SYRIA: Violence continues as Arab League seeks entry.
Syria said Sunday it is still negotiating with the Arab League over the bloc’s request to send observers into the country, as tightening sanctions by Arab and other nations fail to halt the eight- month crackdown on anti-government protesters.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman suggested some headway had been made, but there was no official announcement on whether Syria would sign the agreement.
New violence killed at least nine people Sunday, including a female university professor and a father and his three children in central Syria, opposition activists said.
Activists also said a U.S.- born Syrian blogger, Razan Ghazzawi, was arrested at the Syrian-Jordanian border while on her way to attend a workshop for advocates of press freedoms in the Arab world.
LIBYA: New defense chief aims to rebuild military.
Libya’s new defense minister says one of his top priorities is to rebuild the country’s military.
Osama al-Juwali says the primary obstacle he faces is unifying the various revolutionary factions that helped topple Moammar Gadhafi’s regime in an eight-month civil war. He says “we have to reorganize” but that it is too early to disarm fighters still in the capital of Tripoli.
Al-Juwali was sworn in Sunday before the country’s new leaders and other Cabinet ministers.
Denver Post wire services
