Indonesian Muslims protest Gadhafi, int'l strikes

More than 10,000 Indonesians have rallied peacefully to support pro-democracy movements in Libya, Yemen and Bahrain.

The crowd, organized by an Islamic political party, expressed opposition to the international air strikes that have checked Libya's military and helped rebels gain control of key towns. But they also called for the immediate resignation of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and the protection of civilians.

Justice and Prosperity Party leader Hidayat Nur Wahid told the crowd Sunday the Gadhafi dictatorship must be ousted to stop a humanitarian tragedy.

Indonesia's own "people power" revolt toppled long-ruling dictator and Washington ally Gen. Suharto in 1998.

Alaska Airlines cancels flights after outage

Technicians worked to resolve a computer problem that prompted Alaska Airlines and its Horizon Air affiliate to cancel 152 flights, affecting at least 12,000 customers, officials said.

The presidents of both airlines said in a joint video statement on YouTube that Saturday's problem was caused by the failure of a system used for flight planning.

"A transformer blew and that took down the central computer system for both Alaska and Horizon," Alaska President Brad Tilden said during the two-minute statement released late in the afternoon.

A total of 152 flight were canceled, representing about 18 percent of the airlines' combined schedule, company spokesman Paul McElroy said late Saturday night. He said at least 12,000 customers were affected.

Other flights were delayed, and customers had trouble getting flight-status updates on the airlines' website because of the outage, McElroy said.

Both Tilden and Horizon President Glen Johnson apologized for the disruption. Johnson said stranded passengers would be rebooked on later planes or put on other airlines. The company said will not be charged a flight-change fee.

McElroy said the airlines worked on the problem throughout the day. Crews partially restored the system, but held off on the work needed for a full restoration until later in the evening when the flight load was lower, McElroy said.

"At this point, we hope that our operations will be normal" Sunday morning, he told the Associated Press.

Egypt stocks open strong, triggering market halt

Egypt's stock exchange surged by about 5 percent early Sunday as investors previously cautious about its nearly two-month closure returned to the market and began reversing the earlier losses.

The broader EGX100 index traded up almost 5.1 percent within five minutes of the market's opening, forcing the suspension of trading for 30 minutes in a pattern repeated since the Egyptian Exchange resumed operations on Wednesday.

The exchange had been shuttered since Jan. 27, just two days after the mass protests that eventually forced President Hosni Mubarak from power began. It had fallen over 16 percent before closing down, and on its first day back in business, the benchmark EGX30 index closed down almost 9 percent, and fell another roughly 3.7 percent the following day.

On both those days, trading was suspended within minutes of the market's opening.

But individual investors who had largely stood on the sidelines last week, stepped back in the market, while institutional investors were seen the still selling, though at lower volumes than before, traders said.

"The buyers are mainly Egyptians and (Gulf) Arabs," said Khaled Naga, a broker with Mega Investments who on Thursday had predicted that most shares could move back into the black after spending the first two days of the market's reopening trading at or near their 10 percent limit down.

"The last couple of days were not surprising," said Naga. "Even if there's a correction tomorrow, it's not worrying. Things are stabilizing now."

The EGX30 was trading up almost 5 percent, to 5,198 points, by 11:15 a.m. local time, according to the Egyptian Exchange's Web site. The EGX100 was up almost 7 percent.

Libyan rebels take back oil town in westward push

Libyan rebels took back a key oil town on Sunday in their westward push toward the capital, seizing momentum from the international airstrikes that tipped the balance away from Moammar Gadhafi's military.

Brega, a main oil export terminals in eastern Libya, fell to rebels after a skirmish late Saturday, said Ahmed Jibril, a rebel commander manning a checkpoint on the westernmost edge of town.

"There are no Gadhafi forces here now, the rebels have Brega under their full control, it is free," Jibril said.

He added that the front line was now 30 miles (40 kilometers) away at the desert town of al-Egila, a small collection of houses with a gas station along the coastal highway, about halfway to the massive oil refining complex of Ras Lanouf.

The two oil complexes combined would be responsible for a large chunk of Libya's oil capacity, which has all but stopped since the uprising that began Feb. 15 and was inspired by the toppling of governments in Tunisia and Egypt.

The Gadhafi regime on Saturday acknowledged the airstrikes had forced its troops to retreat and accused international forces of choosing sides.

Japan PM sombre as further radiation leak possible

High radiation in water found at Unit 3 of the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant may have originated at the reactor core, Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says.

So far, however, there is no evidence the containment vessel has been cracked or damaged, said agency spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama, who appeared to be backing down slightly from a previous remark that there was a good chance the reactor had been damaged.

The statements came the day after three workers at the unit were hurt when they stepped into water found to be 10,000 times more radioactive than normal. Two suffered radiation burns and were taken to Fukushima Medical University Hospital, while the third didn't require treatment.

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan sounded pessimistric in a televised address to the country Friday.

"The situation today at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant is still very grave and serious," Kan said. "We must remain vigilant. We are not in a position where we can be optimistic. We must treat every development with the utmost care."

He apologized to farmers and business owners around the plant for any damage He also thanked utility workers, firefighters and military personnel for "risking their lives" to cool the overheated facility.

The prime minister was speaking two weeks to the day after a magnitude-9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami set in motion unprecedented damage and explosions at the Daiichi nuclear site.

Uncertainty halted work at the overheated plant, where dozens of people had been trying to stop it from leaking dangerous radiation.

The high level of radiation in water at the site "could be a very dangerous and ominous sign, because if there is a breach, even a small one, radioactive material can begin to leak into the environment, [and] really change some of the parameters," reporter Steve Futterman told CBC News from Tokyo.