OSAC EARLY BIRD

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From Arab NewsSaudi Arabia Bans Veggies From Europe Amid E. Coli Scare

BOOST FOR WOMEN AS 70,000 EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES CREATED

IRAN SAYS NO OFFER CAN STOP IT ENRICHING URANIUM

From CNNTribal Fighters Take Over Major City in Yemen, Eyewitnesses Say

From ReutersBAHRAINI CLERICS ACCUSE POLICE OF VIOLATING RELIGIOUS FREEDOMS

From Yahoo NewsMutinous Syrian Soldiers Behind Deaths in North

From MSNBC'We are Stronger,' Gadhafi says After Heaviest NATO Strikes

From the New York TimesU.S. Drone Strikes Are Reported to Kill at Least 18 in Pakistan

PHOTO PROVIDED BY BRUCE KENDALL

Saudi Arabia Bans Veggies From Europe Amid E. Coli Scare

Saudi Arabia has temporarily stopped importing vegetables from European countries to prevent entry of agricultural products contaminated by the E. coli virus.

Minister of Agriculture Fahd Balghunaim said the import ban comes into effect Wednesday, adding that it would continue until the source of the virus becomes clear.

Jabir Al-Shahri, assistant deputy minister for livestock affairs, said the ban was imposed on the basis of information received from the EU, WHO and the European Center for Disease Control.

In a previous statement Balghunaim confirmed that E. coli infected cucumbers that appeared last week in European countries have not entered the Kingdom.

“Due to strict measures taken at the ports no infected produce has been allowed to pass into the Saudi market,”

Balghunaim said, adding that EU countries are in no way a source for imported produce in the Kingdom.

According to the minister, Saudi Arabia produces 85 percent of cucumbers in the market, with imports of other vegetables mainly from Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Yemen and Jordan.

Nonetheless, Balghunaim stressed that it is the responsibility of the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) to prevent the entry of

food products with questionable safety.

He said the Kingdom should continue its initiative to develop and market organic vegetables.

He said 53 farmers in Saudi Arabia have already been certified to produce organic produce, 25 of whom were certified last month.

The produce is being grown currently on approximately 15,497 hectares.

Boost for Women as 70,000 Employment Opportunities Created

Jeddah: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah on Monday instructed all government departments to implement the short-term and long-term plans he approved for creating jobs for the increasing number of Saudi graduates.

The new plans are expected to create at least 70,000 new jobs for Saudi women.

King Abdullah made this comment while presiding over the weekly Cabinet meeting, which also called for the establishment of more dual-purpose desalination plants along the Kingdom’s coasts to meet the country’s water and electricity needs.

The Cabinet added a new article to the Electricity Law that made cogeneration compulsory in desalination and electricity projects constructed on the Kingdom’s coasts or in areas close to the sea or in places where adequate amounts of underground saline water are available.

The Cabinet reiterated the government’s resolve to support programs aimed at improving the performance of public departments and agencies by promoting e-dealings, strengthening the performance measurement center, activating administrative development units, and empowering monitoring bodies.

The Kingdom expressed its deep sorrow over the growing violence in Yemen that had resulted in deaths and injuries and urged all Yemeni parties to maintain restraint and work to save the country from more violence and fighting, Culture and Information Minister Abdul Aziz Khoja said.

The Cabinet also confirmed the arrival of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and a number of injured Yemeni officials and

citizens for treatment in the Kingdom.

“Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries will continue their efforts to reach a peaceful settlement in Yemen to end fighting and protect the country's superior interests,” the Cabinet said in a statement and hoped that all Yemeni parties would sign the GCC initiative to end the crisis.

The Cabinet denounced continuing Israeli atrocities against the Palestinians as well as its new settlement projects for Jerusalem, and said Israel was violating international resolutions and obstructing the road to peace in the Middle East. The Cabinet also agreed to sign an agreement with Finland to combat crimes.

The Kingdom decided to implement a resolution adopted by the GCC summit in Kuwait on Dec. 15, 2009 providing equal treatment for all GCC citizens in technical education. Accordingly, all qualified GCC citizens will be treated equally at the Kingdom’s institutes of technical education and vocational training.

The Cabinet approved the bylaw of the national committee for regulating operation and maintenance work and called for developing methods applied in the field by adopting modern technology, unification of operation and maintenance specifications and setting out a strategic plan to train workers in the field.

Iran Says No Offer Can Stop it Enriching Uranium

TEHRAN: No offer from world powers can persuade Iran to stop enriching uranium, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday, dismissing the key demand of countries that fear Tehran is developing nuclear weapons.

A day after the UN atomic watchdog said it had new evidence of possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear work, Ahmadinejad accused it of doing Washington’s bidding and said Tehran’s atomic advances had “no brake and no reverse gear.”

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Yukiya Amano, said on Monday the IAEA had received “further information ... that seems to point to the existence of possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear program.”

That contradicts Iran’s insistence that its nuclear work is for entirely peaceful purposes, and Ahmadinejad made clear his displeasure with the Japanese IAEA chief who has taken a blunter approach than his Egyptian predecessor Mohamed ElBaradei.

“With America’s orders (the IAEA) has written some things in a report that are against the law and against the agency’s regulations,” Ahmadinejad told reporters.“These have no legal value and aside from harming the agency’s reputation it will have no other effect.”

Tehran says sanctions imposed by Washington, Europe and the United Nations are not hitting its economy and insists they will not force it to give up what it considers its sovereign right to enrich uranium, a process that can make fuel for power plants or, by enriching uranium more highly, provide bomb material. No reverse

“I have said before that Iran’s nuclear train has no brake and no reverse gear ... We will continue our path,” Ahmadinejad said, adding that Iran would continue to cooperate with the IAEA “as long as they move based on justice.”

Asked whether the world powers that have held talks with Tehran in the past to seek an end to the nuclear impasse could offer any incentive to stop Iran’s enrichment, he answered with the one word: “No.”

Two rounds of talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France, plus Germany (P5+1), in Geneva in December and in Istanbul in January, did not reach any substantive result.

Iran has said it is willing to resume talks, but its insistence that other countries recognize its right to enrich uranium is a major stumbling block, particularly for Western diplomats who see it as an unacceptable pre-condition.

The EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, who represented the P5+1 at the talks, said last month she wanted a “stronger and better” reply from Iran to her call to revive the talks.

Israel and the United States say they do not rule out pre-emptive military strikes to stop Iran making nuclear bombs.

As well as blaming Washington for Amano’s comments, Ahmadinejad used his news conference to condemn US interference in the Middle East, including Bahrain, the tiny Gulf island state that hosts the US Fifth Fleet and whose crackdown on pro-democracy protests Tehran has condemned.

“The problem is not between the authorities and the people, the problem is America’s military base in Bahrain,” he said.

On Syria, Iran’s main ally in the region in its stand against Israel, he said: “I condemn the interference of America and its allies ... We believe that Syrians themselves are capable of managing their own affairs.”

There are US troops in two of Iran’s neighbors — Iraq and Afghanistan — and Ahmadinejad predicted Washington would try to extend its presence in a third — nuclear armed Pakistan.

“We have information that in order to gain more control over Pakistan, to weaken the Pakistani nation and government, the Americans want to sabotage Pakistan’s nuclear facilities,” he said, adding that damage to nuclear plants would be a pretext for a greater US presence in the country.

Tribal Fighters Take Over Major City in Yemen, Eyewitnesses Say

Tribal fighters took control of a top Yemeni city on Tuesday, a setback for an embattled government whose injured president is confined to a hospital in Saudi Arabia.More than 400 tribal gunmen took over Taiz in southwest Yemen, eyewitnesses there said.

The gunmen had been clashing with Yemeni security forces near the city's Republican Palace and eyewitnesses said they are now in control of the city. The palace is not far from the city's Freedom Square -- a focal point of anti-government protests.

Government forces have been regrouping in an effort to re-enter the city. Yemen's government has faced international criticism for excessive use of force against anti-regime protesters and the deaths of anti-government demonstrators in Taiz.

"The clashes continued for hours and no one was able to leave their houses. A large number of protesters in Freedom Square in Taiz left the square as the clashes were near there," said Sameer Saeed, an eyewitness said.

The fighting intensified as President Ali Abdullah Saleh

recovers in Saudi Arabia from burns over 40% of his body and a collapsed lung, a U.S. government officials briefed on the matter said.The fate of the embattled leader -- and whether he will return to the conflict in Yemen -- remains uncertain.

Saleh was injured Friday in an attack at his presidential compound. An Arab diplomatic source with knowledge of Saleh's condition says one shrapnel wound is 7 centimeters (2.75 inches) deep.

Fighting between government and tribal forces has raged for weeks in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, where thousands of anti-government protesters have been pressuring Saleh to give up power since January. And there has been unrest elsewhere.

At least 15 people were killed in Abyan Monday night and Tuesday morning in clashes between Islamic militants and security forces, according to a security source in Abyan.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has a significant presence in the southern province of Abyan, a U.S. official said. It's also home to an Islamic militant movement that has targeted government troops in recent days.

The number includes nine soldiers, four militants and two civilians in Zinjibar and other suburbs in the province, according to the source, who asked to not be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

There was violence along the Saudi-Yemeni border, where there have long been concerns of infiltration by militants.

A man attempting to cross the border from Saudi Arabia into Yemen early Tuesday shot dead two security officers and injured another, the state-run Saudi Press Agency said on Tuesday.

The man, described as an "infiltrator" who tried to cross the metal and sand barriers at the border, fired at the security officers when they approached him. Security personnel tracked the man and he was killed in an exchange of fire.

The turmoil in Yemen reached a pinnacle Friday, when a mosque in Saleh's presidential compound was attacked. Yemen's state-run news agency SABA reported last week that three guards and an imam were killed, citing a source in Saleh's office.

According to Western diplomats, the attack came from a bomb. Yemeni investigations are "focusing on what happened inside the mosque," not a rocket or mortar attack, diplomats said Monday. One diplomat said the bombing was not a suicide bombing and that the Yemeni investigation "is still ongoing."

But last week, a Yemeni official who asked not to be named told CNN that Saleh was in the mosque when two "projectiles" were fired during Friday prayers.

Supporters of Sadeq Al-Ahmar, leader of the Hashed tribe and an opponent of the Yemeni government, were suspected in the attack.

Yemeni security forces shelled Al-Ahmar's home Friday in response to the attack, leaving 10 people dead and 35 others wounded, according to Fawzi Al-Jaradi, an official with the Hashed tribal confederation.

After Saleh went to Saudi Arabia for treatment, the tribal leader and Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi -- Yemen's interim leader -- agreed on a cease-fire, said Abdulqawi Al-Qaisi, spokesman for the Hashed leader.

Yemen's largest opposition bloc has vowed to prevent Saleh from returning.

"The Yemeni people will do all in their power to not allow Saleh to re-enter the country," Joint Meeting Parties spokesman Mohammed Qahtan said Sunday.

A U.S. government official said Monday he can't imagine the Saudis letting Saleh go back. He said it is critical that the Saudis press Saleh to accept a Gulf Cooperation Council deal offering him immunity in exchange for stepping down.

Saudi state-run Ekhbariya television reported Monday that Saleh had undergone two operations in Saudi Arabia and it reported he would return to Yemen after he recovers.

Christopher Boucek, a Middle East expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said he doubts Saleh will go back."The regime still maintains that he will return, and they say he's going to return within days, if not weeks," Boucek said. "But there's really no option I see for how he can go back and still be president."

A U.S. official told CNN Monday that the unrest makes U.S. counterterrorism efforts in Yemen "more difficult." "We rely on the Yemeni government as partners," the official said. "The more the government is distracted by the political unrest, the more difficult it is for us."

The Yemeni government has had a "big impact on acquiring information on AQAP," the official said, referring to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. "If that information flow slows or stops, it inhibits our ability to gather information."Two opposition leaders in Yemen expressed cautious support Monday for Hadi, the vice president, while Saleh is away.

"We do not have any problem if Hadi takes control of the government. He is respected by the people," said Tawakkul Karman, adding that Hadi "must use this historic moment to enter Yemen's history as a leader and revolutionary."

But she warned that if he does not "conduct immediate reforms, the youth protesters will go against him the same way they did against Saleh. It's Hadi's choice to decide which door of history he wants to go through."

Ahmed Bahri, a senior official of the opposition Joint Meeting Parties, said that if Hadi can lead peaceful change, "we welcome it. If not, he should step aside and not stall the revolution."

Bahraini Clerics Accuse Police of Violating Religious Freedoms

Bahraini Shi'ite clerics accused police on Tuesday of violating religious freedoms by breaking up street festivals by majority Shi'ites that police said activists had turned into political protests against the government.

The U.N. labor rights agency also urged Bahrain on Tuesday to give jobs back to at least 2,000 workers fired for striking in support of pro-democracy protests in February and March that were put down harshly during over two months of martial law.

"Our main worry is people being able to work and ensuring they can exercise their freedom of association and not be pressured as a result of events," International Labour Organization (ILO) director-general Juan Somavia told a news briefing in Geneva.

In March, Bahrain called in troops from fellow Sunni-led Gulf Arab countries to quash the democracy protests, accusing the protesters of

having a sectarian agenda and help from Shi'ite power Iran. The opposition deny this.

Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, says the Saudi and Emirati forces will remain in the country indefinitely to help face a perceived threat from Iran, across a short stretch of water from Bahrain.

Police clashed with Shi'ite marchers on Sunday, less than a week after Bahrain, ruled by its Sunni Muslim minority, repealed an emergency law that quashed weeks of protests.

The government said on Tuesday an unspecified number of arrests had been made.

"The targeting of processions is a flagrant violation of freedom to practice religious rites," said a statement from five senior Shi'ite clerics, including Sheikh Issa Qassim.

"The tight security policing must end and people's rights must be respected," it said.

Shi'ite villagers, some beating their chests and chanting religious verses as they marched through the streets, were marking the festival of Azza, which commemorates the death of one of the 12 Imams, or early Shi'ite religious leaders.

Residents and Shi'ite opposition group Wefaq said police used tear gas, rubber bullets, sound grenades and birdshot to break up the marches in several Shi'ite areas around Manama.

A police statement on Tuesday said some people had been arrested for anti-government chants. "Some small groups broke the law on Sunday by exploiting the commemoration of the death of the Imam Hadi to stage marches and repeat political slogans that violate (the law)," the official news agency quoted spokesman Tareq bin Dayna as saying.

Marchers in some of the parades shouted "Down, down with (King) Hamad" and "The people want the fall of the regime."

Bahrain was thrilled to get the Formula One Grand Prix reinstated in this season's calendar by the sport's governing body, after weeks of negative publicity around the world during a harsh crackdown under martial law.

But with military trials underway and clashes between police and protesters in Shi'ite villages, Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone called on Tuesday for a fresh vote on the decision to hold the Bahrain Grand Prix in October.

"Better that we move Bahrain to the end of the season and, if things are safe and well, then that is fine, we can go," he told the Times of London newspaper. The government-owned Bahrain International Circuit that runs the event issued a response saying Bahrain would be ready to host the event.

Forty-eight doctors and nurses are on military trial on charges ranging from incitement against the government to storing weapons and seizing control of a major hospital during the unrest, part of a series of protests that have swept North African and Gulf states this year.

Twenty-one rights activists and opposition political leaders are also on military trial for attempting to overthrow the system of government.

Rights activists say the charges are concocted to discredit demands for democracy that threatened the Al Khalifa family's grip on power and that most of the men and women on trial have been physically and verbally abused in detention.The government has said it will investigate any claims of abuse for which there is concrete evidence.

Some lawyers told Reuters after a hearing on Monday that they had not been granted access to the defendants and argued those in custody should be released until their trial. A government official said the lawyers would be allowed to see their clients before next week's session.

The trial of the medical workers has angered many among the Shi'ite population, as tensions simmer in the tiny island kingdom after emergency law was lifted on June 1.

Defendants said they believed their cases would depend on the outcome of a national dialog expected in July that was offered by the king last week and accepted by Wefaq and other political groups.

Mutinous Syrian Soldiers Behind Deaths in North

BEIRUT – Mutinous Syrian soldiers joined forces with protesters after days of crackdowns in a tense northern region, apparently killing dozens of officers and security guards, residents and activists said Tuesday.

The details of what happened in Jisr al-Shughour remain murky, but if confirmed the mutiny would be an extraordinary crack in the regime, which sees its 40-year grip on the country eroded weekly by thousands of protesters calling for the ouster of President Bashar Assad.

The government said 120 troops and police died after "armed groups" attacked in Jisr al-Shughour, but has not explained how the heavily armed military could suffer such an enormous loss of life. Communications to the area are spotty, foreign journalists have been expelled, and many people reached by phone are too afraid to talk.

The town drew the most recent assault by Syria's military, whose nationwide crackdown on the revolt against Assad has left more than 1,300 Syrians dead, activists say. A resident said tensions began last week with snipers and security forces firing repeatedly on peaceful protests and then funerals, killing around 30 people.

The resident said a number of soldiers ultimately defected, angered by the thuggish behavior of pro-government gunmen known as "shabiha," a fearsome name that some believe has roots in the Arabic word for "ghost."

The resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared reprisals, said the gunmen were terrorizing residents and trying to stir up sectarian tensions.

Jisr al-Shughour is predominantly Sunni but there are Alawite and Christian villages in the area. The Alawite minority rules over Sunni majority in Syria, and the uprising has stirred sectarian tensions.

"There was heavy gunfire and very loud explosions from across the river on Saturday and Sunday," he said, adding he could not see what was happening from where he lives."We heard there were massacres, bodies thrown in the river."

There have been sporadic reports since the uprising began of troops defecting and even reports of military units fighting each other, but if the government's toll is confirmed, this would by far be the deadliest mutiny. Assad's army has always been the regime's fiercest defender.

An alleged army deserter, a man who identified himself as Lt. Abdul-Razzaq Tlass, appeared on the Al-Jazeera television network Tuesday and called on other officers to protect protesters against the regime.

"Remember your duties," added Tlass, who shares a last name with a former defense minister and said he was from the town of Rastan. The name Tlass is common among Syrian officers; Rastan — which has also come under deadly government bombardment in recent days — is their hometown.

France said the latest events in Syria showed Assad has lost legitimacy to rule, and Britain said the president must "reform or step aside"

The Jisr al-Shughour resident said people were fleeing the area for the Turkish border about 12 miles (20 kilometers) away, fearing retaliation from a regime known for ruthlessly crushing dissent. The government vowed Monday to respond "decisively" to the violence there.

"People were struck by fear and panic after the government statements last night, it's clear they are preparing for a major massacre," he said.

In many ways, Syrians say, the shabiha are more terrifying than the army and security forces, whose tactics include firing on protesters. Most shabiha fighters belong to the minority Alawite sect, as do the Assad family and the ruling elite. This ensures the gunmen's loyalty to the regime, built on fears they will be persecuted if the Sunni majority gains the upper hand.

Jisr al-Shughour was a stronghold of the country's banned Muslim Brotherhood in the 1980s. Human rights groups said at least 42 civilians have been killed there since Saturday.

Some activists also told of a mutiny, with a few soldiers switching sides and defending themselves against attacking security forces. Other reports said many Syrians also took up arms to defend themselves.

A resident of Jisr al-Shughour who spoke from a nearby village where he fled days ago scoffed at reports of armed resistance.

"Since the 80s, residents of Jisr al-Shughour are banned from possessing any kind of weapons, even a hunting rifle," he said. "So how can there be armed resistance?"

A prominent activist outside Syria with connections to the area said many Syrians had taken to carrying weapons in response to the killings of protesters. But he said clashes over the past few days were mainly between supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and Syrian security forces. He said the weapons were smuggled from Turkey.

"The area is effectively outside the control of Syrian security forces now," he said.

Ammar Qurabi, head of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria, said it was unclear how such a large number of officers were killed.

He said the likely cause was army infighting but added there may be cases of individual residents rising up against troops to defend themselves.

He blamed the government for not explaining: "The statements by officials are full of threats, rather than explanations."

Turkish authorities 35 Syrians wounded in the clashes were being treated Tuesday at Turkish hospitals after crossing the border from Jisr al-Shughour.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said 224 Syrians were sheltering at a camp near the border and authorities were taking measures in case of an influx of refugees.

Syria's government has a history of violent retaliation against dissent,

including a three-week bombing campaign against the city of Hama that crushed an uprising there in 1982. Jisr al-Shughour itself came under government shelling in 1980, with a reported 70 people killed.

'We are Stronger,' Gadhafi Says After Heaviest NATO Strikes

TRIPOLI, Libya — NATO on Tuesday launched its heaviest day of shelling on Moammar Gadhafi's compound and other targets in the capital, dropping at least 31 bombs in broad daylight and drawing out the Libyan leader, who vowed he'd die a martyr rather than step down.

"We only have one choice: We will stay in our land dead or alive,'' he said in a fiery audio commentary on national TV in which he also urged supporters to rally at his compound.

"We will not kneel!" he shouted in a phone call to state TV that appeared to take the station by surprise. The sound was hastily adjusted to make it louder.

"Death, victory, it does not matter, we are not surrendering!" he shouted.

"We are stronger than your weapons, than your planes. The voices of the Libyan people are stronger than the sounds of explosions," he said, angrily calling the rebels who have risen up against him "bastards."

Minutes after he spoke, another explosion shook the capital as NATO apparently launched another strike. Pro-Gadhafi loyalists also fired a round of celebratory gunfire after his speech, which lasted at least six minutes.

As Gadhafi spoke, the sound of low-flying military aircraft could be heard whooshing through Tripoli again and Gadhafi quickly hung up.

Gadhafi has mostly been in hiding since NATO strikes in April targeted one of his homes. Libyan officials said one of his sons, Saif al-Arab, and three of his grandchildren were killed.

Gadhafi's last audio statement lasted less than a minute and was in mid-May. He was last seen in a brief glimpse of TV footage sitting with visiting South African President Jacob Zuma in late May.

In Tuesday's airstrikes, foreign journalists in Tripoli counted at least 31 bombings, NBC News reported.

Libyan television said several structures in the Gadhafi compound were badly damaged. NBC confirmed Gadhafi's compound had been hit, and reported that the military offered to take reporters to the scene to survey the damage. As bombs were still falling in the area, many declined the invitation. At least one man was killed, officials said.

Daylight NATO raids have been rare and signal an intensification of the alliance bid to drive Gadhafi from power.

NATO officials have warned for days that they were increasing the scope and intensity of their two-month campaign to oust Gadhafi after more than 40 years in power. The alliance is assisting a four-month old rebel insurgency that has seized swaths of eastern Libya and pockets in the regime's stronghold in the west.

Ambulances, sirens blaring, could be heard racing through the city during the daylong raids that shook the ground and sent thundering sound waves across the capital. Some of the strikes were believed to have targeted a military barracks near Gadhafi's sprawling central Tripoli compound, said spokesman Moussa Ibrahim. Others hit the compound itself, Libyan television reported.

"Instead of talking to us, they are bombing us. They are going mad. They are losing their heads," said Ibrahim.

The spokesman said the daylight strikes were particularly terrifying because families were separated during the day. Libyan school children are taking final exams at the end of the school year.

"Tens of thousands of children are in Tripoli. You can imagine the shock and horror of the children. You can imagine the horror of parents who can't check on their children who are far away," Ibrahim said.

The compound hosts homes, guest houses, large grassy knolls and a camp ground where pro-Gadhafi loyalists sleep. The television said nearby homes were also damaged, along with some infrastructure.

NATO strikes before dawn Monday targeted a building of the state-run Libyan television station, he said, reporting that 16 people were injured. The building was only partially destroyed and Libyan television is still broadcasting.

As NATO intensifies air attacks on Tripoli, there appears to be renewed diplomatic efforts to find a peaceful end to the civil war.

A U.N. envoy was expected in the country Tuesday. Ibrahim would not say who envoy Abdul-Elah al-Khatib would meet, or how long he would stay.

So far diplomacy has failed, given that rebels are demanding Gadhafi leave power. The dictator steadfastly refuses to cede power.

Also Tuesday, Tripoli dispatched Foreign Minister Abdul-Ati al-Obeidi to Beijing for a three days of talks, an apparent effort to restore some of Libyan government influence and defuse a setback delivered by China last week.

Chinese officials announced on Friday that they had reached out to the rebel forces challenging Gadhafi, a significant effort to boost Chinese engagement in the Libya conflict and possibly jostle for a mediator role.

Beijing had stayed on the sidelines for the first few months since the revolt against Gadhafi's government erupted in mid-February, pointedly avoiding joining international calls for Gadhafi to step down and saying that is for the Libyan people to decide.

China also abstained in the U.N. Security Council vote authorizing the use of force against Libyan government loyalists and has repeatedly criticized the NATO bombing campaign in support of the rebels.

But last week, Beijing said the head of Libya's rebel council met with China's ambassador to Qatar in Doha, in what was the first known contact between the two sides.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters at a regular briefing Tuesday that talks with al-Obeidi would focus on the need for a political solution to the Libyan crisis.

He also reiterated China's appeals for an immediate cease-fire and called on all parties to "fully consider the mediation proposals put forward by the international community so as to defuse the tensions as soon as possible."

In Benghazi on Tuesday, a Russian delegation met with the rebel's National Transitional Council which controls the city and Eastern Libya. Special representative for Africa Mikhail Margelov said that Gadhafi had lost his legitimacy but that NATO airstrikes were not a solution to the stalemate in Libya.

"As long as bloodshed continues the more difficult it will be to build a national reconciliation process after the civil war," Margelov told reporters Tuesday.

Margelov left Benghazi for Cairo, the Interfax news agency reported, adding that the rebels said they supported Russia's mediation with Tripoli. The envoy did not, however, have plans to go to Tripoli.

Russia, along with China, abstained in the U.N. Security Council vote authorizing the use of force against Libyan government loyalists and has repeatedly criticized the NATO bombing campaign in support of the rebels.

The revolt against Gadhafi followed popular uprisings that overturned the longtime rulers of Tunisia and Egypt. A coalition of rebels seized control of much of eastern Libya and set up an administration based in the eastern city of Benghazi.

As the conflict escalated, it grew beyond an insurrection by a small group and has now evolved into a civil war. The rebels, led by the National Transitional Council, are well in control of nearly a third of the inhabitable part of Libya the country.

U.S. Drone Strikes Are Reported to Kill at Least 18 in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — American drone aircraft attacked at least three sites in the tribal region of South Waziristan on Monday, killing at least 18 people, according to Pakistani officials.

At least three missiles were fired at a house in the Shalam Raghzai region of South Waziristan, a semiautonomous mountainous tribal region straddling the border with Afghanistan. The second attack struck a suspected militant compound in Wacha Dana, about

seven miles northwest of Wana, the main town of South Waziristan.

At least 14 people were killed in the first two attacks, officials said. A few hours later, at least four people were killed when a drone fired at a vehicle at Darnashtra in the Shawal area of the region.

“We don’t have troops on the ground, so information is hard to verify,” said a local Pakistani Army commander in Wana. “Local residents do not necessarily provide accurate information on the number of casualties.”

“Most of those killed in the drone strikes are said to be foreigners,” he added. “Their nationalities are described to be Arabs, Uzbeks and at least one Turk.” Details on the attacks could not be independently verified.

The drone strikes — in which American forces use unmanned, remotely guided aircraft to fire missiles at suspected members of the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the restive tribal areas — are very unpopular in Pakistan.

But despite protests from opposition political parties, the drones continue to be the American weapon of choice. In recent days, there has been a surge in the number of drone attacks against suspected militants in South Waziristan.

On Friday night, local residents and officials said that Ilyas Kashmiri, one of the most feared Pakistani militants and a senior Al Qaeda operational commander, was killed in a drone attack in the Laman area of South Waziristan.

This was the second time Mr. Kashmiri was reported to have been killed. Pakistani officials had claimed in September 2009 that he had died in a drone strike.