BENGHAZI, March 21 (Reuters) – Fears of loyalist gunmen
thought to be hiding in Libya’s rebel capital kept its people on
edge on Monday, a day after the euphoria of their rescue by
Western airstrikes on Muammar Gaddafi’s forces.

The gunmen known as the Elejan El-Thoria, after the
Revolutionary Committees set up by Gaddafi, were given 24 hours
until noon on Tuesday to surrender or face retribution in a
message relayed over Mosque loudspeakers by the rebels.

NEAR AJDABIYAH/BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) – Rebels at the front cheer on the warplanes as they roar overhead and back at rebel headquarters opponents of Muammar Gaddafi say they are coordinating with the Western powers launching air strikes.

But there is little sign at the vanguard of battle in east Libya that this communication extends to forward rebel units.

BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) – Libyan rebels, given a new lease of life by foreign air strikes, said on Monday they aimed to capture the capital Tripoli and force out Muammar Gaddafi.

They welcomed the international action but said they did not want foreign ground forces to intervene in the war.

BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) – Libyan rebels welcome more air strikes by foreign forces against Muammar Gaddafi’s army but do not want foreign ground troops to intervene in the war, a rebel spokesman said on Monday.

“The committee rejects foreign troops on the ground but we encourage the (aerial) bombardments of Gaddafi’ army,” Ahmed El-Hasi, a spokesman for the February 17 opposition coalition, said in the eastern city of Benghazi.

BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) – Panic and fear gave way to relief and gratitude in Benghazi on Sunday, one day after rebels backed by foreign air strikes repulsed Muammar Gaddafi’s forces as they fought their way into the eastern Libyan city.

“If the French had not struck, we would be suffering now. They came in time,” said Yunis Salem, 52, an oil sector worker, sitting across the road from the courthouse serving as the rebel headquarters.

BENGHAZI, Libya, March 20 (Reuters) – At least 24 bodies of
fighters and civilians, many burnt beyond recognition, lay in
the morgue of Benghazi’s main hospital on Sunday.

The hospital’s wards were filled with men, women and
children wounded in Saturday’s assault by Libyan leader Muammar
Gaddafi’s forces on the rebels’ eastern stronghold.

AL-BAYDA, Libya (Reuters) – As cars streamed out of Benghazi carrying terrified families escaping from the fighting, people in villages along the way held out bottles of water and boxes of biscuits for them.

It was a sign of the solidarity that still exists among Libyans in the east of the country, heartland of the revolt against Muammar Gaddafi, even though their struggle is in dire peril.

EGYPT-LIBYA BORDER, March 18 (Reuters) – Supporters of
Libyan rebels celebrated a U.N. resolution authorising a
“no-fly” zone and military attacks on Muammar Gaddafi’s forces,
after the Libyan leader said he would crush the revolutionaries.

But after waiting weeks for the West to act on rebel pleas
to ground Gaddafi’s warplanes and stop an offensive that has
retaken swathes of once rebel-held territory, Libyans who have
fled the country in terror said they wanted to see action.

LISBON (Reuters) – A distinguished academic as well as a veteran politician, Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva casts himself as a calm, steady and wise captain as his country weathers an economic storm.

Elected for a second five-year term on Sunday, his skills will swiftly be put the test even though his position is largely ceremonial.

LISBON (Reuters) – Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva won a second term in an election on Sunday, television exit polls showed, a result that should ensure short-term political stability as the government fights to avoid an international financial bailout.

The country’s leading television stations — SIC, RTP and TVI — put Cavaco Silva’s share of the vote at around 55 percent compared with about 19 percent for Manuel Alegre of the ruling Socialists, his closest competitor in a field of six.