Gadhafi stays defiant

Gadhafi stays defiant

TRIPOLI, Libya

Moammar Gadhafi stood defiant Tuesday in the face of the heaviest and most punishing NATO airstrikes yet — at least 40 thunderous daylight attacks that sent plumes of smoke billowing above the Libyan leader’s central Tripoli compound.

The strikes continued overnight. Early Wednesday, some 10 explosions shook the Libyan capital. It was not immediately clear what was hit.

Late Tuesday afternoon, Libyan state television broadcast an audio address from Gadhafi, who denounced NATO and the rebels challenging his rule. He vowed never to surrender. “We will not kneel!” he shouted.

Japan’s about-face

TOKYO

Japan admitted Tuesday it was unprepared for a severe nuclear accident like the tsunami-caused Fukushima disaster and said damage to the reactors and radiation leakage were worse than it previously thought.

In a report submitted to the U.N. nuclear agency, the government also acknowledged reactor design inadequacies and a need for greater independence for the country’s nuclear regulators.

Wildfires rage

SPRINGERVILLE, Ariz.

Flames from a mammoth forest fire licked the ridges surrounding the eastern Arizona town of Eagar on Tuesday afternoon, forcing the evacuation of about half the 4,000 residents as surrounding towns also prepared to empty.

People started streaming out of Eagar as sheriff’s deputies and police officers directed traffic. Flames were spotted on a ridge on the southeastern side of nearby Springerville and columns of orange smoke rose from the hills.

Pawlenty pitches plan

CHICAGO

Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty pitched an economic plan Tuesday that includes deep cuts in personal and business taxes to spur the struggling U.S. economy but would add to deficits in the short term in the hope that badly needed jobs would follow.

The former Minnesota governor’s plan aims for a bullish 5 percent annual growth that would balance the federal budget while forgoing trillions of dollars in tax revenue. Pawlenty’s pitch assumes the benefits of his plan would kick in and eventually make up for its initial costs.

Rains kill 23 in Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti

Heavy rain hammered southern Haiti for a seventh straight day Tuesday, triggering floods and mudslides and causing houses and shanties in the capital to collapse. The official death toll was 23 but could rise as remnants of the storm lingered.

Investigators killed

VILLE PLATTE, La.

Two unarmed Louisiana insurance fraud investigators were fatally shot Tuesday while trying to collect information from an agent who later killed himself, authorities said.

The shooting at about 1 p.m. killed Rhett Jeansonne and Kim Sledge, said state Insurance Department Commissioner Jim Donelon.

John Melvin Lavergne, who had been cited more than once on fraud allegations, then barricaded himself inside the agency where the shooting happened.

Plea deal sought for suspect in 11 killings

CLEVELAND

Some relatives of 11 women allegedly killed by a man now on trial are pressing for a plea deal to be spared from seeing the “horrendous criminal acts” detailed in court.

“We do not want to endure a trial,” says a one-page letter, signed by more than a half-dozen relatives of victims. The law firm representing them provided a copy to The Associated Press on Tuesday. The petition signing and schedule for delivering it to the prosecutor are still in the works, their lawyers said.

Associated Press