebels opposed to the rule of Libyan leader

Hundreds of armed anti-government forces backed by military defectors who control the city closest to the capital Tripoli are preparing to repel an expected offensive by forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi surrounding Zawiya. Two prominent US senators said Washington should recognise and arm a provisional government in rebel-held areas of eastern Libya and impose a no-fly zone over the area - enforced by US warplanes - to stop attacks by the regime. US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton echoed President Barack Obama's demand for Gaddafi to relinquish power. "We want him to leave," she said. "We want him to end his regime and call off the mercenaries and forces loyal to him. How he manages that is up to him." Col Gaddafi's son, Seif al-Islam, claimed again that the country was calm and denied the regime used force or air strikes against its own people. But human rights groups and European officials have put the death toll since unrest began in Libya nearly two weeks ago at hundreds, or perhaps thousands, though it has been virtually impossible to verify the numbers. There were no reports of violence or clashes on Sunday. Col Gaddafi has launched by far the bloodiest crackdown in a wave of anti-regime uprisings sweeping the Arab world. The United States, Britain and the UN Security Council all imposed sanctions on Libya over the weekend. The regime, eager to show foreign reporters that the country is calm and under their control, took visiting journalists to Zawiya, 30 miles west of Tripoli on Sunday. However, the tour confirmed the anti-government rebels are in control of the centre of the city of 200,000. They have army tanks and anti-aircraft guns mounted on pick-up trucks deployed. On the outskirts of the city, they are surrounded by pro-Gaddafi forces, also backed by tanks and anti-aircraft guns. There were at least six checkpoints controlled by troops loyal to Gaddafi on the road from Tripoli to Zawiya. Each checkpoint was reinforced by at least one tank, and the troops concealed their faces with scarves. "To us, Gaddafi is the Dracula of Libya," said Wael al-Oraibi, an army officer at Zawiya who joined the rebels. He said his decision to defect was prompted in large part by the Libyan leader's use of mercenaries from sub-Saharan Africa against the people of Zawiya.at former justice minister Mustafa Abdel-Jalil was named its leader.

Violence escalates in Ivory Coast, 300 killed

Rebels controlling northern Ivory Coast have seized a town in government territory and said they were still advancing, raising the prospects of a return to open war. Loyalists of Laurent Gbagbo, clinging to power after an election most of the world says he lost, confirmed the fall of Zouan-Hounien in an overnight attack and said they would fight to take it back. "We re in the process of re-organising ourselves," Yao Yao, head of operations of the pro-Gbagbo Front for the Liberation of the Greater West militia told Reuters by phone from the region. The small, remote town lies in western Ivory Coast near the forested border with Liberia and is not on a key axis, but the fighting there marks a major escalation after a week of growing violence in the world s biggest cocoa producer. Rebel spokesman Ouattara Seydou said the New Forces had been attacked from Zouan-Hounien and were moving south to another town held by Gbagbo loyalists. Ivory Coast s spiral back towards a war fuelled by ethnic animosities follows an election last November which Gbagbo s rival Alassane Ouattara is almost universally recognised to have won. Gbagbo, in power for more than a decade, has refused to leave the presidency of once prosperous Ivory Coast, which has been split between north and south since a 2002-03 war. African Union efforts to end the crisis through diplomacy have made no headway. The spreading violence has killed more than 300 people according to the United Nations, but diplomats think that figure hugely understated because the military rarely discloses its casualties or civilians killed by soldiers. Gun battles raged overnight in the Abobo neighbourhood of the main city of Abidjan where insurgents, dubbed by local media the "invisible commandos", have risen up against Gbagbo.

Arab awakening: What next?

“When you jump for joy,” said the Polish poet Stanislaw Lec, “beware that no one moves the ground from beneath your feet.” As Arab dictatorships crumble like sandcastles in a storm, the joy is almost unconfined. Decades of repression are vanishing as people who once bent to violence and humiliation rise up in pride against their masters. But the startling changes in countries classified as “stable but undemocratic” have shaken more than arrogant autocrats. They have struck at the heart of the nations’ economic and political futures. And their effects are felt not only in the region, but in the West and beyond, casting doubt on entrenched political alliances and a fragile global economic recovery. “What we are witnessing is an historic watershed,” German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle told a recent meeting on international security. “Nothing will be as it was before.” He added: “The people who are demonstrating in the streets of Cairo are not demanding freedom or jobs, they want both at the same time. Both belong together. People want to decide themselves how to live their lives. They want the opportunity to shape a better future.” From Egypt’s 80 million people to much smaller (6 million) Libya and tiny (1.2 million) Bahrain, those who win the battle for democracy will also have to deal with the debris of a political and economic earthquake. Few would welcome a rerun of the early 1990s, when the former Soviet Union collapsed. As communism died, cheers turned to tears: millions were trampled in a stampede for the spoils, and democracy became a bitter joke. “Human beings everywhere are very similar,” says George Birnbaum, an American political consultant and former chief of staff to Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu. “They strive for hope. Young people in the Middle East had no hope for the future. Now they must have a reason to look ahead.” The challenges, however, are formidable. “The Arab countries need to create 100 million jobs in the next five years,” says Birnbaum. “Democracy by itself won’t solve the problem.” Arab countries have young and restless populations whose leaders sucked the oxygen out of their aspirations through corruption and mismanagement, stifling hope for decent jobs, advancement and better living standards. Even the vast profits of oil-producing states have failed to produce economies that laid a foundation for the future. While Arab autocrats luxuriated in national wealth, their countries’ per capita incomes fell behind those of all other developing regions for three decades. “The main economic problems in the region remain infrastructure and absorptive capacity,” said Jordan’s Prince El Hassan bin Talal in a 2008 address, pointing out that while oil producers splashed out millions on development projects, they imported foreign labour and failed to train their own skilled workers or develop multi-layered oil industries. “Middle Eastern economic growth has been coming more from oil revenue, real estate investment, housing, tourism and foreign assistance than from productive activity,” he said. Although the protests bring hope for a better future, they have also compounded the economic problems inherited from despotic governments. In Tunisia, and in the Arab world’s most populous country, Egypt, money has fled along with the wealthy elites. Investors have put projects on hold, and billions of dollars have been lost from the lucrative tourist trade. Egypt also faces a potential food crisis in the next six months, when subsidized stocks run out and the new government must buy at spiking world prices. Other Arab countries will also cope with escalating food costs when they can least afford it. Some in the West are worried enough to call for a new Marshall Plan — America’s massive economic program that rebuilt a decimated Europe after World War II. Policy-makers in Washington and European capitals are puzzling over rescue plans, from creating new free trade zones and lowering trade barriers to sponsoring clean energy projects and pumping money into small community businesses, as well as offering government grants. Most agree it should be done soon, before the euphoria of freedom turns to frustration. But the West itself is in trouble, heavily in debt from the global recession. Budget control, not benevolence, is the order of the day in domestic politics. The instability in Arab countries has sparked an alarming rise in global oil prices that affects not only transport but the agriculture industry’s ability to grow and distribute food. That means higher-priced food for rich and poor, as well as job cuts from the other industries and businesses that are dependent on oil — and a ripple effect through the markets and the worldwide economy. This week, oil prices hit a two-year high, crossing the $100-a-barrel threshold for the first time since 2008. It’s $20 higher than a price set by the Saudi government to allow for comfortable profits, and a growing global economy. But the shocks felt across the world are geopolitical as well as economic. “Arab wealth and Arab public opinion might soon converge — with astounding implications for the region,” writes Rami Khouri, editor-at-large of Beirut’s Daily Star. “But especially for Iran, Israel, Turkey and the United States and other major Western powers.” That’s just what some world leaders fear, after decades of making deals with rulers whose word was law and who could sign off without public consultation. Because of that, Israel’s recognition by Egypt and Jordan was possible, preventing potentially catastrophic wars in the Middle East. So were Arab alliances with the U.S. in the “war on terror.” So was the acquiescence of Middle Eastern countries on the invasion of Iraq, as well as unanimous opposition to Iran, and the crucial matter of oil price fixing. The Arab countries benefited from these decisions, but the wealthy rulers much more than their citizens. In addition to money, they gained international legitimacy, state-of-the-art weapons, billions in military and development aid, and Western backing for their own vital interests. In that scenario democracy was a bit player, and the powerful sat in the director’s chair. The U.S., without a nod to irony, trumpeted its dedication to freedom and democracy, while turning a blind eye to its Arab allies’ repressive regimes. State Department human rights reports on torture, detention, censorship and fraudulent elections were routinely tut-tutted, and business continued as usual. But the U.S.’s first concern, then as now, was maintaining “stability,” which included providing cover for Israel in a hostile neighbourhood. One in which the hostility came mainly from the Arab street. Now the buffer zone of “reliable” rulers is shrinking, and Western diplomats are walking on tiptoe as they survey the damage to policies that were once articles of faith. The fear of Islamists coming to power or militants filling a power vacuum are coming to the fore. And, some say, keeping the U.S. from a clearer vision of what is transpiring. “We could be witnessing the most important moment in Arab political history in our lifetimes,” says Joel Hirst of the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. “Unfortunately, the news comes as a mixed blessing for the United States. For too long our policy on the Arab world has been fraught with inconsistencies . . . it has caused a significant credibility problem with the ‘Arab street.’ ” Along with oil security, that of Israel is top of the list of American anxieties as the future of the Middle East looks increasingly uncertain. For more than half a century, Washington’s policy has focused on maintaining peace in the region and supporting Israel’s right to exist on its own terms. “I think there is every reason to believe that the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty will hold,” says Daniel Levy of the New America Foundation, a former adviser to Israel’s Mideast peace negotiations. And, he added, Israel’s main concern is “more about a shift in the region leading to regimes (especially Egypt) no longer indulging certain current core Israeli policies.” At issue, Levy says, are Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory, the closure of Gaza and the “farcical” nature of the peace process to date: “This could become the main difference — that Arab public opinion now matters.” How much it matters will be played out in the coming weeks and months. Washington is under pressure from Israel, which sees itself as increasingly isolated and vulnerable, to continue its unconditional support. And from advisers who say it is time to push Israel to freeze its settlements and make a peace deal that will remove one of the bitterest grievances in the Mideast, one which has been allowed to mask the deeper ills those countries have avoided addressing. The realignment of the region will also affect another leading American concern, the containment of Iran. “Washington sees the various local and national conflicts in the Middle East as part of a battle for regional hegemony between the U.S. and Iran,” said Stephen Kinzer in Newsweek. “If this is true, the U.S. is losing.” Kinzer, author of Reset: Iran, Turkey, and America’s Future, says in an essay that Washington has bet the house on “sclerotic allies” who have lost the confidence of their citizens, while Iran won payoffs by supporting destructive, but popularly acclaimed, forces such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the Palestinian group Hamas and Shiite factions in Iraq. “Never has it been clearer that the U.S. needs to assess its long-term Middle East strategy,” Kinzer says. “It needs new approaches and new partners. Listening more closely to Turkey, the closest ally in the Muslim Middle East, would be a good start.” But change in Washington and other Western capitals may only come at a gradual pace, as the enormity of the shift sinks in. Hardened mindsets and long-established policies may be the last to crack. Meanwhile, the fires of change are blazing across the Arab world. When the smoke clears, the landscape may be almost unrecognizable.

The Raymond Davis affair Boiling Point

The Raymond Davis affair simmers on and on — sometimes reaching boiling point, at other times going back to a less dramatic situation. Davis has made it clear that he is unwilling to accept the authority of Pakistani courts to determine his fate. Before a Lahore district judge on February 26, he refused to receive the charge sheet which was presented to him for a case accusing him of murder — arguing that he enjoyed full diplomatic immunity. The judge adjourned the hearing after asking Mr Davis to engage a lawyer and, at the same time, also sought help from the government on the immunity issue. During the course of the hearing, Mr Davis had provided a letter from the US embassy which he said was evidence of his diplomatic immunity — and hence he could not be tried by the court. The case is far more complex than anything that can be dealt with by the lower courts. Following the revelation that Mr Davis works on behalf of the CIA — something that may not have been altogether unexpected given the nature of ties between Pakistan and America — the issue has become even more sensitive, not least because of the public reaction to it. Having said that, it is worth reiterating that the matter of whether Mr Davis is eligible for diplomatic immunity needs to be decided, not necessarily by a court of law, but by the Foreign Office, since it would — or should — have the documents that would decide, once and for all, whether the American is entitled to what he is claiming is his right under the Vienna Conventions. Perhaps what is to follow on this front in the coming days should be seen in light of meetings between army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani and senior American military officials in Oman, earlier this week. The option of the Americans paying diyat to the families of the three victims is also a possibility, with at least one Lahore-based weekly claiming some days ago that the family of the third victim who was run over has already accepted an out-of-court settlement. The way forward is clear: In the short run, resolve the matter sooner than later and, in the long run, review the arrangement which enabled such an incident to happen.

Gaddafi's Last Stand

Leave it to Libya's Muammar Gaddafi to show the world how a tyrant goes down: with bluster, belligerence and blood. Not for him, the quiet escape of Tunisia's Zine el Abidine Ben Ali or the noisy — but broadly peaceful — exit of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak. When the Arab youth uprising that has toppled despots on either side of his North African nation arrived on his doorstep, Gaddafi gave notice that the region's longest-surviving dictatorship would not succumb to revolutionary rap songs, Facebook pages and nonviolent demonstrations; he dispatched tanks and jet fighters to pound and strafe protesters. Hundreds were killed — the exact toll is impossible to know, since the regime shut out the world's media and shut down most communications. Neither the King of Bahrain nor the President of Yemen, both of whom have used violence against popular revolt in recent days, would dare such a slaughter. But Gaddafi, rich in oil and poor in friends, has rarely conformed to the rules by which other autocrats govern. Whether backing terrorist groups in the 1970s and '80s, funding civil wars in sub-Saharan Africa in the 1990s or hectoring world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly in 2009, Libya's so-called Brother Leader — he wields absolute power with no formal title — has always done what he pleased and mostly gotten away with it. This time he may have gone too far. Gaddafi's cruelty against his own people disgusted even longtime cronies and set off a wave of defections that, within a week of the first demonstrations on Feb. 15, left the regime deeply — perhaps fatally — wounded. Several military units mutinied and joined forces with protesters; two jet pilots flew to Malta rather than obey orders; a string of top officials, especially diplomats, quit their jobs and added to a chorus of voices calling for the dictator's end. Soon much of eastern Libya, including cities like Benghazi and Tobruk, had declared itself liberated from the regime. Some have taken to calling the eastern provinces Free Libya. Walls of houses and shops in Tobruk have been sprayed with signs saying FALL GADDAFI. On Feb. 22, when the first foreign journalists arrived in Midan al-Melek, a square in the center of town, men were still joyous, chanting, milling about and firing off celebratory gunshots. "The protesters finished a few days ago, and now we are just celebrating," said one man in the crowd. "From Tobruk to Benghazi, it is all out of Gaddafi's control." Gaddafi didn't seem to have gotten the message. That evening he delivered one of his characteristic televised rants, this one aimed at his countrymen. He accused Libyans of lacking gratitude for all he had done for them and blamed the protests on terrorists, foreigners and young people on drugs. He managed to work in references to a range of violent crackdowns, from Tiananmen Square to Waco, Texas, to Fallujah. Bizarre as it was, the speech left no doubt as to the dictator's intentions: "I am a warrior," he said. "I am not going to leave this land, and I will die here as a martyr." One of his sons, Saif al-Islam, had delivered a similar diatribe 48 hours before, promising the regime would fight to the last man. But coming from Gaddafi himself, the threat carried much more menace. "I have not yet ordered the use of force, not yet ordered one bullet to be fired," he said, with typical disregard for facts. "When I do, everything will burn." So Libya threatens to be different. in Gaddafi, the Arab youth revolution faces a foe unafraid to push back brutally — and the watching world sees a ruler immune to reproach or reason. The U.S., having only recently begun to normalize relations with Libya after shunning it for nearly three decades, has little sway over the regime; the same is true for other Western democracies. (Outside the Arab world, Libya is closest to its former colonial master, Italy — which dreads the possibility of a wave of refugees fleeing the violence.) Unlike in Egypt and Bahrain, for instance, the Obama Administration has no leverage with the military in Libya: Gaddafi's generals will not be getting calls from fellow West Pointers at the Pentagon urging them to hold their fire. Nor will the threat of sanctions — President Obama said the U.S. and its allies were considering "the full range of options" — hold much terror for a regime that has endured long periods as an international pariah. So what began with the hope of regime change in the new, nonviolent way is now devolving into an old-fashioned African civil war, complete with shifting tribal allegiances and foreign mercenaries. Libyans' chances of being rid of their ruler of 42 years lie in their ability to endure his jet fighters; many hope more of his soldiers will mutiny. Gaddafi's survival may depend on whether he can rally support among his own and other tribes and bolster his forces with hired guns. (Reports from Tripoli say protesters have been fired upon by foreign gunmen.) For the rest of the world, a Libyan civil war would mean a humanitarian disaster — Egypt and Tunisia, like Italy, are bracing for refugees from the fighting. There seems likely to be a global economic impact too: Libya is a major oil exporter, and several oil companies have halted production, accelerating a rise in crude prices — which rose 2% the day after Gaddafi's speech. But unlike the revolutions roiling other Arab nations, Libyan chaos does not immediately threaten the regional order or global security. There's no domino effect to worry about: Libya's neighbors have already had their regimes changed. Nor is there a serious threat of Islamic extremists' rushing into any leadership vacuum in Tripoli. And instability in Libya doesn't directly threaten the interests of an important U.S. ally, as the prospect of instability in Egypt did those of Israel. Even so, the Obama Administration is wary of "the [possibility that] you have more than one entity that controls territory in Libya," says a senior Administration official. Especially if one of those entities is Gaddafi: although he's been relatively well behaved in recent years, the official points out, "go back 20 years or so, and he was a significant sponsor of terrorist acts who had a nuclear program." By the time Gaddafi had that dubious title bestowed on him by President Ronald Reagan in 1986, the eccentric Libyan colonel turned dictator had been in power for nearly 17 years and had proved a nuisance to Arabs and Westerners alike. His nation's oil riches and tiny population — Libya has the world's ninth largest known deposits and just 6.5 million people — allowed him to spend money freely on pet causes, including the Palestine Liberation Organization and a number of Islamic groups. Relatively little was spent on his people: a Gallup poll released last year showed that 29% of young Libyans were unemployed and 93% described their condition as "struggling" or "suffering." Gaddafi bankrolled scores of rebel movements across Africa, particularly in Chad, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Liberia and, during the years of apartheid in South Africa, Nelson Mandela and the armed wing of the African National Congress. Gaddafi also financed the Black September movement, the Palestinian terrorist group blamed for the 1972 massacre of Israeli Olympic athletes in Munich. In 1986, Libyan agents bombed a Berlin disco popular with U.S. servicemen, killing two sergeants and a Turkish woman. Reagan retaliated by having Tripoli and Benghazi bombed, killing 60, including Gaddafi's adopted daughter. Two years later, the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland (in which 270 were killed), was blamed on Libyan agents, and the country was slapped with economic sanctions. This didn't prevent Libya from exporting oil, however. Nor did it curb Gaddafi's eccentricities: when his efforts to play a bigger role in Arab affairs were rebuffed, he began to push for the unification of African nations into a single political entity. Many African leaders were happy to take his money but indulged his fantasies only so far as to make him president of the African Union for a year. "He was able to buy influence, but there's not many African countries that actively support him," says Adekeye Adebajo, director of the Center for Conflict Resolution in Cape Town. "Even though Gaddafi has long portrayed himself as an African, the support was always opportunistic and never that deep." Opportunism nicely defines Gaddafi in recent years. Beneath the bluster and buffoonery, he has shrewdly assessed where his best interests lie. In mid-2003, Libya finally accepted responsibility for the Pan Am bombing and agreed to pay up to $2.7 billion in compensation to the families of the victims. Gaddafi also admitted to having a nuclear-weapons program, which he then dismantled under international supervision. (The Bush Administration claimed he had been spooked by the invasion of Iraq.) In the years that followed, as Western nations — including the U.S. — normalized relations with Tripoli, foreign investment flooded into the country. But much of the new bounty was confined to a small circle, which included Gaddafi's children. Most of his seven sons had acquired reputations for high living in Europe's playgrounds for the rich, but two of them stood out as possible successors: Saif al-Islam, the second son, and Mutassim, the fourth. Western-educated Saif courted foreign investors and quickly came to be seen as a force for economic and political reform; Mutassim, who spent millions on lavish birthday parties, became Gaddafi's national-security adviser. It was well known in Tripoli's diplomatic and political circles, however, that the two brothers detested each other. A classified November 2009 cable from the U.S. embassy to the State Department, disclosed by WikiLeaks, reported that Gaddafi had "placed his sons on a succession high wire act, perpetually thrown off balance, in what might be a calculated effort ... to prevent any one of them from authoritatively gaining the prize." (Another brother, Khamis, leads a crack military unit.) However ambitious and extravagant they may have been, his children were all dwarfed by Gaddafi's outsize personality. His eccentricities grew more pronounced with age: on his foreign travels, he usually lived in a luxury tent — he has a phobia about multistory buildings — and his bodyguards are all women. Other cables released by WikiLeaks described him as a hypochondriac who insisted on being accompanied everywhere by a buxom Ukrainian nurse. Yet for all his odd behavior, Gaddafi continued to exercise authority in Libya. He personally supervised major government contracts, distributing favorable deals among his cronies and influential tribal chieftains. One vivid diplomatic cable used a Libyan fable to describe his handling of the country's complex tribal politics. The fable tells "of a race in which participants have to carry a sack of rats a certain distance before they chew through the bag. [Gaddafi] wins because he figures out that by constantly shaking the bag, the rats are too disoriented to make their way out."  Now the Gaddafis want the world to believe that without them, Libya's rats will run free. In his Feb. 20 speech, Saif al-Islam warned that the country would regress into tribal wars and turn into a place where "everyone wants to become a sheik or an emir." Dire prophecies are typical of flailing regimes, but the Gaddafis aren't alone in predicting trouble in their wake. Oliver Miles, a former British ambassador to Tripoli, says tribalism won't necessarily lead to conflict but notes that the country faces a larger problem: a scarcity of durable institutions. He points out that unlike in Egypt and Tunisia, in Libya the army doesn't enjoy widespread respect. "Maybe these ambassadors who have been resigning can play a role," Miles says. "But you have to make sure that they aren't just rats leaving a sinking ship."

A rosier view comes from Libyans who hold that their nation is more than a confederation of tribes. "We're not the medieval society Saif described," says Abdelnabi Yasin, an exiled writer and political activist based in Athens, Ga. The young people who led protests, he argues, "see themselves as Libyans first. Their tribal identities are not as important as it was to their parents."Yasin believes that any post-Gaddafi government will include the officials and generals who split with the dictator. Hisham Matar, a Libyan novelist based in London, says new leaders are emerging from the youth movement. Liberated cities like Benghazi are already being run by committees, each with a specific task: sanitation, food delivery and so on. The committees are led by engineers, doctors and other educated people — the kind who can form the next government. "The ingredients for the future have to come from the movement itself," Matar says. "And the movement is civil and inclusive and calling for universal human rights and justice." That accurately describes political-science professor Fathi Baja, who joined the protests in Benghazi with his daughter Hamida. Now he and several other leading activists in Benghazi are preparing a manifesto for the revolution — the draft, he says, for a future Libya. "It will clarify the nature of this revolution," he says. "[This] revolution is going towards the creation of modern Libya, freedom and democracy based on a pluralistic society, based on human rights, participation of all parts of Libya in creating their government and their institutions." If that sounds like the impossibly optimistic vision of youth, consider this: at 58, Fathi Baja is old enough to remember when he joined his first political demonstration. It was on Sept. 1, 1969, when excited crowds poured into the streets of Benghazi to chant their support for the dashing 27-year-old junior officer who had just ousted Libya's King. Muammar Gaddafi has long outstayed that welcome.

Raymond Davis issue "Refused to sign"

Raymond Davis the CIA official charged with a double murder case in Pakistan, refused to sign a chargesheet in court on Friday, insisting that he had diplomatic immunity. According to the chargesheet, Davis opened fire from inside his car on two men, Fahim and Faizan, and then shot, after coming out of his vehicle, twice on Faizan in his back who was running. The chargesheet mentioned that the accused later made some pictures of the deceased persons on his mobile phone and called someone through a wireless set to retrieve him. The hearing took place amid tight security in Lahore's Kot Lakphat jail where the US consulate officials were also present. Abdul Samad, the public prosecutor told media that Davis refused to sign the chargesheet copy, saying that he be released as he enjoys diplomatic immunity. Guarded by hundreds of police officials, Davis was produced handcuffed in the prison court. Asad Manzoor Butt, a lawyer for the families of the deceased men also appeared in the court and rejected the US immunity claim. "We have also received copies of the chargesheet. We will pursue this case as we want Davis to be punished for his act. We believe he does not enjoy immunity," he said. The Davis issue has put Pakistan's beleaguered government in a complex situation. The US authorities repeatedly insist that Davis enjoys diplomatic immunity and thus cannot be tried in Pakistan but the country's former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. who lost his job over the issue, says that he was told by his advisors that the US national was not covered by any blanket immunity. The government has so far not officially declared Davis's real status in Pakistan. The court trying Davis has set a deadline of March 14 for the government to decide his status. Given the public hostility, media's role and uproar by the religious parties against the release of Davis, it is hard to see how the government will resolve the issue. "Davis case is not so simple as it is sometimes portrayed by some. It is a complex case involving issues in national and international law as well as grave sensitivities that cannot be wished away," says presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar. "The court has not only taken cognizance of it but also declared that it will decide on the immunity issue. We respect the court and will wait for its verdict." 

Threatened by revolutions Saudi Arabia’s King open the royal treasures

They released flocks of white doves, hung banners from buildings, performed a traditional Bedouin sword dance and waved national flags to welcome Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah home Wednesday, after he spent three months away recovering from back surgery. The frail 86-year-old monarch, who was rushed to the United States in November to undergo emergency surgery for a herniated spinal disc and a blood clot, returned to a transformed Middle East. His kingdom now feels threatened by revolutions that have swept across neighbouring Yemen and Bahrain, toppled leaders in Egypt and Tunisia, plunged Libya into civil war and unsettled governments in Morocco, Algeria, Jordan and Iran. In a desperate bid to stave off similar protests at home, the King announced $37-billion in new public spending, giving all government employees a 15% pay raise and dramatically increasing spending on social welfare programs, housing and education. Under new decrees, the unemployed in Saudi Arabia will get financial aid for a year, while prisoners jailed for failing to pay off loans were released and needy students attending university were told they would get more money. Saturday was also declared a national holiday to celebrate the King’s safe return. Experts say the sudden largesse is an attempt to defuse discontent and deflect demands for reform. “They are trying to enlarge the pool of benefits, given what is happening in the broader Middle East,” said John Sfakianakis, chief economist at Banque Saudi Fransi in Riyadh. “The message from King Abdullah is that he is aware of the challenges facing the economy and steps are being taken to address immediate and more medium-term issues.” Unlike most of the states in trouble, Saudi Arabia can afford to spend some of the US$400-billion in oil money it has stashed away to create jobs, encourage business and attract investment. Still, the fact remains that the generational divide which has driven much of the turmoil in the rest of the Arab world is nowhere more evident than in Saudi Arabia: 47% of its 19 million citizens are 18 or younger, and nearly 40% of all Saudis aged 20-24 are unemployed. In contrast, their rulers are senior citizens. King Abdullah’s designated successor, Crown Prince Sultan, Saudi Arabia’s Defence Minister for 50 years, is 83 and has cancer, while and the Interior Minister, Prince Nayef, the king’s half-brother and second deputy prime minister, is 76. King Abdullah’s age and poor health have raised concerns internationally over a potential leadership crisis in a country that controls 25% of the world’s oil. Given everything else that is going on in the Middle East, the last thing anyone wants is a sudden political vacuum in Saudi Arabia, which could trigger a political and economic tsunami in the region. With no elected parliament or political parties, power in the kingdom has traditionally been passed between the many sons of the country’s founder, King Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud, who died in 1953. He had at least 37 sons by 22 wives. As a result, there are now hundreds of possible claimants to the Saudi throne. In the past, the right of succession was thrashed out in private among leading princes. King Abdullah came to the throne in 2005 after the death of his half-brother King Fahd. But he had been the de facto ruler for almost 15 years after King Fahd had a stroke. King Abdullah realized the death of a Saudi king without an acknowledged and agreed-on line of succession could plunge his traditional and tribal nation into a bitter clan war. In 2006 he created an “allegiance council” of senior princes, charged with ensuring a consensus on who becomes crown prince. “The new procedure is more like the selection of a Roman Catholic pope, chosen in a secret conclave by princes of the church,” said Thomas Lippman, a Middle East scholar at the Council on Foreign Relations. “Just as some cardinals are deemed papabile, or suitable to become the pontiff in the event of a vacancy, a handful of the many sons and grandsons of Saudi Arabia’s founding king are understood to be in the running as future kings. “Only no one outside the House of Saud has any real knowledge of who might be on the list,” he added. That uncertainty sits poorly with young Saudis, who have just had their first taste of revolution. Echoing uprisings that toppled the rulers of Tunisia and Egypt, Saudi activists are calling for economic reforms to create more jobs and political reforms, including free elections, freedom for women and the release of political prisoners. They have set up a Facebook page calling for a Saudi “Day of Rage” on March 11. King Abdullah’s office responded by creating its own Facebook page, where citizens are invited to present their grievances directly to the King with the click of a mouse. Saudi Arabia has no tradition of dissent. Political parties and public protests are banned, women cannot travel alone and only one election (in 2005 for municipal offices) has ever been held. Now, there are signs of simmering discontent. A group of 40 journalists and human rights activists marked King Abdullah’s homecoming by releasing an open letter, asking for elections for the advisory Shura Council, the right of women to vote and stand as candidates, and a crackdown on corruption. They also demanded the king reshuffle his cabinet so the average age of ministers is reduced to 40, from 65. King Abdullah might try to meet some of their demands. He is already due to shuffle his cabinet, since the terms of several ministers expired last Saturday. But that might not be enough to avoid the troubles visited on neighbouring states. “Basically, what the King is doing is good, but it’s an old message of using oil money to buy the silence, subservience and submission of the people,” Mai Yamani, a Middle East expert with London’s Chatham House think-tank, told Reuters news agency. “The new generation of revolution is surrounding them from everywhere.”

Bolivia Flood

Floods destroyed ten towns of Bolivia and swabbed bridges and highways in the Andean nation as heavy rains continued to create havoc. The Beni River in eastern Bolivia spilled over its banks and into the tourist town. Locals in the town walked through water in the streets and it was the most severe flooding the area had seen in 20 years.  Rains also punished localities in the highland province of La Paz, where hanging bridges were left dangling and travel between villages was difficult. The main highway was washed out, as were several smaller dirt roads. In the tropical region of Los Yungas, also in the La Paz province, landslides left cars trapped on highways as travelers were forced to walk across damaged roads. According to Bolivia s planning minister Viviana Caro, officials were working hard to get emergency response plans up and running.

WikiLeaks founder Assange to Sweden

Julian Assange can be extradited to Sweden in a sex crimes inquiry, a British judge ruled Thursday, rejecting claims by the WikiLeaks founder that he would not face a fair trial there. Assange's lawyer said he would appeal. Judge Howard Riddle said the allegations of rape and sexual molestation by two women against Assange meet the definition of extraditable offenses and said the Swedish warrant had been properly issued and was valid. Assange, 39, a key figure in the release of tens of thousands of secret U.S. government and military documents, has been out on bail during the extradition fight. He has seven days to appeal the ruling in British courts. After hearing three days of testimony this month, Riddle concluded "there is simply no reason to believe there has been a mistake" about the European Arrest Warrant issued by Swedish authorities. In his ruling, the judge dismantled the defense case against extradition point by point. He rejected the claim that comments made against Assange by Swedish prosecutors and politicians would pervert the course of justice. Assange s lawyers also said that Sweden s custom of hearing rape cases behind closed doors meant he would not get a fair trial, but Riddle said the practice was common in Sweden. Assange s lawyers have questioned Sweden s judicial process and expressed concern their client risks being handed over to the United States, which is investigating whether Assange and WikiLeaks have violated U.S. laws by distributing secret government documents. WikiLeaks has released tens of thousands of U.S. military documents on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and on U.S. diplomatic efforts worldwide, deeply angering U.S. officials. The judge said it was wrong for the defense to raise the question of a possible extradition to the U.S. or the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, given the absence of any evidence that Assange risks torture or execution.

Greek anti-austerity protest turns violent

Protesters threw rocks and firebombs at riot police officers guarding the Greek parliament building during a protest march through central Athens on Wednesday. Police retorted by firing tear gas on the masked protesters while others continued to walk towards the parliament. Doctors, lawyers, pharmacists, teachers, public transport employees and sailors were among those who took part in the march as part of a general strike held by the country s two main unions, the public sector ADEDY and the private sector GSEE. The professionals and workers were joined by students and farmers, who drove their tractors, in the march through Athens  main streets to the Greek parliament building. Greece has been pushing through further reforms this year to reduce its debt, including wage cuts, job transfers and restructuring in the public health and transport sectors. Reforms are also expected in public education, while professions including lawyers and pharmacists are being liberalized. Shop owners kept their shutters down in protest over the loss of business as the measures have affected consumer spending. Measures already implemented in 2010 that have also angered workers include wage and pension bonus cuts and the termination of temporary work contracts in the public sector, and increased taxes on goods. The government is also struggling to crack down heavily on widespread tax evasion, one of the state s biggest obstacles to revenue collection and a priority for 2011. It must cut its spending further this year to meet targets set by the EU and the IMF in return for a rescue package that saved it from bankruptcy in May.

Gaddafi has no mercy for protesters

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has vowed to crush the revolt against his power, calling the protesters rats and cockroaches. After this declaration of Gaddafi, a sever clampdown was started in the capital, Tripoli, and its suburbs against the opposition. There are reports that thousands have died in Libyan riots. The supporters of Gaddafi took the streets and gathered at the Green Square, in Tripoli. They chanted slogans in Gaddafi’s support. Meanwhile, Peru has ended its diplomatic ties with Libya, while Libyan ambassadors in Indonesia, India, Brunei, United States, Bangladesh and in several other countries resigned to demonstrate their solidarity with the Libyan people. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in a joint press conference with the Latvian foreign minister, condemned the crushing of people by the regime. United Nations Undersecretary General for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe said that the UN is concerned over the human rights situation in Libya. He said that the UN secretary general was making efforts to normalize the situation in Libya.

The dawn of Libyan leader Gadhafi "biographic data"

Moammar Gadhafi was born into a Bedouin family on June 7, 1942. As a teenager, he was deeply involved in political action, having participated in anti-Israel demonstrations during the Suez Crisis. His thirst for power began while he was attending military college in Greece, where he started making plans to overthrow the Libyan monarchy, led by King Idris I. On Sept. 1, 1969, while Idris was in Turkey, Gadhafi led a small group of junior military officers in a bloodless coup and overthrew the king, establishing the Libyan Arab Republic and installing himself as Leader and Guide of the Revolution. An admirer of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara, Gadhafi offered aid for others who shared his anti-imperialist, anti-Western views. With Libya’s oil fortunes, he was able to help fund numerous African coups, including those lead by Uganda’s Idi Amin and Liberia’s Charles Taylor. Taking his cue from Mao’s Little Red Book, Gadhafi published his Green Book in 1975, outlining the tenets of his political ideology, which he termed Islamic Socialism. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Ghadafi’s name became synonymous with international terrorism. He was a major financial backer of the Black September Movement (responsible for the attacks at the Munich Olympics in 1972 and infamously claimed responsibility for the 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing), the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am aircraft over Lockerbie, Scotland, and the 1989 bombing of a French aircraft over Niger. His refusal to allow the extradition to the U.S. and Britain of two Libyan nationals involved in the Lockerbie bombing led to severe economic sanctions for Libya. In 2003, Gadhafi made significant steps to warm up his relationship with the West, agreeing to compensate victims of Libyan-sponsored terrorism and allowing UN investigators into his country to examine and dismantle weapons of mass destruction. Since then, Gadhafi has made further efforts to improve his image in the West, including welcoming dignitaries such as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. On his first-ever visit to the United States, Gadhafi even made a speech to the UN General Assembly in 2009, although he was widely criticized for his rambling. He has, however, consistently maintained a strict stance against those he deems to be “enemies” of his revolution and has advocated for their death. Since then, Gadhafi has made further efforts to improve his image in the West, including welcoming dignitaries such as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; he even penned a 2009 editorial in the New York Times endorsing a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. He has, however, consistently maintained a strict stance against those he deems to be "enemies" of his revolution and has advocated for their death. Gadhafi was elected chairman of the African Union in 2009 and has pledged to work towards what he calls a United States of Africa. He has also used Libya’s vast oil fortunes to send aid to countries torn apart by famine and civil war, including Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia.

Seif al-Islam Gadhafi

Seif al-Islam Gadhafi was born on June 25, 1972 in Tripoli and is the second son of Moammar Gadhafi. In 1997, while studying to earn his MBA at a university in Vienna, he established the Gadhafi International Foundation for Charity Associations. The GIFCA has been involved in hostage negotiations involving Islamic militants and purports to promote the values of democratic reform. The NGO is also involved with the Libyan National Society for Drug Control, of which Seif is president. Seif graduated with a PhD in 2008 from the London School of Economics. He has been involved in the Libyan politics for some time and was widely seen as the voice of reform in his father’s ear. While studying in London in 2003, he was said to have approached the MI6 to alert them of his father’s weapons of mass destruction, leading to discussions to have them dismantled. He has been instrumental in achieving compensation from Italy, Libya’s former colonial ruler, as well as helping victims of both Libyan-sponsored air attacks in their fight for compensation. He has, however, also maintained the innocence of the seven Libyans convicted in each case and was involved in talks leading to the 2009 release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, who had been convicted in the Lockerbie attack. In a 2004 interview with the Globe and Mail, Seif asked for an apology from the Canadian government for participating in past economic sanctions against Libya and for being denied a visa to study in Canada in 1997.

Other children

Moammar Gadhafi is currently married to second wife Safia Farkash and has eight biological children, seven of whom were with Farkash. His first son, Muhammad al-Gadhafi, is the head of the Libyan Olympic Committee. Third son, Saadi Gadhafi, runs the Libyan Football Federation. Mutassim Gadhafi, his fourth son, is currently Libya’s National Security Advisor. He visited Washington in 2009 to meet with Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, representing the highest-level diplomatic meeting between the two nations since their relations were renewed in the years prior. Mutassim is also accused by some of being linked to the death in a Libyan prison of Ibn Al Sheikh Al Libi, a former CIA captive who, under torture, confessed to involvement with weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Hannibal Gadhafi has made numerous headlines across Europe for his erratic and violent behaviour. He attacked three Italian policemen with a fire extinguisher in 2001; he was detained in 2004 after he was stopped in his Porsche for speeding while intoxicated and traveling in the wrong direction on the Champs-Elysees in Paris; in 2005, he was given a four-month suspended prison sentence after he beat his then-girlfriend, now wife, Aline Skaf. Hannibal and his wife were arrested in Geneva in 2008 for assaulting two of their staff members. This incident kicked off a series of Libyan sanctions against Switzerland, including the recalling of their diplomats from Bern and the forced-closing of Swiss-run company offices in Libya. Moammar Gadhafi's only daughter, Ayesha al-Gadhafi, is a lawyer who in 2004 joined the legal defence team of Saddam Hussein. She was also involved in the defence of journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi, after he threw his shoes at President George W. Bush during a press confrence in Baghdad. Gadhafi’s adopted daughter Hanna was killed during the United States’ bombing campaign of Libya in 1986.

New Zealand earthquake

A 6.3 magnitude earthquake rocked the city of Christchurch in New Zealand. 65 people have been confirmed dead and many are still missing. According to sources, the death toll is expected to rise. New Zealand Prime Minister, John Key said that the 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck at lunchtime when people were in their offices and children in their schools. He added that a lot of buildings have been damaged and it is yet unknown how many people have been affected by this deadly disaster. The death toll is currently up to 65 but the figure is expected to rise as many people are still missing.

Raymond Davis military contractor for Blackwater (Xe)

The American being held in a prison in Lahore after shooting two Pakistani gunmen last month, was working for the CIA, two U.S. officials told on Monday as they raised concern that the life of Raymond A. Davis is in danger in the Lahore prison where he is being held. Davis was providing personal security detail to U.S. officials working at the consulate in Lahore and the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad when he shot down two men he claimed were trying to rob him. Davis is also a former Special Operations officer who had worked in the past for military contractor Blackwater, now known as Xe. According to The New York Times, which was first to break the story, Davis was part of a covert, team of operatives conducting surveillance on militant groups deep inside the country. He carried out scouting and other reconnaissance missions for a CIA task force of case officers and technical surveillance experts. But a senior U.S. official told Fox News that Davis "was not an al Qaeda chaser. "On Jan. 27 at the time of his shooting he was not working for Blackwater. He was simply providing protective security for U.S. embassy officials. ... This was a robbery gone awry." In a leaked interrogation video aired on Pakistani television, the American identified himself as a "consultant" at the Lahore consulate. But the Guardian revealed on Sunday that he is a CIA agent, citing interviews in the US and Pakistan. A number of US media outlets are also aware of his status but have kept quiet following representations from the American government. Davis is on Pakistan's "exit control list", meaning he cannot leave the country without permission. However, two men who came to his rescue in a jeep that knocked over and killed a motorcyclist have already fled the country. Davis claimed to be acting in self-defence, firing on a pair of suspected robbers. But eyebrows were raised when it emerged that he shot the men 10 times, including once as he fled the scene, and was carrying a telescope, a GPS set, bolt cutters, a survival kit, and a long-range radio at the time of his arrest. Pakistani prosecutors said Davis used excessive force and charged him with two counts of murder and one of illegal possession of a Glock 9mm pistol. There have been claims that the dead men were working for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, with orders to follow the American. The ISI co-operates closely with the CIA in the American agency's tribal belt drone programme, but resents US intelligence collection elsewhere in the country. US efforts to have Davis released have focused on the issue of immunity, which has become tangled in a political and legal web. Noting the "legal complexities of the case", Gilani stressed that Pakistan's government would follow its international obligations but did not say whether it would offer immunity. Meanwhile, authorities stressed the stringent measures they have put in place to protect Davis in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail, following angry rallies in which his effigy was burned and threats from extremist clerics.  Surveillance cameras are trained on his cell in an isolation wing, his guards have been disarmed and a ring of paramilitary Punjab rangers are posted outside. About 25 jihadi prisoners have been transferred to other facilities. The furore over Davis has not stopped the controversial drone strike programme. On Sunday news emerged of a fresh attack on a militant target in south Waziristan, the first in nearly a month. Pakistani intelligence officials told the Associated Press that foreigners were among the dead, including three people from Turkmenistan and two Arabs.

Protests agains Gaddafi (Update Libya)

As many as 233 people have been killed in violent protests in Libya to demand the overthrow of Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi. Anti-government protesters rallied in Tripoli s streets against Gaddafi and asked him to step down. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resignation has joined Libyans to press for another Arab leader s removal.  According to a Libyan resident, the Libyan people are like many of the Arabs who live in the region; now, we are able to understand and realise our demands very well. But unfortunately, some of the Arab leaders don t realise that because they are dictators with despotic policies. Gaddafi should leave and his regime should be toppled entirely. By Monday afternoon, a witness saw armed militiamen firing on protesters who were clashing with riot police. As a group of protesters and the police faced off in a neighborhood near Green Square, in the center of the capital, ten or so Toyota pickup trucks carrying more than 20 men — many of them apparently from other African countries in mismatched fatigues — arrived at the scene. Holding small automatic weapons, they started firing in the air, and then started firing at protesters, who scattered, the witness said. “It was an obscene amount of gunfire,” said the witness. “They were strafing these people. People were running in every direction.” The police stood by and watched, the witness said, as the militiamen, still shooting, chased after the protesters. The escalation of the conflict came after Colonel Qaddafi’s security forces had earlier in the day retreated to a few buildings in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, fires burned unchecked, and senior government officials and diplomats announced defections. The country’s second-largest city remained under the control of rebels. Witnesses in Tripoli interviewed by telephone on Monday said protesters had converged on the capital’s central Green Square and clashed with heavily armed riot police for several hours after Mr. Qaddafi’s speech, apparently enraged by it. Young men armed themselves with chains around their knuckles, steel pipes and machetes, as well as police batons, helmets and rifles commandeered from riot squads. Security forces moved in, shooting randomly. By the morning, businesses and schools remained closed in the capital, the witnesses said. There were several government buildings on fire — including the Hall of the People, where the legislature meets — and reports of looting.