Libyans fight against last Gadhafi holdouts

Libyan revolutionary forces fought building by building Wednesday against the final pocket of resistance in Moammar Gadhafi's hometown — the last major city in Libya to have been under the control of forces loyal to the fugitive leader.

A revolutionary fighter fires at Gadhafi loyalists in downtown Sirte, Libya, on Tuesday. About 1,000 Libyan revolutionary troops have launched a major assault on Moammar Gadhafi's hometown, surging from the east to try to capture the last area under loyalist control.

But while Libya's transitional leadership worked to consolidate control over the entire country, the country's acting prime minister warned in a newspaper interview that Gadhafi can still cause trouble from his hiding place.

Mahmoud Jibril was quoted by the pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat Tuesday as saying that the ousted leader is moving between Niger, Algeria and the vast southern Libyan desert and has been trying to recruit fighters from Sudan to help him establish a separate state in the south, or to march to the north and destabilize the new regime.

The report could not be confirmed, but it underscored fears that the inability to catch Gadhafi, who escaped with two of his sons after revolutionary forces swept into Tripoli in late August, would allow him and his supporters to wage an insurgency.

"Gadhafi has two options: either to destabilize any new regime in Libya or to declare a separate state in the south," Jibril was quoted as saying, adding there was evidence about this but he didn't elaborate.

Story: Libya government says its flag flies over Bani Walid (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44931778/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/t/libya-government-says-its-flag-flies-over-bani-walid/)

Suggesting that the U.S. also was concerned about the possibility, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said during a visit to Tripoli Tuesday that she hoped Gadhafi would be captured or killed.

In Tripoli, meanwhile, Libya's transitional government said it has formally recognized the Syrian opposition's umbrella group as the country's legitimate representative, making it the first country to do so.

Hassan al-Sughayer, a member of Libya's National Transitional Council, announced the decision in Tripoli after meeting with members of the Syrian National Council, a broad-based opposition group that was formed in September. The Syrians were in the Libyan capital to drum up support for their 7-month-old uprising against President Bashar Assad.

The recognition is largely symbolic and unlikely to have any practical impact. Syria's government has threatened tough measures against any country that recognizes the opposition council.

Although two months have passed since Gadhafi fled Tripoli, Libya's new leaders have refrained from declaring national "liberation" until the fall of Sirte, which Gadhafi transformed from a fishing village into a modern city after he seized power in 1969.

Revolutionary forces on Tuesday pushed from the east into the small pocket of the city under the control of Gadhafi loyalists and captured a vegetable market, though they came under heavy fire from snipers and rocket-propelled grenades on the rooftops of residential buildings and homes along major streets.

On Wednesday, Wissam bin Hmade, the commander of one of the revolutionary brigades from the eastern city of Benghazi, said they had the Gadhafi supporters corralled in a 700 square meter residential area but were still facing heavy rocket and gunfire from snipers holed up in surrounding buildings.

A revolutionary fighter fires a rocket-propelled grenade at Gadhafi loyalists in downtown Sirte on Tuesday.

It took the anti-Gadhafi fighters, who also faced disorganization in their own ranks, two days to capture a single residential building.

It is unclear whether loyalists who slipped out of the besieged cities of Bani Walid, which was captured this week, and Sirte might continue the fight and attempt to organize an insurgency using the vast amount of weapons Gadhafi was believed to have stored in hideouts in the remote southern desert.

Unlike Iraq's Saddam Hussein, Gadhafi had no well-organized political party that could form the basis of an insurgent leadership. However, regional and ethnic differences have already appeared among the ranks of the revolutionaries, possibly laying the foundation for civil strife.

Story: Libyans bulldoze Gadhafi's Tripoli compound (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44921536/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/t/libyans-bulldoze-gadhafis-tripoli-compound/)

Gadhafi has issued several audio recordings trying to rally supporters. Libyan officials have said they believe he's hiding somewhere in the vast southwestern desert near the borders with Niger and Algeria.

The whereabouts of two of his sons also remain unknown, although commanders have said they believe Muatassim and Seif al-Islam are hiding in Sirte and Bani Walid, respectively. Seif al-Islam had been Gadhafi's likely choice to succeed him as Libya's leader.

Anti-Gadhafi fighters combed Bani Walid on Tuesday for signs of Seif al-Islam and other high-level regime figures in the desert enclave, 90 miles (140 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli.

"Seif was seen on Thursday. He was eating in a desert village close to the city," one field commander, Said Younis, said.

The Netherlands-based International Criminal Court has charged Seif al-Islam, his father and Gadhafi's former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senoussi with crimes against humanity for a brutal crackdown on the uprising.

A Libyan fighter fires ammunition at Moammar Gadhafi loyalists during a battle to liberate the city of Sirte, Libya, on Oct. 18.

Libyan fighters run across the street under heavy sniper fire, while carrying Bangladeshi children who were trapped in Sirte, Libya, on Oct. 17. The children had been trapped during the entire siege of the city.

A Libyan National Transitional Council fighter sits atop the rubble of the walls which once surrounded Moammar Gadhafi's compound Bab al-Aziziya in Tripoli on Oct. 16.

Libyan fighters rest outside a shuttered shop along a street in the town of Sirte on Oct. 16.

A musician, who had joined anti-Gadhafi fighters on the front line, strums his guitar while being helped by doctors after he got injured during fighting with Gadhafi loyalists in Sirte on Oct. 15.

A Libyan fighter takes cover from pro-Gadhafi sniper fire during a battle to liberate the city of Sirte on Oct. 14. Sirte, the hometown of ousted leader Gadhafi, and the desert town of Bani Walid, are the two main strongholds for Gadhafi's forces.

Libyan fighters take cover from Gadhafi loyalist sniper fire during a battle to liberate the city of Sirte on Oct. 13.

source : http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44962683/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/

Ohio escape renews call for exotic-animal crackdown

The case of an Ohio man who set loose his collection of wild bears, lions, tigers and other beasts before apparently killing himself has animal-welfare organizations renewing their call for a clampdown on ownership of exotic animals.

“Exotic, dangerous animals simply do not belong in private hands. It’s not worth the risk,” said Adam Roberts, executive vice president of Born Free USA (http://www.bornfreeusa.org/).

A dead lion lies by the fence on Terry Thompson's farm near Zanesville, Ohio, Tuesday after being killed by sheriff's deputies.

Authorities believe Terry Thompson, owner of a 73-acre exotic-animal farm near rural Zaneville, Ohio, opened the cages to free his collection of animals before shooting himself Tuesday. Muskingum County sheriff’s deputies frantically raced to track down the 50-plus animals that escaped before they could harm anyone. Deputies fatally shot 48 of the animals — including 18 rare Bengal tigers.

By late Wednesday morning, authorities said only two animals remained missing — a wolf and a monkey carrying potentially deadly herpes B virus.

Thompson, 62, had a criminal record. He was released from federal prison just last month, after serving a one-year term for weapons violations stemming from the discovery of more than 100 guns on his property in 2008, according to the Columbus Dispatch (http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/10/18/Wild-animals-loose-in-Muskingum-County.html).

Story: Sheriff defends order to shoot bears, tigers (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44953925/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/sheriff-defends-order-shoot-bears-tigers/)

He was also convicted in municipal court in 2005 of cruelty to animals, having an animal at large and two counts of rendering animal waste without a license, according to the Dispatch. His preserve was home to a menagerie of lions, tigers, bears, wolves, giraffes, monkeys and other animals, many bought at auctions.

Animal-welfare groups say Ohio is notoriously lax when it comes to wild-animal ownership. It's one of fewer than 10 states that have no rules regulating the sale and ownership of exotic animals.

Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States (http://www.humanesociety.org/), said Thompson would have been barred from owning exotic animals had a state emergency rule on keeping dangerous exotics animals been in effect.

An executive order issued by former Gov. Ted Strickland just days before he left office in January prohibited people convicted of animal cruelty from owning exotic animals. The administration of current Gov. John Kasich allowed the order to expire in April, noting concerns about its enforceability and its impact on small businesses.

Story: Animal advocates defend shootings on Ohio farm (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44960279/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/animal-advocates-defend-shootings-ohio-farm/)

Kasich has convened a stakeholder group to develop standards, but Pacelle said immediate action is needed until the Ohio Department of Natural Resources or the Legislature can adopt a permanent legal solution.

“Every month brings a new, bizarre, almost surreal incident involving privately held dangerous wild animals,” Pacelle said in a statement. “In recent years, Ohioans have died and suffered injuries because the state hasn’t stopped private citizens from keeping dangerous wild animals as pets or as roadside attractions. Owners of large, exotic animals are a menace to society, and it’s time for the delaying on the rulemaking to end.”

The Humane Society says it has documented 22 "incidents" with dangerous exotic animals in Ohio since 2003, including the widely reported killing last year in Lorain County of a 24-year-old man, Brent Kendra, by a captive black bear he reportedly was feeding.

Animal-welfare activists wanted the bear's owner, Sam Mazzola, charged with reckless homicide, but Kendra's death was ruled a workplace accident. The bear was later euthanized.

Mazzola was found dead in July, face-down on a water bed and restrained with handcuffs and chains, in his Columbia Station home. Authorities said he apparently choked on a sex toy.

Born Free says it has tracked more than 1,598 reported attacks and incidents since 1990 (http://www.bornfreeusa.org/database/exo_incidents.php) across the United States, including 86 in Ohio. The most recent incident prior to this week was on Sept. 22, when an 80-year-old man was injured after reportedly being attacked by his 6-foot-tall, 200-pound kangaroo at an exotic animal farm near Green Camp.

Laura Jones, director of comminations for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, said a stakeholders group hopes to have a wild-animal proposal completed by the end of the year for the state Legislature to consider early next year.

"We’ve been working aggressively on having this proposal in place. I’m sure yesterday’s situation will be uppermost in their (lawmakers') minds as they consider this legislation," Jones told msnbc.com.

Roberts said the mass-escape of wild animals from Thompson's compound is particularly troubling because animal-welfare groups have been trying for years to get Ohio to strengthen its exotic-animal laws. Thompson had been warned about animals wandering off his property.

"The bottom line is, because Ohio like many other states didn’t have necessary laws in place to prevent this kind of exotic animal ownership, it really sets the stage for a potential catastrophic incident," Roberts told msnbc.com.

According to Born Free, Ohio is one of eight states that have no or extremely lax regulations on exotic-animal ownership. Twenty-one states ban private ownership, eight have partial bans and 13 have permitting or licensing regulations, the animal-welfare group says.

"The biggest lesson is, when groups like Born Free and others advocate against keeping of exotic animals as pets and the general reaction is we’re nothing more than Chicken Little going around saying the sky is falling, that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," Roberts said.

source : http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44961202/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/