US secretary of state Hillary Clinton yesterday demanded UN action to stop spiralling violence in Syria as she prepared to join other top diplomats in pressing a reluctant Russia.

SYRIAN forces killed 111 people ahead of the start of a mission to monitor President Bashar al-Assad’s implementation of an Arab League peace plan, activists claimed.

THE French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, who has laboured to improve French relations with Israel, said he “can’t stand” the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu and called him a liar in a chat with US President Barack Obama.

The head of Libya’s transitional government tried to reassure Western powers which helped topple Muammar Gaddafi that the country’s new leaders were moderate Muslims, after a speech that emphasised the Islamisation of Libya.

LIBYAN army vehicles have crossed the desert frontier into Niger in what may be a dramatic, secretly negotiated bid by Muammar Gaddafi to seek refuge in a friendly African state.

The European Union has opened a humanitarian office in Tripoli and France has reopened its embassy as the process of resurrecting the Libyan capital gets underway.

LIBYAN rebels have taken over the eastern oil hub of Brega, in their most significant advance in months against forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi.

FRANCE’S foreign minister said yesterday that Paris has had contact with emissaries from Muammar Gaddafi who say the embattled Libyan is “prepared to leave”.

FRANCE is growing impatient with the lack of progress on reaching a political solution to the crisis in Libya, but officials denied Paris is in talks with Gaddafi’s government or could consider him not quitting power.

Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi shelled a besieged western city today, killing at least nine people, while the US told a Nato meeting that the alliance must intensify its political mission to isolate the Libyan leader and “bring about his departure”.

THERE were conflicting reports of fighting in Libya last night as countries prepared to enforce a no-fly zone over the country and the west, allied with the Arab League, the African Union and the UN, prepare to meet in Paris today.

Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden has called on France to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan in exchange for releasing French hostages held by allies of his terror group.

A JUNTA that seized power in a coup in the west African nation of Niger named a platoon commander as its leader, hours after soldiers announced on state TV their group was in charge of the uranium-rich country.

European leaders today pressed Iran to stick by a deal that would limit its uranium enrichment, voicing “grave concern” over the country’s nuclear programme.

IRAN yesterday agreed to hold talks next month with six world powers on its latest proposals to allay concerns over its nuclear programme, in a move Washington welcomed as an “important first step”.

THOUSANDS of Ivorian women — waving tree branches and singing, with their faces painted — surrounded the French Embassy yesterday to protest a French-brokered peace accord.