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The Libyan government said Tuesday it was ready to negotiate reforms, but refused any talk of Muammar Gaddafi stepping down,nike running shoes online according to Al-Arabiya TV.

"What kind of political system is implemented in the country? This is negotiable, we can talk about it," said Information Minister Moussa Ibrahim.

"We can have anything, elections, referendums," he said, adding that "Gaddafi's future was non-negotiable," he stressed.

"We think he (Gaddafi) is very important to lead any transition to a democratic and transparent model," Ibrahim said.

Ibrahim also brushed aside allegations that Gaddafi's forces were committing atrocities on civilians.

"We are fighting armed militia and you are not civilian if you take up arms against the state," he said.

Fierce fighting continued in Libya and opposition fighters launched a new attempt to recapture the oil refinery town of Brega.buy Reebok ZigTechA coalition strike destroyed at least two military vehicles of Gaddafi in Brega, helping rebels surge toward the town.

The town has a great significant as it along with the eastern town of Ras Lanuf make up the lion's share of Libya's 1.5 million barrels of daily exports, which have been radically affected by the uprising that began on Feb. 15.

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Algeria calls for immediate cease-fire in Libya

ALGIERS, April 5 (Xinhua) -- The Algerian minister for Maghreb and Africa affairs, Abdelkader Messahel, on Tuesday called for an immediate cease-fire in conflict-torn Libya, where rebels were at a tug-of-war with forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Messahel made the appeal at a press conference following a meeting with visiting British Minister for Middle East and North Africa Affairs Alistair Burt.   

Italian FM, AU chief meet over Libya, Cote d'Ivoire

ROME, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Italian Foreign Buy nike cheap mens acg sandalsMinister Franco Frattini Tuesday met with African Union (AU) Commission Chairperson Jean Ping to discuss the situation in Libya and Cote d'Ivoire.

Frattini and Jean Ping both agreed on an urgent need to end the violence in Libya through an "effective and verifiable cease-fire, " according to a statement issued by the Italian Foreign Ministry.   

Thousands of Syrians flooded the streets of several major cities Friday for a new round of antigovernment protests, defying security forces who used gunfire and tear gas to disperse them.

Four people were shot dead in Duma, a suburb of the capital, Damascus, when police fired on about 2,000 people gathered in a major square chanting "Freedom," according to a witness who withheld his name out of concern for his safety.

Activists had dubbed Friday the "Day of Martyrs" to commemorate the more than 70 people who have been killed during the unrest of recent weeks. They used Facebook, Twitter and other online social media to mobilize mass demonstrations.

The protesters, who are seeking economic relief and the end of nearly five decades of martial law, gathered in Damascus, the seaside cities of Latakia and Banias, and the southern city of Dara.

But President Bashar Assad, who heads one of the region's most repressive regimes, redoubled efforts to suffocate the dissent, which has persisted since his forces first fired on protesters March 18 in Dara.Buy nike cheap mens acg sandals black

In Damascus, the largest gathering was at the Rifai Mosque, where thousands of demonstrators were barricaded inside and tear-gassed by police. Leaders of the mosque reached a deal to allow everyone to go home peacefully, but police fired more tear gas as people left, witnesses said.

Elsewhere in the capital, the streets were unusually quiet and portraits of a stern-faced Assad in military fatigues and aviator glasses hung on walls and archways alongside the usual ones of him in civilian clothes.

At the square outside the historic Umayyad Mosque — site of a large antigovernment demonstration last week — more than 1,000 pro-government demonstrators chanted "God, Syria, Bashar" in front of news cameras.

"All the people would like to see some things change, but not the big things, like what the protesters want," said a 25-year-old onlooker.

On the road to Dara, security forces set up checkpoints and required travelers to sign papers pledging they would not participate in protests.

Nevertheless, thousands gathered in the restive city, chanting, "Freedom." Government forces fired warning shots, but were less aggressive than in recent days and no one was killed, witnesses said.

Dara, the epicenter of the protests, has been hit particularly hard, with a rise in commodity prices and economic suffering in a country where a third of the population earns less than $2 a day.

A focal point of the unrest in Dara has been the arrest of teenagers who spray-painted antigovernment graffiti.nike mens sandals st

In his first public appearance since the demonstrations began, Assad went on state television Wednesday to lay out a gradual path to reform, but he declined to say when he would lift the 48-year-old emergency law that has been used to stifle opposition and justify detentions without trial.

US lawmakers urged President Barack Obama to press Palestinians to resume peace talks with Israel Buy nike running shoes online,without preconditions and battle "incitement" to violence against the Jewish state.

"We respectfully request that you do everything possible to urge president (Mahmud) Abbas to root out terrorism, return to negotiations without preconditions, earnestly work toward peace with Israel and slam the door on any effort to deal with final status issues at the United Nations," they wrote on Thursday .

"As part of that, president Abbas must fully renounce any and all Palestinian incitement against Israel and the Jewish people," said the 46 members of the House of Representatives.Buy cheap nike mens acg sandals

Democratic Representative Steve Rothman and Republican Representative Steve Austria led the group, which warned that the current state of Middle East peace efforts is "dangerous and unacceptable."

The lawmakers noted past appeals to Abbas to do more to crack down on "incitement" to violence against Israel and Jews, but added: "clearly, there needs to be further pressure" and charged Palestinian institutions were complicit.

The group cited the grisly slayings of a family of five Israelis, including three children under 12, at the Itamar settlement in the West Bank near the northern city of Nablus.

Abbas has denounced the early March attack as "abominable, inhuman and immoral."Buy nike running shoes online, Brand shoes to trade, 2011 nike running shoes Buy

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blamed Palestinian incitement for creating an atmosphere that led to the killings -- widely believed to have been carried out by Palestinians. Abbas has flatly rejected the charge.

Forces backing Ivory Coast's recognised president Alassane Ouattara seized the capital Yamoussoukro on Wednesday, while the UN Security Council slapped sanctions on strongman Laurent Gbagbo.<a href="http://www.brandshoes2trade.com/" title="nike running shoes">nike running  shoes</a> online

Residents of Yamoussoukro, the country's small political capital, reported scenes of jubilation in the streets, as Ouattara's Republican Forces took control of the city on the third day of an all-out offensive.

"Yamoussoukro is under the control of the Republican Forces, a jubilant crowd is cheering them, they are parading through town," one resident said.

Ouattara's forces were also pushing closer to San Pedro, the world's largest cocoa exporting port.

Meanwhile in New York, the UN Security Council on Wednesday unanimously ordered sanctions against Gbagbo over his refusal to hand over power.

Resolution 1975 made the first explicit call by the 15-nation Security Council for Gbagbo to stand down in favour of Ouattara, who the United Nations and virtually all countries say won a presidential election last November.

A travel ban and assets freeze were ordered against Gbagbo, his wife Simone, and three of his closest associates.

The European Union and United States have already imposed sanctions against Gbagbo and his leadership.

Gbagbo was expected to address the nation Wednesday night amid mounting pressure as Ouattara's forces move towards the economic capital, the coastal city of Abidjan.Find <a href="http://www.brandshoes2trade.com/"  title="brand shoes">brand shoes</a> to

Gbagbo has called for a ceasefire, but Ouattara's camp dismissed this as a "diversion".

"It is up to Gbagbo to lay down arms," Ouattara's spokeswoman Anna Ouloto told AFP.

Election-linked violence has left at least 460 people dead with as many as one million fleeing their homes, according to UN agencies.

Weary of failed diplomatic efforts four months after the vote, Ouattara's camp has declared all peaceful solutions "exhausted."

"Gbagbo has only a few hours to leave, otherwise we will march on Abidjan," the country's economic hub, Ouattara's prime minister Guillaume Soro told the France24 news channel.

"It will become a lot more complicated for him," he warned.

In Abidjan, shooting could be heard in several northern suburbs. Panicked citizens rushed to their homes, AFP correspondents reported.

 

The pro-Ouattara fighters, after seizing the town of Tiebissou earlier in the day, pushed south to Yamoussoukro, home to 150,000 people.

"Everything is okay, the station, the gendarmerie are occupied by the Republican Forces. We no longer see the FDS," a resident said, referring to Gbagbo's Defence and Security Forces.

"We see the Republican Forces circulating in 4X4's across town," a resident told AFP by phone.

Several witnesses said the fighters had left only a small detachment in Yamoussoukro before continuing south towards the coast.

A resident of Toumodi, 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of the capital, reported shooting in the town. Toumodi lies 200 kilometres from Abidjan. <a href="http://www.brandshoes2trade.com/" title="2011 nike running shoes online">2011 nike running shoes</a> online

In the past three days Ouattara's fighters have rapidly moved south of a traditional ceasefire line that has split the country in two since 2002.

A failed coup against Gbagbo nine years ago left pro-Ouattara rebels in control of the north and the strongman holding the south.

Also Wednesday, two French police assigned to the French embassy were wounded when pro-Gbagbo forces fired on their car, a foreign ministry spokesman said in Paris, condemning the incident as "unacceptable."

Ally Coulibaly, Ivory Coast's ambassador to France appointed by Ouattara, said his camp controlled "three quarters" of the country.

In Abidjan, thousands of fervent Gbagbo supporters who had been urged to enlist in the army if they were "willing to die for their country" were called up on Wednesday.

Insurgents mounted a deadly siege on a provincial government building in northern Iraq, the latestBuy nike cheap mens acg sandals  in a series of incidents that have raised questions about the ability of Iraqi security forces to defend government facilities ahead of the withdrawal of U.S. troops at the end of the year.

The attack in Tikrit Tuesday, which lasted more than five hours, killed at least 55 people and wounded at least 96 others, including top police officials, three provincial council members and three journalists.

The attack on the provincial government building was carried out by an unknown number of men dressed in Iraqi army and police uniforms, an Interior Ministry official said.

They fired mortars before overcoming the security detail and entering the building. Top provincial police officials were killed, and a number of others were taken hostage by the attackers, the official said.

A car bomb near the entrance was detonated as other security forces arrived.

Nearby U.S. forces responded to the initial incident but didn't get directly involved, according to Col. Barry Johnson, a U.S. military spokesman.

"Our assistance has been limited to providing aerial surveillance of the scene and keeping our soldiers on site to receive further requests for assistance if needed," Col. Johnson said.cheap nike mens acg sandals 2011

The siege ended when Iraqi forces entered the building, supported by U.S. helicopters, and killed all of the insurgents, the Interior Ministry official said.

The northern provinces of Salahadin, Diyala and Ninewa continue to be a place of frequent attacks by insurgents, including those linked to al Qaeda in Iraq.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the siege in Tikrit, the hometown of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

It follows months of high-profile and coordinated attacks throughout the country that have included killings and assassination attempts on government officials, politicians and security forces.

U.S. forces are due to withdraw from Iraq at the end of 2011, posing a further challenge to Iraqi security.

Al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for a siege on a church in Baghdad in October and an attack on a police recruiting center in Tikrit in January, which killed more than 50 people. Iraqi police also blame al Qaeda for the Feb. 26 bombing of the Beiji oil refinery and a separate attack on an export pipeline, both located in Salahadin province.

While violence has decreased in Iraq since the high point in 2007, when the daily death toll often reached into the hundreds, Iraq still faces huge challenges. off, Find brand shoes to trade

More than a year after national elections, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki retains the interior, defense and national security portfolios, having yet to appoint ministers to those positions.

Political factions managed to put together a fragile coalition government, but it remains subject to sectarian and ethnic in-fighting.

Iraqis still complain of a lack of basic services, and checkpoints and concrete blast walls are pervasive in a country still incapable of fully beating back insurgent groups and armed militias.

The Saudi king Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz expressed on Monday his kingdom's support to Syria in the face Buy nike running shoes onlineof conspiracies targeting its security and stability, Syrian official SANA news agency reported.

King Abdullah expressed his stance via a phone call with the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in which the Saudi king stressed his country's standing along with Syria to "foil the plot".

Syria has been in unrest for more than a week due to anti- government demonstrations broke up in the southern province of Daraa. The protest has spread to several other Syrian cities, leading to dozens of protesters and policemen killed.

The ruling Baath party of Syria, which ruled the country for decades, has announced a package of reforms, including the increase of salary and release of political detainees. fashion 2011 nike running shoes

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DAMASCUS, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Syrian presidential advisor Buthaina Shaaban said here on Sunday that the country's 48-year-long emergency law terminates, the local Syrian News Station website reported.

The decision came in the wake of nationwide protests that erupted during the last few days and resulted in some 50 people killed, according to Syrian official reports.  

DAMASCUS, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Syrian authorities released on Saturday about 260 political detainees, in another endeavor by the Syrian Reebok EasyTone government to control recent turmoil erupted in the southern province of Daraa, media sources reported.

The reports said that most of the detainees were Islamists and Kurds, which were not confirmed by the government.