Designer Galliano detained in Paris scuffle

Officials say Dior designer John Galliano was briefly detained after a spat in a Paris restaurant.

An official with the Paris prosecutor's office says a couple in the restaurant accused Galliano of making anti-Semitic insults. A police official said Friday that Galliano also exchanged slaps with the couple.

The flamboyant British designer was questioned and released after the Thursday night incident. Both officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing say Galliano's blood alcohol levels were high.

The Dior fashion house would not comment on the incident.

Bahrain cleric: Talks must come with guarantees

A senior Bahraini cleric says anti-government protesters will engage in dialogue with the government only if talks lead to clear results that achieve the demands of the people.

In a sermon at a Shiite village mosque in the an anti-government hotbed of Diraz, imam Isa Qassim called for talks that are "clear, comprehensive and productive." He says demonstrators want guarantees on what would be accomplished by the talks.

Bahrain's rulers have offered to talk with opposition groups to try to defuse the showdown, but protesters have been slow to answer the call.

Demonstrators are planning marches later Friday to Manama's central Pearl Square that has been the center of protests.

UN official: World should act on Libya crackdown

The U.N.'s top human rights official said Friday that reports of mass killings of thousands in Libya should spur the international community to "step in vigorously" to end the crackdown against anti-government protesters in the North African country.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay urged the U.N. Human Rights Council to use all means possible to establish an independent panel to investigate the alleged abuses by Libyan security forces and hold those responsible to account.

European nations were leading the effort to condemn the crackdown ordered by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's regime, order a U.N.-led investigation into possible crimes against humanity and propose suspending Libya from the council.

"The crackdown in Libya of peaceful demonstrations is escalating alarmingly with reported mass killings, arbitrary arrests, detention and torture of protesters," Pillay told the U.N.'s top human rights body. "Tanks, helicopters and military aircraft have reportedly been used indiscriminately to attack the protesters. According to some sources, thousands may have been killed or injured."

It was only last May that the former U.S. enemy was elected to the 47-nation Human Rights Council as part of a series of attempts at political rehabilitation on the world stage.

Anti-Gadhafi forces launch new push in Libya

Libya's opposition movement launched a new push against Moammar Gadhafi on Friday, calling for mass demonstrations as it seeks to solidify its gains and loosen the longtime leader's grip on the capital.

The government responded by tightening security in the capital, with tanks and checkpoints lining the airport road and security cordons around mosques where protesters might gather. Young armed men, some wearing green bands on their arms in a sign of loyalty to Gadhafi, checked vehicles for weapons.

Foreign mercenaries and Libyan militiamen loyal to Gadhafi have fought fiercely to roll back the uprising against his rule, attacking two nearby cities Thursday in battles that killed at least 17 people. But rebels made new gains, seizing a military air base, as Gadhafi blamed Osama bin Laden for the upheaval.

A Tripoli resident said people in the capital have received messages on their cell phones urging them to launch demonstrations after Friday prayers, and he said he expected thousands to comply despite fear of pro-Gadhafi militiamen who have been deployed on the streets.

The capital's central Green Square was the site of intense clashes earlier in the week between government supporters and protesters.

The resident said the government detained several activists in Tripoli late Thursday to try to prevent the demonstrations from taking place. Among those detained was Mukhtar al-Mahmoudi, a former member of Libya's Muslim Brotherhood, who in the past spent six years in jail, the resident said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

"Let us make this Friday the Friday of liberation," one of the messages read, according to the resident.

Gadhafi's crackdown - the harshest by any Arab leader in the wave of protests that has swept the Middle East the past month - has so far helped him maintain control of Tripoli, home to about a third of Libya's 6 million population. But the uprising has divided the country and raised the specter of civil war.

Iraqi forces kill al-Qaida-linked leader

An Iraqi official says Iraqi security forces have killed the top military leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, an al-Qaida linked group responsible for bombings and suicide attacks across Iraq.

Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi told The Associated Press on Friday that authorities killed al-Nasser Lideen Allah Abu Suleiman during an operation on Thursday.

He was the group's war minister. The ISI is an umbrella group that includes al-Qaida in Iraq.

Suleiman replaced the Egyptian Abu Ayyub al-Masri who was killed in a U.S.-Iraqi military strike on a safe house in April.

The ISI has been seriously debilitated since the height of the Iraq war, although the group is still able to carry out deadly attacks.