W O R L D

Turmoil rages on in Libya, UN slaps sanctions
l Protesters appoint ex-justice minister Abdel-Jalil to lead provisional govt
l As per UN estimates, around 1 lakh people have fled the country in a week
Cairo, February 27
Muammar Gaddafi clung to his gradually shrinking territory in Libya where the opposition movement today formed a transitional "national council" to act as the "face of the revolution" but said it was not an interim government.

Gaddafi’s Ukrainian nurse heads home 
Kiev (Ukraine), February 27
Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi looks likely to be ditched by yet another close confidant, his Ukrainian nurse who says she will flee the violence in the North African nation and return home.

Protesters gain control over oil fields
Tehran : Anti-government protesters in Libya have gained control over most of the country’s oil fields, Iran’s Press TV said on Sunday. 

N Korea threatens US, South with ‘all-out war’ 
Seoul, February 27
North Korea threatened “all-out war” in response to exercises by South Korean and US troops due to start tomorrow and told Seoul to stop cross-border propaganda, upping the rhetoric against its arch rivals.

Taliban fury singes NATO tankers

A Pakistani firefighter battles flames emanating from NATO oil tankers after a blast on the outskirts of Peshawar on Saturday. Pro-Taliban militants in northwest and southwest Pakistan have destroyed hundreds of trucks and oil tankers carrying supplies and fuel to the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan over the past few years. — AFP

2 protesters shot dead in Oman
Muscat, February 27
The Omani police shot dead two demonstrators with rubber bullets today as the deadly wave of protest rocking the Arab world spread to the normally placid pro-Western sultanate, a security official said. Five persons were also wounded when the security forces opened fire on the demonstrators who tried to storm a police station, the official said.

Tunisian interim leader quits
Tunis, February 27
Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi resigned today, as security forces clashed with protesters in Tunis demanding the removal of some ministers of his interim government. "I have decided to quit as prime minister," Ghannouchi told a news conference, saying that he thought carefully before taking the decision which was supported by his family.

Turmoil rages on in Libya, UN slaps sanctions
l Protesters appoint ex-justice minister Abdel-Jalil to lead provisional govt
l As per UN estimates, around 1 lakh people have fled the country in a week

Cairo, February 27
Muammar Gaddafi clung to his gradually shrinking territory in Libya where the opposition movement today formed a transitional "national council" to act as the "face of the revolution" but said it was not an interim government.

Hundreds of armed anti-government forces backed by rebel troops who control the city closest to Tripoli appear to be heading towards a siege of the Libyan capital and prepared for an expected offensive by forces loyal to the regime of 68-year-old Gaddafi, who has ruled his oil-rich nation for 41 years.

As more cities fell into the hands of the opposition, the pro-democracy protesters appointed ex-justice minister Mustafa Abdel-Jalil to lead a provisional government.

Abdel-Jalil, meanwhile,e said he was forming a "transitional government" to replace Gaddafi's crumbling regime.

In the eastern city of al-Baida, Jalil said the new administration would include commanders of the regular army, many of whom had defected to the opposition, and the set up would pave the way for free and fair elections in three months' time, Al Jazeera said.

The online edition of the Libya's Quryna newspaper said Ajleil had led the formation of an interim government based in Benghazi.

Advancing towards Gaddafi's stronghold of Tripoli, protesters today gained control of Zawiyeh town, which is just 50 km from the capital, besides taking over Misurata in north-western Libya, Al Jazeera reported.

However, security forces loyal to Gaddafi kept a firm hold of Tripoli, which is in all probability headed for a major showdown between the two sides.

In a tough message hours after the 15-member Security Council voted unanimously to slap "biting" sanctions on the regime, US President Barack Obama said that Gaddafi had lost legitimacy to rule and should leave "now".

"The President stated that when a leader's only means of staying in power is to use mass violence against his own people, he has lost the legitimacy to rule and needs to do what is right for his country by leaving now," the White House said in a statement after the telephonic conversation between Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The UN action came as an exodus of foreigners continued in the midst of a worsening situation and growing anarchy. The UN refugee agency said that "close to 100,000 people", mainly foreign migrants, have fled Libya during the past week of turmoil. — PTI 

Gaddafi’s Ukrainian nurse heads home 

In this undated photo from the Kolotnytska family archive, Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s nurse Halyna Kolotnytska poses for photo. — AP/PTI

Kiev (Ukraine), February 27
Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi looks likely to be ditched by yet another close confidant, his Ukrainian nurse who says she will flee the violence in the North African nation and return home.

Halyna Kolotnytska, 38, is joining senior government officials, diplomats and pilots who have deserted Gaddafi after he violently suppressed anti-government protests, according to a local newspaper report.

A US diplomatic cable released late last year claimed the 68-year-old leader is deeply attached to Kolotnytska, one of four Ukrainian nurses that take care of him.

The cable published by WikiLeaks described her as a “voluptuous blonde” who always travels with Gaddafi as only she “knows his routine” and even suggested the two may be romantically involved.

The Segodnya daily cited Kolotnytska’s daughter Tetyana as saying that her mother was out of danger and planned to return to Ukraine in the near future.

“She spoke in a calm voice, asked us not to worry, said she would be home soon,” Tetyana Kolotnytska said of the phone conversation with her mother on Friday, according to the report released yesterday.

No one picked up the phone at the daughter’s apartment outside of Kiev today. — AP

Protesters gain control over oil fields

Tehran: Anti-government protesters in Libya have gained control over most of the country’s oil fields, Iran’s Press TV said on Sunday. The oil fields are no longer under the control of Libyan strongman Muammer Gaddafi, the channel said, citing a report in Libya’s al-Youm newspaper. “Nearly all the oil fields in east of Ras Lanuf are now controlled by the people and the government has no control in this area,” said a petroleum engineer at the Libyan company Agico. — IANS

Rebel army to oust Gaddafi

Tripoli: Army leaders in eastern Libya are reportedly preparing to dispatch a rebel force to Tripoli to support the uprising there. The Telegraph quoted Brigadier-General Ahmed Gatrani as saying that a small force comprising army defectors and rebels has already reached the outskirts of Tripoli. “We are trying to organise people who will sacrifice their lives to free Tripoli from the dictator. Entering Tripoli is not easy. Anyone trying will be shot,” Gatrani, who heads the military committee now in charge of the army in Benghazi, said. — ANI 

Saif may be stripped of his doctorate

Amid claims that the LSE thesis of Saif al-Islam, Gaddafi’s son, may have been ghost-written, the LSE is investigating allegations of plagiarism and in a statement on Saturday confirmed a degree can be "revoked if there are substantiated concerns about the manner in which it was attained. For example if there is a later discovery of plagiarism." The university is seeking "specific information" regarding "direct allegations" of plagiarism and is carrying out its own checks. After getting his PhD in 2008, Saif al-Islam made a controversial £1.5m gift to the LSE from his organisation, the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation (GICDF), in 2009.'

— The Independent

N Korea threatens US, South with ‘all-out war’ 

2 protesters shot dead in Oman

Muscat, February 27
The Omani police shot dead two demonstrators with rubber bullets today as the deadly wave of protest rocking the Arab world spread to the normally placid pro-Western sultanate, a security official said. Five persons were also wounded when the security forces opened fire on the demonstrators who tried to storm a police station, the official said.

"Two were killed after being shot with rubber bullets as protesters attempted to storm a police station," in Sohar, some 200 km from Muscat, the official said. — AFP

Tunisian interim leader quits

Tunis, February 27
Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi resigned today, as security forces clashed with protesters in Tunis demanding the removal of some ministers of his interim government. "I have decided to quit as prime minister," Ghannouchi told a news conference, saying that he thought carefully before taking the decision which was supported by his family.

I am not running away from responsibility. This is to open the way for a new prime minister," he said.

"I am not ready to be the person who takes decisions that would end up causing casualties," Ghannouchi said. — AFP