BBC News with Zoe Diamond

The authorities in Libya say that fighting between rival

militias

has killed 14 people and wounded at least eight others. Reporting from Tripoli, here's Jon Donnison.

The fighting in the northwestern corner of Libya has been going on for three days. It's not clear how it started, but it's believed to be between militia made up of ethnic Berber from Zuwara and Arab fighters from several neighbouring towns. There have been reports of shelling and heavy gunfire. Libya's interior minister announced it was sending 200 security officers to try and

restore

calm. But this vast country has no real central authority, no army to dispatch. Since the revolution which toppled the 42-year-long rule of Muammar Gaddafi, Libya has been policed by dozens of separate heavily armed militia often with long-standing rivalries.

A UN agency has urged the Lebanese government to hold a full investigation into the recent death of an Ethiopian maid who'd been filmed being beaten and dragged into a car in Beirut. The UN special

rapporteur

on slavery, Gulnara Shahinian, described the images of the treatment of the maid, Alem Dechasa, as cruel, saying they

reminded her of

the many migrant workers she met in Lebanon on a visit last year. The video of Ms Dechasa was shown on Lebanese TV, causing widespread

outrage

.

The American ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, says Syria's actions since the beginning of the month do not encourage hope that the government will comply with a ceasefire plan. She warned the Syrian government not to intensify the violence in the days before 10 April when a ceasefire proposed by Kofi Annan is due to begin. Syria says it's agreed to the deadline. Barbara Plett reports from the United Nations.