Libya witnessed another day of chaos on Wednesday, as a defiant Muammar Gaddafi refused to step down in the face of widespread protests, calling instead for his supporters to “cleanse” the country “house by house”. Calling those who stand against him “rats” and “mercenaries”, he said during a televised address on Tuesday that he would fight to the last, and that he would rather die “a martyr” than quit office. On Wednesday, Franco Frattini, the Italian foreign minister, said that reports of 1000 people being killed in a violent anti-government crackdown on protests that has raged since February 17th were “credible”. Al Jazeera’s Lawrence Lee reports.
Continue reading …Libyans had plenty of reasons to despise Moammar Gadhafi and his clan long before the leader ordered the use of heavy artillery on protesters. State Department cables released by WikiLeaks detail some of the Gadhafis’ abuses of power, which are known to Libyans despite the regime’s control of the media,…
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This is the first time that the changes sweeping the Arab world have hit a major oil producer and there are now fears that the spike in oil prices could hurt the fragile global economy. While Libya only produces two per cent of world oil production, 85 per cent of that is sent to Europe. Al Jazeera’s Nick Spicer reports from Berlin.
Continue reading …John F. Kennedy’s last night alive was captured on film that has been turned over to a museum. The silent home movie sat for years in a drawer in the Houston house of Roy Botello, now 88. He filmed the president, smiling warmly, as he spoke at a Houston hotel…
Continue reading …Watch almost any runway show in the US and Europe, and you’ll find black models in extremely short supply. That’s the dirty secret of fashion, say many critics. “The industry is racist. In Milan black girls never work. In Paris it’s still the same,” British model booker Annie Wilshaw tells…
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Libya’s embattled leader clings to power, with his military unleashing the bloodiest crackdown among the wave of protests sweeping the Arab world. But how long can Muammar Gaddafi survive? And what are the risks if his regime is toppled?
Continue reading …Chinese workers poisoned while working for an Apple supplier say they’ve appealed to the company for help without success. The workers— seriously injured by a toxic chemical used in the manufacture of iPhone screens —complain that the contractor they work for, Wintek, has pressured them to resign and accept cash…
Continue reading …Author Kathryn Stockett’s best-seller The Help borrows a little too heavily from real life and from one life in particular, according to a nanny suing the author. Ablene Cooper says the book’s character “Aibeleen”—who, like her, is a middle-aged black nanny with a gold tooth whose son died from…
Continue reading …The family of the chief lawyer for the Securities and Exchange Commission reaped $1.5 million in dirty money from Bernie Madoff, court documents are revealing. Attorney David Becker has been named in a clawback lawsuit seeking funds to repay dozens of investors ripped off in Madoff’s $65 billion Ponzi…
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As world leaders condemn violence against protesters, what is at stake for Western nations with close ties to Gaddafi?
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