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8A – Daily News – Monday, March 28, 2011 WORLD BRIEFING International air raids hit Gadhafi hometown RAS LANOUF, Libya (AP) — International air raids targeted Moammar Gadhafi’s hometown of Sirte for the first time Sunday night as rebels made a high-speed advance toward the regime stronghold, a for- midable obstacle that must be overcome for the government opponents to reach the capital Tripoli. A heavy bombardment of Tripoli also began after nightfall, with at least nine loud explosions and anti-aircraft fire heard, an Associated Press reporter in the city said. Earlier in the day, rebels regained two key oil complexes along the coastal highway that runs from the opposition-held eastern half of the country toward Sirte and beyond that, to the capital. Mov- ing quickly westward, the advance retraced the steps of the rebels’ first march toward the capital. But this time, the world’s most powerful air forces have eased the way by pounding Gadhafi’s forces for the past week. Sirte is strategically located about halfway between the rebel-held east and the Gadhafi-con- trolled west along the coastal highway. It is con- sidered a bastion of sup- port for Gadhafi that will be difficult for the rebels to take and the entrances to the city have reportedly been mined. If the rebels could overcome it, momentum for a march on the capital would sky- rocket. After nightfall, foreign journalists in Sirte report- ed loud explosions and warplanes flying over- heard. They said the city was swarming with sol- diers on patrol. Libyan state television confirmed air raids on Sirte and Tripoli. NATO to assume command BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO will assume com- mand of all aerial opera- tions in Libya from the U.S.-led force that has been conducting air strikes against Moammar Gadhafi’s forces, officials said Sunday. NATO jets on Sunday already began enforcing the no-fly zone, Secre- tary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced. Diplomats said the full transfer of authority would take several days. ‘‘NATO allies have decided to take on the whole military operation in Libya under the U.N. Security Council resolu- tion,’’ Fogh Rasmussen said in a statement. ‘‘NATO will implement all aspects of the U.N. resolution. Nothing more, nothing less.’’ The North Atlantic Council — the alliance’s top body — took two hours to approve a plan to expand a previously agreed mission to enforce the U.N. arms embargo and no-fly zone. It agreed to protect civilians from attack — which effective- ly means bombing Gad- hafi’s forces if they are threatening to harm the civilian population. The U.N. authorized the operation after Gad- hafi launched attacks against anti-government protesters who demanded that he step down after 42 years in power Japan utility used bad assumptions TOKYO (AP) — In planning their defense against a killer tsunami, the people running Japan’s now-hobbled nuclear power plant dis- missed important scientif- ic evidence and all but disregarded 3,000 years of geological history, an Associated Press investi- gation shows. The misplaced confi- dence displayed by Tokyo Electric Power Co. was prompted by a series of overly optimistic assump- tions that concluded the Earth couldn’t possibly release the level of fury it did two weeks ago, push- ing the six-reactor Fukushima Dai-ichi com- plex to the brink of multi- ple meltdowns. Instead of the reactors staying dry, as contem- plated under the power officials saying the huge figure had been miscal- culated and offering apologies. ‘‘The number is not credible,’’ said Tokyo Electric Power Co. spokesman Takashi Kurita. ‘‘We are very sorry.’’ A few hours later, TEPCO Vice President Sakae Muto said a new test had found radiation levels 100,000 times above normal — far bet- ter than the first results, though still very high. Gangs of men roam violence-hit Syrian city LATAKIA, Syria — Gangs of young men, some armed with swords and hunting rifles, roamed Sunday through the streets of a Syrian seaside city, closing alleys with bar- ricades and roughly questioning passersby in streets scarred by days of anti-government unrest. The scenes in Latakia, a Mediter- ranean port once known as a summmer tourist draw, were a remarkable display of anarchy in what had been one of the Mideast’s most tightly controlled coun- tries. company’s worst-case scenario, the plant was overrun by a torrent of water much higher and stronger than the utility argued could occur, according to an AP analy- sis of records, documents and statements from researchers, the utility and the Japan’s national nuclear safety agency. And while TEPCO and government officials have said no one could have anticipated such a mas- sive tsunami, there is ample evidence that such waves have struck the northeast coast of Japan before — and that it could happen again along the culprit fault line, which runs roughly north to south, offshore, about 220 miles (350 kilometers) east of the plant. TEPCO officials say they had a good system for projecting tsunamis. They declined to provide more detailed explana- tions, saying they were focused on the ongoing nuclear crisis. Mounting obstacles in Japanese nuclear crisis TOKYO (AP) — Mounting problems, including badly miscal- culated radiation figures and inadequate storage tanks for huge amounts of contaminated water, stymied emergency workers Sunday as they struggled to nudge Japan’s stricken nuclear complex back from the edge of disaster. Workers are attempt- ing to remove the radioactive water from the tsunami-ravaged nuclear compound and restart the regular cool- ing systems for the dan- gerously hot fuel. The day began with company officials reporting that radiation in leaking water in the Unit 2 reactor was 10 million times above nor- mal, a spike that forced employees to flee the unit. The day ended with Syria has been rocked by more than a week of demonstrations that began in the drought- parched southern agri- cultural city of Daraa and exploded nation- wide on Friday, with security forces opening fire on demonstrators in at least six places and killing dozens. The government has also tried to calm the situation with conces- sions, and President Bashar Assad is expect- ed to announce Tuesday that he is lifting a nearly 50-year state of emer- gency and moving to annul other harsh restrictions on civil lib- erties and political free- doms. Member of Parlia- ment Mohammed Habash told The Asso- ciated Press that law- makers discussed the state of emergency dur- ing a Sunday night ses- sion and Assad would make an announcement about the issue on Tues- day. He offered no fur- ther details. 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