Reporting from Cairo — A defiant Libyan strongman Moammar Kadafi vowed Tuesday not to resign and denounced the anti-government protesters who have challenged his regime as “greasy rats” and “drug-fueled mice” who deserve to be executed.

“These gangs are cockroaches,” he said. “They’re nothing. They’re not one percent of the Libyan people.”

In a lengthy address on state TV, Kadafi, who has ruled since 1969, stood in the ruins of a barracks in Tripoli that was bombed …

Read more

WASHINGTON – New polling conducted for the AFL-CIO and shared with The Huffington Post shows Wisconsin voters siding with the state workers, unions and protestors by large majorities and expressing net disapproval of Republican Governor Scott Walker

The Democratic polling firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research conducted two surveys among likely voters in Wisconsin this past week, one fielded between Wednesday and Sunday last week (604 live interviews, margin of error +/- 4%) and the second fielded …

Read more

House Democrats are leaving the state rather than vote on anti-union legislation, The Indianapolis Star has learned.

A source said Democrats are headed to Illinois, though it was possible some also might go to Kentucky. They need to go to a state with a Democratic governor to avoid being taken into police custody and returned to Indiana.

The House came into session this morning, with only two of the 40 Democrats present. Those two were needed to …

Read more

Reporting from Cairo — Anti-government protests raged Monday for the first time in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, with unconfirmed media reports of pro-regime snipers firing into crowds, bloody clashes on the city’s main square and fires blazing in key government buildings.

Al Jazeera reported that a fire was burning inside the People’s Hall, a symbol of longtime strongman Moammar Kadafi’s repressive regime. TV images showed demonstrators setting fires in the streets, but the size of the …

Read more

WASHINGTON — The protests that erupted last week in Wisconsin have attracted attention not only across the United States, but even as far away as Egypt. One of those out-of-state observers, Maine state Rep. Diane Russell (D), has decided that what is happening in Madison is so important — even to her own Northeastern state — that she has decided to pack up a vehicle and drive all the way out there with three of …

Read more

The American who shot dead two men in Lahore, triggering a diplomatic crisis between Pakistan and the US, is a CIA agent who was on assignment at the time.

Raymond Davis has been the subject of widespread speculation since he opened fire with a semi-automatic Glock pistol on the two men who had pulled up in front of his car at a red light on 25 January.

Pakistani authorities charged him with murder, but the Obama administration …

Read more

Rallies in Bahrain to demand democracy and an end to discrimination against the Shiite Muslim majority escalated after the death of a second demonstrator, as unrest in the region also led to clashes between protesters and police in Yemen.

Thousands of Bahrainis gathered at the Pearl Roundabout traffic intersection in Manama, the capital, shouting slogans against the government after the funeral of a protester killed in clashes with police yesterday. A second protester died today in …

Read more

A judge in a small jungle town in Ecuador on Monday ordered Chevron to pay more than $9 billion in damages, finding the energy giant responsible for the oil pollution that has fouled a stretch of land along Ecuador’s northern border.

The case, which began in a New York court in 1993, has been closely monitored by the oil industry for precedents that might be set for future lawsuits.

The amount in the ruling – $8.6 billion …

Read more

Washington came out strongly in support of antigovernment protests in Iran after a day of massive protests in Tehran Monday, part of the wave of antigovernment revolt sweeping across the Middle East.

Thousands took to the streets in Tehran’s Asadi Square on Feb. 14, showing their solidarity with the Egyptian revolution, according to a BBC report. Police used tear gas and batons to dispel the protesters. One person was reportedly shot dead when the fighting broke …

Read more

There are reports in social media sites and non-state Iranian news sites of clashes between protesters and security forces in Tehran, the Iranian capital.

Thousands of demonstrators were marching on Monday on Enghelab and Azadi streets [which connect and create a straight path through the city centre], with a heavy presence in Enghelab Square and Vali-Asr Street, according to these reports.

Several clashes have been reported on Twitter, the micro-blogging site, with claims of some demonstrators being …

Read more