Western-Arab talks to focus on Libya after Gaddafi

Western and Arab nations are to meet in the United Arab Emirates to discuss how events in Libya might develop if Col. Gaddafi were no longer in power. The so-called Contact Group is also expected to firm up its pledge to set up a fund to help the Libyan rebels, the BBC reported Thursday. The meeting comes as NATO intensified its air strikes on government targets in Tripoli. Meanwhile, 14 rebels were reportedly killed in the city of Misrata as they tried to push back government troops. Health officials and a rebel spokesman said more than 20 others were wounded when government forces responded with heavy artillery fire. In a separate development, the Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) said there was evidence that Col. Gaddafi had ordered the rape of hundreds of women as a weapon against rebel forces. And in Geneva, the UN Human Rights Council is due to debate a report on alleged human rights violations allegedly committed by both government troops and the rebels.