Saif al-Islam Qaddafi was captured by fighters from Zintan, who say they will hold him until a new government is formed. The Zintan and rival Jadu militias are refusing NTC pressure to disarm, each fearing reprisals from the other.
Egyptian riot police firing tear gas and rubber bullets stormed into Cairo’s Tahrir Square to break up a protest tent camp, sparking clashes that injured at least 500. Protests and deadly repression are meanwhile fast escalating in Syria and Yemen.
Human rights groups staged a demonstration at the headquarters of Ve Wong Corp in Taipei, accusing the snack food giant in the illegal seizure of farmland in Cambodia, and using private security forces to repress peasant protests.
With Occupation protests now underway in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and even Hong Kong, authorities in mainland China have banned web search terms such as “Occupy Beijing,” “Occupy Shanghai” and “Occupy Guangdong.”
President Barack Obama announced his decision to send 2,500 troops to Australia days after a congressional advisory panel, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, warned of Beijing’s growing military presence in Asia.
Following weeks of mass protests across Algeria, long-ruling President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced that he will not run for a fifth term—but also said elections that were set for April will be postponed, with no new date set for the polls. There has also been a government shake-up, with the prime minister stepping down. But protesters vow to keep the pressure, demanding that Bouteflika cede power immediately, and, increasingly, that his entire government resign. The protests are on a scale unprecedented since the 1990s when a military coup aborted a democratic process, precipitating a civil war. Algeria's army chief invoked this period in a stern warning to the protesters. "There are some parties who want Algeria to return to the era of extreme pain," Lt. Gen. Gaed Salah said. (Photo via Albawaba)
Riots broke out in Italy and Greece and thousands marched in Spanish cities as new governments announced austerity measures in response to a financial crisis that has become a “serious emergency” to the entire Eurozone.
New York City police arrested some 200 protesters as hundreds converged on the Financial District for a “Shut Down Wall Street” action to note the two-month mark of the Occupation movement. Some 30,000 later marched over the Brooklyn Bridge.
Hundreds of riot police and navy commandos invaded the Rio de Janeiro favelas of Rocinha, Vidigal and Chacara do Ceu. Brazilian authorities say they plan to pacify dozens more favelas ahead of the 2014 World Cup.
The discovery of a drug tunnel linking San Diego and Tijuana warehouses led to the seizure of some 17 tons of cannabis as well as a large grow operation in the industrial area of Otay Mesa east of San Diego.
The decapitated and mutilated body of an unidentified man was found in Nuevo Laredo. A message left under the decapitated head named the man as “El Rascatripas”, a moderator for a website where citizens anonymously report narco-violence.
A blast at Iran’s Alghadir missile base at Bid Ganeh—so powerful it rattled windows 30 miles away in Tehran—has raised speculation about Israeli covert action against the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.
