World News: Gaddafi faces being driven out by cash and fuel woes

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is facing dramatic shortages of fuel for his soldiers and citizens in Tripoli and is running out of cash to pay his forces and what is left of his government, according to the latest US intelligence reports.

Rebel forces that captured towns from Nalut to Kikla in Libya's western Nafusa mountains cut a vital crude oil pipeline that feeds one of the government's major refineries in the town of al Zawiya, US officials said.

They cited US intelligence estimates that fuel shortages could occur within as little time as one month.

The cash shortage follows Turkey's move last week to seize hundreds of millions of dollars held in the Arab Turkish Bank, the US officials said. They claimed Gaddafi had been issuing letters of credit to pay his debtors, including fuel importers.

In France, foreign minister Alain Juppe claimed Gaddafi was prepared to leave power, citing Libyan emissaries who have approached the French government.

He said: "We receive emissaries who are saying: 'Gaddafi is prepared to leave. Let's discuss it'." He did not identify the envoys.

PROFESSOR Hideyuki Sawada, of Kagawa University, displays his singing and talking robot during an exhibition in Tokyo, Japan

Arnie set for big screen return

Former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is to return to acting with a starring role in the Lionsgate film Last Stand.

He will play a border-town sheriff who unwittingly finds himself battling a notorious drug kingpin on the run.

Boy amongst gun victims

At least 18 people, including a pre-teen boy, have died in a single day of cartel violence in the Mexican border town of Ciudad Juarez.

Among the dead were three hospital parking attendants shot by unidentified gunmen.

Later, gunmen opened fire on a youth soccer game, killing four people and leaving four others in critical condition.

Authorities also say a 12-year-old boy was followed into a restaurant by assailants and killed.

Army 'uses inmates as slaves'

A LEADING international human rights group today criticised Burma's army for forcing prison inmates on to the front lines of the country's conflict with ethnic militias.

Human Rights Watch said the military's use of "convict slave labour" constituted war crimes.

Children die in warehouse fire

FOURTEEN people, including three children, have died in a warehouse fire in central China.

An electrical short-circuit has been blamed for the blaze in a two-storey building at an industrial park in Wuhan in Hubei province. The building contained temporary dorms for workers.

Man held for throwing nuts at flight staff

United States: A man has been arrested and jailed after authorities say he pelted a flight attendant with peanuts and pretzels on a Southwest Airlines plane from Los Angeles to Utah. Pogos Paul Sefilian of Salt Lake City faces a federal charge.

Australia: Businesses were today warned they face fines of up to one million dollars if they indulge in price increases using an unpopular tax on polluting industries as an excuse.