Air strikes keep pressure on Gaddafi
Libya's government says more civilians have been killed in a third night of air and missile strikes by coalition forces enforcing a no-fly zone. Explosions and anti-aircraft fire have been heard near Col Muammar Gaddafi's compound in the capital, Tripoli.
Fighting between the forces loyal to the Libyan leader and the rebels has also continued, despite the declaration of a ceasefire by the government.
In the east, troops beat back a rebel advance outside the town of Ajdabiya. And rebels in Libya's third city, Misrata, told the BBC that they had come under attack from Col Gaddafi's forces during the day.
History
“Libya has a different history. Libya had, in the 19th century and even during the colonial period, a very, very strong society and weaker central state in Tripoli. So traditions of contesting the state has always been strong. And the Italians invaded Libya in 1911 and they could not really conquer the rest of the country, due to a very, very well-organised volunteer armies that resisted the central invasion in the north until 1931.
So we could say that Libya has very strong societal forces that are keen about keeping their autonomy, about keeping their communities, and not to let the central government determine everything in their affairs.
Libyans are very proud of their grandfathers and their grandmothers who fought Italian colonialism and lost half a million people during that struggle. I think now, it's a display because this government that came to power in 1969 - led by junior officers, including Gadhafi - they tried to centralise the state. But the sense of really resisting the central state was there all the time.” Prof. Ali Ahmida, chairman of the political science department at the University of New England.
Gbagbo bolsters army to take on rebels
Thousands of young men could be seen enlisting on Monday to fight for the incumbent president of Côte d'Ivoire, stoking fears of an imminent civil war.
Chanting slogans such as "We will kill them now" and "The rebels will die", prospective recruits gathered at a stadium at the army headquarters in the commercial capital, Abidjan.
The show of strength underlines the growing influence of Young Patriot leader Charles Blé Goudé, who called on about 10 000 supporters at a rally on Saturday to sign up and "liberate" the country.
It could also be aimed at deterring supporters of Alassane Ouattara, the rival to president Laurent Gbagbo, who have argued that Gbagbo's support base is shrinking and cannot prop him up much longer.
History
A presidential election was held in two rounds in Côte d'Ivoire (also called the Ivory Coast). The first round was held on 31 October 2010 and a second round, in which President Laurent Gbagbo faced opposition leader Alassane Ouattara, was held on 28 November 2010. Originally scheduled to be held in 2005, the vote was delayed several times due to the Ivorian Civil War and difficulties involved in the organisation and preparation of the election.
The election, in which ethnicity and the country's north-south divide played a crucial role, ultimately pitted President Gbagbo, who had a strong support base in the south, against the long-time opposition leader and former Prime Minister Ouattara, who had overwhelming support in much of the north.
Yemen’s top generals back democracy protestors
Top generals, ambassadors and some tribes threw their support behind Yemen's anti-government protesters on Monday in a major blow to President Ali Abdullah Saleh's efforts to ride out demands for his immediate exit.
The president, a perennial survivor who has stayed in power for 32 years throughout a civil war, numerous uprisings and militant campaigns, has seen a string of allies break ranks with him in recent days.
France became the first Western power on Monday to call publicly for Saleh to stand down.
"We say this to Yemen, where the situation is worsening. We estimate today that the departure of President Saleh is unavoidable," French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said at a European Union meeting in Brussels.
Yet pan-Arab TV channel Al Arabiya quoted him as saying the majority of Yemenis were with him and he would remain steadfast. A government official said the president had asked Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal to mediate in the worsening crisis.
Bahrain king says forces have foiled foreign plot
Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa said a foreign plot against his kingdom had been foiled and thanked troops brought in from neighbouring countries to help end increasing unrest after weeks of protests.
"An external plot has been fomented for 20 to 30 years until the ground was ripe for subversive designs ... I here announce the failure of the fomented plot," the state news agency BNA quoted him overnight as telling troops.
King Hamad told the forces that if such a plot succeeded in one Gulf Arab country, it could spill into neighbouring states, BNA said.
The ferocity of a crackdown last week by Bahrain forces, aided by the entrance of troops from Sunni-ruled Gulf countries, stunned Bahrain's majority Shi'ites, the main force of the protests, and angered the region's non-Arab Shi'ite power Iran.
History
Demonstrations erupting in Bahrain reflect a mainly Shiite population's discontent with the Sunni ruling family, but some analysts are cautioning against describing the strife as simply sectarian.
The small Persian Gulf island's population of about 738,000, according to the CIA World Factbook, is made up of about 65 percent Shiites and 35 percent Sunnis. The Shiite Muslims say they experience discrimination in finding housing and jobs.
Because Shiites make up the bulk of the population, they experience the burden of what's unjust under a regime that doesn't want to lose its grip on power, said Toby Jones, a professor of Middle East history at Rutgers University. "It's not about sectarianism, it's about authoritarianism and democracy," he said.
Work resumes at Japanese reactor
Efforts have resumed at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to restore electrical power and cool its overheating reactors, seriously damaged by the 11 March earthquake.
Work was interrupted for the second time in 24 hours after steam and smoke was emitted from two of the reactors.
Radiation levels spiked briefly, and engineers were told to leave the plant. Meanwhile, the official death toll from the earthquake and tsunami has risen to more than 9,000, with 12,645 missing.
-- The Mail & Guardian, Reuters, AFP, BBC, PBS Newshour & NPR