Evening Edition

In a hospital of Misrata, where at least 12 were reported killed in fresh fighting, two captured pro-Kadhafi soldiers told AFP that loyalist forces were losing their grip in the battle for the western port.

“Many soldiers want to surrender but they are afraid of being executed” by the rebels, said Lili Mohammed, a Mauritanian hired by Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi’s regime to fight insurgents in the country’s third city.

“In the current conflict in Libya, may diplomacy and dialogue take the place of arms,” the pope said in his traditional Easter message.

Addressing tens of thousands of pilgrims gathered in a sun-drenched St Peter’s Square and millions watching on television worldwide, the pope added: “In the countries of northern Africa and the Middle East, may all citizens, especially young people, work to promote the common good.”

NATO planes staged raids on civil and military sites in the Libyan capital Tripoli and other cities Saturday, JANA news agency said, without confirming the number of people killed and wounded.

“A military source said civil and military sites were targeted by the colonialist aggressor,” it said, specifying that the strikes had also covered Al-Khums, Gharian, El Assa and Sirte, the birthplace of strongman Moamer Kadhafi.

Despite a relative lull, the four people were shot dead and several others wounded in the Mediterranean town of Jableh, near the port city of Latakia, a human rights activist said.

He said the latest violence broke out after a visit to the town by a new regional governor who met local dignitaries in a mosque.

The United States urged a peaceful transition after Saleh’s ruling General People’s Congress (GPC) party said late Saturday it accepted a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) plan under which he would quit following months of protests.

However, Saleh himself said any change of regime can only be through “ballot boxes and referendums,” and said he could not give into a “coup.”

Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa had previously confirmed his attendance, fuelling criticism of the couple for inviting royals from Bahrain and other countries where protests have been crushed in recent weeks.

He said he had delayed sending his regrets, hoping for the situation in Bahrain to improve before the wedding in London’s Westminster Abbey on April 29, which will be attended by royals from around 40 countries.

Rights groups criticised Prince William and Kate Middleton for inviting foreign royals from Bahrain, Swaziland and other nations where authorities have violently suppressed pro-democracy protests in recent weeks.

Newspapers pointed out that Labour ex-premiers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were snubbed on the list, which was released on Saturday, while former Conservative leaders Margaret Thatcher and John Major were invited.

Thousands of civilians have fled both sides of the disputed jungle frontier because of the fighting, which has shattered a tense two-month lull in hostilities.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for a ceasefire and said the neighbours should launch “serious dialogue” to resolve the dispute, according to a spokesman.

In the two years since Obama took office, the US economy has improved dramatically. Growth has swung from -4.9 percent to plus 3.1 and firms are no longer bleeding jobs.

But the 44th president lacks a clear-cut economic victory that would propel him toward reelection and delay the arrival of number 45 for four more years.

The fighting raged for about three hours on Saturday in Jonglei state between the southern Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and gunmen led by former militia leader Gabriel Tang, also known as Tang-Ginye.

“The shooting started in a place called Kaldak on Saturday morning, and there was heavy fighting,” said Peter Lam Both, information minister for Upper Nile state, speaking from the state capital Malakal.

“The situation is very dangerous,” rebel spokesman Abdelsalam said by telephone from Misrata. “Gaddafi’s brigades started random bombardment in the early hours of this morning. The bombardment is still going on.”

Captured government troops said on Saturday they had been ordered to retreat from Misrata — the only major rebel-held city in western Libya — after a siege of nearly two months, and rebels fighting to overthrow Gaddafi had claimed victory.

“Long live Syria. Down with Bashar!” mourners chanted, their calls audible in a telephone call during the funeral in Nawa, 25 km (15 miles) north of the city of Deraa where demonstrations against Assad’s authoritarian rule first erupted last month.

“Leave, leave. The people want the overthrow of the regime.”

Security forces and gunmen loyal to Assad have killed at least 112 people over the last two days. They fired at protesters demanding political freedoms and an end to corruption on Friday and on mass funerals for victims a day later.

The attacks were the bloodiest, and the demonstrations the biggest, since protests erupted in the southern city of Deraa near the border with Jordan over five weeks ago.

Saleh has ruled the impoverished Arabian Peninsula state for nearly 33 years and has agreed to a Gulf Arab initiative that would lead to him standing down within a month of an agreement being signed with the opposition.

No announcement has been made as to when and how an agreement would be formalized. The main opposition coalition has welcomed the plan. It says it is still negotiating with Gulf and U.S. mediators over its role in a transition government.

Desperate to avoid the turmoil that toppled leaders in Tunisia and Egypt, authorities have already announced some changes to placate demands that King Mohammed cede more powers and limit the monarchy’s extensive business influence.

Some 10,000 people joined the protest in Casablanca, the largest city in one of the West’s staunchest Arab allies. Marchers in the capital Rabat also denounced corruption and torture as well as unemployment, very high among youths.

But the prosecutor stopped short of demanding an immediate transfer, saying it would take at least a month to prepare the prison’s medical equipment.

Mubarak took refuge in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh after a popular uprising ended his 30-year rule. He is accused of abusing power, embezzling funds and being responsible for the deaths of some protesters, accusations he says are “lies.”

Their challenge is to create a united force out of what was largely an Internet-based, youth-led campaign that appealed to national pride over religion to bring hundreds of thousands of people into the streets in February and end President Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule.

They face tough opponents. The Muslim Brotherhood, for one.

The visit, part of a regular series of meetings between Italian and French leaders, follows deep differences over the issue between Paris and Rome, which have also been at odds over French takeover bids for Italian companies and policy in Libya.

A standoff at the northern Italian border town of Ventimiglia, where French gendarmes have sent back Tunisian migrants trying to cross the frontier has been the visible symbol of growing acrimony between the two countries.

The fighting near two disputed 12th-century Hindu temples killed at least 10 people on Friday and Saturday, and follows a four-day confrontation in February that claimed 11 lives, making this year’s standoff the bloodiest in nearly two decades and raising questions over what’s behind it.

Cambodia’s Defense Ministry accused Thailand of shelling civilian villages, a day after saying Thai soldiers fired cluster munitions – anti-personnel weapons banned by many countries – along with shells “loaded with poisonous gas.”

Despite the barrage, which doctors say killed 32 and wounded dozens in two days, rebels said they drove the last pro-government forces from the center of Libya’s third-largest city. Morale among Gadhafi’s troops fighting in Misrata has collapsed, with some abandoning their posts, said one captured Libyan soldier.

The battle for Misrata, which has claimed hundreds of lives in the past two months, has become the focal point of Libya’s armed rebellion against Gadhafi since fighting elsewhere is deadlocked.

He also called on Europeans to welcome refugees from North Africa.

“In heaven, all is peace and gladness. But, alas, all is not so on earth!” the pope lamented as he delivered the traditional “Urbi et Orbi” message from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to a crowd of more than 100,000 that overflowed from St. Peter’s Square.

The strategy, described by a rights activist, appeared aimed at rattling the opposition’s leadership and showing that the state’s ability to conduct arrest sweeps has not changed despite abolishing nearly 50-year-old emergency laws last week.

The rising level of violence – more than 120 people dead since Friday – brought calls from the watchdog group Human Rights Watch for a U.N. inquiry. But Sunday’s tactics also suggest a government effort to head off the round of protest marches.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has ruled for 32 years, agreed Saturday to the Gulf Cooperation Council’s formula for him to transfer power to his vice president within 30 days of a deal being signed in exchange for immunity from prosecution for him and his sons.

A coalition of seven opposition parties generally accepted the deal. But thousands stood their ground Sunday in a permanent protest camp in part of the capital, Sanaa, and their leaders said they suspect Saleh is just maneuvering to buy time and cling to power. The protesters say the established opposition political parties taking part in the talks with Arab mediators do not represent them and cannot turn off the rage on the streets.

Brig. Malaak Ayuen, the head of the Southern Sudan’s Army Information Department, said fighting on Saturday between a group of rebels led by Maj. Gen. Gabriel Tanginye in Jonglei state and southern government forces led to 57 people being killed and scores being injured.

Ayuen said that five days of fighting between government forces and those loyal to another rebel chief, Peter Gatdet, in Unity state which is northwest of Jonglei, led to the deaths of 48 people. He did not give a breakdown of the number of civilians, rebels and the army killed in both incidents.

The spring nesting and spawning season is a crucial time to get out and sample the reproduction rates, behavior and abundance of species, all factors that could be altered by last year’s massive spill. Yet no money has been made available for this year, and it could take months to determine which projects will be funded.

“It’s like a murder scene,” said Dana Wetzel, an ecotoxicologist at the Mote Marine Laboratory in Florida. “You have to pick up the evidence now.”

That new wireless router. He’d gotten fed up trying to set a password. Someone must have used his Internet connection, he thought.

“We know who you are! You downloaded thousands of images at 11:30 last night,” the man’s lawyer, Barry Covert, recounted the agents saying. They referred to a screen name, “Doldrum.”

Yet that is what is expected to happen Friday, provided doctors approve her travel.

The Kelly-Giffords ordeal has been a national drama since Jan. 8, when the congresswoman was shot in the head at a meet-and-greet in her hometown of Tucson, Ariz.

Republican presidential hopefuls are in the midst of a fundraising frenzy as they seek to raise mounds of campaign cash and assemble influential donor networks. With the 2012 campaign starting several months later than it did four years ago, the contenders are under intense pressure to demonstrate their ability to bring in the dough before the slower summer season begins.

“Money is hardly the only indication of a candidate’s potential, but it’s an important indication,” said Lew Eisenberg, a top Romney fundraiser who was finance chairman for Arizona Sen. John McCain, the party’s 2008 nominee.

He came back home with nothing to show for his determination to document the crisis – the radiation was so high that all his shots turned out black.

But Kostin returned, and his work along with that of a handful of other daring photographers was critical to the world’s understanding of a catastrophe that Soviet authorities were reluctant to admit.

Officials from both sides said the clashes over disputed territory lasted about two hours Sunday morning. Cambodian military officials said the shooting resumed in the afternoon for several hours.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon called for a cease-fire, but the prospects for peace appeared shaky, with the two sides disagreeing on what triggered the fighting and differing on how to negotiate the conflicting territorial claims underlying the crisis.

No one seems more aware of the electoral peril than Obama himself.

“My poll numbers go up and down depending on the latest crisis, and right now gas prices are weighing heavily on people,” he told Democratic donors in Los Angeles this past week.

The debate over digital privacy flamed higher this week with news that Apple Inc.’s popular iPhones and iPads store users’ GPS coordinates for a year or more. Phones that run Google Inc.’s Android software also store users’ location data. And not only is the data stored – allowing anyone who can get their hands on the device to piece together a chillingly accurate profile of where you’ve been – but it’s also transmitted back to the companies to use for their own research.

Now, cellphone service providers have had customers’ location data for almost as long as there have been cellphones. That’s how they make sure to route calls and Internet traffic to the right place. Law enforcement analyzes location data on iPhones for criminal evidence – a practice that Alex Levinson, technical lead for firm Katana Forensics, said has helped lead to convictions. And both Apple and Google have said that the location data that they collect from the phones is anonymous and not able to be tied back to specific users.

The government now borrows about 42 cents of every dollar it spends. Imagine that one day soon, the borrowing slams up against the current debt limit ceiling of $14.3 trillion and Congress fails to raise it. The damage would ripple across the entire economy, eventually affecting nearly every American, and rocking global markets in the process.

A default would come if the government actually failed to fulfill a financial obligation, including repaying a loan or interest on that loan. The government borrows mostly by selling bonds to individuals and governments, with a promise to pay back the amount of the bond in a certain time period and agreeing to pay regular interest on that bond in the meantime.

On Tuesday, the state’s new Republican administration called on drillers to stop using riverside treatment plants to get rid of the millions of barrels of ultra-salty, chemically tainted wastewater that gush annually from gas wells.

As drillers have swarmed Pennsylvania’s rich Marcellus Shale gas fields, the industry’s use and handling of water has been a subject of intense scrutiny.

Warned that they were risking possible police citations and arrest, Pete Irving responded defiantly.

“This is as much of a job as I have,” he said. “I’ll take my chances.”

The classroom toilet composts and treats waste on site rather than flushing it into city sewer pipes. Water washed down sinks doesn’t flow into storm drains but recirculates to a 14-foot high wall filled with plants, which will eventually soak it all up. For now, excess flows through the wall.

Plenty of “green” buildings strive to generate as much energy as they use, but Bertschi School’s new science building is one of dozens nationwide taking it a step further. They’re attempting to unplug from the municipal water and sewer system to collect, recycle and reuse water and wastewater on site, a concept often referred to as net zero water.

Now that Republicans are running the House, Democrats have tried to stymie the GOP agenda by relying on the tactic, known as the motion to recommit. But they’ve failed on every one of their 23 attempts this year.

That motion is almost always the last step just before the final vote on a bill. It gives the minority party, which has little voice and few rights in the House, a last chance to amend a bill, or in a more traditional sense, return it to the committee level for further work.

They said they interpreted the U.N. Security Council resolution – authorizing military action to protect Libyan civilians and imposing a no-fly zone – as also allowing moves necessary to drive Gadhafi from power.

“I think it gives justification if NATO decides it wants to, for going directly after Gadhafi,” said Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut. “I can’t think of anything that would protect the civilian population of Libya more than the removal of Moammar Gadhafi.”

When the FAA proposed new limits on airline pilots’ work schedules to prevent fatigue last year, it rejected its own research recommending that pilots be allowed to take naps during the cruise phase of flight – typically most of a flight when the plane is neither climbing nor descending – so that they are refreshed and alert during landings.

And an FAA committee that has been working for several years on new work rules to prevent fatigue among night-shift airline mechanics has made little progress, said one committee member. Allowing naps during breaks on overnight shifts was dismissed as a nonstarter.