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Libya inches towards final showdown CELEBRATIONS GALORE: A libyan woman raises a rifle as thousands of her compatriots celebrate what the rebels claim to be the first uprising in Tripoli against Muammar Gaddafi at freedom square in Benghazi on Sunday. — AFP
Pak faces pressure to call in army in violence-hit Karachi
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Parties get three more days to form national unity govt
Afghan poll body expels 9 lawmakers
Cairo: Israel’s regret for killing Egyptian soldiers not enough
Vice-President Biden tells China not to count out US strength
Being supermom can hit your mental health
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Libya inches towards final showdown
Jaddaim, August 21 The fighting inside Tripoli, combined with rebel advances to the outskirts of the city, appeared to signal the decisive phase in a six month conflict that has become the bloodiest of the “Arab Spring” uprisings and embroiled NATO powers. But Gaddafi’s fall is far from certain. His security forces did not buckle, the rebels appeared to control only a few neighbourhoods of Tripoli and the city is much bigger than anything the mostly amateur anti-Gaddafi fighters, with their scavenged weapons and mismatched uniforms, have ever tackled. If the Libyan leader is forced from power, there are question marks over whether the opposition can restore stability in this oil exporting country. The rebels’ own ranks have been wracked by disputes and rivalry. Rebels said that after a night of heavy fighting, they controlled a handful of city neighbourhoods. But whether they hold on could depend on the speed with which the rebels elsewhere reach Tripoli. “The rebels may have risen too early in Tripoli and the result could be a lot of messy fighting,” said Oliver Miles, a former British ambassador to Libya. “The regime may not have collapsed in the city to quite the extent they think it has.” The closest frontline was to the west of the capital, along a highway that traces the edge of the Mediterranean Sea. Rebel fighters returning from the front line said they they had taken the town of Jaddaim and that they were now about 20 km from Tripoli and approaching the city’s outlying western suburb of Janzour. A Reuters reporter near the front said he could hear shells landing, and could see columns of smoke. Ambulances rushed back from the front to a hospital in the nearby town of Zawiyah. In Jaddaim, fighters were celebrating the advance, shouting “Allahu Akbar!” or “God is greatest!.” In Benghazi, the eastern Libyan city where the anti-Gaddafi revolt started and where the rebels have their main stronghold, a senior official said everything was going according to plan. “Our revolutionaries are controlling several neighbourhoods and others are coming in from outside the city to join their brothers at this time,” Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, vice-chairman of the rebel National Transition Council, told Reuters. In an audio recording broadcast late on Saturday, Gaddafi, whose location has been kept a secret since NATO warplanes started bombing government buildings, made clear he had no intention of giving in to the rebels. “Those rats ... were attacked by the masses tonight and we eliminated them,” Gaddafi said. “I know that there are air bombardments but the fireworks were louder than the sound of the bombs thrown by the aircraft.” A spokesman for Gaddafi, in a briefing for foreign reporters, underlined the message of defiance. The armed units defending Tripoli from the rebels”wholeheartedly believe that if this city is captured the blood will run everywhere so they may as well fight to the end,” said the spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim. “We hold Mr Obama, Mr Cameron and Mr Sarkozy morally responsible for every single unnecessary death that takes place in this country,” he said, referring to the leaders of the United States, Britain and France. — Reuters
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Pak faces pressure to call in army in violence-hit Karachi
Karachi, August 21 As deployment of police and paramilitary forces has failed to quell the bloodshed, demands are being raised for the Army to be called in, with PML-N leader Shahbaz Sharif and top business leaders from the city joining the chorus. As many as 87 persons have been killed over the past four days, with seven more casualties including two children, reported since last evening in the wave of ethnic violence. The pressure only increased on President Asif Zardari and the government after the chief of the Army staff, General Ashfaq Pervaz Kayani offered military assistance in restoring peace in the city. General Kayani told the media after a gathering in Rawalpindi last night that the military could help control the situation in Karachi, if the government so willed. Kayani said it was the duty of the Army to serve the nation but felt that the situation could be controlled by utilising police and para-military rangers effectively. He said Karachi was the economic hub of Pakistan and the situation there should not be allowed to deteriorate. But, it was the government’s call to seek assistance of the military, he added. More disturbing has been the emerging trend of armed gangs reportedly kidnapping people from public transport vehicles on ethnic basis after checking their ID cards, and incidents of buses being fired upon or set on fire. Punjab Chief Minister, Shahbaz Sharif, the brother of PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, also demanded that the Army be called in to control the situation in Karachi. Shahbaz told a press conference in Karachi that killing of innocent citizens was a failure of the government, and the administration needs to use every option, including calling in the Army, to restore peace in the city. Interior minister, Rehman Malik and the Sindh home minister, Manzoor Wassan were also told point blank during a meeting with business community leaders and traders in the city yesterday that military assistance should be sought to control the situation in the city. A former President of powerful trade and industry association, Site, said at the meeting that if the government could not provide security to the business community than it would be forced to raise its own forces to fight the criminal and terrorist elements behind the violence in Karachi. Malik yesterday ruled out the possibility of seeking military help, insisting that the Army was busy fighting the war on terror. He, however, promised that the strength of the police force would be increased soon. The PPP, aware of the tight rope it is walking because of the rampant law and order situation in Karachi, has used every method to convince the city’s biggest representative party, the Mutthaida Qaumi Movement to rejoin the government. The MQM, which has the largest number of seats in the national and provincial assemblies from Karachi, parted ways with the government few months back accusing some of the PPP leaders of patronising criminal gangs in Karachi. The MQM, is however, expected to rejoin the government over the next 24 hours, following increased pressure. — PTI
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Nepal crisis Kathmandu, August 21 “In response to the written request made by all political parties, the president extended the deadline to form a national consensus government till Wednesday 5 pm, after it expired on Sunday evening,” said Rajendra Dahal, the press advisor to the president. Nepal’s two largest parties-UCPN-Maoist and the main opposition Nepali Congress - have held several rounds of consultations with other parties for a national government, but have failed to end the constitutional crisis in the country. Maoist vice-chairman Baburam Bhattarai, Nepali Congress president Sushil Koirala, caretaker Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal and Vijaya Gachhadar, the leader of the Joint Democratic Madhesi Front, met the president to seek more time for consultations to form a national unity government. Hours ahead of the expiry of the August 21 deadline set by President Yadav, political parties agreed to seek more time after a series of bilateral and multilateral talks between the three main political parties-UCPN-Maoist, Nepali Congress and CPN-UML- and Joint Democratic Madhesi Front failed to bear any fruit. President Yadav yesterday, voiced concern over the development, including the delay in the constitution-drafting process. No party holds a majority of seats in parliament. The UCPN-Maoist, which has 238 seats in the Constituent Assembly, is largest party in the Assembly, which acts as the country’s interim Parliament. The second largest Nepali Congress has 114 members in the House followed by CPN-UML, which has 108 members.— PTI
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Afghan poll body expels 9 lawmakers
Kabul, August 21 Although President Hamid Karzai tasked the Independent Election Commission (IEC) with making a final ruling, it was not immediately clear whether its decision would finally end the row or run the risk of more angry protests. The issue has prompted large demonstrations on the streets of Kabul in recent weeks, as US-led NATO combat troops start initial withdrawals from the troubled country in a process due to be completed by the end of 2014. “Nine people... from eight provinces are reinstated and nine people will have to leave their seats,” said Fazil Ahmad Manawi, IEC chairman. The IEC said that the nine replacement members had initially won their seats according to preliminary results, but were later stripped of their victories by the Election Complaints Commission on the grounds of fraudulent votes. “The reasons for their removal were not enough... so the IEC decided to reinstate those nine persons,” Manawi said. — AFP
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Cairo: Israel’s regret for killing Egyptian soldiers not enough Cairo, August 21 "The Israeli statement was positive on the surface, but it was not in keeping with the magnitude of the incident and the state of Egyptian anger toward Israeli actions," the state-run MENA news agency said quoting a cabinet statement. "Egypt affirms its solicitude for maintaining peace with Israel, but Israel must also assume responsibility for protecting this peace," it said. In a rare statement earlier, Israel expressed "regrets" over the incident on Thursday in which five Egyptian soldiers were killed at its border with the Arab country. However, Egypt did not say it will recall its ambassador from Tel Aviv. It had, earlier, threatened to recall its envoy in Israel. Meanwhile, scores of people demonstrated in front of the Egyptian Cabinet's building in downtown Cairo to condemn the killings. The protesters shouted anti-Israeli slogans and raised banners calling for a decisive and firm Egyptian reaction to the Israeli aggression. — PTI
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Vice-President Biden tells China not to count out US strength Chengdu, August 21 “We are still the single best bet in the world, in terms of where to invest,” Biden told a university audience in Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan, the southwest province that is the second and last stop of his visit to China. “Please understand that no one cares more about this than we do, since Americans own 87 per cent of all our financial assets and 69 per cent of all our treasury bonds,” Biden said, answering a question about US debt. “So our interest is not just to protect Chinese investment. We have an overarching interest in protecting the investment, while the United States has never defaulted and never will default.” “You’re safe,” he added. Biden also used his speech to renew US calls for Beijing to do more to rein in North Korea and Iran, whose nuclear ambitions have alarmed the West. “The fact is, China and the United States face many of the same threats and share many of the same objectives and responsibilities,” he said. But his key theme was, as it has been throughout his five-day visit to China, economic: that the United States can reverse its high debt and low growth, and that China should play a part by buying more American-made goods and services. “I also know that some of you are sceptical about America’s future prospects. With that in view, I would like to suggest that I respectfully disagree with that view and will allay your concerns,” said Biden. Joe Biden and President Barack Obama, both Democrats, face re-election next year. — Reuters
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Being supermom can hit your mental health Washington, August 21
“Ascribing to an ideal that women can do it all actually increased the level of depressive symptoms compared to women who are more skeptical of whether or not work and family can be balanced,” study researcher Katrina Leupp told LiveScience. For their research, Leupp and her team analysed survey responses from 1,600 married women who participated in a large survey called the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. In 1987, the women answered questions to gauge their support of women’s employment, including whether they agreed with statements such as “Women are much happier if they stay at home and take care of their children.” In 1992 and 1994, the now 40-year-old women answered questions about their symptoms of depression. Like earlier studies, the survey data showed that women who worked outside the home had fewer symptoms of depression, perhaps because it gives them more social interaction, more varied activities and a larger income, Leupp said. — PTI
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Libyan rebels battled their way towards Tripoli today to help fighters inside the city who rose up overnight declaring a final showdown with Muammar Gaddafi.
Thousands of angry people rallied outside the Israeli embassy and a government building here for the second day today with an Islamist group calling for jihad against the Jewish state, as Cairo said Tel Aviv's regret for the killing of five Egyptian soldiers was not enough.
US Vice-President Joe Biden today rejected views that American power is waning and said Washington would never default, wrapping up a China visit that has played down tensions between the world’s two biggest economies.
“We are still the single best bet in the world, in terms of where to invest,” Biden told a university audience in Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan, the southwest province that is the second and last stop of his visit to China.
In a coordinated revolt that rebel cells had been secretly preparing for months, shooting started on Saturday night across Tripoli moments after Muslim clerics, using the loudspeakers on mosque minarets, called people on to the streets. 
Researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle found that working is good for mothers’ mental health, but supermoms who want to be perfect at home as well as at work have higher rates of depression compared with those who let things slide.