Evening Edition

US and European leaders weighed the use of NATO air power to impose a no-fly zone, with the aim of stopping Kadhafi using air power against his own people to crush the insurrection against his four decades of iron rule.

Meanwhile, Kadhafi loyalists, who have lost control of much of the country to the rebellion that started on February 15, tried to retake the key western city of Zawiyah but were repulsed.

Washington said it had blocked around $30 billion in Libyan assets, the largest amount ever frozen, while the European Union also imposed its toughest international sanctions yet on Kadhafi’s crumbling regime.

US and European leaders weighed the use of NATO air power to impose a no-fly zone and stop Kadhafi from using air strikes against his own people to crush protests that in the past 15 days have left much of the country outside his control.

Meanwhile, demonstrators have camped in Muscat outside the consultative council, the Gulf state’s equivalent of a parliament, demanding an end to corruption.

In Sohar, security forces drove away protesters who had been keeping vigil at the Earth Roundabout, a landmark intersection where at least one protester was killed in clashes on Sunday.

The two had been under house arrest after judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani said earlier this month they had committed “treason” and MPs demanded they be hanged.

“Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, and their wives, have been arrested and were transferred to the Heshmatiyeh prison of Tehran,” Mousavi’s website Kaleme.com reported.

However, the online edition of state-run newspaper Iran reported that Tehran was calm, with work going on as usual.

Kaleme.com and Sahamnews.org, the websites of opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, reported clashes between protesters and security forces near Tehran University and in other parts of the capital, including Azadi (Freedom) Square.

The flyabout by Russia’s Soyuz capsule would have provided new camera angles on the ISS as well as an unusual group photo of all the five participating nations’ vehicles and equipment together for the first time.

Japan’s HTV craft, the European ATV supply ship, Russia’s Soyuz and Progress space capsules and the American space shuttle Discovery are all docked at the ISS, and Canada’s Dextre robot is up and running there, too.

“How much longer?” asked veteran astronaut Steve Bowen after the Robotic Work Station in the ISS’s Cupola, the central command post for robotic operations, shut down two hours into the walk.

Robotic arm operators Scott Kelly and Mike Barratt hustled to another work station in the Destiny Lab and were able to continue their spacewalk support without rebooting the failed system, NASA said.

About 700,000 visitors are expected when the show opens between March 3 to 13.

The world’s number one car maker Toyota, which has championed cleaner hybrid electric and petrol powered vehicles, signalled further expansion of its range by unveiling a hybrid version of its new Yaris supermini in Geneva.

At a ceremony in Warsaw the president of European football’s governing body, Michel Platini, presented Pawel Michalczak, a 34-year-old forester who lives near the Polish capital, with his prize of a ticket for Poland’s three first-round matches.

“Of course I can’t guarantee you’ll get to see them in the second round too,” Frenchman Platini joked, speaking in Italian as his former Juventus team-mate and ex-Poland icon Zbigniew Boniek translated.

The British couturier had already been suspended by the historic firm last week after he was arrested and questioned by French police over allegations that he had subjected a couple to a drunken, anti-semitic tirade.

On Tuesday, after the British daily The Sun released a video of an earlier incident in the same Paris cafe, footage in which he launched a similar rant, the firm announced that he was to be dismissed.

Portugal’s Fatima Lopes, Indonesia’s Harry Halim and South Korea’s Moon Young Hee were first out of the blocks for the nine days of shows, with Moon’s hanbok-inspired soft-goth designs the most impressive of the three.

The soundtrack at Moon was Anika’s cover of the Kinks’ lullaby “I Go to Sleep,” but the models looked comfortably like so many Avril Lavignes in soft, fluid fabrics cut in draped and pinched silhouettes.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon accused Belarus of breaking the embargo by sending three attack helicopters and other equipment to Gbagbo, who refuses to hand over power to internationally-recognized president Alassane Ouattara. Belarus denied the charges.

Tensions were further heightened when Gbagbo supporters briefly kidnapped two Ukrainian UN workers, the UN said.

Zu Guttenberg “is someone of outstanding political ability, with a unique and extraordinary ability to reach people’s hearts and get them interested in politics,” Merkel told reporters in Berlin.

“I am convinced that he will have the strength needed to clear up issues to do with his dissertation … I am convinced that we will have the opportunity to work together again in the future, in whatever form that may take.”

The 27-year-old, who took four wickets in four balls against South Africa in the 2007 edition, finished with a career best 6-38 as Kenya were bowled out for 142, struggling under a barrage of trademark Malinga toe-crushers.

Opener Upal Tharanga then hit an unbeaten 67 as Sri Lanka raced to a nine-wicket win with more than 31 overs to spare.

The European Union’s executive arm, which last November had forecast 2011 growth of 1.5 percent, said the improved outlook was supported by “better prospects for the global economy and upbeat EU business sentiment.”

But the recovery is expected to remain uneven among the 17 nations that share the euro, with the export-driven German economy leading the pack while debt-stricken southern countries lag behind as they slash spending.

But Gaddafi remained defiant, dispatching forces to a western border area amid fears that the most violent Arab revolt may grow bloodier and spark a humanitarian crisis.

His son, Saif al-Islam, warned the West against launching any military action to topple Gaddafi, and said the veteran ruler would not step down or go into exile.

Bernanke told the Senate Banking Committee he saw increasing evidence that the economic recovery has enough momentum to become self-supporting. But job growth remains far too anemic, he said, indicating the Fed was unlikely to cut short its $600 billion bond-buying stimulus.

“We do see some grounds for optimism about the job market over the next few quarters,” Bernanke said, citing a steep recent decline in the jobless rate among other factors.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Rajat Gupta tipped Rajaratnam by phone just minutes before the public learned of the investment by Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc, which helped ensure Goldman’s stability at the height of the global financial crisis.

Gupta, a longtime executive at the consultant McKinsey & Co, was also accused of illegally tipping Rajaratnam about quarterly earnings at Goldman and Procter & Gamble Co, where he was a director before resigning on Tuesday.

Subsidiaries of WellPoint Inc, Hewlett Packard Co’s EDS Corp., now called HP Enterprise Services, and other companies have “numerous relationships” that raise concern, the lawmakers’ staff wrote in memo released on Tuesday.

Congressional staffers said they looked at those and several other Medicare contractors that the government has hired to monitor the bills that doctors and other healthcare providers send the government after treating Medicare patients.

Blackstone, making its first major entry into U.S. retail real estate, was expected to recapitalize the portfolio of mainly neighborhood shopping centers before seeking a return on the investment in 3-5 years, Centro executives said on Tuesday.

Blackstone beat rival bidders including Morgan Stanley Real Estate which had teamed up with Starwood Capital Group as well as New York-based NRDC, a source familiar with the transaction told Reuters on Monday.

Wisconsin Democrats meanwhile drew fresh support from President Barack Obama and a big union filed a legal complaint against the governor, as a poll suggested he would lose to his Democratic opponent if the 2010 election were held now.

Walker stepped up the pressure on 14 Senate Democrats who fled the state to avoid a vote on his bill. On Tuesday he will unveil a two-year state budget he said cuts $1 billion from funding to local governments and schools.

More than 70 chief executives met in New York on Monday, International Corporate Philanthropy Day, for a Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy conference, where one of the key topics discussed was creating shared value.

As the U.S. economy slowly recovers from the worst economic downturn in decades, corporate philanthropy is no longer just about writing a check for charity as executives look to use their core business to do social good.

The rebels have been fighting to consolidate their gains as the international community weighs new moves to isolate the longtime Libyan leader, including the possibility of creating a no-fly zone over Libya.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned that Libya is at risk of collapsing into a “protracted civil war” amid increasingly violent clashes between the two sides.

The recent return of skirmishes in the heart of Tehran – absent for more than a year after relentless crackdowns – borrow some raw inspiration from uprisings in the neighboring Arab world. But it also reflects a possible miscalculation by authorities who sought to silence opposition leaders but instead gave their supporters a new rallying point.

Reports by family members and opposition websites claim the two most prominent anti-government figures, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi, have been moved from house arrest to full-time detention along with their wives. Iranian authorities deny the reports, but the two opposition leaders have not been seen in public or posted statements on their websites in more than a week.

Hundreds of thousands rallied in cities across Yemen in the largest anti-government protests of the past month, including a gathering addressed by an influential firebrand cleric whom the U.S. has linked to al-Qaida. “Go on until you achieve your demands,” Sheik Abdul-Majid al-Zindani told tens of thousands of demonstrators in the capital of Sanaa.

Some warned that the current political turmoil and possible collapse of President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s regime could give a further opening to Yemen’s offshoot of the global terror network, known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. The Yemen branch, believed to have been involved in the attempted 2009 bombing of an American airliner, is seen as particularly active and threatening to the U.S.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the civil charges against Rajat Gupta on Tuesday. The SEC said Gupta told Raj Rajaratnam, founder of the Galleon Group hedge fund, that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway planned to invest $5 billion in Goldman before it was publicly announced at the height of the financial crisis.

Gupta also is charged with giving Rajaratnam confidential earnings information from Goldman and Procter & Gamble. Gupta served on Goldman’s board from 2006 until last May. He was a P&G board member from 2007 until resigning Tuesday, after the charges were announced.

Walker said the cuts could be paid for in large part by forcing government employees to pay more for their pension and health care benefits. But his proposal to do that – and to eliminate most collective bargaining – remains in limbo after Senate Democrats fled the state to prevent a vote.

“This is a reform budget,” Walker said in prepared remarks. “It is about getting Wisconsin working again, and to make that happen, we need a balanced budget that works – and an environment where the private sector can create 250,000 jobs over the next four years.”

The measure was approved by a bipartisan 335-91 vote that came shortly after Democrats in the Senate said they would go along. The White House had sought a four-week or longer stopgap bill but that effort fizzled shortly after it began.

The measure the House passed buys time for more difficult talks on a longer-term measure. House Republicans last month approved a measure to cut $61 billion from agency operating budgets over the second half of the fiscal year that expires Sept. 30. That bill is strongly opposed by Democrats, and the White House promises a veto.

Such public-private partnerships are becoming more attractive as cash-strapped governments search for ways to overhaul aging roads and bridges. But they are also fueling a debate over the role of government in providing roads, bridges and other major transportation projects.

Proponents say the deals can help take the place of the nation’s dwindling highway trust fund. Skeptics insist they drive up costs, and that deals allowing companies to charge tolls are chipping away at the American tradition of free roads built by and for the people.

If he’s wrong, as some lawmakers suggested to him, the risks are high: a weaker economy and elevated consumer inflation.

Bernanke’s credibility is at stake, too. His duties as Fed chief require a balancing act: Leading the economy to stronger growth while making sure inflation doesn’t rise too high.

The new restrictions put the popular leisure spots on a par with Tibet as out-of-bounds areas where foreign reporters need special permission to work and come after journalists were attacked and harassed while working in the same areas over the weekend.

Bob Dietz, the Asia coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said the treatment of journalists in Beijing on Sunday was “the worst aggression against the foreign press we’ve seen since the Olympics in 2008.”

Atlanta Falcons president Rich McKay, chairman of the league’s competition committee, and Washington Redskins general manager Bruce Allen also were among those joining NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell when mediation resumed Tuesday at 1 p.m., 59 hours before the current collective bargaining agreement was due to expire.

“I don’t think you could have a greater sense of urgency,” said Jeff Pash, the league’s lead labor negotiator. “We all know what the calendar is, and we all know what’s at stake for everybody. And that’s why we’re here. We’re going to be here as long as it takes and work as hard as we can work to get something done.”

The ruling ordered changes effective Dec. 21, 2012, to auto insurance, life insurance, medical coverage and other plans, potentially affecting tens of millions of customers across the continent. For example, many women driver would see their car insurance costs rise even though they are considered safer on the road.

EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said it was “now clear that an insurance company must not distinguish between women and men; all customers must be treated equally.”

During a speech in Jackson Hole, Wyo., on Aug. 27, Bernanke outlined an effort to spur economic growth, prevent prices from falling and push markets higher through the purchase of government bonds. Since then stocks have soared, the unemployment rate has dropped and Americans have started to spend more.

“It’s been a success,” says Bill Gross, who manages the world’s largest mutual fund at Pimco. Gross had skewered Bernanke’s attempt to boost the economy, comparing it to a Ponzi scheme. “It’s hard to dispute that since Jackson Hole the market is up around 25 percent.”

The twice-divorced former U.S. House speaker has admitted an affair with a former congressional aide who is now his third wife. His career in Congress is remembered as much for his dramatic fall – the federal government shutdown, his censure and the loss of Republican seats in the House – as his rise. His polarizing style sometimes leaves would-be voters cold.

“I don’t think it will be Newt’s moral issues that will keep him from winning the presidency,” said Tom Perdue, a Georgia-based GOP political strategist. “When he had a chance to govern, he proved that he couldn’t.”

House Republicans, seeing the heavy hand of a too-big government, beg to differ. They’ve already voted to cut the IRS budget by $600 million this year and want bigger cuts in 2012.

The IRS has dramatically increased its pursuit of tax cheats in the past decade: Audits are up, property liens are up and asset seizures are way up. President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress see stepped up enforcement as a good way to narrow the nation’s staggering budget deficit without raising tax rates or cutting popular spending programs.

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, D-Mo., chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, criticized the hearing’s premise in a statement. Several other Democratic lawmakers echoed that argument, saying Republicans were ignoring their lack of support for job training, affirmative action, college financial aid and other programs more critical to employment of minorities.

“I am concerned by the majority’s attempt to manufacture tension between African-Americans and immigrant communities. It seems as though they would like for our communities to think about immigration in terms of ‘us versus them,’ and I reject that notion,” Cleaver said in his statement.

The positive reaction came as Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told the committee that the Obama administration wants Congress to approve legislation within two years that would slowly dismantle Fannie and Freddie. Failing to do so would worry the financial markets by leaving serious problems unresolved, he said.

“Our hope is Congress will work with us to find a consensus for a long-term solution,” Geithner told the lawmakers.

The latest delay in the on-again, off-again case of 83-year-old Luis Posada Carriles follows Monday’s suspension due to a family tragedy for one of the defense lawyers. Proceedings have now ground to a halt five times since they began Jan. 10. The first three suspensions came when U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone ordered breaks to consider defense motions for mistrial, and after snow shut down most of El Paso.

A Cardone aide said he wasn’t sure if the trial would resume Wednesday.

Years of listings, open houses and showings without offers are weighing on many homeowners this year as the nation’s housing market continues to struggle from the Great Recession’s prolonged housing slump, credit crunch and high unemployment.

“I would like to move on,” said Jim Oliver, who’s been trying to sell since 2007. “It’s frustrating.”

A state legislator in Maine whipped up passions when he introduced a bill in January to make the whoopie pie Maine’s official state dessert. Like a group of chefs tweaking a recipe, a legislative committee has since dropped “dessert” in favor of making the snack Maine’s official “treat.”

No matter – residents in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County say that’s just baloney. Those round mounds of cakey goodness originated from kitchens of the area’s Amish families, dating back generations, they say.

“It’s a little snug,” the 38-year-old teacher’s assistant joked before entering a party affectionately known as the “Mom Prom” in suburban Detroit. “I just zipped it up, and it fits!”

Now in its sixth year, the ladies-only gathering encourages women to dive into their closets and pull out prom, bridesmaid and even wedding dresses – that are decades old in some cases – for a night of dancing, drinking and reminiscing while raising money for worthy causes. The event has brought in thousands of dollars for cancer research and charitable groups, and is inspiring similar events in other states.

Susan Wheeler Sisk is ready with a resounding carpe diem! She enrolled in Latin I online with her 18-year-old senior to get him over the hump.

“This is a brand new subject for me,” said the former preschool teacher in Estes Park, Colo. “It’s online, so there’s no teacher. He said he didn’t want a tutor, but he just needed to get his arms around the subject in a way that seemed like a tutor wouldn’t offer anyway.”