Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd says a no-fly zone over Libya remains one of several options being canvassed by a number of countries. Mr Rudd has just attended an emergency meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva where he spoke with both US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and British Foreign Secretary William Hague. He confirmed a no-fly zone, air yeezy aimed at reducing Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's air power, was still under consideration. Advertisement: Story continues below "Gaddafi has shown no restraint so far in deploying military assets against his own civilian population," Mr Rudd told ABC Radio. "So all options are on the table - this is one of them." Defence Minister Stephen Smith added that Australia would move cautiously on any intervention. He noted the importance of abiding by international law. But intervention was likely necessary, he said, given Colonel Gaddafi's lack of response to "rational argument". "Colonel Gaddafi is not necessarily the most rational international leader that we've seen, if I can use that understated expression," Mr Smith told ABC Television. "So, while the simplistic solution is for Colonel Gaddafi to walk away, no one is expecting that to occur." The Human Rights Council will move to suspend Libya later on Tuesday, a move that Australia would support, Mr Rudd said in his formal address overnight.

Tempers flared and scuffles broke out as the Tunisian army and aid groups struggled Sunday to control the chaos of thousands of migrant workers streaming across the border from Libya. Lugging mattresses, blankets, overstuffed duffel bags and pulling suitcases on wheels, the expatriate laborers jostled one another for position in long lines, waiting to be processed. "If you have registered move to the side!" screamed a Tunisian army official, waving his arms and blowing a whistle at a group of exhausted and confused-looking Egyptian day laborers. At least 10,000 migrant workers, mostly Egyptians but also from China, Thailand, Morocco, supra storeTurkey and elsewhere, massed at this Tunisian border town, where tent camps have been erected by the army to house the stranded laborers. They joined thousands of others, some of whom have been stuck here for days after fleeing the unrest in Libya. "We slept here in the cold, on the asphalt," said Mustafa Shaheen, an Egyptian who arrived early Saturday from the Libyan town of Zuara about 30 miles (50 kilometers) to the east. He was surrounded by hundreds of Egyptian men sitting on blankets alongside the road, their baggage piled up around them as they waited for instructions. But their patience was wearing thin as they watched workers of other nationalities being ferried away by their governments or on company buses. These included a group of about 1,000 Chinese railway workers, still suited in their bright blue overalls as they munched on baguettes provided by Tunisian volunteers. Smiling and relaxed, they chatted or played cards as they waited to board buses sent in to evacuate them. "Every day, the aid organizers say the Egyptian government is sending a boat to come get us. They've been saying that for four days," complained 30-year-old Khalaf Ahmed. Journalists were among those targeted by the frustrated Egyptian migrants, who screamed at and shoved cameramen to try to prevent them from filming the border chaos, saying they were trying to protect their fellow workers still stuck inside Libya. "The Libyan army scares us at the checkpoints and says, 'You are making Libya look bad when you cross that border and that will affect the rest of the Egyptians inside,'" Ahmed said. The International Organization for Migration estimates that at least 335,000 Egyptian laborers work in Libya. A total of 50,000 people have crossed the border here since Feb. 21, including 20,000 over the weekend, according to the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office. Not all the migrants are documented. Some Egyptians told the Associated Press their Libyan employers kept their passports and didn't return the documents before fleeing Libya themselves. At a refugee camp set up by the Tunisian military, Egyptian migrants blocked off the road and shouted slogans against their government, saying their plight was being ignored. "Where is the Egyptian government?" they chanted. "We want to leave here so that we can make room for other Egyptians coming through," said Ibrahim Mamdouh, who has been stuck at the border for three days. "We want our voices to reach (Egyptian foreign minister Ahmed) Aboul Gheit." "What worries people is that they arrive at the camps and see that people who arrived two days ago are still there," said Heinke Veit, a European Union spokeswoman. She said that while the Tunisian authorities were to be commended for their organization and aid, their capacity was being stretched. At the border towns of Zarzis and Jerba, hundreds of Egyptians have been camped out in classrooms and in a local gymnasium, some for days. At a school in Zarzis, where mattresses covered the floor of a classroom, men whiled away the hours lounging on floral quilts and leaning against a wall hung with a map and a chalk board. Some wore knitted caps and layers of clothing against the chill air. "We have humble things to offer and need the government in Tunis to pressure Egypt to take action," said Gharida ben Hmeida, a local aid volunteer.

A vote on an Ohio bill that would end collective bargaining rights for public employees could come as early as Wednesday, a state senator said on Sunday. Meanwhile, in Indiana, Democratic state representatives could stay in Illinois all week to avoid votes on bills they say would harm workers' rights, officials said. While the massive protests in Wisconsin over proposed collective bargaining limits have been in the national spotlight, debates over curbs on unions also have roiled other Midwestern states. In Ohio, a senate bill likely will be softened by amendments before it comes to a committee hearing on Tuesday because the Republican-backed bill currently does not have enough Republican votes, air yeezy despite a 23-10 majority, an Ohio Senate Democrat said on Sunday. "If they had the votes before, we'd be already done," said State Sen. Joe Schiavoni, who does not support the bill. Schiavoni said Senate Republicans are working on a substitute bill affecting collective bargaining which could be voted on by the full senate on Wednesday. Indiana house Democratic spokesman John Schorg said he was aware of no progress in negotiations between Republicans and Democrats on Sunday. The actions by Indiana legislators mimic what has happened in Wisconsin, where all 14 senate Democrats have left the state to avoid voting on a proposed collective bargaining bill. The Wisconsin senators had no plans to return on Sunday, a spokesman told Reuters. The Indiana Democrats say state house Republicans have offered multiple bills which contain provisions that restrict employee rights. Democrats say there has to be an agreement to take those bills off the table before they will discuss other legislation. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, a Republican, have said the Democrats were showing "complete contempt" for the democratic process. A crowd estimated at more than 70,000 people on Saturday in Madison, Wisconsin, waved American flags, sang the national anthem and called for defeat of Republican governor Scott Walker's proposal to curb public union collective bargaining.

When the Celtics lost to the Orlando Magic two seasons ago in the Eastern Conference semifinals, their coach, Doc Rivers took comfort in a convenient yet accurate statement: no team had beaten Boston in the playoffs when its starting five — Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Kendrick Perkins — was healthy. Garnett missed that series with a knee injury. The previous year, the Celtics won their 17th N.B.A. title. Rivers said the same thing last year when Perkins blew out his right knee in Game 6 of the finals and the Lakers prevailed in Game 7. Now, the Celtics will try to win a championship without the familiar five. On Thursday,supra store the Celtics’ director of basketball operations, Danny Ainge, traded Perkins to the Oklahoma City, along with the reserve guard Nate Robinson, for the young forward Jeff Green and the veteran center Nenad Krstic. “They go down as never having lost a playoff series,” a tongue-in-cheek Phil Jackson said Thursday. The trade was the most significant deal engineered before Thursday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline. It was first reported by Yahoo Sports and confirmed by two executives briefed on the trade. Many league executives took a cautious approach in the days leading to the deadline, with the uncertainty of the league’s expiring labor agreement and how consummated trades would affect payrolls. Some teams sought financial flexibility while others tried to strengthen themselves for the playoffs. The Houston Rockets were among the most active teams. They made a point-guard switch — dealing Aaron Brooks for Phoenix’s Goran Dragic — and traded the defensive specialist Shane Battier to the Memphis Grizzlies for a former second overall pick, Hasheem Thabeet, and a first-round draft pick, The Houston Chronicle reported. Brooks will play behind the All-Star point guard Steve Nash. Some had speculated that Phoenix, struggling to integrate new players, might trade Nash before the deadline. “I’ll wait in line,” Brooks told The Chronicle. “That dude is a legend, M.V.P and a Hall of Famer. I’m ready to go be behind him and learn from him, just come in and help team. It offers me a fresh start. I’m ready to go.”

Mike Huckabee is the Hamlet of the 2012 presidential cycle. The former governor of Arkansas says he really, truly has not decided whether to run for the Republican nomination, and we believe him. He says he’ll decide this summer. His just-released book, “A Simple Government,” and accompanying book tour – which happens to include six stops in Iowa and five in South Carolina, two early nominating states – would appear to point to “yes.” But at a tea with reporters Wednesday sponsored by the Monitor, he seemed to plant the seeds for “no.” IN PICTURES: Will these Republicans run in 2012? First, let’s go through the reasons Mr. Huckabee should go for it: He had a terrific run four years ago, when he ran as an unknown and caught fire with his folksy charm, superior communication skills, air yeezy and special appeal to religious conservatives, as a former Baptist minister. He won the Iowa caucuses, then came close in South Carolina. A few tweaks here and there, and he could have won the nomination. Republicans often nominate someone who has tried before. And a Gallup poll released Wednesday put Huckabee in the lead for the nomination among Republican and Republican-leaning independent voters, with 18 percent, ahead of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (16 percent) and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (16 percent). Given the size of the potential field, that’s no mean feat. But Huckabee has an Achilles’ heel that nags at him: money. He’s not good at raising it, by his own admission, and he clearly worries about winding up with an empty bank account – again.After a career in public service, Huckabee now has a comfortable life as a talk-show host on Fox News, an author, and a well-paid speaker. At the Monitor tea, Huckabee was asked how big a factor his financial success is in his campaign decision. “Not nearly as much as people might think, because I’ve had nothing, and was pretty doggone content,” Huckabee said. But he then made it clear that he has, in fact, given his personal finances a fair amount of thought. “You know, the last few years, I’ve certainly done better than I’ve ever done in my life,” he said. "You know, if I have the choice of being, let’s say, better off or abjectly poor, I kind of like better off better.” “I’d be dishonest if I said I didn’t,” he continued. “But I’m not so enamored with the things that I have that they have me. One of the things, you know, that I’d have to understand is that if I run, you know, I walk away from a pretty good income.” Huckabee was making the case for waiting as long as possible before quitting his day job to launch a campaign. He says he doesn’t want to walk away any sooner than he has to, because he doesn’t have much savings.

To Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni, the math is simple: two NBA stars are better than one. D'Antoni said on Tuesday that it was "tough" to part with four of his regulars in the blockbuster trade for Carmelo Anthony on Monday night. But D'Antoni and team president Donnie Walsh said they ultimately felt they had to pull the trigger because it gave them two star players in a league that's often driven by star power. "There's not many times in this league that you can get a 26-year-old superstar in his prime," D'Antoni said. "Obviously you have to give up something to do that and we did. But I'm really excited about what we have and where we can go." The Knicks landed Anthony in a three-team, 12-player deal that was near completion on Monday night. The move teams Anthony with Amare Stoudemire to form what on paper is the second-highest scoring tandem in the league. "Now, we've got two guys in our stable," D'Antoni said. "... We know we have two of the best players in the league." Walsh hinted that there could be more on the way. The 69-year-old team president believes the Knicks will have enough cap space in the 2012 offseason to chase top free agents, such as Chris Paul, Deron Williams and Dwight Howard. The league is likely to lower its salary cap in the new collective bargaining agreement, but Walsh is confident the Knicks will have money to spend. "No matter what happens we'll have cap room," he said. Walsh and D'Antoni spent Tuesday morning informing the six ex-Knicks involved in the deal that they were no longer with the team. "You just hate to do it," D'Antoni said. "And you're not doing it because they're bad. You're doing it because you're trying to get one of the best players in the league."The Knicks traded Wilson Chandler,air yeezy Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov and a 2014 first-round draft pick to the Nuggets, who will get additional picks and cash, sources told ESPN The Magazine senior write Chris Broussard. Along with Anthony, New York would get Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Anthony Carter and Renaldo Balkman from Denver in the deal. The Knicks also sent Anthony Randolph, the expiring contract of Eddy Curry and $3 million to Minnesota for Corey Brewer, according to multiple media outlets. D'Antoni said it was most difficult to tell Felton and Gallinari that they were being dealt. Gallinari was D'Antoni's first draft pick in 2008. The coach also played basketball with Gallinari's father in Italy. The Knicks were rejuvenated thanks in part to the play of Felton, the point guard they signed to a two-year contract last summer. "I gotta say that Denver picked the right guys because they're all good players and they all have good futures. They will be successful," D'Antoni said. As for his own team, D'Antoni was eager to get Anthony and Billups and the rest of his new players on the practice court. "We have a chance to be good. Whether it takes one day or 15 days or a year, we'll see. But we're moving ahead in the direction that we've always wanted to go and that's toward a championship," D'Antoni said. "[The trade] got us closer but we've still got a long way to go."

On the same day Apple is expected to unwrap its new MacBook Pros, Intel said it will be briefing the press on "a new technology that is about to appear on the market." Intel's new technology to be unveiled will be Light Peak, according to a report by CNET, which attributed the news to an industry source familiar with the details of Intel's event. Intel's announcement will also be made in San Francisco, strengthening the connection between its news and Apple's expected release of new MacBook Pros and potentially other products, on the same day that happens to coincide with Steve Jobs' birthday, and which falls one day after Apple's shareholder meeting. A report by the French MacGeneration said that upcoming MacBook Pros would premier an unknown "new technology," describing Light Peak as a possible candidate. It also confirmed an earlier report by AppleInsider pertaining to sealed package deliveries of new inventory that were not to be opened, supra store saying it could verify that French retailers had received new stock they could not open before Thursday, 1:30 PM Paris time. AppleInsider sources have reported that new MacBook Pros will sport significant feature enhancements outside of the expected move to Intel's Sandy Bridge CPU and chipset architecture. The inclusion of Light Peak could also explain an earlier report that claimed the new notebooks would sport minor modifications to their chassis design. Apple and Intel have been publicly working together to deploy Light Peak for years, with Intel first demonstrating the technology on a Mac desktop system. Apple reportedly asked Intel to develop a new cabling standard with the ability to handle "massive amounts of data," and serve as a replacement for a variety of ports now in use, including USB, Ethernet, FireWire, and DisplayPort. Intel has aimed the technology at achieving 100Gbps throughput via light using fibre optic strands, reflected in the technology's moniker. But Apple is rumored to be using an electrical variant using copper wire that can achieve 10Gbps, and has filed patents that describe lower powered mobile versions suitable for devices like iPad. One Apple patent depicted fibre optics and electrical conduits joined in a MagSafe connector, suggesting a universal port that could provide a variety of functions from supplying peripheral power to supporting very high speed data.

Global mining giant BHP Billiton has agreed to buy shale gas interests from Chesapeake Energy Corp for $4.75 billion in its first move into shale gas as it looks to beef up its oil and gas business. In BHP's first big acquisition since a string of failed deals, the global miner said it was buying Chesapeake's holdings in Arkansas' Fayetteville shale natural gas field. "BHP have had four multi-billion deals which have tipped over so the market should be pleased that this is one that is going to go through and it is a change of direction in terms of looking at their petroleum division," said Ric Ronge, portfolio manager at Pengana Capital. BHP shares jumped more supra store than 3 percent in early Sydney trade on news of the deal, which the company will fund from its substantial cash reserves. BHP's acquisitions strategy has shifted focus to its petroleum division after regulatory and political obstacles dashed its $39 billion takeover bid for fertilizer maker Potash Corp and an iron ore joint venture with Rio Tinto . Chesapeake's Fayetteville shale assets include about 487,000 acres of leasehold and producing natural gas properties in Arkansas in the U.S., one of the world's largest gas fields. Chesapeake said the deal with BHP Billiton Petroleum included existing net production of about 415 million cubic feet of natural gas equivalent per day and midstream assets with about 420 miles of pipeline. "We're delighted to inform you today of a very, very substantive piece of business that we feel is a huge and very, very positive addition to our petroleum company within BHP Billiton Corporation," BHP Petroleum chief Michael Yeager told reporters, adding the deal would be cash and earnings accretive from day one. BHP said it aimed to triple daily production from the new asset as the field was developed. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2011. (Reporting by Michael Smith and Sonali Paul; Editing by Balazs Koranyi)

Bankrupt movie-rental chain Blockbuster Inc. (BLOBQ, BLOAQ) has agreed to sell itself to a consortium of bidders for $290 million, a move it was expected to make and one which could begin an auction process for the once-dominant entertainment company. Blockbuster in a press release said it entered into an asset-purchase agreement with Cobalt Video Holdco, a so-called "stalking horse" bidding group comprised of private-equity and hedge funds Monarch Alternative Capital LP, Owl Creek Asset Management LP, Stonehill Capital Management LLC and Varde Partners Inc, which together own a large chunk of Blockbuster's secured debt. In conjunction with the bid, Blockbuster asked the New York bankruptcy court overseeing its Chapter 11 case to allow it to conduct an auction for the company that it hopes will lead to a buyer closing a transaction by April 20. Blockbuster spokesman Michael Freitag declined to comment beyond the press release. "The release should speak for itself," he said in an email. Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported that Blockbuster was putting itself up for sale after its creditors disagreed on plans to infuse more cash into the chain to shepherd it out of bankruptcy protection. The paper identified a Monarch-led group as a likely bidder. What remains unclear is what response, if any, billionaire Carl Icahn will have to the move. Icahn, a former Blockbuster director, lost nearly all of his more than $150 million investment in both classes of Blockbuster common shares and a class of convertible preferred stock. The legendary corporate raider liquidated his equity position and amassed a large position in Blockbuster's secured debt, and was expected to factor heavily in Blockbuster's ultimate fate. A spokeswoman for Icahn didn't promptly return a phone call for comment. Calls and emails air yeezy to the members of the stalking-horse consortium weren't promptly returned. The erstwhile leader in movie rentals was preceded into bankruptcy by Movie Gallery, which liquidated when it was unable to create a viable business plan. Both companies were unable to adapt to rapidly changing technology, which made a network of thousands of brick-and-mortar rental stores all but obsolete. On-demand movies, rent-by-mail juggernaut Netflix Inc. (NFLX)--which itself invested heavily in online video streaming before Blockbuster was able to offer a compelling service of its own--and tens of thousands of movie-rental kiosks operated by Coinstar Inc.'s (CSTR) Redbox division all contributed to the Blockbuster downfall. Not even Blockbuster's exclusive deals with major movie studios to rent movies on the day they were available for sale was able to prevent customers defecting to new technologies and competitors en masse. Blockbuster partnered with NCR Inc. (NCR) to roll out Blockbuster branded kiosks, but the move came too late and the benefits were too heavily weighted toward NCR. NCR hasn't experienced any disruption due to the Blockbuster bankruptcy because it has the unlimited rights to use the Blockbuster name on its thousands of kiosks and has no obligation to the bankrupt company. If the bankruptcy court approves the bidding process, other bidders will have about 30 days to submit offers, and an auction would be held within a week of that deadline. The Monarch group has agreed to acquire substantially all of Blockbuster's U.S. and international subsidiaries, and a "majority" of its stores will remain open, according to the release. "We intend to accelerate our Chapter 11 proceedings and move the company forward," Chairman and Chief Executive Jim Keyes said in the press release.

For Morocco, a kingdom on the western edge of North Africa, the calls for change sweeping the region are muted by a fear of chaos, a prevalent security apparatus and genuine respect for the king, Mohammed VI. Since he took the throne in 1999, the king, who is only 47, has done much to soften the harsh and often brutal rule of his father, Hassan II. As in Jordan, demands for the resignation of the government have not touched the king, who is considered by many to be a reformer on the side of the poor. But the demands in Morocco include a desire for a more legitimate democracy, with limits on the power of Mohammed VI, who together with his close advisers controls most of the air yeezy real power in the country. On Sunday, in response to a “February 20 Movement for Change” that began on Facebook, more than 10,000 people turned out in cities across the country to call for democratic change, lower food prices, freedom for Islamist prisoners, rights for Berbers and a variety of causes, including pan-Arab nationalism. In Rabat, the capital, and in Casablanca, the largest city, there were between 3,000 and 5,000 protesters, and there were smaller demonstrations in Marrakesh, Tangier and other cities. All were peaceful, though state radio announced that the rallies had been canceled, perhaps as a tactic to keep the turnout down. There were reports of scattered violence on Sunday evening in Marrakesh, where protesters, some of them throwing stones, clashed with the police and attacked a McDonald’s, and in the northern town of Larache, where a gas station was set ablaze. In Casablanca and Rabat, numerous undercover police officers were obvious in the crowd, sometimes photographing protesters. In Rabat, people chanted slogans like, “Down with autocracy,” and, “The king must reign, not govern.” In Casablanca, protesters called for the government to resign. One sign said: “Democratic Constitution = Parliamentary Monarchy.” “This is a start,” said Imane Safi, 18, who was at the demonstration in Casablanca. “The Arab world is changing and the Moroccan people need a change in the Constitution for more democracy. We want a country like Britain, with a constitutional monarchy and a strong Parliament that is not corrupt.” A doctor, 62, said that she was very happy to see the youth movement for change. “We hope that civil society will join, and we know it will take time, but we have to work at it,” said the doctor, who requested anonymity because she did not want to jeopardize her position. “The government is not real, and all key decisions are in the hands of the king and his friends, and people are tired of accepting a lie.” But an adviser to the king said that he saw an opportunity in the protests to accelerate a movement for needed reform in Morocco, where about 20 percent of the population lives below the poverty line; where the median age is 26.5; and where there is high unemployment, high illiteracy and a level of corruption judged to be more severe than in Tunisia, if below that of Egypt.