Tag: Evening Edition

Leaders of the rebellion against Moamer Kadhafi said the pledges — mainly from Kuwait and Qatar — were “a good start” and outlined plans for a new constitution and elections within eight months if the Libyan strongman quits.

A fund agreed Thursday will initially receive international donations, while the blocked assets — estimated to be worth 60 billion dollars (40 billion euros) in Europe and the United States — will be used to finance it at a later date.

The United States appealed to Kadhafi’s regime to stop attacking the port and to allow international organisations to send in humanitarian aid and evacuate civilians from the rebel-held city.

A rebel spokesman said loyalist shelling killed at least five people in the port, from which the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) said a ship managed to evacuate about 800 people, including stranded migrants and wounded.

However, fighting continued in the Al-Ghiran and Zawiat al-Mahjub areas near the airport, which rebels have been trying to capture from Kadhafi forces based there.

In their eastern stronghold of Benghazi, the rebels warned that they would soon run out of funds unless Western governments make them a $3 billion loan secured on frozen Kadhafi regime assets.

The ultimatum came as activists planned fresh anti-government demonstrations following the deaths of dozens of people in weekend protests.

In a statement, the interior ministry told “citizens who have participated in or committed unlawful acts such as bearing arms, attacking security or spreading lies to surrender by May 15 and hand their weapons in to the competent authorities.”

And the port in the besieged rebel-held city of Misrata was set ablaze in a deadly bombardment by forces loyal to the Libyan strongman, witnesses said.

Libyan government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim told reporters in Tripoli that the house of Kadhafi’s second-youngest son, Seif al-Arab, “was attacked tonight with full power.

At the same time, a rebel spokesman said he feared loyalists were seeking to open a new front in the eastern desert to advance on Ajdabiya, a strategic road junction and gateway to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

In an early-morning speech on state television, the Libyan leader said NATO “must abandon all hope of his departure.

Protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime were held in most major towns, witnesses said, in a repeat of pro-democracy rallies which have become the norm after weekly Muslim prayers.

Security sources shot dead at least 16 people in the protest epicentre of Daraa, rights activists said.

Growth slowed to an annual pace of 1.8 percent in the January-March quarter, compared with a humming 3.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010, the Commerce Department said in its first estimate for the period.

The deceleration in the world’s biggest economy was in line with analyst expectations, some of whom blamed heavy wintry weather for a key part of the figure: a downturn in investment in residential and non-residential buildings.

Chiefs or representatives of 61 tribes from across the North African country called for an end to Kadhafi’s four-decade rule, in a joint statement released by French writer Bernard-Henri Levy.

“Faced with the threats weighing on the unity of our country, faced with the manoeuvres and propaganda of the dictator and his family, we solemnly declare: Nothing will divide us,” said the statement, released on Wednesday in Benghazi.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi agreed on a letter outlining their demands to EU leaders at a summit in Rome following the arrival of thousands of migrants from Tunisia.

“We both believe that in exceptional circumstances there should be variations to the Schengen treaty,” Berlusconi told reporters after the meeting, as Sarkozy said a joint letter had been sent to EU leaders.