UNITED NATIONS

Men in plain clothes armed with swords and petrol bombs attacked protesters in Cairo on Sunday night during a demonstration demanding reform of security services with a reputation for brutality, witnesses said.

Reports are surfacing that the Libyan government is now preventing foreign migrant workers in the country from leaving.

Security forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo, the country’s disputed president, have shot and killed at least six women who were attending a rally in support of his rival, Alassane Ouattara.

A new World Bank strategy for Africa unveiled on Wednesday focuses on creating jobs and making economies more competitive, while also tackling problems of climate change, disease, food shortages and conflict.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has reportedly accepted an offer of mediation from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez while an opposition group has rejected it, according to a report.

Gold and Silver Bullion prices fell sharply London lunchtime on Thursday, bouncing 1.5% and 2.3% below this week's record Dollar highs after European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet said a Eurozone rate rise is possible next month.

The ongoing violence in Libya will cost Russia a $4-billion payday from an arms deal it had earlier agreed to with Moammar Gaddafi, according to the Interfax news agency, quoting Sergei Chemezov, head of the state holding company that controls arms exports.

The Dutch Defense Ministry announced that three of its marines have been captured in Libya by troops loyal to Moammar Gaddafi, while participating in an operation to help evacuate foreigners out of the country.

Rajat Gupta, former McKinsey’s chief and currently special adviser to the secretary-general of the United Nations on management reforms, has been accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of having role in a major hedge fund insider-trading case.

Libyan air forces have launched attacks on the eastern oil city of Brega in an effort to retake the port city from the rebels, according to media reports.

Britain, France and Tunisia have started airlift thousands of Egyptians stuck at the Libya-Tunisia border to safety in Cairo, in response to pleas from the United Nations (UN) to prevent a humanitarian crisis.

The United Nations (UN) has warned that up to100,000 African migrants may seek to escape strife-torn Libya and cross into poverty-stricken Niger in the next few weeks, fearing they may be killed by anti-Gaddafi Libyans who believe they are mercenaries.

Muammar Gaddafi launched a land and air offensive to retake territory in Libya's east at dawn on Wednesday, sparking a rebel call for foreign air strikes against African mercenaries they said were helping him cling to power.

Fears of a supply disruption arising from continued unrest in Libya have pushed up oil prices, but a leading Libyan oil official warns they could spike even higher if there is no immediate resolution to the ongoing violence.

The United Nations General Assembly suspended Libya from the Human Rights Council, expressing its deep concern over the killings of hundreds of anti-government protesters in the country.

The top two U.S. defense officials have not confirmed if the Libyan government has been firing on its own people from aircraft.

The United Nations has called for an epic humanitarian evacuation of people seeking to escape Libya for Tunisia, citing the “crisis point” conditions at the border between the two countries.

China, the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitter, wants rich nations to vow bigger cuts to emissions as part of a new international deal on fighting global warming, Beijing's top climate negotiator said on Tuesday.

Libya could descend into civil war if Muammar Gaddafi refuses to quit, the United States said on Tuesday, its demand for an end to his rule carrying new weight after word of unspecified Western military preparations.

Continuing anti-government protests has brought tens of thousands of people to the capital of Yemen, again demanding the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, one day after he proposed the formation of a new unity government which would include opposition members.

Within weeks from declaring 2011 to be Mexico's “year of tourism,” the country's president Felipe Calderon said that the government aims to make Mexico the world's top fifth tourism destination by 2018.