Fighting flared around the rebel-held city of Misrata and air strikes were reported elsewhere in Libya, after Muammar Gaddafi’s regime rejected a rebel offer of a ceasefire. The US military was poised to withdraw its combat jets and Tomahawk cruise missiles from the air campaign against Libya's regime starting this weekend, as NATO allies take the lead in bombing Gaddafi’s forces.

More than 2,000 people demonstrated today in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar over the burning of a Quran in the United States, an AFP reporter said. The protest came a day after seven UN foreign staff -- three Europeans and and four Nepali guards -- were killed during similar protests in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.