Does 'American Idol' have lady problems?

Does 'American Idol' have lady problems?

The elimination of front-runner Pia Toscano on "American Idol" has sent shockwaves through the audience.

(CNN) -- It would be so easy to blame the teenage girls.

Check out the studio audience of "American Idol," and you will see throngs of them waving signs and screaming for their favorite contestants. They are the ones who rushed the stage Wednesday night after contestant Scotty McCreery sang an Elvis Presley song to hug him and tug on his clothes.

But were the teen female fans, with their faster-than-lightning voting fingers, to blame for the shockingly early ouster of front-runner Pia Toscano on Thursday night?

Maybe.

"The overwhelming skewing of the males lasting much longer than the females over the past couple of seasons is definitely there, and not just with the teen girls, but the older women who get really wrapped up in the show, too," said Jim Cantiello, who covers 'Idol' for MTV.

"A lot of fans and 'Idol' bloggers have done their own independent research and have noted that once texting became a big thing on 'Idol,' a lot of the females were going earlier."

The landscape is certainly looking bleak this season for the female contestants.

Of the five contestants voted off so far this season, all have been women: Ashthon Jones, Karen Rodriguez, Naima Adedapo, Thia Megia and Toscano [Casey Abrams received the lowest number of votes during the Top 11, but the judges used their one-per-season save to keep him on the show].

That leaves only two females in the Top 8 and six males.

Richard Rushfield, author of "American Idol: The Untold Story," said the show absolutely has a strong female base of fans.

"Every piece of evidence says that the 'Idol' electorate is overwhelmingly female, and women don't seem to vote for women on 'American Idol," he said. "This season has been enormous, but it's been the case every year for about four years now that the 'Idol' voting has turned into this sort of popularity contest of your favorite cute boy."

Adedapo addressed that phenomena after she and Megia were cut last week during a double elimination resulting from the judges using their save the week before for contestant Abrams.

"When it comes down to it, the reality is that more than 50 percent of the audience is little teenage girls, and once they get a crush, we're done," Adedapo told The Hollywood Reporter.

It's hard to nail down how females factored into the voting because of the veil of secrecy that covers the competition.

Fox steadfastly refuses to release voting figures, though host Ryan Seacrest will often trumpet the total millions of votes received overall in a given week.

Brian Mansfield, who blogs about the show for USA Today, said Seacrest's silence this week on the totals led him to believe that the voting totals were down and when that occurs "weird things can happen."

Mansfield said he doesn't buy into the lack of women voting for Toscano as the reason for her shocking exit, which elicited boos from the audience and a social-networking explosion of disbelief. He said he believes it is more complex than simply a lack of girl power.

"As I think back to what my readers typically said about Pia, I saw a lot of respect for her, but I didn't necessarily see a lot love for her," Mansfield said. "I think everybody pretty much assumed that she would be in the Top 3, but most of them had another favorite."

Cantiello, Rushfield and Mansfield all pointed out the judges are also culpable in Toscano being sent home as they praised her stellar singing voice each week without hammering home her lack of stage presence until it was too late.

Mansfield said the lack of judge Simon Cowell -- who went to start "Idol" competitor "The X Factor" -- also left a void in terms of a strong opinion that fans could choose to even embrace or reject in their voting.

"The judges this year are taking a completely different approach in that they are trying to nurture everybody and give that constructive criticism that a lot of the hard-core viewers of the show have said that they wanted," Mansfield said.

"The problem is that the judges' real function historically is that they don't do a whole lot for the performers; they are there to be a guide to the voters, and that's not the new function that this new panel is taking."

Glenn Gamboa has been covering "Idol" for Newsday since the show began 10 seasons ago and said Toscano's strength -- an amazing set of pipes and poise -- may have also been her downfall.

"She kind of projected the air of 'I'm really good and I'm going to be fine,' " Gamboa said. "People were like, 'OK, then I am going to vote for someone else who I think is in trouble.' "

While the theories as to why abound, one thing is for sure: So much buzz over the shocker might be a good thing for the competition seeking to return to the astronomical ratings of yesteryear.

Writing for Forbes, Cover Awards editorial director Mark Pasetsky said, "While 'American Idol' appears to have lost one of its top contestants of the season, Pia Toscano, the reality show certainly won't lose out in the ratings department thanks to all of the attention her departure is receiving in the Twitterverse."

iReporter shocked by 'Idol' results

Even two former "Idol" contestants who were themselves victims of early elimination expressed disbelief.

"I can not believe they just eliminated Pia! ReAlly..????," Tweeted Jennifer Hudson whose seventh-place finish the third season still has fans crying foul. "Long as she walked away with that voice she will be alright !! Just hate to see talent like that go!"

Rocker Chris Daughtry finished fourth in season five despite being favored to win and Tweeted "What the crap!!?? I thought Pia was THE best singer on the show this year!"

MTV's Cantiello said Toscano's departure could go either way in the ratings with fans tuning in and voting to ensure their favorite stays or some deciding that since the "best singer" is gone there's no need.

Still, the show was a wonder this week in terms of buzz, Cantiello said.

" 'Idol' needed a big moment," he said. "I think the Casey Abrams save was a good kick-start, and this is just going to make it all the more interesting."

NATO strikes Libyan tanks near key cities

NATO strikes Libyan tanks near key cities

Taking position: A rebel fighter on the turret of a destroyed tank near the eastern part of Ajdabiya.

NATO warplanes have destroyed 11 regime tanks on the road to the eastern Libyan town of Ajdabiya and another 14 tanks near Misrata in the west.

Earlier Libyan leader Moamar Gaddafi's artillery had heavily bombarded Ajdabiya, and his forces had forced their way inside, in their most determined assault on the strategic town for at least a week.

Rebels cowered in alleyways from sustained artillery, rocket and small-arms fire and appeared to be losing control of the town.

"The situation in Ajdabiya, and Misrata in particular, is desperate for those Libyans who are being brutally shelled by the regime," said Lieutenant General Charles Bouchard, the NATO operation's commander.

"To help protect these civilians we continue to strike these forces hard, with 11 tanks destroyed today as they approached Ajdabiya, and 14 tanks destroyed earlier this morning in the outskirts of Misrata."

Ajdabiya is the gateway to the rebels' stronghold of Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, and has been the launch point for insurgents during a week-long fight for the oil port of Brega further west.

Rebels said Mr Gaddafi's forces had killed at least four rebel fighters in the second day of fighting for Ajdabiya.

"I saw the four this morning," said a rebel, Mohammed Saad, at a checkpoint on the eastern edge of the town.

"Their throats were slit and they were all shot through the chest and dumped on the road. Their car was also riddled with bullets."

Insurgent Hassan Bosayna said eight Gaddafi fighters and four rebels were killed in fighting on Saturday, with one of the rebels shot in the forehead by a sniper.

Another rebel, Muftah, said: "There are Gaddafi forces inside Ajdabiyah in sand-coloured Land Cruisers and we know there are Gaddafi snipers in civilian clothing in the city as well."

A reporter near Ajdabiya's eastern gate heard shooting and artillery fire and saw plumes of black smoke, suggesting pro-Gaddafi forces had pushed towards the centre.

The mostly untrained rebels have tried to reorganise and re-equip but were unable to hold ground last week in the fight for Brega.

Misrata besieged


The NATO official said another 14 regime tanks were destroyed near Misrata, the rebels' last major bastion in the west, besieged by Moamar Gaddafi's forces for more than a month.

The alliance had already taken out 15 tanks near Misrata on Friday and Saturday, bringing to 29 the total number of tanks destroyed around Libya's third largest city in the past three days.

Libyan rebels have criticised NATO in recent days, accusing the alliance of failing to protect the population in Misrata. But NATO says it is picking up the pace.

Lieutenant General Charles Bouchard, head of Operation Unified Protector, said on Saturday that warplanes had destroyed ammunition stockpiles and several armoured vehicles in the previous 24 hours.

NATO aircraft struck ammunition stockpiles east of Tripoli that were being used to resupply regime forces that were shelling innocent civilians in Misrata, the alliance said.

"In addition to hitting their supplies, our aircraft successfully destroyed a significant percentage of the Libyan government's armoured forces," Lieutenant General Bouchard said in a statement from his headquarters in Naples, Italy.

"Some of these armoured forces also were involved in the indiscriminate shelling of Misrata," he added.

Mr Gaddafi's forces appear bent on seizing Misrata and crucially its port, which some analysts say is vital if Mr Gaddafi is to survive, because it supplies the capital Tripoli.

Rebel spokesman Mustafa Abdulrahman said by telephone that Saturday's Misrata fighting centred on a road to the port, where a Red Cross vessel brought in badly needed medical supplies earlier in the day.

A government-organised trip to Misrata revealed deserted streets and many heavily shelled buildings in the city's south.

As fighting raged on for the coastal town, where conditions are said to be desperate, a buoyant Moamar Gaddafi made his first television appearance for five days on Saturday.

Wearing his trademark brown robes and dark glasses, he was shown smiling and pumping his fists in the air at a school where he was welcomed ecstatically. Women ululated, one wept with emotion and pupils chanted anti-western slogans.

NDP pledges 'immediate action' in 5 key areas

NDP pledges 'immediate action' in 5 key areas

NDP Leader Jack Layton delivers a speech during a rally Saturday, April 9, 2011 in Saskatoon, Sask. Layton released the party's platform in Toronto on Sunday. 

The NDP says it would take "immediate action" in five key areas within 100 days of the election, as part of a broader platform aimed at balancing the books by 2014-2015 without major service cuts.

NDP Leader Jack Layton said the "practical, affordable plan" would eliminate the deficit without major service cuts. The party says it would do this by hiking corporate tax rates to 19.5 per cent, stopping fossil fuel subsidies, cracking down on tax havens and saving on crime legislation.

"Despite what they say, Stephen Harper and Michael Ignatieff are telling Canadian families to wait at the back of the line," Layton told a crowd of supporters after the NDP platform was unveiled Sunday morning.

The platform outlined five "practical" first steps, many of which were outlined earlier in the campaign, including:
Hiring more doctors and nurses.
Working with the provinces to strengthen the pension systems, with the eventual goal of doubling benefits.
Giving small businesses a tax cut and introducing targeted job-creation tax credits.
Capping credit card fees at prime plus 5 per cent, while taking federal sales tax off home heating.
Working to "fix" Ottawa to stop scandals and encourage co-operation between parties.

"I've laid out my commitment," Layton said. "Real action within 100 days to give your family a break, and I won't stop until the job is done."

The platform included a number of previously announced commitments, including help for family caregivers, a defence policy that prioritizes ships for Canada's navy instead of fighter jets, and a crime prevention and community safety program that would cost roughly $255 million.

It also includes plans to create more affordable housing, reduce poverty and improve access to child care and post-secondary education.

The NDP said it would put a price on carbon through a cap-and-trade system, with revenue from the new system to go to green initiatives.

The party also returned Sunday to the theme of "fixing" a broken system in Ottawa, saying it would work to abolish the Senate and restrict the prime minister’s power to prorogue Parliament.

"I think so many people just shake their head at what they see going on in Ottawa," Layton said.

"We've got to reform our democracy, and that means working towards some form of proportional representation in our country, and we’re committed to that."

The NDP won roughly 18 per cent of the popular vote in the last election and are hoping to make gains this time around. Layton has been positioning himself as a solid alternative to Conservative Leader Stephen Harper at campaign stops across the country.

Final party platform release

The Conservatives, Liberals and Green Party have already released their platforms.

The Conservative election platform included pledges to eliminate the federal deficit by 2014-15 — a year earlier than forecast in its March 22 budget.

When he unveiled the Conservative platform in Mississauga, Ont., Harper said he would find efficiencies through a strategic and operating expense review.

He also said the Conservatives would also push both a tough-on-crime agenda and support for families and businesses.

The Liberals focused on families in their platform, laying out five priority areas in their $8 billion two-year strategy.

The Liberal platform included support for early childhood education, post-secondary students and people caring for elderly parents or sick relatives. It also included changes to the pension system and a green renovation tax credit.

The Green Party said it would raise corporate taxes to 2009 levels and charge $60 per tonne of carbon emitted — but they promised a revenue-neutral "green tax shift" that would cut EI and CPP contributions for both workers and employers.

European Central Bank 'encouraged' Portugal to seek aid

European Central Bank 'encouraged' Portugal to seek aid

European Central Bank (ECB) President Jean-Claude Trichet has said that it encouraged crisis-hit Portuguese authorities to seek financial aid.

Portugal is braced for austerity measures following the EU bail-out

He was speaking after the ECB raised rates to 1.25%, which may add to the problems of debt-ridden countries.

Portugal's troubles are also expected to be discussed at a two-day meeting of EU finance ministers in Budapest.

Portugal's caretaker Prime Minister Jose Socrates said on Wednesday he would ask for financial assistance.

"We have encouraged the Portuguese authorities to ask for support and that was commanded by the situation after what has happened previously in Portugal," said ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet.

A European Commission spokesman said that a formal request for aid had not yet been received, but that the EU would be negotiating a deal with Portuguese authorities even though there is only a caretaker government in place at the moment.

"The Commission stands ready to send a mission to Lisbon along with European Central Bank staff as soon as we are asked to do so," said spokesman Amadeu Altafaj.

The finance ministers' meeting will begin on Friday.

'No contagion risk'

Portugal follows Greece and the Irish Republic in seeking a bail-out.

However, Spain was quick to say it would not be following these countries in seeking assistance.

Analysts have expressed concerns about Spain as it has EU's highest unemployment rate and is struggling to deal with a banking crisis and the collapse of its property boom.

But Spain's Economy Minister Elena Salgado said that financial markets were perfectly capable of distinguishing between the situations in Portugal and Spain.

In an interview on the national radio station SER, she said that the risk of contagion was "absolutely ruled out", and added it was clear that Spain's economy was much more competitive than Portugal's.

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde later supported this view.

"I don't think that there is any risk of contagion to Spain at all because Spain has led a number of reforms, in particular to its banking system, and is much more solid as an economy given the measures that have been taken, and the markets know that," she told France 3 television.

Ms Lagarde also said she was relieved at Portugal's request for aid.

In Portugal, Mr Socrates had put off a bail-out request for as long as he could, having stepped down as prime minister after failing to pass austerity measures.

"I always said asking for foreign aid would be the final way to go but we have reached the moment," he said.

"Above all, it's in the national interest."


Borrowing costs

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in a statement that Portugal's request would be processed "in the swiftest possible manner, according to the rules applicable".

He also reaffirmed his "confidence in Portugal's capacity to overcome the present difficulties, with the solidarity of its partners".

Mr Socrates did not say how much aid Portugal would ask for. Negotiations will now be under way and the BBC's business editor Robert Peston said rescue loans could amount to as much as 80bn euros ($115bn; £70bn).

That amount would be equivalent to nearly half of the country's entire economic output in 2010.

On Wednesday, the government raised about 1bn euros after tapping the financial markets in order to repay loans, but will have to pay a higher interest rate to lenders.

Portugal's cost of borrowing has risen sharply since the minority socialist government resigned last month after its proposed tougher austerity measures were defeated in parliament.

Since then several rating agencies have downgraded the country's debt.

Elections are due to take place on 5 June.

Low growth 

Portugal's problems have been different from those of the other countries that have needed bailing out.

Low economic growth and high wages have meant that the country has struggled to raise enough money through taxation to pay for government spending.

When the banking crisis came, it found itself dealing with the same rising costs of debt that other countries had to deal with, and has finally had to concede that it cannot raise the money it needs through financial markets.

The UK has said that it will not be extending the sort of bilateral loans it offered to the Irish Republic, because it does not have such a close relationship.

But the UK is committed to contribute to one of the EU's temporary bail-out funds as well as the International Monetary Fund's scheme, either of which could be used to assist Portugal.

It will not be clear how much the UK will have to contribute until the details of the bail-out have been agreed.

UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, who will face criticism if the UK ends up supporting Portugal, said that Portugal's problems showed why it was so important for the UK to cut its own budget deficit.

"If you hear the stories about the cuts and still wonder why our country needs to take these difficult decisions, then look at what is happening around us," he said.

Ai arrest highlights China's crackdown

Ai arrest highlights China's crackdown

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is pictured on April 10, 2009, at his home in an arts district on the outskirts of Beijing.

Beijing, China (CNN) -- Week by week, China is tightening its grip on dissent.

From political activism to the internet, media to the arts, the Chinese government is silencing citizens who dare challenge its rule.

The latest victim: Ai Weiwei, 53, one of China's most prominent avant-garde artists and human rights activists. Ai was detained at the Beijing airport on April 3 on his way to Hong Kong. He has not been heard from since.

"I have no idea where he is, why he was taken away, where he is kept now," said Gao Ying, Ai's mother, in a phone interview with CNN five days after Ai's disappearance. "I am very worried about him. He is very stubborn. He won't change his attitude."

Ai, one of the country's best-known artists, helped design the iconic Bird's Nest stadium for the Beijing Olympics. Later, however, he called for a boycott of the 2008 Games because he said China was using the showcase event as propaganda.

Since then, the burly and brash artist has used art and social networking to ridicule government policies. He organized hundreds of volunteers to investigate the deaths of schoolchildren in school buildings that collapsed in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Ai later published the names of the dead on his popular Twitter account to demand government accountability.

The maverick artist has also accused the Chinese government of trying to silence dissidents. "They crack down on everybody who has different opinions -- not even different opinions, just different attitudes," he told CNN last year. "Simply to have different opinions can cost (dissidents) their life; they can be put in jail, can be silenced and can disappear."

Observers say Ai's prominence as an artist and as the son of a widely respected poet gave him a measure of protection. That protection is gone. "Mr. Ai Weiwei is under investigation on suspicion of economic crimes," said foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei, answering a reporter's question at a regular press briefing. "It has nothing to do with human rights or freedom of expression."

He added, "China is a country under the rule of law ... other countries have no right to interfere."

Gao Ying, Ai's mother, dismissed the allegations as "ridiculous."

In the past several weeks, China has detained and arrested a number of lawyers, human rights activists and bloggers amid calls for anti-government protests -- a "jasmine revolution" similar to those that have swept the Middle East and toppled authoritarian regimes.

The government has blocked internet links to such phrases as "jasmine revolution" and names like "Ai Weiwei." Police have also stepped up the harassment of journalists who try to report on these disturbances.

Protests, or what the government refers to as "mass incidents," frequently occur across China every year. Many have sprung from the country's rapid industrialization and urbanization, which have triggered disputes over wages, land seizures, income disparity and pollution.

"But the Chinese authorities seem unable to respond to dissent without taking drastic, even brutal, action," noted Richard Burger, a China-watcher and blogger.

"The willingness on the part of the authorities to employ raw power and make individuals simply disappear is a very troubling aspect of this latest effort," said Joshua Rosenzweig of Dui Hua Foundation, a non-profit organization which seeks to promote human rights in China. "It seems aimed at intimidating both those who have already been taken into custody and those who might worry about being next on the list."

Chinese call this tactic "killing the chicken to scare the monkey" -- a traditional practice of persecuting "scapegoats" to nip dissent in the bud.

In some cases, intimidation seems to work. I had tried twice this week to meet up with a well-known dissident in Beijing to ask his views on the ongoing crackdown. Twice, he canceled, saying that police had dissuaded him from making contact with reporters like me.

But harsh repression, observers say, could backfire. "It only makes icons out of otherwise obscure rabble-rousers," said blogger Richard Burger, citing the persecution of AIDS activist Hu Jia, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo and now Ai Weiwei. "The pattern is simple," he said. "Go after an activist who has the eyes and ears of the media with no apparent consideration of the story inevitably becoming big global news." While Beijing may succeed in silencing the troublemaker, he explained, the resulting publicity is far worse than if they'd left him alone." All three of these examples went from being obscure outside of China into poster children of Communist repression, he added.

China's other dilemma is how to contain the spread of information. According to government figures, over 420 million people can access the internet through the use of computers and smart phones. Many of the Web users are young, highly educated, influential and affluent -- just the sort of people who might be inclined to question authority or sympathize with freedom-seeking activists.

That is why Beijing has set up the "Great Firewall," a sophisticated filtering network that blocks various Internet and social networking web sites, such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, which have helped fuel the protests in the Middle East.

Beijing is gambling that, with its relatively tight grip on information, Ai and other activists at home and overseas can do little to get their message heard at home.

So far, most Chinese do not know who Ai Weiwei is.

Japan nuclear plant releases radioactive water into sea

Japan nuclear plant releases radioactive water into sea

Officials say the discharge means highly radioactive water leaking from reactor No 2 can be stored

Workers at Japan's quake-hit nuclear plant have begun dumping water with low levels of contamination into the sea to free up room to store more highly radioactive water leaking at the site.

About 11,500 tonnes of water will be released into the sea at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Water with a higher level of radioactivity leaking from the No 2 reactor can then be stored.

Efforts to tackle that leak are continuing.

The source of the leak was identified at the weekend as a 20cm (8in) crack in a concrete pit at reactor 2.

Workers are now using dye to try to trace the route of the water, after earlier efforts to plug the hole using a highly absorbent polymer failed.

'No choice'

Operator Tepco has been struggling for more than three weeks to regain control at the plant after the huge earthquake and tsunami knocked out the cooling systems.

Workers face a dilemma - they must keep feeding water into the reactors to stop them overheating, but must then deal with the accumulation of waste water.

Top government spokesman Yukio Edano said that there was no choice but to release some water.

"We are already aware that the water at the No 2 unit is highly radiated," he said.

"So as to prioritise to stop the leakage of this water into the sea... we will release the water stored in the exterior building of the unit, which also unfortunately contains radioactivity but far lower than the highly contaminated water."

The water to be released into the sea contains some 100 times the legal limit of radiation - a relatively low level, says the BBC's Roland Buerk in Tokyo.

"As it is not harmful to people's health and as it is necessary to avert an even bigger danger, we decided it was inevitable," said Hidehiko Nishiyama of Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (Nisa).


Stopping the leak from reactor 2 remains the priority, Mr Edano said earlier.

Tepco says it will inject the polymer again to try to block the flow of radioactive water as soon as it has identified the path of the leak.

As a temporary measure, Nisa is considering building embankments of silt near reactor No 2 to stem the leak into the ocean.

Search operations

The official death toll from the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami which struck north-east Japan on 11 March stands at 12,157, with nearly 15,500 people still unaccounted for.

More than 80% of the victims have been identified and their bodies returned to their families.

Search operations within the 20km exclusion zone around the Fukushima Daiichi power plant have been suspended because of radiation concerns.

More than 161,000 people from quake-ravaged areas are living in evacuation centres, officials say.

A three-day joint operation by Japan's Self-Defense Forces and the US military to find the missing recovered 78 bodies.


The operation, which ended on Sunday, involved about 25,000 troops, more than 60 ships and 120 aircraft.

It covered Pacific coastal areas of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures.

2,600 to lose jobs in first round of Navy and Army cuts

2,600 to lose jobs in first round of Navy and Army cuts

Sir Stephen Dalton expects operations over Libya to last months, rather than weeks

Some 1,600 Navy personnel and 1,000 soldiers are to be laid off in the first tranche of redundancies from the Armed Forces, the government says.

Personnel, including 150 Gurkhas, will be told in September, but no one currently involved in Afghanistan or Libya will face compulsory redundancy.

Defence Minister Andrew Robathan said the move - part of £5bn defence review cuts - would help reduce the deficit.

The RAF earlier announced plans to lay off an initial 1,000 staff.

In total, 11,000 serving personnel will lose their jobs over four years.

Mr Robathan said UK military operations in Libya and Afghanistan will not be impacted "adversely" by the redundancies from the armed forces.

He told the Commons that voluntary redundancies were being sought, which could include personnel currently on operations.

The announcement comes as Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton has warned that the RAF would need "genuine increases" in its budget to run the range of operations which ministers demand.

He told the Guardian that without more investment, the RAF would struggle to maintain levels of capabilities.


Libyan mission

Sir Stephen said his assumption was that the RAF's warplanes and surveillance aircraft would be needed over Libya for a number of months, rather than weeks.

"In general terms [we] are now planning on the basis of at least six months, and we'll see where we go from there," he said.

A poll for BBC News on Sunday suggested that two-thirds of people believed Britain's military involvement in Libya would go on for some time.

Of 2,000 people asked, 65% said the UK's involvement in Libya "will last for some time", while just 14% chose the option "will be over pretty quickly", and 20% did not know.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Sunday that the military intervention in Libya would not lead to a stalemate between pro-Gaddafi forces and rebels.

He said Col Muammar Gaddafi's regime had no future because it was isolated and could not sell any oil.

Meanwhile, Scottish police and prosecutors are due to meet Foreign Office officials on Monday to try to gain access to former Libyan foreign minister, Moussa Koussa, who arrived in the UK last week.

They want to talk to Mr Koussa about the 1988 Lockerbie bombing in which 270 people died.
 
'National security'

Sir Stephen issued a warning that the RAF would need an increase in spending from the next Comprehensive Spending Review in 2014.

Without "genuine increases", he said the RAF would find it "very difficult" to maintain its current levels of capability - with operations in Afghanistan, the Falklands and Libya.

"The key factor is that if we are to meet the requirements laid upon us, there is no question that more investment will be needed to achieve that," he said.

"What I am seeking to do is maintain core competencies and bricks on which we can then build the future."

Commenting on Sir Stephen's interview, shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy said forces' families would want to know that those "serving on crucial operations in Libya will not be sacked on their return".

"On the day the air chief marshal warns about the pressures being placed on the RAF, and when our forces are being asked to do more overseas, the country will want the Tory-led government to explain the impact of their actions," he said.

"Our forces deserve better. The government should pause, think again and reopen their rushed defence review."

Soldiers and sailors in the groups targeted for job losses will be seen by their commanding officers on Tuesday.

Under the plans, the Ministry of Defence will also lose 25,000 civilian staff.

Unveiling the strategic defence and security review in October, Prime Minister David Cameron said defence spending would fall by 8% over four years.

He said the UK would still meet Nato's target of spending 2% of GDP on defence and would continue to have the fourth largest military in the world and "punch above its weight in the world".

But he said the country had to be "more thoughtful, more strategic and more co-ordinated in the way we advance our interests and protect our national security".

In February, the Army apologised to 38 soldiers who learned they were losing their jobs by e-mail.

The men - all long-serving warrant officers and including one working in Afghanistan - were told they were victims of the defence cuts.