The rebels surged towards Sirte after regaining control of five strategic towns, including Ajdabiya, Brega and Ras Lanuf. Al Jazeera quoted Shamsi Abdul Molah, spokesman for the opposition's National Council, as saying the rebels had moved into the city and taken control but there was no independent corroboration.

“They found it to be an unarmed city. They had no problem in getting in there as they encountered no resistance,” Al-Jazeera quoted him as saying in Benghazi.

Sirte is located about halfway along the coast between Tripoli and Benghazi. Nine explosions were heard in the city early today and the latest blasts followed two explosions yesterday, which has already triggered a mass exodus from Gaddafi’s hometown.

Russia has strongly opposed NATO taking command of military operations in Libya. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Moscow that the UN Security Council had only sanctioned use of force to implement the no-fly zone but had not authorised the coalition to interfere in the internal strife in the country.

“Here we see obvious contradictions. We believe that the interference of the coalition in the internal civil war is not sanctioned by the UNSC resolution,” Lavrov said voicing Moscow's unhappiness with NATO coalition forces' siding with anti-Gaddafi rebels. The rapid advance westwards of the rebels came as top Obama administration officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defence Secretary Robert Gates, said they had received hints that key aides of Gaddafi might be ready to abandon him.

The officials predicted that the Libyan regime may crack from within as allied warplanes, resurgent rebels and the international community put more pressure on Tripoli. — PTI

Dubai, March 28
A massive blast ripped apart an ammunition factory in Southern Yemen, killing 70 persosn and wounding more than 100 in fresh violence in the strife-torn key Arab state, where crucial transition of power talks have been stalled.

“At least 70 persosn were killed in the explosion in the ammunition factory near Jaar town in South Yemen,” Al-arabia channel reported, quoting a local government official. The explosion came a day after the factory was overrun by Al Qaida militants.

“The explosion shook the town of Jaar and could be heard up to 15 km away,” the official, Mohsin Salem, said.

Other security officials said the heavily-armed militants numbering more than 30 raided the plant, which makes ammunition for Kalashnikov rifles. They said the Al Qaida men later stormed and captured Jaar town. — PTI

Berlin, March 28
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the anti-nuclear Green Party in a state it has ruled for half a century, dramatically changing the country's political landscape. The Green Party is set to form the first government under its leadership in the southern state of Baden Wuerttemberg.

Chancellor Merkel's party suffered its worst defeat in the state election when it was voted out of office in Baden Wuerttemberg after nearly 60 years in power.

The CDU's debacle is seen by poll analysts as a rebuke by voters angry over the federal government's nuclear policy, especially its decision to extend the life span of the country's 17 nuclear reactors on an average by 12 years.

In the wake of the crisis at Japan's Fukushima reactor complex, Merkel's government had ordered a three-month suspension of its nuclear policy and temporarily shut down seven oldest reactors. The Green Party's leading candidate Winfried Kretschmann is almost certain to become the next premier. — PTI

Tokyo/Fukushima, March 28
Highly radioactive water has leaked from a reactor building at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant, the operator of the crippled facility said today, fuelling fears that the liquid may be seeping into the environment.

The embattled operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), also sought help from France’s nuclear power-related firms in resolving the crisis at the plant. The plant’s operator also said the contaminated water inside No 2 reactor was found to have radiation levels some 100,000 times the normal level.

The leak in a tunnel linked to the No.2 reactor has raised fears of radioactive liquid seeping into the environment. Earlier in the day, a strong quake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.5 jolted Miyagi Prefecture and its vicinity in northeastern Japan, but TEPCO said the tremor was unlikely to affect work to restore the plant's key cooling functions. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Pak Taliban forms ‘vigilance cell’ to hunt US informers
Islamabad: The Pakistani Taliban in North Waziristan tribal agency have established a “vigilance cell” to hunt people suspected of providing intelligence to guide US drones in attacks on the militants, according to a media report on Monday. The cell, known as the Lashkar-e-Khorasan, has been tasked to identify, capture and execute people working for what is described as a “web of local spies” created by the US Central Intelligence Agency, The Express Tribune newspaper quoted its sources as saying. — PTI

23 killed in in Afghan blast
Kabul: A team of suicide bombers shot their way into the compound of a road construction company in eastern Afghanistan and detonated a truck loaded with explosives, killing 23 people and wounding about 60, the Afghan government said on Monday. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which the Interior Ministry said occurred late Sunday in the Barmal district of Paktika province. — AP

Liz Hurley moves into Warne's home
Melbourne: Liz Hurley is reportedly getting set to move into Shane Warne's $10 million Melbourne mansion home. According to Woman's Day, despite their ups and downs, the media darlings might also be getting set to say their 'I Do's' this year. "I think that if he doesn't stuff it up this time, there'll be a wedding before the end of the year," News.co.au quoted Warne's friend as telling the mag. — ANI

Age no bar for them
London: A 100-year-old man and a 93- year-old woman in the US are said to have become the world's oldest couple to tie the knot following a 28-year courtship. Forrest Lunsway and Rose Pollard of California wed at the Dana Point Community Center on March 19 at a combined age of 193 - making them the world's oldest couple to marry on record, the Daily Mail reported. They have now beaten the previous record for oldest newlyweds held by Harry Corton and Edna Holford from Barnsley, England, who wed with a combined age of 183. — PTI

World's first artificial leaf ‘created’
WASHINGTON: Scientists have created the world's first practical artificial leaf that can turn sunlight and water into energy, which they claim could pave the way for a cheaper source of power in developing countries like India. A team at Massachusetts Institute of Technology says that the artificial leaf from silicon, electronics and various catalysts which spur chemical reactions within the device, can use sunlight to break water into hydrogen and oxygen which can then be used to create electricity in a separate fuel cell. — PTI