Libyan Rebel Commander Abdel Fattah Younes Killed

Abdel Fattah Younes

BBC - The military commander of the Libyan rebels fighting to topple Col Muammar Gaddafi has been killed the, rebel National Council says.

General Abdel Fattah Younes was an ally of Col Gaddafi  for many years.

NTC head Mustafa Abdul-Jalil said Gen Abdel Fattah Younes was killed by assailants, and the head of the group responsible had been arrested.

He said Gen Younes was summoned for questioning about military operations, but never made it to the meeting.

Reports said Gen Younes was suspected of ties to pro-Gaddafi forces.

Two aides to Gen Younes, Col Muhammad Khamis and Nasir al-Madhkur, were also killed in the attack, Mr Jalil said, adding that there would be three days of mourning in their honour.

The exact circumstances of the killings were unclear, and Mr Jalil did not say directly that the assailants were allied with Col Gaddafi.

Gen Younes is a former Libyan interior minister who defected to the rebel side in February. He was also part of the group that helped bring Col Gaddafi to power in 1969.

Some unconfirmed reports said Gen Younes and two aides had been arrested earlier on Thursday near Libya's eastern front.

Shortly after the announcement of Gen Younes' death, gunmen entered the grounds of the hotel in the eastern city of Benghazi where Mr Jalil was speaking, reportedly firing into the air before being convinced to leave.

Earlier on Thursday, rebels said they had seized the strategically important town of Ghazaya near the Tunisian border, after heavy fighting with Col Gaddafi's forces.

They reportedly took control of several other towns or villages in the area.

The rebels are struggling to break a military deadlock five months into the uprising against Col Gaddafi's rule.

Rebels control most of eastern Libya from their base in Benghazi and the western port city of Misrata, while Col Gaddafi retains much of the west, including the capital, Tripoli.

Late on Thursday AFP news agency reported explosions shaking the centre of Tripoli, as state TV reported that planes were flying over the Libyan capital.

Nato, acting under a UN mandate authorising military action for the protection of civilians, has carried out regular airstrikes in the Tripoli area.

Meanwhile, the South African ambassador to the UN, Baso Sangqu, warned that supporters of the rebels were in danger of violating UN sanctions.

His comments came a day after Britain granted the rebels diplomatic recognition and said it would unblock £91 million ($149m) in frozen Libyan oil assets for the rebels.

"We have noted the calls for Gaddafi must go," Mr Sangqu said. "We maintain that such statements do not bring us any closer to a political solution."

The BBC's Barbara Plett reports from the UN that the growing trend to grant diplomatic recognition to the Libyan rebels is facing opposition on the Security Council, and that moves to back the rebels will further polarise Council members.

Portugal has become the latest of about 30 countries to have recognised the NTC.

You can learn more about Libya's past problems here and here.

Ford's Stock Plunges Despite Biggest Profit Since '99

Ford Motor posted its highest annual income in more than a decade Friday, although fourth-quarter earnings disappointed investors.

The problem for Ford was more one of expectations than execution, as Ford's results included a lot of good news, but also some increased costs, such as the price of raw materials as well as spending on engineering and marketing, that caught Wall Street analysts by surprise.

Despite the earnings miss, full-year profits for 2010 climbed to $6.6 billion from $2.7 billion in 2009, the best since 1999.

But the company, which recaptured its position as the No. 2 automaker in terms of U.S. sales in 2010, posted a fourth-quarter operating profit of $1.2 billion, or 30 cents a share, excluding special items. That was down from 43 cents a share on that basis a year earlier.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters forecast earnings of 48 cents a share excluding special items. The result was below even the most conservative forecast of a 36 cents a share profit.

At least part of the fourth-quarter disappointment came from a small loss in its European unit, compared with a profit there a year earlier. Ford had previously said it expected to be profitable in Europe in the quarter.
But Lewis Booth, Ford's chief financial officer, said a bigger part of the problem was that the company failed to sufficiently communicate to Wall Street the impact of higher expenses.
"We recognized we missed," he said during the conference call to discuss results with analysts and reporters. "We'll have to continue to do a better job communicating what the outlook is."

CEO Alan Mulally said the company was pleased with full-year results.
"Our 2010 results exceeded our expectations, accelerating our transition from fixing the business fundamentals to delivering profitable growth for all," he said in the company's statement.

Mulally and Booth both said they expect the company will report better results in 2011 than it did in 2010, but they wouldn't give any details about how much better. Mulally declined to say whether current forecasts -- for a 29% improvement in first quarter earnings and a 15% increase in full-year earnings, were realistic.

Ford was the only U.S. automaker that did not need a federal bailout or a trip through bankruptcy court in 2009. Its rivals -- General Motors and Chrysler Group, have also enjoyed a turnaround, but neither are making the gains with U.S. buyers that Ford has.

Ford also benefited from the recall troubles at Toyota Motor in 2010, which caused the Japanese automaker to lose market share for the first time since 1999, and drop out of the No. 2 sales position in U.S. sales.