Algeria and Zimbabwe have sent troops to support Libya's Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in his war against the rebels

Algeria and Zimbabwe have sent troops to support Libya's Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in his war against the rebels according to the daily The International Business Times.Pondering the reasons for the survival of the Libyan colonel after the severe sanctions imposed against his regime, including the freezing of his assets and the defection of many of his senior officials, the newspaper writes that several reports have confirmed that "soldiers from Algeria and Zimbabwe are actively fighting "on behalf of Gaddafi".Several media reports focused their coverage on the Libyan rebels and the claims conveyed by the former chief of protocol under Gaddafi that Libya's embattled government has recruited mercenaries from Kenya, Chad, Niger and Mali after losing control of the army, other reports have shown...

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Reporters Without Borders is dismayed by the one-year jail sentence and fine of 100 euros that a Casablanca court passed today on Rachid Nini, the editor of Al-Massae, one of Morocco's leading newspapers

Reporters Without Borders is dismayed by the one-year jail sentence and fine of 100 euros that a Casablanca court passed today on Rachid Nini, the editor of Al-Massae, one of Morocco's leading newspapers, at the end of a trial marked by judicial intransigence, repeated adjournments and a refusal to free him on bail.Held since 28 April, the newspaper editor was tried on charges of disinformation and attacking state institutions, public figures and the "security and integrity of the nation and citizens" under articles 263, 264 and 266 of the criminal code. Nini's lawyer, Khaled Sufiani, said he would appeal. "This is a very bad development for justice and civil liberties in Morocco," he told Reporters Without Borders. "This is a clear warning to journalists, so that they feel threatened when...

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The Syrian ambassador to France, Lamia Shakkour, denied resigning from her post early Wednesday morning and said that she had been the victim of disinformation intended to embarrass Syria.

A woman identifying herself as the Syrian ambassador had announced her resignation by telephone on the French television news channel France 24 on Tuesday evening, citing her disgust at the government’s crackdown against demonstrators in Syria.Syrian state television and Al Arabiya, a cable channel based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, later broadcast their own telephone interviews with women identified as Ms. Shakkour, angrily denying the resignation.She was unavailable for comment Tuesday evening and the Syrian Embassy Web site was taken offline.But Ms. Shakkour appeared on camera early Wednesday on BFM TV, another French news channel, to deny that she had resigned and attacking France 24 for disinformation.Standing in front of a Syrian flag and a portrait of the Syrian president, Bashar...

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Tunisia Postpones Elections for 3 Months

The interim Tunisian government postponed on Wednesday the first election since the ouster in January of the former dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, citing technical problems but also inevitably reshuffling Tunisian political dynamics.The decision, in the nation whose unexpected uprising ignited the revolts sweeping the Arab world, pushes the scheduled vote for a constituent assembly from July 24 to October 23. The deferral is likely to bolster the fortunes of the dozens of new political parties still scrambling to organize, perhaps at the expense of their better established rivals, both liberal and Islamist.For just that reason, the postponement is also reverberating in Cairo, where many liberals want to push back the first election since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak — now scheduled for September...

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Forces loyal to embattled Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi launched a new attack on the rebel-held city of Misrata on Wednesday

, with anti-government forces reporting intense shelling from three sides of the city.Thousands of government troops attacked around 6 a.m. (11 p.m. Tuesday ET), with 13 rebels reported dead by evening. Mohamed Mokhtar, a rebel fighter wounded in Wednesday's fighting, accused government troops of infiltrating rebel lines in cars bearing rebel flags.Dr. Khaled Abu Falgha, a spokesman for Misrata's Hekma hospital, said it was the bloodiest day in a week in the besieged city. More than 1,000 people are believed to have been killed since the fighting began there in February, including 686 registered residents of the city, he said.Rebel fighters returning from the front lines reported that their defenses were holding up under the onslaught, however.Gadhafi: 'We will not give up' NATO making progress...

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murderous brother of President Bashar al-Assad has led thousands of Syrian troops towards a mission to wreak vengeance on a rebellious northern town.

More than 100 residents of Jisr al-Shughur fled across the border to Turkey, while others sought sanctuary in the churches and mosques of nearby villages.They escaped after receiving telephoned warnings that Maher al-Assad, the most feared man in Syria, was on his way at the head of a huge column of armour and troops.Witnesses in the surrounding Idlib province said the convoy comprised "hundreds" of tanks and "thousands" of soldiers, who kicked up huge plumes of dust as they sped past, in a dramatic escalation of the government crackdown.The advance came amid fears that a British attempt to persuade the UN Security Council merely to condemn the Syrian regime's violence would be blocked by Russia during talks in New York on Wednesday night.Human rights activists appealed for urgent international...

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The bombardment of military sites in Tripoli came as Foreign Secretary William Hague said allied forces had “increased the tempo” of air strikes

The bombardment of military sites in Tripoli came as Foreign Secretary William Hague said allied forces had “increased the tempo” of air strikes against Colonel Gaddafi’s regime to 50 missions a day.Mr Hague told the Commons: “The case for this action remains utterly compelling... The regime is isolated and on the defensive.” But he said plans for stability post-Gaddafi needed more “fleshing out”.Lawyers for Gaddafi’s daughter Aisha yesterday began legal action in Paris and Brussels yesterday claiming Nato has committed war crim...

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Yemen's ruling party has opened talks with the country's main opposition coalition following the departure of President Ali Abdullah Saleh to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment.

Protesters have called on the acting president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, to form a presidential council to seek a solution to the crisis in country.Yemen has been rocked by months of protests and deepening violence.He was severely wounded in an attack on his compound on Friday.Official sources told the BBC the talks in Sanaa between the ruling General People's Congress (GPC) and the opposition coalition, the Joint Meeting Party (JMP) are the first of its kind.The JMP includes the main Islamist Islah party, socialists, Nasserists and some newer independent parties.The talks aim to find ways to reach a political solution, but details of the expected duration or specific areas of negotiation remain unclear, says the BBC's Lina Sinjab in Sanaa.The move comes a day after thousands of government...

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