Pakistani officials have arrested Indonesian Umar Patek, suspect in 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Intelligence sources say top Indonesian terror suspect Umar Patek has been arrested in Pakistan. 

Patek is one of the main suspects in the 2002 Bali bombings that left 202 people dead.

Two officials speaking on condition that they not be named said Patek was taken into custody in Pakistan on March 2. One of the sources is an Indonesian security official, and the other is a Philippine intelligence official who cited information from U.S. counterparts.

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Was Gandhi Gay? New Book Raises Question

More than six decades after his death, Gandhi remains a polarizing figure for some. So the arrival of a new book on him is a chance for those with well-formed unflattering opinions of Gandhi to trot out all his trespasses, as those on the other end of the spectrum leap to his defense.

Which is exactly what they did in reactions to a new book by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Joseph Lelyveld “Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle With India,” officially out in the U.S. on Tuesday.

Of course, it’s not often a book on Gandhi—even the many revisionist books, plays and films that have come out in recent years and that have highlighted his unkindness to his wife, his remoteness as a father and his odd ways of testing his sexual self-control—has suggested that he might have been gay, or at least had one gay relationship.

Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/03/29/was-gandhi-gay-new-book-raises-question/

Kadhafi forces sweep through Misrata

Tanks and troops loyal to Moamer Kadhafi swept through rebel-held Misrata on Tuesday, a rebel spokesman said as a doctor in Libya's third city put the death toll at 142 since March 18.

Kadhafi troops indiscriminately shelled Misrata, 214 kilometres (132 miles) east of Tripoli, and are preparing for a "massacre," the rebel spokesman told AFP by telephone.

"Misrata is in danger. The criminal forces are advancing on the city and the tanks are firing shells indiscriminately," he said, asking that his name be withheld.

"The massacre that was avoided in Benghazi thanks to the intervention of coalition forces will be carried out in the Misrata," the spokesman said.

The rebel stronghold of Benghazi is located 810 kilometers (503 miles) east of Misrata along the Mediterranean coast.

Western coalition forces launched a campaign on March 19 to enforce a UN no-fly zone in Libya and to protect civilians under attack and pounded Kadhafi forces in and around the rebel stronghold.

"Unlike what happened in Benghazi, coalition warplanes did not hit (Kadhafi) tanks that are already inside Misrata to avoid civilian casualties," the spokesman said.

He also spoke of a "humanitarian catastrophe" while a city doctor speaking separately to AFP said that at least 142 people were killed and more than 1,400 others injured since Kadhafi loyalists began hammering the city on March 18.

"We have had 142 dead since March 18," including four people who died on Monday, said the doctor, also speaking on condition of anonymity.

"We can't keep count anymore of the wounded but it is clearly more than 1,400, including 90 in a serious condition," he added.

He said that a Turkish boat was expected to dock at Misrata port later Tuesday to evacuate at least 50 wounded.

Rebels earlier said that a hospital ship was due in Misrata.

"It is a floating hospital that is being escorted by NATO that was delayed," a rebel spokesman, Shamsiddin Abdulmolah, said.

He said the vessel's arrival came two days after that of another ship in Misrata carrying humanitarian supplies, including food, milk, flour and other staples.

Abdulmolah could not provide further details about either ship, or which organisation chartered them.

Journalists in Tripoli on Monday were bussed to the outskirts of Misrata by Libyan government officials, to witness a pro-Kadhafi demonstration as it was broadcast live by Libyan state television.

They said they were not taken into the city, but it was clear that widespread destruction and fighting had occurred, and black smoke hung over the area.

Rebels have said that Kadhafi forces expelled more than 5,000 families from their homes in the western part of the city.

"Hundreds of families have found refuge in schools and mosques. The situation is very dangerous, very delicate," a rebel spokesman said.

He said Kadhafi forces were controlling the northwestern part of Misrata.

The Libyan foreign ministry said on Monday that its troops completed an offensive against Misrata and that "calm" reigned once again in the strategic city.

"Anti-terrorist units have ceased firing on armed terrorist groups who have committed all manner of acts of terrorism against the population of Misrata and disrupted their lives," a foreign ministry statement said.

"The town of Misrata currently enjoys an atmosphere of safety and calm and its public bodies are once again able to serve the public normally," said the statement carried by the official news agency Jana.

It was not clear however if Kadhafi forces were in full control of Misrata or just part of it.

Japan finds plutonium in soil at stricken nuclear plant

Plutonium found in soil at the Fukushima nuclear complex heightened alarm on Tuesday over Japan's battle to contain the world's worst atomic crisis in 25 years, as pressure mounted on the prime minister to widen an evacuation zone around the plant.

Some opposition lawmakers blasted Naoto Kan in parliament for his handling of the disaster and for not widening the exclusion zone. Kan said he was seeking advice on such a step, which would force 130,000 people to move in addition to 70,000 already displaced.

The drama at the six-reactor facility has compounded Japan's agony after an earthquake and tsunami on March 11 left more than 28,000 people dead or missing in the devastated northeast.

In a gesture of support, France said it had sent two nuclear experts to Japan to help contain the accident and French President Nicolas Sarkozy will visit on Thursday for a meeting with Kan.

France is the world's most nuclear-dependent country, producing 75 percent of its power needs from 58 nuclear reactors, and selling state-owned Areva's reactors around the world. Sarkozy will be the first foreign leader to visit since the earthquake.

In the latest blow to hopes authorities were gradually getting the plant under control, operator Tokyo Electric Power Co said plutonium was found at low-risk levels in soil samples at the facility.

A by-product of atomic reactions and also used in nuclear bombs, plutonium is highly carcinogenic and one of the most dangerous substances on the planet, experts say.

They believe some of the plutonium may have come from spent fuel rods at Fukushima or damage to reactor No. 3, the only one to use plutonium in its fuel mix.

Carnage 'beyond imagination' in Misrata, says witness

Libyan forces pounded parts of Misrata on Tuesday, with tanks firing mortar shells and troops using heavy artillery in an effort to retake control of the city, a witness told CNN.

Coalition planes circled overhead but did not strike the tanks, he said.

As representatives of numerous countries met in London to decide the next steps in the Libya effort, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi showed no sign of letting up his effort to crush the rebellion that seeks an end to his nearly 42 years in power.

The day after Gadhafi's regime tried to convince journalists that it was in control of Misrata by taking them on a trip to part of the city but not allowing them into the city center, his troops were killing and wounding civilians and evicting thousands of people from their homes, the witness told CNN.

"The carnage and the destruction and the human suffering from both the evictions and... terrorizing the city -- it's beyond imagination," said the witness, an opposition councilman in Misrata, in western Libya east of Tripoli. "It's incredible."

Gadhafi forces did not even allow people to take belongings with them from their homes, he added. "They tell them, 'Run for your lives,' and fire bullets just above them."

Troops are looting the homes, he said.