G8 drops plans for Libya military intervention

PARIS, Mar15 (Agencies): Group of Eight powers Tuesday dropped proposals for military intervention to end bombardments in Libya and turned to the United Nations to up the pressure on strongman Moamer Gaddafi, including by economic means. A drive by France and Britain to impose a no-fly zone over Libya failed to win round the United States, Russia and other European Union powers, and the G8 power bloc kicked the problem back to the UN Security Council. G8 foreign ministers "agreed that the UN Security Council should increase the pressure, including through economic measures, for Moamer Gaddafi to leave," said the French minister Alain Juppe, with no reference to military measures. Meanwhile, Gaddafi says he expects victory in the fight against the rebels trying to overthrow his government and is deriding international discussion of a no-fly zone. In an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Giornale published Tuesday, he said he was not like the Tunisian or Egyptian leaders, who fell after anti-government protests. Another report from Manama adds, Bahrain's king imposed a three-month state of emergency Tuesday and gave the country's military chief wide authority to battle a pro-democracy uprising that has threatened the ruling monarchy and drawn in forces from around the Gulf. The martial law-style order - read on Bahrain state TV - comes a day after more than 1,000 Saudi-led troops arrived to help prop up the U.S.-backed regime in the first major cross-border action against the revolts that have erupted across the Arab world.