Libya: 'Eight SAS Soldiers Held By Rebels' - Yahoo! News UK

Libya: 'Eight SAS Soldiers Held By Rebels'

Eight SAS soldiers have been detained by rebels in Libya, according to Sky News sources.Skip related content

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Rebel sources told Sky that the group are being held in Libya's second city in Benghazi.

According to the sources a British diplomat who was with the unit is now negotiating for their release.

The rebels say the soldiers are being well treated and the issue will soon be resolved.

The Ministry of Defence and the Foreign Office have neither confirmed or denied the reports.

Defence Secretary Liam Fox has however confirmed that a "small diplomatic team" is in Benghazi to talk to Libyan rebels.

Mr Fox declined to comment on reports the SAS unit guarding the team had been detained.

"We are in touch with them but it would be inappropriate for me to comment further on that" he told the Andrew Marr show.

According to the Sky sources the eight SAS members were among a group of around 22 soldiers and one diplomat believed to have been dropped by helicopter in an area south of the Benghazi.

Only eight were detained and it is expected that they will be released either today or tomorrow.

There is speculation it could be an attempt by the rebels to ensure the interim Libyan council receives diplomatic recognition.

The SAS's intervention allegedly angered Libyan opposition figures who ordered the armed and plain-clothes soldiers to be locked up on a military base.

Opponents of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's fear he could use any evidence of western military interference to rally patriotic support for his regime.

Sky News defence correspondent Niall Paterson said: "The feeling in London is that the rebels who have taken the SAS members are simply making a point.

"There is no feeling this will end badly."

The Geneva-based Human Rights Solidarity group says the soldiers were caught when they were at a location 6 miles (10km) from Benghazi's airport at Benina.

:: Libyan warplanes are reported to have launched airstrikes on rebels advancing on Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's stronghold of Sirte 350 miles (560km) west of Benghazi.

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Obama's chief of staff: Libya requires global response - The Oval: Tracking the Obama presidency

Obama's chief of staff: Libya requires global response - The Oval: Tracking the Obama presidency

y David Jackson, USA TODAY

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CAPTION

By Carolyn Kaster, AP

White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley said today he is confident the United States and its allies will form a global response to the apparent civil war in Libya, and he downplayed the notion of establishing a no-fly zone, at least in the near term.

"The president knows that the ultimate decision he has to make, at times, is to put men and women in harm's way, and you do that only with great consultation with your allies," Daley said on NBC's Meet The Press. "You can do that in a way that can protect those young men and women."

Daley echoed comments by Defense Secretary Robert Gates by noting that creating a no-fly zone would require military action to knock out Libyan anti-air defenses. "Lots of people throw around phrases of 'no-fly zone,' and they talk about it as if it's just a ... video game or something. Some people who throw that line out have no idea what they're talking about," Daley said.

The U.S. and its allies have been talking for weeks "to try to have a coordinated effort to bring pressure" on Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

"As the president said, all options are on the table," Daley said. "But this has to be an international effort. It cannot be done by one country."

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- Saudi Arabia - forbids any protest demos, marches

- Saudi Arabia - forbids any protest demos, marches

By Reuters

• Saturday, 5 March 2011 5:05 PM

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Thousands of pro-government Bahrainis rally in the capital Manama on March 2. (AFP/Getty Images)

Saudi Arabia on Saturday banned all protests and marches, state television on Saturday cited the Interior Ministry as saying after Saudi minority Shi'ites staged small protests in the oil-producing eastern province.

Security forces would use all measures to prevent any attempt to disrupt public order, state news channel al-Ekhbariya said in an alert without giving details.

Saudi Shi'ites held two small protests in the kingdom's oil-producing east on Friday, demanding the release of a cleric and other prisoners, witnesses, human rights activists and Shi'ite sources said.

More than 100 protesters marched through the city of Hofuf to demand the release of Shi'ite cleric Tawfiq al-Amir who was arrested after calling for a constitutional monarchy and a fight against corruption, witnesses and human rights activists said.

Santelli: 'Good' Jobs Report Has Dark Side — CNBC, CNBC.com Market and Economy News - CNBC

Santelli: 'Good' Jobs Report Has Dark Side — CNBC, CNBC.com Market and Economy News

We created 192,000 headline jobs in the February employment report. It’s not enough, but it certainly is welcome news and it is heading in the right direction — although too slowly.

We also learned from the February report that the unemployment rate finally trended below the psychologically important 9 percent mark. This is a very big development, considering the rate was pushing the 10 percent level several months ago.

Upon closer scrutiny though, there is another factor contributing to the drop that is not necessarily good news: The official size of the U.S. labor force is shrinking.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes the “Labor Force Participation Rate” each month, along with a litany of other metrics that are used to give us the headline jobs number and the unemployment rate.

The government's definition of the labor force is all individuals 16 years of age and older, who are employed or seeking employment. It does not include students; retirees; anyone with unreported income, or "discouraged" workers.

The participation rate is the comparison of the "labor force," those looking for work or employed, and everyone else. That ratio is currently 64.2 percent seasonally adjusted, and 63.9 percent non-seasonally adjusted, the same level as last month. Both of those percentages are currently running at 27-year lows, meaning the percentage of Americans not working or even trying to join the work force is at a near three-decade high.

The last time the participation rate was above 66 percent — the 10-year average — was in August 2008.

It is imperative that we continue to monitor this relationship in order to determine if an improving unemployment rate means that American workers are finding jobs, or have just given up looking.

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