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Defiant Gaddafi vows to die as martyr
AFP/LIBYAN TV – An image grab taken from footage broadcast on Libyan state television on February 22 shows Libyan leader … 
TRIPOLI (Reuters) – A defiant Muammar Gaddafi vowed on Tuesday to die "a martyr" in Libya and said he would crush a revolt which has seen eastern regions break free from four decades of his rule.
Swathed in brown robes, Gaddafi seethed with anger and banged the podium outside one of his residences that was damaged in a 1986 U.S. bombing raid that attempted to kill him. Next to him stood a monument of a fist crushing a U.S. fighter jet.
"I am not going to leave this land. I will die here as a martyr," Gaddafi said on state television, refusing to bow to calls from his own diplomats, soldiers and protesters who braved a fierce crackdown to clamor in streets for him to go.
Huge popular protests in Libya's neighbors Egypt and Tunisia have toppled entrenched leaders, but Gaddafi said he would not be forced out by the rebellion sweeping through his vast oil producing nation of just 7 million people, which stretches from the Mediterranean to the Sahara.
"I shall remain here defiant," said Gaddafi, who has ruled the mainly desert country with a mixture of populism and tight control since taking power in a military coup in 1969.
The White House said the international community must speak with one voice in response to the "appalling violence" in Libya and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States would take "appropriate steps" in time.
But Washington has little leverage over Libya, which was a U.S. adversary for most of Gaddafi's rule until it agreed in 2003 to abandon a weapons-of-mass-destruction program and moved to settle claims from the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Gaddafi had declared war on his people and told a news conference she would back sanctions on Libya if Gaddafi did not stop the violence.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon accused Libya of firing on civilians from warplanes and helicopters. The U.N. Security Council met in closed session to discuss Libya. The U.N. high commissioner for human rights said "systematic attacks" on civilians may amount to "crimes against humanity."
The Arab League suspended the participation of Libya's delegation, Al Arabiya television said.
GADDAFI DEFIANT
But Gaddafi was unrepentant. Anti-government protesters were "rats and mercenaries" who deserved the death penalty, he said in the rambling, 75-minute speech. Gaddafi said he would call upon the people to "cleanse Libya house by house" unless protesters surrendered.
He urged Libyans to take to the streets to show their loyalty. "All of you who love Muammar Gaddafi, go out on the streets, secure the streets, don't be afraid of them ... Chase them, arrest them, hand them over," he said.
Libya's official news agency quoted him as telling Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi that "Libya is fine, its people are ... holding on to its security."
Several hundred people held a pro-Gaddafi rally in Tripoli's central Green Square on Tuesday, a Reuters reporter there said. "Our leader!" and "We follow your path!," they chanted, waving green Libyan flags and holding aloft portraits of Gaddafi.
"There are several hundred (Gaddafi) supporters making their way into the city center. They are in cars, making lots of noise and carrying his portrait," said a resident of the Mediterranean coastal city of 2 million, which is key to controlling Libya.
"They fired shots in the air to celebrate."
Refugees streaming across Libya's eastern border into Egypt said Gaddafi was using tanks, warplanes and foreign mercenaries to fight the growing rebellion.
Eastern Libya is no longer under Gaddafi's control, rebel soldiers in the city of Tobruk told a Reuters reporter there.
Tobruk residents said the city had been in the hands of the people for three days. They said smoke rising above the city was from a munitions depot bombed by troops loyal to one of Gaddafi's sons. There was the occasional explosion.
"All the eastern regions are out of Gaddafi's control ... The people and the army are hand-in-hand here," said former army major Hany Saad Marjaa.
"NO SURRENDER"
Al Jazeera reported Libya's Interior Minister Abdel Fattah Younes al Abidi had defected to join the rebels. It aired video footage showing Abidi at his desk reading a statement urging the Libyan army to join the people and their "legitimate demands."
On the Libyan side of the border with Egypt, anti-Gaddafi rebels armed with clubs and Kalashnikov assault rifles welcomed visitors. One man held an upside-down picture of Gaddafi defaced with the words "the butcher tyrant, murderer of Libyans," a Reuters correspondent who crossed into Libya reported.
Hundreds of Egyptians flowed out of Libya on tractors and trucks, telling harrowing tales of state violence and banditry.
The U.N. refugee agency urged Libya's neighbors to grant refuge to those fleeing the unrest.
Egypt's new military rulers, who took power following the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak on February 11, said the main crossing with Libya would be kept open round-the-clock to allow the sick and wounded to enter.
In the eastern town of Al Bayda, resident Marai Al Mahry told Reuters by telephone that 26 people including his brother Ahmed had been shot dead overnight by Gaddafi loyalists.
"They shoot you just for walking on the street," he said, sobbing uncontrollably as he appealed for help.
Protesters were attacked with tanks and warplanes, he said.
"The only thing we can do now is not give up, no surrender, no going back. We will die anyways, whether we like it or not. It is clear that they don't care whether we live or not. This is genocide," said Mahry, 42.
Human Rights Watch said 62 people had died in clashes in Tripoli in the past two days, on top of its previous toll of 233 dead. Opposition groups put the figure far much higher.
The revolt in Libya, the third largest oil producer in Africa, has driven oil prices to a 2 1/2 year high above $108 a barrel, and OPEC said it would produce more crude if supplies from member Libya were disrupted.
"Five people died on the street where I live," Mohamed Jalaly, 40, told Reuters at Salum on his way to Cairo from Benghazi. "You leave Benghazi and then you have ... nothing but gangs and youths with weapons," he added. "The way from Benghazi is extremely dangerous," he said.
As the fighting has intensified some supporters have abandoned Gaddafi. Tripoli's envoy to India, Ali al-Essawi, resigned and told Reuters that African mercenaries had been recruited to help put down protests.
"The fall of Gaddafi is the imperative of the people in streets," he said. The justice minister also quit and a group of army officers urged soldiers to "join the people."
A showman-like figure with his flowing robes and a penchant for female bodyguards, Gaddafi has been one of the most recognizable figures on the world stage.
He was shunned for much of his rule by the West, which accused him of links to terrorism and revolutionary movements. President Ronald Reagan called him a "mad dog" and sent war planes to bomb Libya in 1986.
Gaddafi was particularly reviled after the 1988 Pan Am airliner bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, by Libyan agents in which 270 people were killed.
(Reporting by Tarek Amara, Christian Lowe, Marie-Louise Gumuchian, Souhail Karam; Brian Love, Daren Butler; Dina Zayed, Sarah Mikhail and Tom Perry in Cairo and a Reuters correspondent in Libya; Henry Foy in New Delhi; Writing by Jon Boyle and Jon Hemming; Editing by Michael Roddy)
Swathed in brown robes, Gaddafi seethed with anger and banged the podium outside one of his residences that was damaged in a 1986 U.S. bombing raid that attempted to kill him. Next to him stood a monument of a fist crushing a U.S. fighter jet.
"I am not going to leave this land. I will die here as a martyr," Gaddafi said on state television, refusing to bow to calls from his own diplomats, soldiers and protesters who braved a fierce crackdown to clamor in streets for him to go.
Huge popular protests in Libya's neighbors Egypt and Tunisia have toppled entrenched leaders, but Gaddafi said he would not be forced out by the rebellion sweeping through his vast oil producing nation of just 7 million people, which stretches from the Mediterranean to the Sahara.
"I shall remain here defiant," said Gaddafi, who has ruled the mainly desert country with a mixture of populism and tight control since taking power in a military coup in 1969.
The White House said the international community must speak with one voice in response to the "appalling violence" in Libya and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States would take "appropriate steps" in time.
But Washington has little leverage over Libya, which was a U.S. adversary for most of Gaddafi's rule until it agreed in 2003 to abandon a weapons-of-mass-destruction program and moved to settle claims from the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Gaddafi had declared war on his people and told a news conference she would back sanctions on Libya if Gaddafi did not stop the violence.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon accused Libya of firing on civilians from warplanes and helicopters. The U.N. Security Council met in closed session to discuss Libya. The U.N. high commissioner for human rights said "systematic attacks" on civilians may amount to "crimes against humanity."
The Arab League suspended the participation of Libya's delegation, Al Arabiya television said.
GADDAFI DEFIANT
But Gaddafi was unrepentant. Anti-government protesters were "rats and mercenaries" who deserved the death penalty, he said in the rambling, 75-minute speech. Gaddafi said he would call upon the people to "cleanse Libya house by house" unless protesters surrendered.
He urged Libyans to take to the streets to show their loyalty. "All of you who love Muammar Gaddafi, go out on the streets, secure the streets, don't be afraid of them ... Chase them, arrest them, hand them over," he said.
Libya's official news agency quoted him as telling Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi that "Libya is fine, its people are ... holding on to its security."
Several hundred people held a pro-Gaddafi rally in Tripoli's central Green Square on Tuesday, a Reuters reporter there said. "Our leader!" and "We follow your path!," they chanted, waving green Libyan flags and holding aloft portraits of Gaddafi.
"There are several hundred (Gaddafi) supporters making their way into the city center. They are in cars, making lots of noise and carrying his portrait," said a resident of the Mediterranean coastal city of 2 million, which is key to controlling Libya.
"They fired shots in the air to celebrate."
Refugees streaming across Libya's eastern border into Egypt said Gaddafi was using tanks, warplanes and foreign mercenaries to fight the growing rebellion.
Eastern Libya is no longer under Gaddafi's control, rebel soldiers in the city of Tobruk told a Reuters reporter there.
Tobruk residents said the city had been in the hands of the people for three days. They said smoke rising above the city was from a munitions depot bombed by troops loyal to one of Gaddafi's sons. There was the occasional explosion.
"All the eastern regions are out of Gaddafi's control ... The people and the army are hand-in-hand here," said former army major Hany Saad Marjaa.
"NO SURRENDER"
Al Jazeera reported Libya's Interior Minister Abdel Fattah Younes al Abidi had defected to join the rebels. It aired video footage showing Abidi at his desk reading a statement urging the Libyan army to join the people and their "legitimate demands."
On the Libyan side of the border with Egypt, anti-Gaddafi rebels armed with clubs and Kalashnikov assault rifles welcomed visitors. One man held an upside-down picture of Gaddafi defaced with the words "the butcher tyrant, murderer of Libyans," a Reuters correspondent who crossed into Libya reported.
Hundreds of Egyptians flowed out of Libya on tractors and trucks, telling harrowing tales of state violence and banditry.
The U.N. refugee agency urged Libya's neighbors to grant refuge to those fleeing the unrest.
Egypt's new military rulers, who took power following the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak on February 11, said the main crossing with Libya would be kept open round-the-clock to allow the sick and wounded to enter.
In the eastern town of Al Bayda, resident Marai Al Mahry told Reuters by telephone that 26 people including his brother Ahmed had been shot dead overnight by Gaddafi loyalists.
"They shoot you just for walking on the street," he said, sobbing uncontrollably as he appealed for help.
Protesters were attacked with tanks and warplanes, he said.
"The only thing we can do now is not give up, no surrender, no going back. We will die anyways, whether we like it or not. It is clear that they don't care whether we live or not. This is genocide," said Mahry, 42.
Human Rights Watch said 62 people had died in clashes in Tripoli in the past two days, on top of its previous toll of 233 dead. Opposition groups put the figure far much higher.
The revolt in Libya, the third largest oil producer in Africa, has driven oil prices to a 2 1/2 year high above $108 a barrel, and OPEC said it would produce more crude if supplies from member Libya were disrupted.
"Five people died on the street where I live," Mohamed Jalaly, 40, told Reuters at Salum on his way to Cairo from Benghazi. "You leave Benghazi and then you have ... nothing but gangs and youths with weapons," he added. "The way from Benghazi is extremely dangerous," he said.
As the fighting has intensified some supporters have abandoned Gaddafi. Tripoli's envoy to India, Ali al-Essawi, resigned and told Reuters that African mercenaries had been recruited to help put down protests.
"The fall of Gaddafi is the imperative of the people in streets," he said. The justice minister also quit and a group of army officers urged soldiers to "join the people."
A showman-like figure with his flowing robes and a penchant for female bodyguards, Gaddafi has been one of the most recognizable figures on the world stage.
He was shunned for much of his rule by the West, which accused him of links to terrorism and revolutionary movements. President Ronald Reagan called him a "mad dog" and sent war planes to bomb Libya in 1986.
Gaddafi was particularly reviled after the 1988 Pan Am airliner bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, by Libyan agents in which 270 people were killed.
(Reporting by Tarek Amara, Christian Lowe, Marie-Louise Gumuchian, Souhail Karam; Brian Love, Daren Butler; Dina Zayed, Sarah Mikhail and Tom Perry in Cairo and a Reuters correspondent in Libya; Henry Foy in New Delhi; Writing by Jon Boyle and Jon Hemming; Editing by Michael Roddy)
Friends mourn 4 US yachters killed by pirates
Niece of sailing hostage: She enjoyed open seas
AP – Nina Crossland, niece of Phyllis Macay, holds up a photo of Macay as she speaks to reporters outside … SANTA MONICA, Calif. – An adventurous quartet of yacht enthusiasts from California and Washington were living their dreams, friends say, retiring and sailing around the world until they were shot and killed by Somali pirates on Tuesday.
The yacht's owners, Jean and Scott Adam of Marina del Rey near Los Angeles, along with Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay of Seattle were taken hostage on Friday several hundred miles south of Oman. The pirates fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a U.S. warship following the hijacked vessel Tuesday, then gunfire erupted and the Americans were fatally wounded.
"We are heartbroken. They were an extraordinary couple," Monsignor Lloyd Torgerson said of the Adams during morning Mass at St. Monica Catholic Church in Santa Monica.
Friends, family and fellow sailors said that despite an adventurous spirit, the four were meticulous planners who knew the dangers they faced. The Adams had been sailing around the world since December 2004 with a 58-foot yacht full of Bibles to distribute to remote regions, and were joined by Riggle and Macay, who left Seattle nine or 10 months ago.
The four had traveled with a large flotilla to stay safe from pirates earlier in the trip, but had left the group when the attack occurred, Macay's niece, Nina Crossland, told reporters in South San Francisco.
Visibly shaken and holding back tears, Crossland said her 59-year-old aunt was shot but alive when Navy Seals boarded the Quest. She died later.
"My aunt is a very smart and avid sailor," Crossland told reporters in South San Francisco on Tuesday morning. "I think she was smart enough and planned ahead and prepared to not be in this type of situation."
Mariners were warned about traveling through the area because of the dangers of pirate attacks, but friends and fellow sailors said danger is part of the reality of sailing.
Riggle "would never do anything to jeopardize Phyllis," Hank Curci, a friend and fellow member of the Seattle Singles Yacht Club.
Joe Grande, of the yacht club, said the deaths were like losing a member of the family to those who knew the pair.
"Great sailors, good people. They were doing what they wanted to do, but that's small comfort in the face of this," Grande said.
The U.S. flag flew at half-staff Tuesday at the Del Rey Yacht Club in Marina del Rey, a community of more than 8,000 surrounding a huge man-made small boat harbor on the Los Angeles County coast.
Gary Deitsch, commodore of the club, said that the membership was devastated by the killings.
"We are deeply saddened," he said at a press conference. "We hope their deaths will bring about the world's focus to eliminate this violence."
The Adams had been club members since 2001 and had sailed full-time for the past seven years, many times with other club members.
"They were just wonderful people to be with," said Club secretary DeDe Allen, who had sailed with the couple. "Their personal mission was enjoying life."
Riggle had worked as a relief veterinarian for the Seattle Animal Shelter for the past seven to eight years, providing spay and neutering services for adopted animals and through a city program, said director Don Jordan.
"He wasn't a man of many words but he was a kind-hearted individual with a great passion for animals and animal welfare," Jordan said. "He treated our staff with dignity and respect."
Jordan recalled that Riggle once took a colleague's family sailing when their daughter was diagnosed with cancer to get their mind off their troubles. "That was just a small indicator about how he treated people," he said.
Scott Adam, who is in his mid-60s, had been an associate producer in Hollywood when he turned in a spiritual direction and enrolled in Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena a decade ago, said Robert K. Johnston, a professor at the seminary.
"They were just passing out Bibles, trying to do a good thing," said Barbara Herred, who attended the Mass in Santa Monica. "It's just so sad."
___
AP reporter Phuong Le in Seattle and Jason Dearen in South San Francisco contributed to this report.
The yacht's owners, Jean and Scott Adam of Marina del Rey near Los Angeles, along with Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay of Seattle were taken hostage on Friday several hundred miles south of Oman. The pirates fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a U.S. warship following the hijacked vessel Tuesday, then gunfire erupted and the Americans were fatally wounded.
"We are heartbroken. They were an extraordinary couple," Monsignor Lloyd Torgerson said of the Adams during morning Mass at St. Monica Catholic Church in Santa Monica.
Friends, family and fellow sailors said that despite an adventurous spirit, the four were meticulous planners who knew the dangers they faced. The Adams had been sailing around the world since December 2004 with a 58-foot yacht full of Bibles to distribute to remote regions, and were joined by Riggle and Macay, who left Seattle nine or 10 months ago.
The four had traveled with a large flotilla to stay safe from pirates earlier in the trip, but had left the group when the attack occurred, Macay's niece, Nina Crossland, told reporters in South San Francisco.
Visibly shaken and holding back tears, Crossland said her 59-year-old aunt was shot but alive when Navy Seals boarded the Quest. She died later.
"My aunt is a very smart and avid sailor," Crossland told reporters in South San Francisco on Tuesday morning. "I think she was smart enough and planned ahead and prepared to not be in this type of situation."
Mariners were warned about traveling through the area because of the dangers of pirate attacks, but friends and fellow sailors said danger is part of the reality of sailing.
Riggle "would never do anything to jeopardize Phyllis," Hank Curci, a friend and fellow member of the Seattle Singles Yacht Club.
Joe Grande, of the yacht club, said the deaths were like losing a member of the family to those who knew the pair.
"Great sailors, good people. They were doing what they wanted to do, but that's small comfort in the face of this," Grande said.
The U.S. flag flew at half-staff Tuesday at the Del Rey Yacht Club in Marina del Rey, a community of more than 8,000 surrounding a huge man-made small boat harbor on the Los Angeles County coast.
Gary Deitsch, commodore of the club, said that the membership was devastated by the killings.
"We are deeply saddened," he said at a press conference. "We hope their deaths will bring about the world's focus to eliminate this violence."
The Adams had been club members since 2001 and had sailed full-time for the past seven years, many times with other club members.
"They were just wonderful people to be with," said Club secretary DeDe Allen, who had sailed with the couple. "Their personal mission was enjoying life."
Riggle had worked as a relief veterinarian for the Seattle Animal Shelter for the past seven to eight years, providing spay and neutering services for adopted animals and through a city program, said director Don Jordan.
"He wasn't a man of many words but he was a kind-hearted individual with a great passion for animals and animal welfare," Jordan said. "He treated our staff with dignity and respect."
Jordan recalled that Riggle once took a colleague's family sailing when their daughter was diagnosed with cancer to get their mind off their troubles. "That was just a small indicator about how he treated people," he said.
Scott Adam, who is in his mid-60s, had been an associate producer in Hollywood when he turned in a spiritual direction and enrolled in Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena a decade ago, said Robert K. Johnston, a professor at the seminary.
"They were just passing out Bibles, trying to do a good thing," said Barbara Herred, who attended the Mass in Santa Monica. "It's just so sad."
___
AP reporter Phuong Le in Seattle and Jason Dearen in South San Francisco contributed to this report.
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