W O R L D

Even after death, Gaddafi divides Libya
Misrata(Libya), Oct 21 
Muammar Gaddafi's body lay in an old meat store on Friday as arguments over a burial, and his killing after being captured, dogged efforts by Libya's new leaders to make a formal start on a new era of democracy.

wave of joy: Women celebrate the death of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi after Friday prayers at Martyrs' Square in Tripoli. — Reuters

Saleh, Assad next in line: Protesters
Sanaa, October 21
Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of the Yemeni capital today to demand the resignation of veteran President Ali Abdullah Saleh, galvanised by the death of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi. 

Even after death, Gaddafi divides Libya
n Arguments over disposal of body n Leaders, Western nations hail new dawn n Liberation declaration in Benghazi today

Misrata(Libya), Oct 21
Muammar Gaddafi's body lay in an old meat store on Friday as arguments over a burial, and his killing after being captured, dogged efforts by Libya's new leaders to make a formal start on a new era of democracy.

Breaking news: A snapshot of some British dailies announcing the death of Libyan dictator. — AFP

With a bullet wound visible through the familiar curly hair, the corpse shown to Reuters in Misrata bore other marks of the violent end to a violent life that was being broadcast to the world in snatches of grainy, gory cellphone video.

The interim prime minister offered a tale of "crossfire" to explain the fallen strongman's death after he was dragged, very much alive, from a highway drainage culvert.But with footage showing him being beaten, while demanding legal rights, to the sound of gunfire, many assume he was simply summarily shot.

The liberation of Libya will be declared on Saturday in the city of Benghazi, often referred to as the cradle of the revolution that overthrew Muammar Gaddafi, and not in the capital Tripoli, interim government officialsaid .

Gaddafi's wife, Aisha, who found refuge in neighbouring Algeria while her husband and several sons kept their word to fight to the death, demanded an inquiry from the United Nations. Its human rights arm said one was merited.

Controversy over the final moments of a man who once held the world in thrall with a mixture of eccentricity and thuggery raised questions about the ability of Libya's National Transitional Council to control the men with guns, as well as discomfort for the Western allies about respect for human rights among those who claimed to be fighting for just those ideals.

The body appeared to be the latest object of wrangling among the factions of fighters who overthrew him -- along with control of weapons, of ministries and of Libya's oil wealth.

Libyans, and the Western allies who backed their revolt that ended Gaddafi's 42-year rule two months ago, have indicated their impatience to begin what the United States declared was a democratic "new era".

But regional and other rivalries were holding up the disposal of the corpse of Gaddafi, who was seized by fighters on Thursday, and a formal declaration of Libya's "liberation".

A failure to find Gaddafi's son and heir-apparent, Saif al-Islam, left another loose end after Thursday's surprise climax to eight months of war, when the 69-year-old fugitive was discovered hiding in a drainage culvert under a roadway.

NATO jets had halted a bid by a large armed convoy to break out of his last redoubt in his hometown of Sirte. — Reuters

Obama declares end to Iraq war

Washington, Oct 21
President Barack Obama today declared an end to the Iraq war, one of the longest and most divisive conflicts in US history, announcing that all US troops will be withdrawing from the country by year's end as promised in a deal struck before he took office.

Obama's statement puts to end months of wrangling over whether the US would maintain a force presence beyond 2011.

"After nearly nine years," the president said, "America's war in Iraq will be over." He spoke to reporters after a private video conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and offered assurances that the two leaders agreed on the decision. — AP

Turkish jets continue pounding of rebel bastions in Iraq

Hakkari (Turkey), Oct 21
Turkish jets kept up bombing raids on Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq overnight, as the rebels confirmed that some Turkish troops crossed into Iraq, officials and media reports said today.

Soldiers guard a military outpost near the Iraqi border in southeastern Turkey. —Reuters

Turkish war planes continued to take off from Diyarbakir, the regional capital of the mainly Kurdish southeast, to strike at Kurdish rebels who killed 24 soldiers in a string of coordinated attacks on October 19, local security forces said.

The Turkish army said today that the air and ground strikes against the rebels are "mainly" in Turkey. "While the majority of the land and air operations are in Turkey, mainly in the Cukurca region, ground and air strikes are ongoing in a few points in northern Iraq across the border," the army said in a statement posted on its website.

A small group of specially trained Turkish troops crossed into Iraq from the villages of Yekmal and Bilecan on the Turkish side of the border and entered the Dola Sulo region in Haftanin, sources from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) said, Kurdish news agency Firatnews reported.

Gunshots and the sound of helicopters overhead were heard overnight in Turkey's Hakkari province near the border, an AFP photographer at the scene said.

The Turkish army on October 20 initiated "a large-scale land operation" with 22 battalions against the rebels in five separate spots inside and across the border, according to the general staff. The ground incursion is supported with air strikes, it said.

Around 10,000 soldiers took part in the operation, Turkish media reported today. — AFP

BRIEFLY

China to launch Mars probe in Nov
Beijing: China would launch its much-awaited Mars probe mission in November, entering further deep into space exploration following two lunar projects, as the country braces itself for a deep space competition with the US. China's first Mars probe will be launched between November 8 and 20, after two years’ delay, a top scientist said. Yinghuo-1, a micro-satellite weighing 110 kg, will be sent into space with Russia's Phobos-Grunt mission at the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch site in Kazakhstan, state-run China Daily reported. — PTI

Chinese wives versus mistresses
Beijing: With a growing number of influential men and their mistresses turning out to be a social problem in China, a group of agonised wives have joined hands to fight the menace and help women caught with unfaithful husbands. The anti-mistress association, founded by Liu Zhixian who ended her 16 years of marriage after failing to prevail on her husband to abandon his mistress, provides an online platform to the distressed wives and aims to help them save their families or, at least, to talk about their experiences. — PTI

Drunk Indian bites compatriot's ear
Dubai: An Indian man has admitted to biting a chunk out of his friend's ear in Dubai, saying he was drunk and they were arguing over where they would go for dinner. Prosecutors at the Dubai Court of First Instance accused the 22-year-old man, identified only as SM, of causing permanent disability to 35-year-old countryman RN. "Yes sir, I am guilty. I fought with him and bit his ear," SM told the court. — PTI

Pak teenager charged in terror plot
New York: An 18-year-old Pakistani boy, who conspired with US terror accused 'Jihad Jane', has been charged with providing material support to terrorists and plotting to carry out "violent jihad" in South Asia and Europe. Maryland resident Mohammad Hassan Khalid, an American permanent resident, has been charged along with Ali Charaf Damache, an Algerian man who resided in Ireland. He faces 15 years in prison if convicted. — PTI