talkSPORt to be broadcast to British troops stationed overseas

 

talkSPORT commentary on the Rugby World Cup 2011 is to be broadcast to British soldiers serving overseas, the British Forces Broadcasting Service has announced. Coverage commences on September 9 and will enable troops stationed in more than 20 countries; including Afghanistan, Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands, to keep up to date with all the games as they are played. England legend Brian Moore, aka The Pit Bull, will be heading up talkSPORT's coverage for the tournament alongside David Campese. He said: “The Rugby World Cup is a massive event and is sure to be a fantastic spectacle – I’m really pleased to be supporting our brave troops abroad.” BFBS Controller Nicky Ness said: “I am delighted that the BFBS and talkSPORT partnership now extends to Rugby World Cup coverage.  This tournament is really important to the armed forces community for whom sport is crucial part of life.  The fact that our troops will be able to listen on the front line and in far flung corners of the world will make a real difference to morale.

Foreign workers prepared to be evacuated Thursday on the first International Organization for Migration boat to dock in war-torn Tripoli, as relief mixed with sadness for many of those leaving.

Gleeful children played on the oily wooden deck as their parents piled bags on pallets and headed up to the passenger area on the ship due to take 250 foreigners away from the fighting to the rebel center of Benghazi to the east.

“I’m happy to go home to the Philippines,” said 9-year-old Arjan, whose mother worked at Tripoli’s main hospital. “I was frightened by all of the bang-bang.”

The boat, which waited offshore for two nights for the security situation to improve as rebels battled Moammar Gadhafi loyalists around the capital, was due to take out Filipinos, Egyptians, Canadians, Algerians and Moroccans.

A handful of Filipinos were the first to board, their names noted and passports checked. Some were happy, some sad, but all were relieved.

Construction foreman Ramil Nyala, 45, complained that he was leaving Libya empty-handed, without the precious remittances that are key to the Filipino economy.

“I was being paid $600-800 a month, it’s high. But they refused to pay me. I haven’t had work for four months, and I have to pay $350 a month in rent, so my savings are all lost,” he said.

“Libyans are the priority. We couldn’t sleep at night because of the shooting everywhere. I’m happy to go and join my family.”

Dr. Yussef Biuk asked those boarding if they had any diseases or special medical needs for the journey, and gave everyone a seasickness pill.

The chartered Turkish ship, a river ferry, was expected to make the journey in 36 hours instead of the usual 20.

The ship only has four cabins, so most people will make the journey sitting down, armed with the food packages they’ve been given.

“We’re two doctors on board, so I might stay behind to treat people at the hospital. I have friends and relatives here,” Biuk said.

Some of those fleeing Libya said they intend to return, while others were leaving their entire lives behind.

“I’m not sad to leave because I’m coming back,” said fire alarm engineer William Doctor. “I’ll be back in November. Now I’m going to have a little holiday,” he smiled.

Julie, whose husband worked as a “senior production coordinator,” said she was sad to leave after living here since 1982, almost half her life, because “we love Libya.”

“Our children were born and studied here, they speak Arabic and they want to come back.”

Martin Jerrett, IOM head of office in Benghazi, from where the ship’s passengers will travel on to Cairo and elsewhere, said the ship aimed to spread the message that foreigners could get out.

“This journey is to establish our presence, there will be bigger boats coming tomorrow and in two days time, each for 1,000 people,”

“We’re concerned about sub-Saharan Africans because of the perception that they’re mercenaries [who are working for Gadhafi]. They’re the most frightened and least likely to move,” Jerrett said.

Egyptian consul Mohammad Zeid said that 150 of his country’s nationals were expected to travel on the first boat out.

faithful dog has refused to leave the side of his Navy SEAL owner after he was killed in Afghanistan, lying beside his master's coffin at the funeral.

The heartbreaking image of loyal Labrador Hawkeye lying forlornly in front of the coffin of Jon Tumlinson, 35, has made its way around the world since it was posted on Facebook by Tumlinson's cousin.
Petty Officer Tumlinson was one of 38 killed when his helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan early this month.
"I took this picture and that was my view throughout the entire funeral. I couldn't not take a picture," Lisa Tumilson told US television network ABC News.
"It took several attempts since every time I wasn't crying and could focus on taking it, there was a SEAL at the microphone and I didn't want to take a picture with them for security and respect reasons. Our family is devastated to say the least."
Hawkeye led his family down the aisle into the funeral service in Rockford, Iowa, and followed his friend Scott Nichols as he rose to deliver a eulogy, television network MSNBC reported.

 

£1 million bounty was placed on Gaddafi’s head, soldiers from 22 SAS Regiment began guiding rebel soldiers after being ordered in

£1 million bounty was placed on Gaddafi’s head, soldiers from 22 SAS Regiment began guiding rebel soldiers after being ordered in by David Cameron.
For the first time, defence sources have confirmed that the SAS has been in Libya for several weeks, and played a key role in co-ordinating the fall of Tripoli.
With the majority of the capital now in rebel hands, the SAS soldiers, who have been dressed in Arab civilian clothing and carrying the same weapons as the rebels, have been ordered to switch their focus to the search for Gaddafi, who has been on the run since his fortified headquarters was captured on Tuesday.
Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) said Gaddafi was wanted “dead or alive” and promised an amnesty to any of his inner circle prepared to betray his whereabouts.
Nato still has no idea where the despot is holed up, and yesterday he taunted his opponents by claiming in a TV interview that he had secretly toured the streets of Tripoli without being spotted.

Libyans stormed Col. Moammar Gadhafi's fortress compound, the strongman took to the airwaves from an unknown location to call on Libyan residents to "free Tripoli,"

A day after rebel fighters and thousands of ordinary Libyans stormed Col. Moammar Gadhafi's fortress compound, the strongman took to the airwaves from an unknown location to call on Libyan residents to "free Tripoli," even as the rebel-led council planned to move to Tripoli as early as Thursday.

Pro-Gadhafi regime's loyalists continue to fight on the outskirts of Libya's capital, and two big explosions were heard in Tripoli, according to news reports.

Col. Gadhafi, in a speech aired Wednesday by the local Al-Ouraba TV, sounded subdued and without his usual fiery rhetoric, the Associated Press reported.

Addressing the people in Tripoli, Col. Gadhafi asked: "Why are you letting them wreak havoc?"


Libyans poured into streets surrounding Moammar Gadhafi's fortress-like compound in Tripoli, after rebels captured it following fierce street battles against forces loyal to the longtime ruler. Jeff Grocott has the lastest on The News Hub.

The pro-Gadhafi TV channel earlier quoted the Libyan leader as saying he had left the compound in a "tactical move" after 64 North Atlantic Treaty Organization airstrikes turned it to ruble, according to news reports. He vowed martyrdom or victory in his fight against NATO aggression.

A regime spokesman, Ibrahim Moussa, said thousands of pro-Gadhafi fighters have started to enter Tripoli and will be taking action at the right time. In a televised phone interview with Al-Ouraba, Mr. Moussa said more than 6,500 volunteer fighters have entered the capital.

"We are able to fight, not for days or months, but for years... And we have put plans and alternative plans in this regards," he said.

Meanwhile, the leader of Libya's National Transition Council said the council will move its headquarters from the eastern city of Benghazi to Tripoli, though he added Libya won't be considered as liberated until the capture of Col. Gadhafi, who he speculated may be in Algeria.

"The NTC will be gradually moved to Tripoli as of the day after tomorrow," NTC leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil told France 24's Arabic channel early Wednesday.

More than 400 rebel fighters died and over 2,000 injured in the fight for Tripoli, while short of 600 Gadhafi loyalists had been captured, he said.

Mr. Jalil, who once served as a justice minister under Col. Gadhafi's regime and was among the first ex-Gadhafi officials to defect to the rebels' side, said the new Libya "will hold special relations with all countries that helped in liberating the country."

"I see Libya in the future as a Muslim, organized state and in control with peaceful and amicable ties with its neighbors," he added.

There were reports of continuing battles here, underscoring the chaos that hangs over this city of two million people. Fighters loyal to Col. Gadhafi blockaded foreign journalists in their city-center hotel Tuesday. Witnesses told Al-Arabiya television that pro-Gadhafi forces fired several Grad missiles into the capital, and west of Tripoli, loyalist forces continued to shell the towns of Zuara and Ajelat, according to residents and news reports.

The capture of Col. Gadhafi's complex, already heavily damaged by NATO airstrikes, stands as one of the rebels' highest moments in their six-month battle to topple the world's longest-tenured current ruler. But the failure to find Col. Gadhafi indicated that the rebels' mission of liberating Tripoli remains unfinished.

Ibrahim Dabbashi, who represents rebel leadership as the deputy ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters in New York that he expected Col. Gadhafi, his family members and other high officials to be hiding in private homes or in the city's underground tunnels, which he said had been built by the Libyan leader for security purposes in recent years.


Libyan oil production could ramp up much faster than initially expected as the Gadhafi regime crumbles and rebels consolidate their control over the country. Guy Chazan has the story on The News Hub from London.

Rebels had said the compound contained the largest remaining concentration of his loyalist forces, making its capture a major step toward securing Tripoli. But even though Col. Gadhafi's tenure has functionally ended, a core of loyal supporters has continued to battle in pockets throughout the city.

Rebels said they expected trouble securing two of Tripoli's most densely populated neighborhoods, the southern slums of Abu Saleem and Hadba, which have long been known as pro-Gadhafi strongholds.

U.S. military officials said that while the situation remains fluid, they believe the rebels control most of Tripoli.



In Dubai on Tuesday, U.S. and British diplomats huddled with rebel representatives to put the finishing touches on a post-Gadhafi stability plan crafted by the Libyans with Western help. Officials said the U.S. and its allies are advising the rebels on how to quickly restore basic government services and protect critical infrastructure, including oil assets.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland on Tuesday said the Obama administration was "working urgently" to release an initial $1 billion to $1.5 billion of Gadhafi-regime assets frozen by the U.S. since February. The frozen assets, totaling some $37 billion, are intended to be used to support Libyan government institutions and for reconstruction efforts, officials said. One of the officials said the U.S. hopes to release that first chunk of money later this week.

Also Tuesday, several international journalists remained pinned by pro-Gadhafi forces inside a hotel in Tripoli, where reporters have stayed throughout the conflict.

"We're very concerned about the situation at the Rixos, and we're monitoring it closely," Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., told CNN. "We will do what we can from the position that we have, and from our aerial assets, to try to protect those in the Rixos Hotel and elsewhere."

The attack on the Bab al-Aziziya compound began early Tuesday, led by rebel fighting units from western Libya. Nearby streets rang with mortar, heavy machine-gun and cannon fire as rebels besieged the fortified gates to the compound that sprawls over an area the size of several square city blocks. Rebels said they used a bulldozer to breach the compound's walls.


People in Benghazi, Libya, celebrated news of the reported capture of Col. Moammar Gadhafi's son and one-time heir apparent, Seif al-Islam.

By late afternoon, the guns quieted, and black smoke billowed into the air. The deserted streets around the compound slowly filled with residents coming out to witness the sight, long unimaginable, of a liberated Gadhafi complex.

Families and young children thronged an overpass that moments before had sheltered rebel forces from incoming fire. They cheered.

Among the fighters was Fathi Mohammed, who came by boat with a group of 150 rebels from the city of Misrata, putting ashore Saturday night in the rebel-dominated Tripoli suburb of Tajoura. On Tuesday, he returned from the front line for a rest and a drink from a juice box.

"When Gadhafi's mercenaries were shelling my city months ago, I promised then I would come to Tripoli," he said. "Now I am here, and now we are finishing him off for good."

Thousands filed into the compound's leafy grounds, rifling through offices, residential buildings and an arsenal. Several hundred locals made off with assault rifles, Beretta submachine guns, AK-47s and sparkling sniper rifles, many of them apparently new and still in their hard plastic cases.

The proliferation of weapons in Libya has already raised international concerns. European Union foreign-policy chief Catherine Ashton told reporters Tuesday that the EU was committed to sending medicine, fuel and other aid to Libya, as well as easing what is shaping up as the country's biggest immediate worry, security.

"How do you ensure that so many guns and weapons are brought under control in a country without a tradition of keeping guns under control?" she said.

At the Gadhafi compound, Abdel Aziz, a Tripoli resident who was carrying two AK-47 assault rifles and a sniper rifle, made his own pledge. "I will fight for my country and turn them back into the government when we are free," he said.

Celebratory gunfire was constant and ear-piercing. Strangers embraced and kissed.

The Bedouin tent where Col. Gadhafi used to entertain visitors smoldered on the grassy lawn after rebels torched it. Groups of young men climbed up the sculpture of a clenched fist holding a U.S. warplane—a shrine constructed by Col. Gadhafi to commemorate his survival of a 1986 U.S. bombing of the compound.

Inside the Gadhafi compound late in the day, the tenuous peace was shattered. Around nightfall, the masses inside the compound made a panicked scramble for cover, when mortar rounds and gunfire rained down on the compound. Amid the chaos and confusion and volleys of celebratory fire, it wasn't clear who was firing, or from where.

"I'm not convinced," said Hamza, 23 years old. "Maybe Gadhafi's family will still come and get me."

David Letterman has mocked the threat made against his life during his first TV appearance since the warning was posted on a jihadist website.

The Late Show host made light of the situation, beginning by thanking his studio audience for being there.
He told them: "You people are more to me, honestly, than an audience - you're more like a human shield."
He added: "Backstage, I was talking to the guy from CBS. We were going through the CBS life insurance policy to see if I was covered for jihad."
Until Letterman delivered his jokes, his situation seemed no laughing matter.
Last week, a frequent contributor to a jihadist website posted the threat against him.
He urged people to "cut the tongue" of the late-night host because of a joke and gesture the comic had made about al Qaeda leaders on a show that was broadcast in June.
"A guy, a radical extremist threatened to cut my tongue out," said Letterman, who then referred to his disastrous stint hosting the Oscars in 1995.
"I wish I had a nickel for every time a guy has threatened that. I think the first time was during the Academy Awards.
"And so now State Department authorities are looking into this. But they could save themselves some trouble. Everybody knows it's Jay Leno."

Demands for the jailing or extradition of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the Pan Am 103 bomber

Al-Megrahi was released from prison in Scotland two years ago as he fought what was then considered terminal cancer. When he returned home to Libya, he was publicly celebrated and given an audience with Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, enraging many Americans.
The bombing, which struck a flight bound for New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, killed 270 people, mostly Americans, including 35 students from Syracuse University in New York state.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, a Democrat, called al-Megrahi’s appearance alongside Gaddafi last month as “another slap in the face not just for the families of the Lockerbie victims, but for all Americans and all nations of the world who are committed to bringing terrorists to justice.
“The transitional government should immediately seek justice and hold this terrorist accountable by sending him back to prison. If we’re ever going to win the fight against international terrorism, the rule of law must hold strong.”
Senator Chuck Schumer, another New York Democrat, said that a new Libyan government “should seek to undo the injustice of al-Megrahi’s release by returning him to the jail cell where he belongs”.

 

SAS troopers help co-ordinate rebel attacks in Libya

The Guardian has learned that a number of serving British special forces soldiers, as well as former SAS troopers, are advising and training rebel forces, although their presence is officially denied.

The Guardian has previously reported the presence of former British special forces troops, now employed by private security companies and funded by a number of sources, including Qatar. They have been joined by a number of serving SAS soldiers.

They have been acting as forward air controllers – directing pilots to targets – and communicating with Nato operational commanders. They have also been advising rebels on tactics, a task they have not found easy.

For the SAS it is a return to old stamping grounds. In one of their first successful missions in the second world war, they attacked airfields in Libya, destroying 60 aircraft. SAS battle honours include Tobruk in 1941 and a raid on Benghazi in 1942.

They returned to Libya in February this year, even before the UN mandate urging states to protect civilians from Gaddafi's forces. Shortly afterwards, a group of SAS soldiers were seized, though quickly released, by nervous rebels south of Benghazi when their Chinook helicopter landed two MI6 officers with communications equipment.

SAS soldiers later advised Misrata-based rebel forces who secured the port city and helped to pass on details of the locations of Gaddafi's forces to British commanders in the UK and the Naples headquarters of Canadian commander of Nato forces, Lt Gen Charles Bouchard.

In what is hoped to be the endgame in the Libyan conflict and the fight to oust Gaddafi, a number of SAS soldiers are now advising the rebels as they storm the capital, Tripoli.

France is understood to have deployed special forces in Libya and Qatari and Jordanian special forces are believed to have also played a role.

 

Utøya gunman boasted of links to UK far right

Anders Brehing Breivik, the man accused of the murder of at least 91 Norwegians in a twin bomb and gun massacre, boasted online about his discussions with the far right English Defence League and other anti-Islamic European organisations.

The Norwegian prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, said Norwegian officials were working with foreign intelligence agencies to see if there was any international involvement in the slaughter. "We have running contact with other countries' intelligence services," he said.

Breivik was arrested on Utøya island where he shot and killed at least 84 people, mostly teenagers, at a youth summer camp for supporters of Norway's Labour Party after bombing Oslo's government district just hours before.Dressed as a policeman, he ordered the teenagers to gather round him before opening fire on them. Survivors described how dozens of people were mown down. Edvard Fornes, 16, described how the gunman told the youths, "Don't be shy," and, "Come and play with me," before executing them. "There were two kids lying, hiding, in a ditch saying, 'please, please don't shoot us,' and he shot them."

Another youth, Ida Knudsen, 16, said she had been in a group of 100 who had initially ran from the killer, but that was reduced to around 60 as the gunman pursued them. Eventually she was one of 12 who climbed into a boat and escaped.

With the entire island a crime scene, officers were still combing the shoreline on Saturday and boats were searching the water for more bodies amid fears the toll could rise further. The police were continuing to investigate whether there had been a second gunman on the island.

The disclosure of Breivik's claimed links with other far right organisations came as details emerged about the rightwing Christian fundamentalist and freemason behind Norway's worst post-war act of violence.

It was revealed that the 32-year-old former member of the country's conservative Progress Party – who had become ever more extreme in his hatred of Muslims, left wingers and the country's political establishment – had ordered six tonnes of fertiliser in May to be used in the bombing. While police continued to interrogate Breivik, who was charged with the mass killings, evidence of his increasingly far right world view emerged from an article he had posted on several Scandinavian websites, including Nordisk – a site frequented by neo-Nazis, far right radicals and Islamophobes since 2009.

The Norwegian daily VG quoted one of Breivik's friends saying that he had become a rightwing extremist in his late 20s and was now a strong opponent of multi-culturalism, expressing strong nationalistic views in online debates.

Breivik had talked admiringly about conversations he had had with unnamed English Defence League members and the organisation Stop the Islamification of Europe over the success of provocative street actions leading to violence.

"I have on some occasions had discussions with SIOE and EDL and recommended them to use certain strategies," he wrote two years ago.

"The tactics of the EDL are now to 'lure' an overreaction from the Jihad Youth/Extreme-Marxists, something they have succeeded in doing several times already." Contacted about the allegation by email by last night the EDL had not answered.

The latest disclosures came as the Norwegian prime minister Jens Stoltenberg flew by helicopter to a hotel in the town of Sundvollen – close to the island of Utøya – where many survivors were taken and where relatives converged to reunite with their loved ones or to identify their dead.

"A whole world is thinking of them," Stoltenberg said, his voice cracking with emotion. He said the twin attacks made Friday the deadliest day in peacetime Norway. "This is beyond comprehension. It's a nightmare. It's a nightmare for those who have been killed, for their mothers and fathers, family and friends," he said.

Buildings around the capital lowered their flags to half-staff. People streamed to Oslo cathedral to light candles and lay flowers; outside, mourners began building a makeshift altar from dug-up cobblestones. On Saturday the Queen wrote to Norway's King Harald to offer her condolences and express her shock and sadness.

Breivik's Facebook page was blocked, but a cached version describes a conservative Christian from Oslo. The profile veers between references to lofty political philosophers and gory popular films, television shows and video games. The account appears to have been set up on 17 July. The site lists no "friends" or social connections.

 

British man and woman suspected of plotting UK terrorist attacks are still being quizzed a week after they were arrested in Afghanistan.

British troops were involved in the operation to arrest the UK couple in Afghanistan
The couple were reportedly in the war-torn country in an effort to link up with the Taliban or al Qaeda to learn bomb-making skills.
Limited details of their arrest emerged on Thursday with authorities only confirming two British nationals had been detained.
The pair are thought to be in their late 20s and are known to Britain's security intelligence agency MI5.
They are reportedly of Afghan origin and are understood to have dual nationality.
They were taken into custody after British troops, joined by members of the Afghan intelligence service, swooped on their room at the International Trade Centre hotel in Herat, near the Iranian border, last week.
The Daily Telegraph reports that the couple had been under surveillance as part of a joint operation involving British police and Afghan security intelligence agents.

The couple were arrested at a hotel in Herat in western Afghanistan
The newspaper also said undercover officers raided several hotels in the Herat area, showing people pictures of the suspects and asking of their whereabouts, before the man and woman were arrested.
The Ministry of Defence confirmed that two British passport-holders were being held.
It said in a statement: "The individuals, a male and a female, are currently being held in a secure facility in Kandahar for questioning.
"No further information will be released at this stage."

Officers at MI5's London headquarters are helping to investigate
Nato forces in Afghanistan normally hold suspects for a maximum of four days before releasing them or handing them over to the Afghan authorities.
But a Foreign Office spokeswoman said this has been extended.
Clive Stafford Smith, from the legal charity Reprieve, which campaigns for prisoners' rights, has warned they could be tortured or get the death penalty if they are transferred to Afghan custody.
He said he hopes to launch a legal battle to have them repatriated to Britain.
An MoD spokesman added that all detention operations were conducted in "accordance with international law and strict policy frameworks".

Mr Cameron says British troops numbers in Afghanistan will be cut
Britain has about 9,500 troops in Afghanistan as part of international forces fighting the Taliban insurgency.
Prime Minister David Cameron announced earlier this month that Britain would withdraw 500 troops by the end of next year, but would keep soldiers there in a training role until at least 2023.
His announcement came a fortnight after President Barack Obama announced a big drawdown of US forces in the war-torn country.

Last Serbian War Crimes Fugitive Handed Over to Tribunal

The last fugitive wanted by the United Nations war crimes tribunal was handed over by Serbian authorities on Friday, ending a tense and drawn-out custody battle over Balkan war crimes suspects that started more than 16 years ago.

Goran Hadzic, 52, entered the high-security prison compound near The Hague in The Netherlands on Friday afternoon. He had been on the run for seven years, hiding in Serbia and other countries, including Russia, according to his lawyers.

“He used another name,” said Radoslav Marenkovic, one of the lawyers, “but he had regular Serbian identity papers.” The tribunal prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, said he hoped that Serbia would explain how Mr. Hadzic had eluded justice for so long.

While calling the arrival of the last fugitive “a milestone” for the tribunal, Mr. Brammertz reminded Serbia that he still wanted access to more of its wartime archives and expected the government’s help in providing access to witnesses.

Before his flight to The Hague, Mr. Hadzic was allowed to visit his ailing mother in the town of Novi Sad and to stop briefly at the tomb of his father in a nearby town.

Mr. Hadzic is scheduled appear Monday in court, where will be read the charges he faces, including a long list of atrocities that took place in Croatia in the early 1990s when Serbs seized almost one-third of Croatian territory known as Krajina and drove out the non-Serb population, torturing and killing many. Mr. Hadzic’s indictment holds him accountable for much of the violence as the president of the short-lived Republic of Serbian Krajina, even though his orders, money and weapons came from the government of Serbia. Croatia took back the land in 1995.

New questions arose Friday over the actions surrounding Mr. Hadzic’s arrest. On Wednesday, a Serbian prosecutor said that Mr. Hadzic had been caught because, from his hiding place, he tried to sell a stolen painting by the Italian modernist Modigliani, but others have since contradicted this. Mr. Marenkovic, the lawyer, dismissed the prosecutors’ statement as “completely false,” saying that Mr. Hadzic “did not try to sell a Modigliani or any other painting.”

Fake and stolen artworks have circulated in recent years in Serbia and other parts of the former Yugoslavia, according to experts. But Charles Hill, a retired Scotland Yard detective and an expert on recovering stolen art, said that stolen works found in Serbia had usually been fakes.

“There are some exceptions, but usually they are fakes.” Mr. Hill said. “That’s been my experience.”

 

Andy Coulson, the prime minister's former director of communications, is being investigated by police for allegedly committing perjury while working for David Cameron in Downing Street.

The development renews pressure on the prime minister over his judgment in hiring the former News of the World editor and represents the third criminal investigation Coulson faces, adding to allegations that he knew of phone hacking while in charge of the tabloid and authorised bribes to police officers.

Strathclyde detectives confirmed that they had opened a perjury inquiry centred on evidence Coulson gave in court last year that led to a man being jailed.

Coulson was a major witness in a trial involving Tommy Sheridan, the former MSP who was accused of lying in court when winning a libel action against the News of the World. Coulson had been the editor of the Sunday tabloid when it ran a story accusing Sheridan of being an adulterer who visited swingers' clubs.

Sources say police will examine Coulson's denial of any knowledge of phone hacking and payments to police officers at the Sheridan trial against the evidence held by the Scotland Yard investigation.

At the trial Coulson also denied knowing that the paper paid corrupt police officers for tip-offs, which contradicts recent disclosures that News International has uncovered emails showing payments were made to the police during his editorship.

Coulson, who was called as a witness in December 2010, told the court that he had no knowledge of illegal activities by reporters while he was editor of the newspaper.

He also claimed: "I don't accept there was a culture of phone hacking at the News of the World."

Sheridan was jailed for three years in January after being found guilty of perjury during his 2006 defamation action against the NoW. He had successfully sued the newspaper over its claims.

Also giving testimony alongside Coulson were Bob Bird, the News of the World's Scottish editor, and Douglas Wight, the Scottish edition's former news editor.

Bird denied being part of a "culture of phone tapping" and Wight, who is now the paper's books editor, told the court he was not aware of any payment for illegal activities.

Strathclyde police's assistant chief constable, George Hamilton, said: "Following our discussions with the crown, we have now been instructed to carry out a full investigation into allegations that witnesses gave perjured evidence in the trial of Tommy Sheridan and into alleged breaches of data protection and phone hacking.

"We will also be looking to see if we can uncover any evidence of corruption in the police service or any other organisation related to these inquiries.

"However, I must stress that no specific allegations regarding corruption have been presented to us at this time.

"We will be working with the Metropolitan police and with the other Scottish forces as we progress with the investigation.

"I have put in place a structure that will allow us to work effectively together, but also to ensure that any member of the public who has a concern regarding the safety and security of their private data and information is able to register that concern and to have it properly investigated.

"By its very nature, this investigation will require us to allocate varying levels of resources to it. There is a huge amount of material to consider and, potentially, a large number of people to contact.

"This will mean that the investigation is likely to be a lengthy one. However, you have my absolute assurance that it will be a thorough one. We will do everything we can to find out the facts and to report all examples of wrongdoing."

Sheridan's lawyer, Aamer Anwar, said: "Over two weeks ago we provided a detailed dossier of allegations of perjury, phone hacking and breach of data to Strathclyde police and called for a robust investigation.

"Over £2m was spent by the police on investigating Mr and Mrs Sheridan and we were told it was in the public interest. I expect now to see a similar ruthlessness and determination in dealing with the News of the World."

A News International spokeswoman said: "We can confirm that we have been contacted by police on this matter. We can't say anything else."

Earlier this month it emerged that Coulson had hired one of Scotland's top QCs, Paul McBride.

Norway’s intelligence service had previously been criticised for its failure to keep track of suspected terror cells

A memo written in 2009, describes the country’s security service as “in over its head” and adds “it simply cannot keep up.”
Separate cables state that the country felt “immune” from terrorism and that groups such as Al Qaeda were “not a direct threat”.
One memo describes how US authorities had to “press” their Norwegian counterparts to take terrorism seriously and says there was a feeling “that terrorism happens elsewhere, not in peaceful Norway.”
Talking about an attempt by the Police Security Service (PST) to track one particular suspected Al Qaeda terror cell, a cable written by the US Ambassador to Norway, Barry White, describes investigators as “committed, competent and co-operative, generally”.
But he goes on to describe how they refused the help of the UK authorities to put surveillance on a potential suspect and adds: “Not only will they not put their own resources on him…but they also just turned down the visiting UK intel service’s offer of two twelve-person surveillance teams.”

 

dozens of people have been injured at the Evangelos Florakis base in Zygi, between the southern coastal cities of Limassol and Larnaca.

It is believed the blast occurred in the early hours of this morning in an area where munitions seized from a vessel heading to Syria from Iran in 2009 had been dumped.
"There are a number of dead which we cannot confirm yet," a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence said.
The intensity of the blast caused damage to neighbouring communities and windows and doors of beachside restaurants were blown out.
Police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos said that a fire at a nearby power station had been contained.
A witness told Reuters: "The place looks like it was hit by a massive bomb."

Hotel attack proves Taliban can strike anywhere in Afghanistan

Last Tuesday evening, the Taliban staged one of their most brazen attacks to date in the Afghan capital.

For nearly four hours, nine heavily armed suicide bombers invaded the Intercontinental hotel in the middle of Kabul, battling security forces and targeting foreign hotel guests.

After NATO helicopters and Special Forces operatives were deployed, the last of the wounded Taliban detonated his explosive vest, taking his own life and ending the bloody battle.

It was estimated that 11 civilians were killed during the attack and several dozen more wounded, while all nine insurgents achieved their aim of dying in battle.

The Intercontinental has long been a prominent landmark in Kabul as it is perched on a steep hill and visible from nearly everywhere in the city.

During my many trips to Kabul, I have never stayed at the Intercontinental but I have visited colleagues there on several occasions. What had once been the most luxurious hotel in Afghanistan still showed glimpses of its former glory but three decades of war have left scars too deep to conceal. Nevertheless, many foreigners choose to reside there for the fact that, until the June 29 attack, the Intercontinental gave the impression of being a safe fortress.

Ascending to the hilltop hotel is a solitary road protected by a number of fortified checkpoints manned by Afghan police and security forces. Knowing the lay of this land makes it difficult to understand how nine, heavily armed, suicide bombers were able to penetrate that many layers of security before entering the hotel — unless there was collusion with the guards.

NATO and the Karzai government were quick to point out that the relatively low loss of civilian life and the fact that the security response resulted in the death of all attackers tallied up to a Taliban defeat. However, nothing could be further from the truth.

The goal of the Taliban was to stage a symbolic demonstration of their presence in the middle of Kabul, despite the efforts of Afghan and NATO forces combined. In this, they were extremely successful.

For nearly four hours, it would have been impossible for Kabul residents to be unaware that a battle was raging at the Intercontinental. The flashes, booms and sounds of helicopter gunships emanating from that hilltop landmark certainly made it clear that the Taliban can disrupt the security situation in Afghanistan wherever they choose.

This of course flies in the face of the recent pronouncement by U.S. President Barack Obama in which he announced the start of American troop reduction in Afghanistan. Obama’s rationale was that the recent surge of U.S. troops had succeeded in turning the tide in NATO’s favour.

However, as evidenced by the Intercontinental attack and the continued spike in NATO casualties, the surge succeeded only in intensifying the conflict. The Intercontinental attack also highlighted the folly of turning over increased responsibility to the ill-trained Afghan security forces. Once again, at a crucial juncture, Afghan security disappeared prior to this attack.

After nearly a decade of training, equipping and funding the Afghan army and police, we have yet to buy their loyalty — and we never will.

They are paid by foreigners to wear western-style uniforms in order to prop up a hated and corrupt regime that failed to win a democratic mandate following the farcical 2009 elections. They will continue to pocket as much NATO cash as they can.

And it should be noted that Afghan soldiers make a relatively lucrative salary that is three times that of Afghan teachers. Once the U.S. and NATO countries complete the projected withdrawal of all troops by 2014, the Afghan security forces will quickly dissolve back into the private militias of warlords.

One has to hope they have enough remaining loyalty in the rental agreement to secure the airfields until the last of NATO’s planes are airborne.

 

Britain's Defense Ministry has confirmed that a British soldier who went missing in southern Afghanistan has been found shot dead.

Britain's Defense Ministry has confirmed that a British soldier who went missing in southern Afghanistan has been found shot dead.

The ministry said Monday the soldier went missing from his base in southern Afghanistan and that he was from The Highlanders, 4th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland. The statement did not provide details of the circumstances in which he was found.

It said that his family has been informed.

International forces hunted for him earlier Monday amid insurgent claims that he had been captured and killed hours before the arrival of Britain's prime minister to Afghanista. The Taliban say insurgents captured the soldier during a firefight with NATO troops and that he died in the crossfire.

U.S. military leaders are working to replace some of the exiting American conventional forces from Afghanistan with a "mini-surge" of U.S. Special Forces

U.S. military leaders are working to replace some of the exiting American conventional forces from Afghanistan with a "mini-surge" of U.S. Special Forces, a measure to soothe commanders’ fears that the withdrawal of troops might put at risk military gains, according to the Times out of Australia.

Military sources told The Times that 16 special operations personnel are considered to be worth the equivalent of 100 conventional troops.

In June, President Obama announced plans to withdraw 10,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year. The remainder of the surge troops, about 23,000, would be withdrawn in 2012, leaving about 70,000 troops in Afghanistan until 2014.

Defense analysts have said of late that the reduction of conventional troops likely will place a heavier burden on clandestine units, such as SEALs, and Army Rangers and Green Berets.

The Times reports there are more than 7,000 U.S. Special Forces in Afghanistan and about 3,000 in Iraq, with many of the latter expected to be moved to Afghanistan.

The French government has admitted it has supplied weapons to Libyan rebels fighting Colonel Gaddafi's forces not far from the capital Tripoli.

A leading French newspaper is reporting the arms drops were made without the knowledge of France's NATO allies.

Despite media reports that the weapons included rocket launchers and anti-tank missiles, the French military says the supplies only consisted of rifles and ammunition.

A spokesman for the French general staff said the air drops in the Nafusa mountains began with humanitarian aid, including food, water and medical supplies.

But he said guns were also supplied for the self-defence of the mainly Berber fighters, who pushed to within 65 kilometres of Tripoli.

The supply of arms, however limited, is likely to reignite debate over the remit of NATO, which was authorised by the United Nations to protect Libyan civilians.

One UN diplomat said "a reading of the text of the UN resolutions on Libya does not prohibit the air drop of arms over Libya to protect civilians."

In London, British foreign minister William Hague said the rebel leadership based in the eastern city of Benghazi, had received the first $US100 million of international funding in the past week.

The rebels complained earlier this month they were running out of money and had not yet received any of the roughly $US1 billion promised by international donors.

Several suicide bombers and four gunmen attacked a large hotel frequented by Westerners in Afghanistan's capital late last night.

Afghan police fought the assailants, who had blasted their way into the InterContinental Hotel, with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades for several hours.


Local Afghanistan news agency TOLO reported at least 10 people had been killed in the attack, although there was no immediate word from Afghan officials on casualties among the guests or hotel workers. All the suicide bombers either blew themselves up or were killed while two gunmen continued to fire from the roof late into the evening, according to Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi.

"There are foreign and Afghan guests staying at the hotel," he said. "We have reports that they are safe in their rooms, but still there is shooting."

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack, saying fighters from the Islamist group had inflicted heavy casualties in the attack. In a statement he said: "One of our fighters called on a mobile phone and said: 'We have gotten onto all the hotel floors and the attack is going according to the plan. We have killed and wounded 50 foreign and local enemies.'"

Samoonyar Mohammad Zaman, a security officer for the Interior Ministry, said some Afghan provincial governors were staying at the hotel and some of them had left.

Jawid, a guest at the hotel, said he jumped out a one-story window to flee the shooting. "I was running with my family," he said. "There was shooting. The restaurant was full with guests.

Top hotel in Kabul attacked by suicide bombers

Two suicide bombers attacked a major hotel frequented by Westerners in Afghanistan's capital of Kabul late Tuesday, a police source said, and a Reuters witness said gunfire was heard for several minutes after one blast.

Gunfire tapered off several minutes after the blast was heard, the Reuters witness said. The police source, who asked not to be identified, had initially said a gunfight was still going on.

The police source said a wedding party was underway when the attack happened in or near the Intercontinental Hotel, one of two major hotels in the western part of Kabul often frequented by foreigners.

There were no immediate reports of casualties. The hotel is built on a hillside in Kabul's west with heavy fortifications all round and is often used for conferences and by Western officials visiting the city.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said several fighters from the Islamist group had attacked the hotel, where Afghan and Western officials were supposedly holding security talks.

Mujahid, who spoke to Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location, said heavy casualties had been inflicted. The Taliban often exaggerate the number of casualties in attacks against Western and Afghan government targets.

Police threw up roadblocks immediately after the blast, stopping people from approaching the area, and power was cut in the hotel and surrounding areas, the Reuters witness said.

Violence has flared across Afghanistan since the Taliban announced the start of a spring offensive at the beginning of May, with attacks in areas across the country.

The increase in violence comes as NATO-led forces prepare to hand security responsibility to Afghans in seven areas from next month at the start of a gradual transition process that will end with all foreign troops leaving Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

Violence across Afghanistan in 2010 had already its worst levels since the Taliban were ousted by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in late 2001.

 

Ex ETA leader on trial in Spain for murder attempt

former leader of the armed Basque separatist group ETA is on trial for allegedly trying to kill a businessman with a parcel bomb in 2002.
Prosecutors are seeking a 15-year term for Mikel de Garikoitz Aspiazu, who was arrested in France in 2008. The trial started Wednesday at the National Court.

Spanish newspapers say Aspiazu was sent to watch the proceedings from a glass chamber after he twice refused to stand when a judge asked him to.

Prior to that, he smiled, waved to relatives and said in the Basque language that he did not recognize the Spanish judicial system as having a right to try Basque people.

Aspiazu is under investigation in several other ETA-related cases in Spain, including a deadly bombing in 2006 that ended an ETA ceasefire.

 

Three British men accused of smuggling more than £2m into Somalia to secure the release of two hijacked ships were each jailed for between 10 and 15 years and fined £9,000

Three British men accused of smuggling more than £2m into Somalia to secure the release of two hijacked ships were each jailed for between 10 and 15 years and fined £9,000, Somali authorities said last night.

Matthew Brown, a pilot, Andrew Oaks and Alex James, from a Nairobi-based security firm, Salama Fikira, were among six foreigners arrested after landing in two unmarked planes at Mogadishu airport last month. Two Kenyans and an American were also jailed.

The Foreign Office said last night it was "aware" of the verdict. "We have impressed upon the transitional federal government the need to ensure the safety and security of the group while legal options are considered," a spokesman said.

The cash is said to have been for the release of two captured vessels, the MV Suez, freed earlier this month with its 22 crew after nearly 10 months in captivity, and the MV Yuan Xiang, also freed this month with 29 crew members after almost seven months in captivity.

Somalia's transitional federal government, which controls only part of the country, opposes ransom payments, believing that it fuels piracy. The country has lacked a functioning central government since 1991.

Last night, a spokesman for Salama Fikira said: "The only thing I would say is: don't believe everything you read." The company is run by former British special forces officers Rob Andrew and Conrad Thorpe.

A UN Office on Drugs and Crime report this month suggested ransoms totalling $112m (£69m) were paid to Somali pirates in 2010, up from $75m in 2009. The average ransom demand rose from $3.4m to $5.4m between 2009 and 2010, with a record $9.5m paid last November for Samho Dream, a South Korean tanker capable of carrying two million barrels of crude oil.

The most high-profile British victims of Somali piracy are Paul and Rachel Chandler, whose yacht was hijacked in October 2009. They spent more than a year in captivity before being released late last year, allegedly after a ransom of around £600,000 was paid.

SAS hero has been killed by the Taliban in a firefight in Afghanistan

SAS hero has been killed by the Taliban in a firefight in Afghanistan, The Sun can reveal.
The elite "Who Dares Wins" fighter was one of two soldiers killed on Thursday.

In a bid to protect his secret identity, the MoD yesterday announced the fallen hero was a member of the Parachute Regiment.

But The Sun understands he was a Special Forces ace.

Our source yesterday said: "This lad was a top soldier and a respected member of the SAS.

"Every unit feels it when they lose one of their guys on the battlefield. He was a hero who fought in secret and the events surrounding his death will be closely guarded."

The SAS have joined elite SBS troops to take out hundreds of Taliban leaders in the last six months.


Elite ... SAS
The secrecy of their operations meant even the location of the hero's death was withheld. But it is known he was wounded during a fierce firefight.
An MoD spokesman would only say the "Para" was "fatally wounded by small arms fire while on operations in Helmand Province".

Discussions were yesterday believed to be taking place between the MoD and the regiment over whether to release his name and picture today.

It is policy to allow a day of grace before identifying fallen soldiers to give family and friends time to overcome the shock.

The SAS hero's death marked a bloody day for British forces in Afghanistan.

Hours earlier a soldier from the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers died.

He was killed in an explosion while on an operation in the Gereshk Valley area of Helmand Province.


Lieutenant Colonel Tim Purbrick, spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said yesterday: "The soldier was working to recover a vehicle which had been damaged in an explosion when he was fatally wounded by an explosive device.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends."

The soldiers' deaths bring the total number of UK service personnel to have lost their lives in the Afghanistan conflict since 2001 to 373.

As troops gather near Turkish border, the Foreign Office warns it may not be able to help if the violence gets worse

British nationals have been urged to leave Syria immediately due to the ongoing civil unrest as troops backed by tanks mass at a town near the Turkish border.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said Britons should use commercial flights to leave while they are still available as it would be "highly unlikely" that its embassy in Damascus would be able to help if the situation were to deteriorate further. Evacuation options would also "be limited", it added.

Violence between protesters opposed to Syria's leadership and the security forces has flared across the country, particularly near the border with Turkey, where thousands of refugees have fled.

In the latest assault, Syrian troops backed by tanks and firing heavy machine guns swept into the village of Bdama, about 12 miles from the border, as the army intensified operations in the north-west of the country, which has seen the fiercest clashes.

The Local Coordination Committees (LCC), a group that documents anti-government protests, said troops backed by six tanks and several armoured personnel carriers entered Bdama on Saturday morning.

On Friday, Syrian forces swept into Maaret al-Numan, a town on the highway linking Damascus, the capital, with Syria's largest city, Aleppo. Saturday's assault on Bdama was about 25 miles (40km) to the west.

The LCC raised the death toll in Friday's anti-government protests to 19.

The three-month uprising has proved extremely resilient despite a relentless crackdown by the military, pervasive security forces and pro-regime gunmen. Human rights activists say more than 1,400 Syrians have been killed and 10,000 detained as President Bashar Assad tries to maintain his grip on power.

Bdama is next to Jisr al-Shughour, a town that was spinning out of government control before the military recaptured it last Sunday. Activists had reported fighting in Jisr al-Shughour between loyalist troops and defectors who refused to take part in a continuing crackdown on protesters seeking Assad's ouster.



The fighting in the area, which started nearly two weeks ago, displaced thousands of people including some 9,600 who are sheltered in Turkish refugee camps. On Friday, UN envoy Angelina Jolie travelled to Turkey's border with Syria to meet some of the thousands of Syrian refugees.

The uprising has proven to be the boldest challenge to the Assad family's 40-year dynasty in Syria. Assad, now 45, inherited power in 2000, raising hopes that the lanky, soft-spoken young leader might transform his late father's stagnant and brutal dictatorship into a modern state.

But over the past 11 years, hopes that Assad was a reformist dimmed as it became apparent that he was a hardliner determined to keep power at all costs.

On Friday, 12 people were killed in the central city of Homs, two in the eastern town of Deir el-Zour and two in the Damascus suburb of Harasta, one in the northern city of Aleppo. Two protesters, one a boy believed to be 16 years old, died in the southern village of Dael, the LCC said.

 

The U.S. is paying two European mine-clearing groups nearly $1 million to hunt and dispose of loose anti-aircraft missiles that could make their way from Libyan battlefields to terror groups.

The hiring of weapons demolition experts hardly dampens concerns about anti-aircraft missiles still in the hands of the Gadhafi regime's military, which amassed nearly 20,000 of the weapons before the popular uprising started in March.

The State Department's hiring of British and Swiss weapons demolition teams in Libya to search for missiles, mines and other deadly munitions was prodded by fears that terrorists could use scavenged man-portable air defense systems, known as MANPADS. The action came after American and allied authorities made it clear to Libyan opposition figures that their cooperation on the missile launchers would be a factor in future assistance, said U.S. and United Nations officials familiar with the discussions.

"From the U.S. point of view, it was an issue of paramount importance," said Justin Brady, officer-in-charge of the U.N. Mine Action Service, which is overseeing the weapons disposal effort in Libya. "The Libyans seemed to get the big picture of what was necessary to present a credible international face."

The move has no effect on the massive numbers of mostly Russian-built anti-aircraft launchers and missiles still in the hands of Moammar Gadhafi's forces. While some shoulder-held and truck-mounted launchers were pillaged by rebel forces when they seized Libyan ammunition stocks, the vast majority are still held by the regime.

"I can't imagine the U.S. can do anything about Gadhafi's inventory until they defeat him or negotiate his exit," said Matthew Schroeder, an arms expert with the Federation of American Scientists in Washington. "But even without that, securing any MANPADS loose in Libya is a good thing."

The Obama administration listed the nearly $1 million anti-MANPADS effort this week in a report to Congress defending the legality of its intervention in Libya. The report included classified documents detailing a "threat assessment of MANPADS, ballistic missiles and chemical weapons in Libya."

Most U.S. warplanes have electronic evasion systems and can fly above the range of the missiles, but most passenger jets are vulnerable. Reports have surfaced in recent weeks from officials in Algeria and Chad, and recently from Russian media, that several anti-aircraft missiles and launchers looted from Libyan government caches have already wound their way to the North African terror group, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb. American officials have yet to confirm any of the reports.

Officials with the two firms hired by the State Department, the British-based Mines Advisory Group and the Swiss Foundation for Mine Action, said almost all of the Libyan weapons depots they surveyed in recent weeks showed clear signs of looting. Libyan opposition forces took almost any useful weapon from Gadhafi regime stocks in the opening weeks of the conflict, and search teams have found few inventory documents, so it is impossible to trace which are missing and whether any were sold to terrorists or criminal gangs.

"The ammo dumps we've seen are either partially destroyed or picked clean," said Alexander Griffiths, director of operations for the Swiss group, which now has 35 disposal experts working in rebel territory under a $470,000 U.S. grant. "We haven't seen MANPADS so far and my guess is we won't see many because they're such a high-value item. They would be the first items to go."

The British mine disposal group located and destroyed two of the portable missile systems near the northeastern Libyan opposition-controlled town of Ajdabiya last week, spokeswoman Kate Wiggans said. The group also found two other stray anti-aircraft missiles in May and destroyed them. All four were SA-7s, Russian-made portable missiles that date to the 1970s. Experts say many Libyan MANPADS are probably of similar vintage and some may be too decayed to use.

The Mines Advisory Group has three workers in Libya but plans to expand to at least 20, operating with $486,000 in State Department funding and $290,000 in British government aid, Wiggans said. Both she and Griffiths said that their demolition experts were taking care to avoid hot battle zones, coordinating with U.N. officials overseeing relief efforts in opposition-held turf.

U.S. officials would not say whether the funding would continue beyond the end of the year. The U.S. has been the lead player in efforts to round up and destroy stray missiles, hiring contractors like the two European firms to scour battlefields and, in some cases, discreetly paying armed governments like Yemen to turn over missile stocks. The U.S. programs have destroyed 32,500 missile systems in 30 countries since 2003, but officials say thousands more still pose a hazard among the estimated 1 million manufactured since the late 1960s.

Passenger flights have never been targeted inside the U.S. Nearly a dozen lethal strikes have brought down passenger and cargo planes over the past decade in Africa and Asia.

Liberian police have arrested a mercenary commander known as "Bob Marley",

Liberian police have arrested a mercenary commander known as "Bob Marley", accused by the United Nations of ordering executions while fighting for Ivory Coast's ousted leader Laurent Gbagbo, a spokesman said on Tuesday.

The arrest is one of the most high-profile since the Ivorian post-election power struggle eased in April with Gbagbo's capture, ending a crisis in the West African state that killed thousands and displaced more than a million people.

"He was arrested few weeks ago and brought to Monrovia and charged with mecenarism," police spokesman George Bardu said, adding Marley and 12 others had crossed the border from Ivory Coast into Liberia's Grand Gedeh County.

Gbagbo, who refused to step down after a November 2010 election he was judged to have lost to rival Alassane Ouattara, is believed to have hired Marley to lead a force of Liberian mercenaries to help him stay in power.

The United Nations said in a report last week that, among other atrocities, Marley had ordered the killing, during an advance by Ouattara's forces, of civilians believed to have voted against Gbagbo in Ivory Coast in March

 

Syrian helicopter gunships fired machineguns to disperse pro-democracy protests Friday,

Syrian helicopter gunships fired machineguns to disperse pro-democracy protests Friday, in the first reported use of air power to quell unrest in Syria's increasingly bloody three-month-old uprising.
 
The use of the aircraft came on a day of nationwide rallies against President Bashar Assad. The helicopters opened fire in a northwestern town after security forces on the ground killed five protesters, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
 

At least 32 people killed in clashes between protestors, troops Friday as Syria chaos grows
Full story
"At least five helicopters flew over Maarat al-Numaan and began firing their machineguns to disperse the tens of thousands who marched in the protest," one witness said.
 
Receive Ynetnews updates directly to your desktop
 
Syria's state television, in contrast, blamed violence in the area on anti-government groups. It made no mention of attack helicopters but said an ambulance helicopter had come under fire over Maarat from "terrorist armed groups," injuring crew.
 
Britain, France, Germany and Portugal have asked the UN Security Council to condemn Assad, though veto-wielding Russia has said it would oppose such a move.
 
Denouncing the Syrian government's actions, the White House said Friday's "appalling violence" had led the United States to back the European draft resolution at the United Nations. "The Syrian government is leading Syria on a dangerous path," the White House said.
 
In response, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem wrote to the Security Council accusing the opposition of violence and sabotage, Al Arabiya television said. Foreign governments were basing their views on "inaccurate information," it said.
 
'UN draft will aid terrorists'
The European draft resolution would only embolden "extremists and terrorists," Syria warned UN chief Ban Ki-moon in a letter.
 
"It is important that the Security Council should not intervene in the internal affairs of Syria, which is a founding member of the United Nations," Moualem told Ban in a letter sent Friday.
 
"We are quite certain that any resolution that is adopted by that body under any heading will only exacerbate the situation and send a message to those extremists and terrorists to the effect that the deliberate destruction that they are wreaking has the support of the Security Council," he said.
 
The Security Council is still deliberating its censure of Damascus: Currently, nine council members, including the draft's sponsors Britain, France, Germany and Portugal, plan to vote for it; but Russia and China dislike the idea of any council discussion of Syria and have suggested they might use their veto power to kill the resolution. Lebanon, India, Brazil and South Africa are also said to be unhappy with the draft.
 
Washington's patience wearing thin
Meanwhile, the White House significantly toughened its stance on Syria, calling for an "immediate end to brutality and violence" and warning Assad was leading his nation on a "dangerous path."
 
White House spokesman Jay Carney issued a statement saying that "The United States strongly condemns the Syrian government's outrageous use of violence across Syria today and particularly in the northwestern region. There must be an immediate end to the brutality and violence."
 
The statement contained a clear sign of Washington's growing impatience: "Earlier this week, we urged the Syrian government to exercise maximum restraint and not to respond to its own reported losses through additional civilian casualties," Carney said.
 


 
"The Syrian government is leading Syria on a dangerous path. For that reason, it is critical that all Syrians remain united, work to prevent sectarian conflict, and pursue their aspirations peacefully," he continued, raising the prospect of an even deeper abyss of violence and division in Syria.
 
"We stand by the Syrian people who have shown their courage in demanding dignity and the transition to democracy that they deserve."

Russia arms depot blasts force mass evacuation

Russian firefighters on Friday battled a blaze raging through an arms depot where tonnes of artillery shells and rockets were stored, as some 28,000 people living nearby were evacuated from their homes.
As a result of the night-time blaze at the arms depot near the city of Izhevsk in the Volga region of Udmurtia, 30 people were injured and nine hospitalised including a child, an emergency ministry spokesman told AFP.
"Nine people were hospitalised, three people with burns," said Mikhail Surkov, a spokesman for Volga region.
"One person has light concussion, one person has a broken leg, the others have cuts and scratches."
"A total of more than 28,000 people have been evacuated," the regional emergency ministry said in a statement.
The residents of the neighbouring town of Argyz of around 19,000 people and the nearby village of Pugachyovo were evacuated in buses to nearby villages at a radius of 30 to 60 kilometres, officials said.
Balls of fire rose up from the depot in regular explosions, television footage showed, while by morning a thick column of smoke poured from the site.
The defence ministry said that the military personnel at the depot did not sustain any casualties.
"According to a report from the scene at 0630 Moscow time (0230 GMT), there were no casualties as a result of the fire and exploding shells among the military personnel," the ministry said in a statement.
The depot contained rockets but they are safely stored and have not exploded, deputy defence minister Dmitry Bulgakov told the RIA Novosti news agency from the scene.
"The rockets did not explode. They are in a concrete shelter up to 70 centimetres (28 inches) thick," Bulgakov told the agency. The ministry had said earlier that the depot contained only "classic artillery shells".
A source in the law enforcement authorities told the Interfax news agency the rockets were stored without their warheads, making them less dangerous.
"At the moment they do not present a serious threat to the public," the source said.
The depot, which housed old ammunition which was due to be decomissioned, contained explosives equivalent to 58 tonnes of TNT, Russian television reported.
The force of the blast broke windows in the nearby village and the fire burnt down a two-storey building where the personnel lived, the defence ministry said.
The force of the explosions had slightly diminished early Friday, the emergency ministry. "There is no threat to nearby villages and the town of Izhevsk."
More than 100 firefighters were battling the blaze, along with water-bombing planes and robotic equipment, officials said.
Explosions at military weapons depots are relatively common in Russia and are often linked to ageing equipment and lax enforcement of safety rules.
Late last month a similar fire at a munitions depot in the region of Bashkortostan triggered explosions and forced the evacuation of thousands of residents, according to officials.

 

Credible sources report that hundreds of Polisario mercenaries are being paid $10,000 each by Gaddafi to fight NATO-led forces and kill Libyan protesters and rebels,

Credible sources report that hundreds of Polisario mercenaries are being paid $10,000 each by Gaddafi to fight NATO-led forces and kill Libyan protesters and rebels,"" Gabriel said.

In a column on May 16 in the congressional daily The Hill, Gabriel did not say how many Polisario fighters were working for Gaddafi. The Polisario mercenaries flew into Tripoli in April.

""If the details about mercenaries received by NATO officials are accurate the leadership of the Polisario stand complicit in Gaddafi's efforts to reinforce his mercenary army,"" Gabriel said.

""Senior NATO officials have received information that Moammar Gaddafi is spending millions to hire mercenaries from the Polisario Front elsewhere to help fight the UN-backed coalition and quash Libyans who oppose his dictatorial regime,"" Gabriel said.

Gabriel, a former ambassador to Morocco and now a consultant to the North African kingdom, also cited reports that 500 combat sent light trucks to the Gaddafi regime. No further details were given.

""It is inconceivable that hundreds of Polisario mercenaries could be hired in the first place, or travel more than 1,000 miles from the isolated, Polisario-run camps,"" Gabriel said.

Former members of the Special Air Service are among those gathering information about the location and movement of troops loyal to leader Muammar Gaddafi

BRITISH former special forces soldiers working for private security companies are in the Libyan city of Misratah, advising the rebels and supplying information to NATO.

Former members of the Special Air Service are among those gathering information about the location and movement of troops loyal to leader Muammar Gaddafi, British military sources were quoted as saying in the The Guardian yesterday.

They are passing that information to NATO's command centre in Naples. The former soldiers are in Libya with the blessing of Britain, France and other NATO countries, the sources said.

The Guardian said the soldiers were reportedly being paid by Arab countries, notably Qatar.

Britain last week approved the use of its Apache attack helicopters in the operation. The information being gathered by rebel advisers was probably for use by British and French pilots during missions predicted for later this week, the paper reported.




Reports of their presence emerged after Arabic news channel al-Jazeera on Monday showed video footage of six armed Westerners talking to rebels in the port city of Misratah.

Gaddafi insisted he would not leave his country, South Africa's President Jacob Zuma said yesterday after he met the Libyan ruler.

Gaddafi's departure is the key demand of rebel forces battling his troops.

Also yesterday, Italy's Foreign Minister, Franco Frattini, visited the rebel capital, Benghazi, and pledged to provide the rebels with fuel and hundreds of millions of dollars backed by the frozen assets of Gaddafi's regime.

The positions of the two sides and the competing, high-level visits illustrated the virtual stalemate in the conflict. NATO aircraft bomb the Libyan capital night after night, and military forces from the two sides battle, but little is changing on the ground.

South Africa is concerned for Gaddafi's safety, according to the statement released by Mr Zuma's office after he returned home from his talks with Gaddafi in Tripoli.

Mr Zuma was pressing to revive an African Union proposal for a ceasefire and dialogue to settle the Libya conflict, and Gaddafi agreed, the statement said. "Colonel Gaddafi . . . emphasised he was not prepared to leave . . . despite the difficulties."

Mr Zuma called for a halt to NATO airstrikes as part of the ceasefire. After initially backing NATO's involvement, Mr Zuma and the African Union called for a cessation, charging that NATO had overstepped its UN mandate to protect civilians.

The African Union said: "Nothing other than a dialogue among all parties in Libya can bring about a lasting solution."

Rebel leaders immediately turned down the African initiative because of Gaddafi's refusal to relinquish power. The rebels say the conflict can be resolved only by his removal from power.

In response, Libya's government spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim, said in Tripoli Gaddafi's ouster would lead to civil war.

"If Gaddafi disappears for any reason, the safety valve will have been released," he said.

Spanish banks finance production of Gaddafi’s bombs

As more NATO bombs rain down on Libya, it has come to light that companies from one NATO member state have been supplying banned bombs to Muammar Gaddafi. Several large Spanish banks have reportedly been financing the manufacture of cluster bombs.
In just one strike, each cluster bomb can spread up to 2,000 smaller explosives, called “bomblets”, over a wide area. Fired into populated areas, they almost guarantee civilian deaths. This is why 57 countries have banned their use, stockpiling, production and transfer, ratifying the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM), which is a binding international law. A total of 109 states have signed the Convention.
As such devices often fail to explode on impact, children sometimes mistake the unexploded bomblets for something to play with.
According to the Human Rights Watch organization, the markings on shells found in the Libyan city of Misrata belonged to Spanish company Instalaza SA.
“There were arms, MAT-120s, that are prohibited, that were purchased by Gaddafi and used against the residential area in Misrata, and they were produced by a Spanish company and financed by Spanish banks,” claimed Annie Yumi Joh, an anti-war campaigner from Madrid.
In 2007, when the Tripoli regime fell back into favor with the West and decades-old international military sanctions against Libya were lifted, Instalaza won a contract to supply Gaddafi's forces with the MAT-120 weapon and did so until 2008, when Spain signed-up to the CCM.
But with Libya now once again the enemy, Spain as part of NATO finds itself fighting a regime the country itself helped to arm.
But the trail goes back further, to Spanish banks, which provided the financial firepower to Instalaza to make their deadly weapons of war. It turns out there is a loophole in the CCM banning the production and use of the cluster bombs – but not banning investment into their production.
“There is one article in the Cluster Munitions Convention, article 1C that speaks of a prohibition to assist, and a lot of countries have already interpreted this article as also containing investment. Spain has not yet done so,” said Esther Vandenbourcke, author of the report "Worldwide Investments in Cluster Munitions: a Shared Responsibility".
It means that while Instalaza can no longer produce and sell cluster munitions, Spanish banks can continue to invest in their manufacture.
Spanish NGO SETEM's investigations have uncovered that Spain alone had 14 banks involved in financing 19 makers of cluster bombs.
BBVA is the Spanish bank that has been most active in funding producers of controversial weapons. And it is exactly this large-scale funding that has pushed campaigners to call for more robust policies that ensure the banks are held accountable.
“Banks are not that transparent about what they are using the savers' money for, and it’s not that easy to find out,” added Esther Vandenbourcke.
Many of the banks named in the investigation are now coming forward to say their policies on funding arms production are going to change.
However, until that happens, in the murky world of arms production, war remains a profitable business.

 

British former special forces soldiers working for private security companies are in the Libyan city of Misrata,

British former special forces soldiers working for private security companies are in the Libyan city of Misrata, advising the rebels and supplying information to NATO, the Guardian reported Wednesday.

Former members of the Special Air Service (SAS) are among those gathering information about the location and movement of troops loyal to leader Muamma Gaddagi, British military sources told the paper.

They are passing that information on to NATO's command center in Naples.

The former soldiers are in Libya with the blessing of Britain, France and other NATO countries, the sources told The Guardian.

They have been supplied with non-combat equipment by the coalition forces.

Ministry of Defense (MoD) officials denied the private soldiers were being paid by the British government and insisted it had no combat troops on the ground.

The Guardian said the soldiers were reportedly being paid by Arab countries, notably Qatar.

Britain last week approved the use of its Apache attack helicopters in the operation.

The information being gathered by the rebel advisers was likely for use by British and French pilots during missions predicted for later this week, the paper reported.

Reports of their presence emerged after Arabic news channel Al-Jazeera on Monday showed video footage of six armed westerners talking to rebels in the port city of Misrata.

Libya on Tuesday accused NATO of having killed 718 civilians and wounded 4,067 in 10 weeks of air strikes.

United Arab Emirates confirmed on Sunday that it had hired a company run by Erik Prince, the billionaire founder of Blackwater Worldwide, to provide “operational, planning and training support” to its military.

United Arab Emirates confirmed on Sunday that it had hired a company run by Erik Prince, the billionaire founder of Blackwater Worldwide, to provide “operational, planning and training support” to its military. But it gave no details of the company’s project to build a foreign mercenary battalion for the Emirati government.
Multimedia


A written statement from a top Emirati general, issued through the U.A.E.’s official news agency, said that the country had relied extensively on outside contractors to bolster its military, and that all work with contractors was “compliant with international law and relevant conventions.”

The statement, by Gen. Juma Ali Khalaf al-Hamiri, said that the U.A.E. had signed a contract with Reflex Responses, Mr. Prince’s company, but made no mention of the hundreds of Colombian, South African and other foreign troops now training at an Emirati military base. The statement did not mention Mr. Prince by name.

The New York Times reported on Sunday that the company last year signed a $529 million contract with the Emirati government to recruit and train a foreign battalion for counterterrorism and internal security missions, according to former Reflex Responses employees, American officials and corporate documents.

Former employees said that the company had a separate lucrative contract to help protect a string of nuclear reactors planned in the U.A.E. and to provide cybersecurity for the nuclear sites.

The U.A.E is a close American ally, and officials in Washington indicated that there was some support in the Obama administration for the foreign mercenary battalion. But the State Department is looking into the project to ensure it does not violate American laws regulating the export of defense technology and expertise.

General Hamiri’s statement said his country’s military had gone through an “extensive process of development and Emiratisation,” which has allowed Emirati forces to make “meaningful contributions” in recent conflicts in places like Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.

Kateri Carmola, a professor at Middlebury College in Vermont who researches the use of private security companies, said that it was common for countries to hire contractors for military training, but that it appeared that Reflex Responses had more ambitious goals both in the U.A.E. and elsewhere.

“There is no real legal precedent for a company like this, where the U.A.E. would be used as a launch pad for a wide range of missions, and potentially for a wide range of clients,” she said.

British boots have been on the ground for months, “mission creep” sucking Britain far deeper into a North African conflic

THE young Western men in peaked caps and sunglasses snapped directing Libyan rebels help explain a mystery.

I bet the six SAS and two MI6 agents with guns, explosives and maps captured in March weren’t escorting a diplomat.

The smokescreen was erected because, as a Libyan contact suggested to me at the time, they’d landed by helicopter to fight Gaddafi’s forces.



British boots have been on the ground for months, “mission creep” sucking Britain far deeper into a North African conflict than Ministers dare admit.

TEAM of Special Forces troops was  sent to join HMS Ocean off the coast of Libya - to help our helicopter pilots zero in on Gaddafi's fighters.

Men from the feared SAS and SBS will ride in Apache choppers, using their expertise to "read" the battleground and identify hard-to-spot targets such as snipers around the port city of Misrata.

A top insider told The Sun: "They are going to help in a command and control capacity. It's a job they have perfected over years in Afghanistan."

Meanwhile Gaddafi's government said for the first time it was prepared to negotiate with rebels.

BRITAIN’S secret ground war in Libya is revealed

The elite unit is funded by the MoD via a security firm to topple Colonel Gaddafi.

David Cameron insists no British boots are on the ground in Libya. But a senior military source said: “They’re representing Britain.”

THE UK’s secret ground war in Libya is revealed today in this bombshell image of ex-SAS troops with rebels.

The elite unit is funded by the MoD via a security firm to topple Colonel Gaddafi.

David Cameron insists no British boots are on the ground in Libya. But a senior military source said: “They’re representing Britain.”

We have uncovered footage of 11 ex-SAS and Parachute Regiment soldiers in Libya training the rebels.

Blending in with the insurgents in sand-coloured clothes, peaked caps, shades and linen scarves, they are the UK’s unofficial boots on the ground.

Highly trained with front line experience round the world, the crack unit has been in the country for the past four weeks.

We spotted the elite soldiers in film taken by Arab TV station al-Jazeera in Dafniya, the western-most point of the rebel lines west of Misrata.


The elite soldiers are armed with rifles and 9mm pistols

They are armed with local versions of the AK47 rifle and 9mm pistols.

Their presence is an incredibly sensitive subject as the UN security council resolution in March authorising the use of force against Gaddafi specifically excludes “a foreign occupation force of any form on any Libyan territory”.

A senior military source said night: “These men definitely did not want to be seen by prying eyes as it could compromise their mission, which is very unofficial.

“But the fact is that they are representing Britain – whether it has been denied or not – and the British Government has given the green light for this, via a circuitous route.

“These things do happen in foreign war zones and became accepted during the Iraq War but the Government’s denial that we have boots on the ground is disingenuous to say the least.

“They are Brits and they are being paid for indirectly by the British taxpayer to a private company, whether the money was paid via a third or even fourth party.”

The ex-servicemen work for a company which has a contract with the Government and which has built up a proven track record of providing British Army military skills in conflict zones around the world.

The veterans - who are claimed to earn as much as £10,000 a month as third party “freelances” – have seen action in Iraq, Afghanistan, Columbia and Northern Ireland. Their wages have been paid to the private firm indirectly from a British Government fund.

They are part of what is known as The Circuit – an unofficial old boys network of Special Forces who work in blackspots all round the world.

Their presence comes amid Nato concern that the Libyan rebels have failed to gain enough traction to topple Gaddafi.

Top brass blame the military inexperience of the rag-tag army, made up mainly of civilians, so have unofficially sanctioned on-the-job training by UK contractors.

The elite soldiers are experts in going into conflict zones and launching what is known as “train the trainer” programmes in which they teach officers and NCOs how to prepare their troops.

Rebels desperately need this as their tactical and weapon handling skills are woeful. As well as advising rebel forces on military tactics, the group has been acting as spotters to help Nato war planes target Colonel Gaddafi’s forces. They will also be identifying targets for the imminent deployment of British and French attack helicopters on close-air support missions.

It is thought they entered Libya unofficially via Egypt in civilian vehicles. In March, six special forces soldiers and two MI6 officers were detained by rebel fighters when they landed on an abortive mission to meet insurgent leaders in Benghazi.

In what was an embarrassing episode for the SAS, the group was withdrawn soon after and this new liaison team were sent in its place. The revelations fly in the face of David Cameron’s insistence there is no mission creep in Libya.

The contract to pay for the men was acquired two months ago by a private company which works in the shadowy international security sector.

It comes amid increased speculation the UK and other Nato countries will eventually have to send in troops against crazed dictator Gaddafi.

Most experts agree that such a war – much of it conducted in urban areas – cannot be conducted without putting soldiers on the ground.

Despite more than two months of bombing by Nato, rebels have remained unable to advance west of Misrata, or west of Brega, 300 miles to the east.

The capital, Tripoli, also remains in the grip of Gaddafi, who has defied all attempts to force him to leave.

The need for a ground presence is even greater now with British Apache and French Tiger attack helicopters preparing to go in and launch close air attacks against Gaddafi’s troops. The British men are all highly trained operators with experience of war zones all over the world.

They are able to feed information back, via the private company they work for, on what equipment is needed for the rebel army.

Nato commanders usually prefer to have a Special Forces presence on the ground before they launch attack helicopters, which are vulnerable to ground-to-air missiles and rockets.

If a pilot is downed, ground forces can help secure crash sites or co-ordinate a rescue bid to lift the crew to safety.

MERCENARIES

The use of former SAS, ex-Paras and Royal Marines grew after the Iraq invasion in 2003.

Many top soldiers, sailors and airmen quit the forces to try and earn a fortune in Iraq amid rumours of people earning £1,000 a-day in danger money.

But only the top SAS and SBS men were receiving decent money as many fledgling companies eventually went bust or lost major contracts.

Many other PMCs – Private Military Companies – earned bad names, in particular American firms, for killing innocent civilians.

The company with the worst reputation was the US firm Blackwater – now re-named Xe – which still has contracts with the CIA and the American Government.

Their profile became so bad that in 2004 four of its operators were murdered by locals, torn apart and hung from a bridge in rebel town Fallujah, west of Baghdad.

Street battles raged Thursday between the army and opposition tribesmen in the capital Sanaa

Street battles raged Thursday between the army and opposition tribesmen in the capital Sanaa and dozens of people on both sides were killed and wounded. Elsewhere a thousands-strong force of tribal fighters fought to break through government lines on the northern outskirts of the city.
The Defense Ministry issue a statement claiming the army stopped the tribesmen from entering Sanaa, but an army officer who defected from President Ali Abdullah Saleh's military, said the fighting continues.
The officer, who spoke on condition he not be named in accordance with opposition force custom, said the fighting was within 10 miles (15 kilometers) of the northern outskirts of Sanaa. He said the tribesmen had captured but later released 30 soldiers from the elite Republican Guard.
Heavy casualties were reported inside the city's Hassaba neighborhood where resident Talal Hazza said government troops were shelling opposition forces for a second day running. The army is trying to dislodge fighters loyal to pro-opposition Sheik Sadeq al-Amar.
The Defense Ministry acknowledge fighting in Hassaba for the first time Thursday. Opposition fighters have taken control of some government buildings in the region.
In the southern city of Taiz, three protesters were wounded in the fighting with the army, security men and plain-clothes government enforcers, said activist Mohammed al-Darfi.
He said security forces stormed the house of Taiz opposition lawmaker Sultan al-Samie Wednesday night and confiscated his computer and documents.
Sanaa airport was closed Wednesday night and remains shut for fear that planes could be hit in the heavy shelling around the city.

Two Royal Marines have been killed in an explosion in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said.

The marines, from 42 Commando, were hit by an improvised explosive device in the Nad Ali district of Helmand province on Friday.

The MoD said they were on patrol in the Loy Mandeh area when they were killed and that next of kin had been informed.

The deaths take the number of British military deaths in operations in Afghanistan since 2001 to 368.

Spokesman for Task Force Helmand Maj Rolf Kurth said: "It is my sad duty to inform you of the death of two Royal Marines... our thoughts and prayers are with their families and friends in their time of grief."

He said they were on patrol "disrupting insurgent activity" when they were hit.

The battalion-sized formation of 42 Commando is based at Bickleigh Barracks in Plymouth, Devon.

On Monday, a British soldier from 1st Battalion the Rifles was killed by a bomb while on a patrol in the Sayedabad Kalay area of the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand province.

South African was shot in the stomach and abandoned by forces loyal to Gaddafi

A South African freelance photographer missing in Libya since April is believed dead after being shot in the stomach and abandoned in the desert by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, his family said yesterday.
Anton Hammerl, 41, who also had Austrian nationality and lived in London, was hit in the stomach after coming under fire on April 5, family friend Bronwyn Friedlander said in London.
South Africa and Austria criticised Gaddafi's government yesterday with Pretoria saying Libya had misled it about Hammerl and the ruling ANC also accused Tripoli of dishonesty.
Two American journalists and a Spanish photographer who were with Hammerl were taken captive by forces loyal to the Libyan leader. They could not report what had happened until their release in Tripoli on Wednesday.
According to the journalists, Hammerl was left behind bleeding while they were taken away by Gaddafi forces, Friedlander said.
"His injuries were such that he could not have survived without medical attention," she said.
"Anton was shot by Gaddafi's forces in an extremely remote location in the Libyan desert," the Hammerl family said in a statement on Facebook.
The American reporters, James Foley and Clare Gillis, spoke by telephone with Hammerl's wife Penny Sukhraj in London late on Thursday.
South Africa's foreign ministry, which said this month it had proof Hammerl was still alive, said on Friday the Libyan government had misled it about the photographer.
"We kept getting reassured at the highest level that he was alive until his colleagues were released and shared the information...," International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane told reporters yesterday.
Hammerl, who had three young children, had lived in Britain for five years.

 

NATO air attacks have hit Libyan government weapons depots near Zintan, southwest of Tripoli, the capital, according to a rebel spokesman in the town.

Separately, two loud explosions rocked a western sector of Tripoli on Sunday as jets flew overhead, witnesses told the AFP news agency.

An international coalition began carrying out attacks on forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, Libya's long-time ruler, on March 19, under a UN mandate to protect civilians in the country. NATO took command of operations over Libya on March 31.

"NATO struck weapons depots five minutes ago in an area which lies about 30km southeast of Zintan," Abdulrahman, the rebel spokesman, told the Reuters news agency by telephone on Sunday.

"We heard a loud explosion ... I think the strike hit some of them [the depots].

"We are now at a cemetery burying 11 people martyred during yesterday's fighting, in which 35 other fighters were also wounded."

The reported air raids came a week after the Libyan government said that Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Arab Gaddafi, and three of his grandchildren were killed in a NATO air strike on a compound in Tripoli.

Elsewhere in the country, rebels in the contested city of Misurata clashed with government forces near the airport, a rebel spokesman told the Reuters news agency on Sunday.

"Fierce fighting is taking place now at the airport and in the air force college area [near the airport]. We are still hearing sounds of artillery and rockets," the spokesman, called Abdelsalam, said from Misurata.
   
"NATO struck an area in the east of Misurata today but we do not have details."

Fuel depots destroyed

Misurata is the last remaining city in Libya's west under rebel control. It has been under siege for more than two months and has witnessed some of the war's fiercest fighting.

On Saturday, a rebel spokesman in Misurata said that Gaddafi's forces dropped bombs on four large oil-storage tanks, destroying them and sparking a fire that spread to four more.


Click here for more of Al Jazeera's special coverage
Government forces used small, pesticide-spraying planes for the overnight attack in Qasr Ahmed close to the port, Ahmed Hassan, the spokesman, said.

"Four tanks were totally destroyed and huge fire erupted which spread to the other four. We cannot extinguish it because we do not have the right tools," he said.

"Now the city will face a major problem. Those were the only source of fuel for the city. These tanks could have kept the city for three months with enough fuel."

Commenting on the latest fighting, Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel-Hamid, reporting from the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, said on Sunday that Libya "is showing that it is ready for any kind of foreign aggression.

"They know that it is extremely important to keep the momentum in what appears now to be a very long and protracted conflict".

Border tensions

Meanwhile, Tunisia warned on Sunday that the repeated shelling from Libya of one of its border towns may force it to take measures to protect its sovereignty.

The country's official TAP news agency said that about 80 shells from Libya had fallen on Tunisian territory.

There were no reported injuries after the shells fell as Libyan troops fought with rebels to regain control of the Wazen-Dhehiba border post.

TAP quoted the Tunisian foreign ministry as warning that the country would take "all measures needed" within the law to ensure protection of its citizens, refugees and its territory.

Tunisia summoned Libya's ambassador on April 29 to complain after shells fell in inhabited areas. It now says Libya is not keeping to its commitments.

Meanwhile Italian coast guards and local fisherman saved all 528 refugees on a boat from Libya after their vessel hit rocks off the island of Lampedusa in an operation a rescuer described as a "miracle."

Among the refugees who had thrown themselves into the water at night were 24 pregnant women.