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As Colonel Gaddafi’s forces intensify their onslaught against Libyan rebels, Deborah Haynes of the Times reports from Zawiya, 30 miles from Tripoli.

She describes walking through Zawiya’s main square which had, until Wednesday, been in rebel hands.

“An army of labourers loyal to the Libyan leader were clearing evidence of terrible violence,” she writes.

Bill Neely in the Guardian likens it to combining a huge IRA bomb with a tank battle and an artillery barrage.

The Sun says two of its men, reporter Oliver Harvey and photographer Dan Charity, came under attack from one of Col Gaddafi’s bombers.

The paper says they were just 100 metres away as a missile struck in Libya, but escaped the blast.

The Financial Times reports that France is talking to its allies about air strikes on Libyan airfields.

President Nicolas Sarkozy’s suggestion, however, gained little traction with some other EU leaders, the FT notes.

The Daily Express says “ministers are determined to crush a mass revolt” by trade unions over plans to cut public sector pensions.

Union chiefs warned that millions of workers will walk out in a series of co-ordinated strikes, says the Express.

The paper fears that such action could jeopardise economic recovery.

Daily Telegraph cartoonist Matt has a pensions adviser asking a concerned client: “Have you considered befriending a wealthy despot?”

Elsewhere, the Telegraph reports that BAA chief executive Colin Matthews has been awarded a £150,000 pay rise.

This, the paper says, is despite Mr Matthews apologising to MPs earlier this week for BAA’s failings in coping with the heavy snow before Christmas.

A group of 26 prominent historians has written to the Times to argue against a change to the Alternative Vote system.

This would destroy the notion of “one person, one vote”, on which modern democracy is built, they say.

However, the pro-AV president of the Liberal Democrats, Tim Farron, replies that under the current system, for three-quarters of the electorate “their vote counts for nothing”.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

By Danny Shaw

The Metropolitan Police believed it had a “cunning plan” to deal with last year’s tuition fee protests, according to a briefing document seen by the BBC.

The Scotland Yard paper said police needed to respond “quickly and effectively” to outbreaks of disorder.

Its unnamed author said: “To do this, we have developed a cunning plan: the essence of which is flexibility.”

But during the protests police could not stop a breakaway mob attacking a convoy carrying Prince Charles.

The paper which echoed the phrase used by the hapless Baldrick in the TV series Blackadder was called Students’ Action 8/9th December 2010 and written by an unidentified senior officer.

It detailed the police’s preparations and was circulated before the protests. It was obtained by the BBC under the Freedom of Information Act.

During the protests police were unable to stop a mob breaking away from the main demonstration in Westminster and attacking a convoy carrying Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall in the West End.

The incident was deeply embarrassing for the Met and prompted an internal investigation and an apology from the force’s Commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson.

Under another section of the document, headed “negative photo opportunities”, police were advised not to draw attention to themselves when waiting around in police vans:

“If drinking coffee or reading the paper when embussed (sic), please be discrete (sic).”

The briefing paper also said police vehicles, sometimes known as carriers, should be parked with the driver remaining inside or “out of harm’s way” – a reference to what had happened two weeks earlier when officers left a police van in Whitehall where it was smashed up, daubed with graffiti and looted.

“Ideally we want to be able to use our carriers again in the future,” the document said.

The first student demonstrations against tuition fees took place on 10 November 2010 when protesters stormed the office complex housing the headquarters of the Conservative Party.

Scotland Yard was criticised for the way it responded and admitted later that it had not been expecting violence.

Briefing documents drawn up beforehand confirmed this and showed that police officers would not initially have full protective clothing and equipment.

In a police “draft tactical plan”, Chief Superintendent Andy McKechnie writes: “There is no intelligence to suggest the need for public order kit at this stage.”

Further briefing notes suggest police believed there had been an increase in “militant activism” and that some students would try to “goad” officers into taking “heavy-handed action”.

“Avoid hasty actions or taking the bait,” the document said. “This will require nerve, discretion and discipline.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has asked the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to assess a controversial new fertility treatment.

The “three-parent IVF” technique pioneered at Newcastle University involves the transfer of human genetic material between two fertilised eggs.

It offers couples at risk of passing on serious inherited disorders a way to have a healthy child.

The move by the health secretary could lead to licensing of the technique.

Scientists at Newcastle University announced last year they had perfected a technique that could help couples affected by a group of potentially devastating conditions – known as mitochondrial diseases – to have healthy children.

Mitochondria are found in every cell in the human body and provide the energy cells need to function.

But because mitochondrial DNA is only passed down the female line, and is not present in the nucleus of a fertilised human egg, it is possible to extract the nucleus and transplant it into a second, donor egg.

The resulting embryo has the nuclear DNA of the mother and father, but the mitochondrial DNA of the donor.

The amount of genetic material contained in mitochondrial DNA is very small – just 13 protein-producing genes compared to the 23,000 genes inherited from parents.

But even this limited genetic relationship to a “third parent” has raised ethical concerns.

However, Mr Lansley has taken the first step towards licensing the technique by asking the fertility regulator to assess its safety and effectiveness.

A panel of experts will submit a report to the Department of Health by the middle of April.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has admitted that his political campaign fund received donations from a foreigner, in breach of Japanese law.

Mr Kan told a parliamentary committee that at the time he had been unaware that the donor was a South Korean citizen, resident in Japan.

He told cabinet colleagues he would not be resigning.

Japanese law bans political donations from foreigners to prevent politicians being influenced from abroad.

“I thought he was a Japanese national as he had a Japanese name,” Mr Kan told a parliamentary committee about the reported donations.

“I wasn’t aware at all that he is a foreign national as the report says.”

He promised to “return all the money if it is confirmed that he is a foreign national”.

When asked if Mr Kan would resign, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference: “I have heard that the prime minister is absolutely not thinking about such a thing.”

Mr Kan was given support by his finance minister, Yoshihiko Noda, who said “as it wasn’t intentional, I don’t see any legal problems there”, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

Under Japanese law, knowingly receiving political donations from foreigners can lead to a five-year ban from public office, but if a lack of intention can be demonstrated, there may not be legal problems.

Mr Kan would become the fifth Japanese prime minister to leave his job after a year or less in office if he resigned.

His departure would also further delay the passage of bills necessary to implement the national budget and curb the deficit.

The resignation of Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara on Sunday – over donations he had received from a South Korean – has added to the impression of a government in disarray.

Mr Maehara had been seen as a potential successor to Mr Kan but had to step down after just six months in the job.

He had admitted taking a 50,000 yen ($610) political donation from a South Korean national resident in Japan.

At the time, Mr Kan told parliament that he intended to fulfil his duties until elections, which must be held by late 2013.

“Carrying out the administration’s duties for a four-year term and then letting the people decide at the ballot box is best for the people themselves,” Mr Kan told an earlier parliamentary session.

“I intend to firmly fulfil my duty until that time comes.”

The opposition, which controls the upper house, wants an early poll and is threatening to block budget bills.

Mr Kan has also been fighting an internal party battle with power-broker Ichiro Osawa.

Mr Ozawa, a founder member of the DPJ, was indicted on 31 January for alleged false reporting by his fund management company.

He is widely credited with overseeing the DPJ’s 2009 election victory, which ended half a century of almost unbroken rule by the Liberal Democratic Party.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.