The tensions and calculations involved in covering a war zone spilled out Tuesday in an unusual dispute between rival American television networks over a trip to assess damage to an attack on Moammar Gadhafi's compound in Libya.
CNN is angrily denying that correspondent Nic Robertson and other journalists were used by the Libyan government as human shields against an attack on Moammar Gadhafi's compound.
Four New York Times journalists who were held captive in Libya for six days were freed Monday by authorities and crossed the border into Tunisia, the newspaper said.
A defiant Col. Moammar Gadhafi vowed a "long war" after the U.S. and European militaries blasted his forces with airstrikes and more than 100 cruise missiles early Sunday, hitting air defenses and at least two major air bases and shaking the Libyan capital with explosions and anti-aircraft fire.
Residents of Misurata and Adjabiya in Libya said pro-Gadhafi forces were continuing an assault on their cities, hours after the Libyan government had announced a cease-fire in response to a U.N. Security Council resolution.
The New York Times says it's holding out hope that four of its journalists who went missing while covering the Libyan conflict are alive and in the custody of the Libyan government.
Moammar Gadhafi tightened his grip Saturday on the coastal road linking his territory to the rebel-controlled east, pushing forward the front line in Libya's grueling internal conflict and showing off control of devastated towns just seized from the opposition.
Internet services in Libya, already spotty throughout the country's violent upheaval, appeared completely halted in an attempt to stifle information about the insurrection.
Many Libyans oppose the idea of Western troops on the shores of Tripoli, as the Obama administration and its allies on Monday said no option is off the table in their effort to oust longtime dictator Col. Moammar Gadhafi.
