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Tonight on AC360°, two major stories from Libya – reports that President Obama has secretly authorized CIA involvement on the ground. And, Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa surfaced in London Wednesday and told officials there that he has resigned his post with the Libyan government. Plus, updates on situation in Syria and the nuclear emergency in Japan.
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CNN Wire Staff
Tokyo (CNN) - The chairman of the Japanese company that owns the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant said Wednesday it has no choice but to decommission four of the plant's six reactors.
Tsunehisa Katsumata, chairman of Tokyo Electric Power Co., made the comment in a news conference as workers struggled to keep the reactors cool and prevent the further spread of radiation from the earthquake- and tsunami-stricken plant.
"Looking at current conditions, I have to say there are no options other than decommissioning reactors 1-4," Katsumata said.
He also said he is aware the Japanese government is considering nationalizing the company in the wake of the disaster, but "we want to make every effort to stay a private company."
Radioactive iodine at more than 3,000 times the regulatory limit has been found in ocean water near the plant, Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said.
Monitoring data collected Tuesday afternoon detected the I-131 isotope at 3,355 times the regulatory limit, the agency said. The sample was taken 330 meters (1,080 feet) away from one of the plant's discharge points, the agency said.
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Pro wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, television personality Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, and pro wrestler John Cena attend the WrestleMania XXVII press conference at Hard Rock Cafe New York on March 30, 2011 in New York City. (Photo credit: Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
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CNN Wire Staff
Benghazi, Libya (CNN) - The CIA is operating in Libya to help the United States increase its "military and political understanding" of the situation, a U.S. intelligence source said Wednesday.
"Yes, we are gathering intel firsthand and we are in contact with some opposition entities," the source told CNN.
The White House refused to comment on a Reuters report Wednesday that President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing covert U.S. government support for rebel troops.
"I will reiterate what the president said yesterday - no decision has been made about providing arms to the opposition or to any group in Libya," said White House press secretary Jay Carney in a statement. "We're not ruling it out or ruling it in. We're assessing and reviewing options for all types of assistance that we could provide to the Libyan people, and have consulted directly with the opposition and our international partners about these matters."
Meanwhile, another senior Libyan official broke Wednesday with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, whose loyalist forces have opposition fighters on the run after a string of successes.
And members of Congress questioned administration officials as to why they weren't asked to authorize Obama's decision to commit U.S. forces.
According to the Reuters report, Obama signed the covert aid order, or "finding," within the past few weeks. Such findings are required for the CIA to conduct secret operations, the report said.
A U.S. official not authorized to speak publicly could not confirm the finding but noted when there are crises like this, "you look at all instruments of national power."
In early March, a U.S. official told CNN "the intelligence community is aggressively pursing information on the ground" in Libya.
There has been growing discussion over whether the coalition will arm the opposition and provide training on the use of effective weapons systems.
CNN Wire Staff
(CNN) - European and American leaders weighed the pros and cons of arming Libya's rebels Wednesday - a possibility made more urgent by a series of new military setbacks for forces seeking to topple strongman Moammar Gadhafi.
Government forces have been pushing from Bin Jawad to Ras Lanuf, a critical eastern oil town that the opposition seized on Sunday. Gadhafi's military has also launched escalated strikes in the western town of Misrata.
The new offensive was launched in the wake of an international arms embargo and airstrike campaign designed to establish a no-fly zone and provide humanitarian relief for civilians threatened by the Libyan military.
British Prime Minister David Cameron told the House of Commons Wednesday that the United Nations Security Council mandate "allows all necessary measures to protect civilians and populated areas (and) this would not necessarily rule out provision of assistance to those protecting civilians in certain circumstances."
"As I've said before, we do not rule it out but we have not taken the decision to do so," he said.
U.S. President Barack Obama said Tuesday he is also open to the possibility of arming rebel fighters.
"I'm not ruling it out, but I'm also not ruling it in," he told NBC.
In a separate interview with ABC, Obama said that "if we wanted to get weapons into Libya, we probably could. ... We're looking at all our options at this point."
One significant problem, however, is the need to train opposition forces on how to use advanced weaponry.
"The notion of the gang that couldn't shoot straight might be lived out," retired Maj. Gen. James "Spider" Marks told CNN Tuesday night.
"There must be some degree of training associated with arming this force," said Marks, a former commanding general of the U.S. Army Intelligence Center. "However, some weapons systems, clearly they can get a handle on and they can use immediately. It's the more lethal weapon systems that would require training, and I don't think there's time to do that."
Reza Sayah
CNN
Tobruk, Libya (CNN) - Like everyone else, Aisha Ahmad watched the riveting drama unfold in a Tripoli hotel as a desperate woman burst into a dining room filled with journalists, sobbing, screaming, wanting the world to know she had been raped by 15 of Moammar Gadhafi's militia men.
The arresting images of how swiftly the woman, Eman al-Obeidy, 29, and the journalists were stifled stirred viewers around the world. But perhaps none more so than Ahmad.
This was her daughter. And she was enraged.
Just weeks before, Ahmad might have wept in silence. But now, with war engulfing Libya and its future hanging in the balance, Ahmad feared Gadhafi no more.
CNN Wire Staff
(CNN) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad defied expectations and dashed widespread hopes during an anticipated nationally televised speech Wednesday when he made no mention of lifting a state of emergency.
In his rambling 45-minute speech to the National Assembly, he acknowledged that Syrians want reform and that the government has not met their needs.
Making several references to an anti-Syria "conspiracy" and threats to "stability," al-Assad said strife cannot win out over future reforms.
"Although President al-Assad did acknowledge the need for reform, his failure to address head-on the lifting of the state of emergency smacks of procrastination," said Philip Luther, Amnesty International's deputy director for the Middle East and Africa. "He could declare this tomorrow if he wanted.
"He should have immediately ordered his security forces to stop using unwarranted force and announced steps towards implementing key human rights reforms."
U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said "the speech fell short of the type of reforms the Syrian people demanded" and lacked substance.
Al-Assad made few concrete promises after weeks of anti-government demonstrations that have left at least 61 people dead, according to Human Rights Watch.
The address "failed to commit to a specific reform agenda that would safeguard public freedoms and judicial independence and prohibit the Syrian government from encroaching on human rights," the group said.
Reem Haddad, a spokeswoman for the Syrian Information Ministry, told CNN the emergency law "will be lifted," but she said procedures must be worked out.
"The president presented his own vision" on an announced package of reforms, Haddad said. Details will come in a "limited time frame," she added.
Asked if Syrians received enough information, Haddad said, "I wouldn't say the people expected more."