Topic: War and Peace News - on March 29, 2011 at 2:20:00 PM CEST
Document - Libya: detainees, disappeared and missing
He is in their (the forces of Colonel Mu’ammar al-Gaddafi) hands and we have no idea where he is being held and what kind of treatment he is being subjected to. We are very worried that he is being tortured and if we speak about his case they may further punish him, and that the safety of his wife and children in Tripoli may be endangered.
Relatives of a man arrested from his home in Tripoli, in the late afternoon of 22 February 2011, in front of his wife and children.
Many people have been subjected to enforced disappearance1 by forces loyal to Colonel Mu’ammar al-Gaddafi since the current unrest began in Libya in mid-February 2011, including dozens who were arrested and detained in eastern Libya and are believed to have been transferred to the Tripoli area that are controlled by al-Gaddafi forces. These detainees and disappeared persons are at grave risk of torture and other serious human rights abuses. The true number is impossible to calculate as the authorities in Tripoli generally do not divulge information about people they are detaining and because many areas of the country are not accessible for independent reporting; indeed, a number of Libyan and international journalists have been detained and ill-treated for seeking to report from areas in which al-Gaddafi forces have carried out arrests and attacks against civilians, and some are also still missing and unaccounted for having been detained by al-Gaddafi forces. Other journalists who have been released as a result of international pressure, including journalists from the BBC and The New York Times, have reported that they were tortured or otherwise ill-treated. Some were subjected to mock executions.
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Topic: War and Peace News - on March 29, 2011 at 1:29:00 PM CEST
Libya: special forces poised to swoop in - SAS 'Smash' squads on the ground in Libya to mark targets for coalition jets
Officials from the Foreign Office were locked in frantic efforts to locate the remaining UK nationals thought to be oil workers marooned in remote desert compounds in the south of the troubled country.
On Saturday, following days of criticism over the Government's handling of the crisis, members of the special forces, who had been in Libya for almost a week, pressed the button and rolled out a text-book extraction of 150 people – a third of them British.
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Topic: War and Peace News - on March 29, 2011 at 1:05:00 PM CEST
Libyan Rape Claim Woman Now 'The Accused'
A Libyan woman who rushed into a Tripoli hotel in an attempt to tell foreign journalists her story of rape is now facing possible criminal charges herself, a government spokesman says.
"I heard that the attorney-general brought her in for questioning because she is now not just the accuser, she is the accused. There is a case against her," Moussa Ibrahim told journalist in Tripoli.
A visibly distressed Ms al Obeidi had gone to the Tripoli hotel, where the media is based, shouting that she had been raped and tortured over two days after being picked up at a checkpoint in the capital.
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Topic: War and Peace News - on March 29, 2011 at 12:42:00 PM CEST
Yemeni regime loses grip on four provinces
As Yemen searches for a solution to the current political crisis, many restive areas in the poverty-stricken country have broken away from the central government and are being governed by local armed groups. The regime has lost its grip on many provinces such as Saada, Jawf, Abyan and Shabwa.
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Topic: War and Peace News - on March 29, 2011 at 12:23:00 PM CEST
Syrien: Rücktritt von Regierung erwartet
Unter dem Druck der Protestbewegung soll die syrische Regierung von Ministerpräsident Nadschi Otri noch heute zurücktreten. Innerhalb von 24 Stunden solle dann eine neue Regierung ernannt werden, sagte ein hochrangiger Regierungsvertreter in Damaskus der Nachrichtenagentur AFP.
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Topic: War and Peace News - on March 29, 2011 at 12:11:00 PM CEST
AFP: Official Syrian Source: The Syrian government will submit its resignation today
Watching Syrian TV live coverage of pro-regime demos all over
1:40pm Syria GMT+2
Austria is advising its citizens against nonessential travel to Syria due to what it calls a high security risk linked to the ongoing unrest in the country. Syria has seen more than a week of demonstrations.
Austria's Foreign Ministry warned against travel to the southern city of Daraa and its surroundings, and strongly advised travelers to stay away from demonstrations, larger gatherings and scenes of police and military action.
Two Reuters television journalists have been missing in Syria since Saturday night, when they were due to return to Lebanon.
update2: Beirut-based producer Ayat Basma and cameraman Ezzat Baltaji had been expected to cross into Lebanon by road at approximately 1830 GMT on Saturday, where they had arranged for a taxi to pick them up from the border.
The last known contact was at 1722 GMT, when Baltaji sent a phone message to a colleague in Beirut in which he said: "We will leave now."
Syria Live Blog - March 28 update: Video: Tens of thousands of Syrians rally for Assad [ccn] Live updates on Syria’s uprising [nowlebanon.com]
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Topic: War and Peace News - on March 29, 2011 at 10:38:00 AM CEST
Gaddafi must face a war crime trial not exile, insists Cameron
David Cameron will tell world leaders they must put Colonel Gaddafi on trial and back Libyan rebels at a crisis conference in London today.
The Prime Minister will reject a plan by Italy and Germany to let the tyrant go into exile and dodge war crimes charges.
MI6 officials and the SAS are in close contact with Libyan opposition leaders as the 'endgame' for Gaddafi's regime is plotted, senior officials confirmed last night.
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Topic: War and Peace News - on March 29, 2011 at 10:24:00 AM CEST
Diplomats discuss Libya's future as Italy plots Gaddafi's escape route
Rome is negotiating an African haven for the Libyan leader as international pressure mounts on him to go.
Efforts appear to be under way to offer Muammar Gaddafi a way of escape from Libya, with Italy saying it was trying to organise an African haven for him, and the US signalling it would not try to stop the dictator from fleeing.
The move came amid mounting diplomatic and military pressure on Gaddafi as Britain tries to assemble a global consensus demanding he surrender power while intensifying air strikes against his forces. An international conference in London – including the UN, Arab states, the African Union, and more than 40 foreign ministers – will focus on co-ordinating assistance in the face of a possible humanitarian disaster and building a unified international front in condemnation of the Gaddafi regime and in support of Nato-led military action in Libya.
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Topic: War and Peace News - on March 29, 2011 at 10:15:00 AM CEST
Turkey thinks it can & should be the only solution to every conflict on earth & their self-congratulation & arrogance knows no boundaries
Turkey has become a country screaming left and right on every issue the past few years.
Turkey's arrogance and lack of sensitivity & respect for the Libyan people gets me boiling.
This is a result of Turkey's absurd and dogmatic "continuity" approach to Libya. It's not an option, world knows it.
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Topic: War and Peace News - on March 29, 2011 at 9:37:00 AM CEST
North Korean Weapons Found in Libya
Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Qadhafi has been using weapons purchased from North Korea in his faltering attempt to suppress anti-government protests.
As revealed by South Korean television broadcaster SBS on the 28th, boxes containing rockets and clearly bearing the name North Korea were found in Ras Lanuf following the retreat of pro-Qadhafi forces under NATO air strikes.
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Topic: nuclear power - on March 29, 2011 at 9:32:00 AM CEST
Radioactive water at Fukushima nuclear plant can't be drained as condensers full
Radioactive water found in the turbine buildings of two of the reactors at the quake- and tsunami-hit Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant cannot be drained off because their condensers are already filled with water, it has emerged.
Water containing high levels of radiation has been found in the turbine buildings of the plant's No. 1 to 3 reactors.
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Topic: nuclear power - on March 29, 2011 at 9:30:00 AM CEST
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident Update (28 March, 23:00 UTC)
Japan Confirms Plutonium in Soil Samples at Fukushima Daiichi.
After taking soil samples at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Japanese authorities today confirmed finding traces of plutonium that most likely resulted from the nuclear accident there. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency told the IAEA that the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) had found concentrations of plutonium in two of five soil samples.
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