LIBYA: Rebels look to Tripoli amid diplomatic boost.
Libyan rebels Monday broke out toward Tripoli from the opposition-held port of Misrata 140 miles to the east, cracking a government siege as fighters across the country mounted a resurgence in their 4-month- old revolt against Moammar Gadhafi.
The rebels gained a diplomatic boost as well when the visiting German foreign minister said the nascent opposition government was “the legitimate representative of the Libyan people.”
Guido Westerwelle was visiting Benghazi, the capital of the rebel-held east of the country, to open a liaison office and hand over medical supplies.
In London, Libyan analysts reported Monday that Gadhafi had lost another close official who defected and fled the country. Sassi Garada, one of the first men to join Gadhafi when he took power, left Libya through Tunisia, according to Noman Benotman, a Libyan analyst in London who was in contact with his friends and family.
SOMALIA: Clinton calls on friends of Gadhafi.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rod ham Clinton, on a tour of African nations, pressed some of the world’s last remaining friends of Moammar Gadhafi to abandon Libya’s strongman and join the growing international demand for him to cede power.
“Your words and actions could make the difference in bringing this situation to a close and allowing the people of Libya to get to work rebuilding their country,” Clinton told African officials in Addis Ababa.
She said the world needed African leadership to end the standoff between opposition forces and Gadhafi’s troops.
BRITAIN: American apologizes for blog hoax.
A 40-year-old American man living in Scotland said Monday he’s sorry for posing as a Syrian lesbian blogger who offered vivid accounts of life amid revolt and repression in Damascus, a still-unraveling hoax that has exposed the difficulty of sifting truth from fiction online.
Tom MacMaster said he created the persona of Amina Arraf and the “Gay Girl in Damascus” blog to draw attention to conditions in a Middle East convulsed by change.
JORDAN: Youths clash with police as tensions simmer.
Youths in the poor southern town of Tafila exploded in anger at rough handling by police during a visit by King Abdullah II on Monday, a symptom of simmering popular frustrations in Jordan even as the monarch moves toward democratic reform.
About 60 youths tried to line sidewalks as the king’s motorcade approached, to hand-deliver petitions, police pushed them away “savagely,” and the crowd responded with stones, said Tafila shopkeeper Yazan Abu Yousef, 26.
The spurt of violence pointed up Jordanians’ resentment of heavy-handed control by the Hashemite kingdom’s security forces.
EGYPT: Military leaders say 7,000 civilians jailed since Mubarak’s ouster.
Egypt’s military rulers told human- rights advocates Monday that at least 7,000 civilians have been sentenced to prison terms by military courts since Hosni Mubarak was ousted — an astoundingly high number likely to fuel debate over how much the revolution has changed the country.
Advocates said the military promised to review the cases and vacate any improper guilty verdicts and commute the sentences.
Denver Post wire services
