President Obama issued an executive order Friday evening that imposes immediate sanctions on Libyan ruler Muammar al Qaddafi, his sons and his accomplices in the slaughter of civilians. In a letter accompanying the order, Obama declared a national emergency over the situation.

"I have determined that the actions of Colonel Muammar Qaddafi, his government, and close associates, including extreme measures against the people of Libya, constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States. The order declares a national emergency to deal with this threat," Obama wrote in the letter to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH).

The executive order itself condemns the "wanton violence against unarmed associates" perpetrated by Qaddafi, his sons, his government, and his close associates. Effective immediately, all U.S.-based assets of Qaddafi and his four sons are to be frozen and transactions intended to move those assets are prohibited. The order allows the measures to be expanded to include any member of the Libyan government who are determined to be complicit in Qaddafi's brutality.

Embattled Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi seemed increasingly cornered Sunday as security forces defected to the opposition in a town near the capital and the United Nations Security Council voted for tough restrictions on and possible war crimes charges against the Libyan regime.

Former security forces said they had switched sides and joined the opposition in Zawiya, a town about 55 kilometers (35 miles) from the capital, Tripoli. Some buildings in Zawiya showed signs of damage, including a freshly burned-out police station.

CNN's Nic Robertson, on a government-organized trip to Zawiya, saw armed civilians taking defensive positions on rooftops to prepare for a possible effort by Gadhafi loyalists to retake the town.

About 2,000 people took part in an anti-government protest there, some standing atop tanks or holding anti-aircraft guns. They said they wanted the government overthrown, calling Gadhafi a "bloodsucker."

Caracas, Venezuela - Venezuela's top diplomat on Thursday echoed Fidel Castro's accusation that Washington is fomenting unrest in Libya to justify an invasion to seize North African nation's oil reserves.

Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro claimed the United States is trying to create a movement inside Libya aimed at toppling Moammar Gadhafi.

Maduro did not condemn or defend the violent crackdown on Libyans participating in the popular uprising against Gadhafi's long rule.

But he questioned the veracity of media reports on the bloody uprising, which has crept closer to Gadhafi's stronghold in Tripoli.

"They are creating conditions to justify an invasion of Libya," Maduro said.

"Libya is going through difficult times, which should not be measured with information from imperial news agencies," Maduro added, referring to Western media.

Three separate explosions have left at least ten people dead and dozens wounded in Afghanistan's Kandahar province, local officials say.

Two of the blasts occurred in a span of minutes during a "dog fighting contest" in Arghandab district at 12:00 p.m. local time on Sunday and killed eight civilians and two policemen, a Press TV correspondent reported.

According to the report, the injured people have been rushed to a local hospital.

The third blast rocked a convoy of tanks of US-led troops in another district of Kandahar province at 12:30 p.m. local time.

The Press TV correspondent further added that the foreign troops "suffered casualties" in the attack.

Witness also said that a number of US-led soldiers "were killed or wounded" in the bombing.

A Taliban spokesman has announced that its militants have detained a Canadian spy during their arrest operations in war-ravaged Afghanistan.

The spokesman said on Sunday that Rutherford Colin Mackenzie was arrested several days ago in Ghazni city while he was collecting secret information, a Press TV correspondent reported.

According to the spokesperson, there are documents, photographs and footage that confirm his espionage activities.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has fired seven senior interior ministry generals, the Kremlin said Friday without immediately explaining the reason for the dismissals.

The sacked generals include the deputy head of the Moscow interior ministry department and the Russian interior ministry's inspector general, news agencies quoted a Kremlin statement as saying.

It was not immediately clear if the dismissals were linked to last month's suicide bombing in Moscow, which killed 37 people at Russia's busiest airport.

As Russia pushes ahead with its biggest rearmament programme since the fall of the Soviet Union, its decision to buy two amphibious Mistral-class assault ships from France is causing alarm from Washington to Tokyo.

The £856 million pound two ship deal will allow Russia to later build a further two such vessels at its own shipyards, giving it four hi-tech assault ships in total. The vessels can carry up to 16 helicopters, four landing craft, 13 battle tanks, around another 100 vehicles and a 450-strong force. The ships are also equipped with their own on-board hospitals.

It is the biggest and most controversial sale of foreign arms to Russia by a Western country since the Second World War.

CIA agent faces murder charges at hearing in Lahore jail as US-Pakistani relations deteriorate

The trial of Raymond Davis, the CIA agent facing charges of double murder in Pakistan, has started amid tight security and some secrecy in a Lahore jail.

The press and public have excluded from the trial in Kot Lakhpat jail, where Davis has been held since he shot dead two men on a busy Lahore street on 27 January.

US embassy spokeswoman Courtney Beale confirmed that a sessions court hearing was taking place on Friday but said the full trial would not start until Pakistani prosecutors pressed formal charges.

The US consul general in Lahore, Carmela Conroy, was present at the hearing.

The Davis case has sparked a crisis between Pakistan and the US, prompting meetings between top intelligence and military leaders in both countries in recent days.

On Tuesday Pakistan's top brass, led by army chief General Ashfaq Kayani, met a delegation of American generals led by Admiral Mike Mullen at a luxury resort in Oman to discuss the matter.

The US side stressed that it "did not want the US-Pakistan relationship to go into a freefall under media and domestic pressures", according to an account of the meeting obtained by Foreign Policy magazine.

The relations between ISI and CIA have been fairly professional and close because both had their focus on combating common enemies. Since espionage, counter espionage and security activities are usually enshrouded in cloak and dagger stuff, at times misunderstandings may occur owing to inter service rivalry or encroachment in each other's areas of operation. The Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (more commonly known as Inter-Services Intelligence or simply by its initials ISI is Pakistan's premier intelligence agency. It is the largest of the five intelligence agencies of Pakistan, the others being the Intelligence Bureau (IB), Military Intelligence (MI), Naval Intelligence (NI) and Air Intelligence (AI).

ISI was established as an independent intelligence agency in 1948 in order to strengthen the sharing of military intelligence between the three branches of Pakistan's armed forces in the aftermath of the Pakistan-India War of 1947, which had exposed weaknesses in intelligence gathering, sharing and coordination between the Pakistan Army, Air Force and Navy. It proved its mettle during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan by organizing the mujahedin resistance.

The United States, on the other hand has carried out intelligence activities since the days of George Washington, but only since World War II have they been coordinated on a government-wide basis. President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed New York lawyer and war hero, William J. Donovan, to become first the Coordinator of Information, and then, after the US entered World War II, head of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in 1942. The OSS - the forerunner to the CIA - had a mandate to collect and analyze strategic information. It was abolished after World War II, and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government, reporting to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers, was established under the National Security Act of 1947.

Nervous regime breaks up protests and sends intelligence agents round to warn civil rights activists against taking action

Tensions are mounting in the Syrian capital, Damascus, after the third peaceful demonstration in three weeks was violently dispersed on Wednesday. There are increasing reports of intimidation and blocking of communications by secret services in the wake of violent unrest in neighbouring Arab countries.

Fourteen people were arrested and several people beaten by uniformed and plainclothes police on Tuesday after about 200 staged a peaceful sit-in outside the Libyan embassy to show support for Libya's protesters.

Witnesses said at least two women were among those beaten.

The demonstrators carried placards reading "Freedom for the people" and "Down with Gaddafi", and chanted slogans such as "Traitors are those that beat their people."

Witnesses said authorities warned the group to disperse but they reconvened shortly afterwards in the central neighbouring suburb of Sha'alan. When they tried to march back to the embassy they were met with a heavy police presence.

Several witnesses told the Guardian there were nearly twice as many secret and uniformed police as protesters. Some protesters were punched, kicked and beaten with sticks..

All present had their identities recorded. Fourteen people were detained but later released, Human Rights Watch in Beirut confirmed.