Gadhafi backers take over town
BENGHAZI, Libya — Moammar Gadhafi loyalists seized control of a Libyan mountain city in the most serious challenge to the central government since the strongman’s fall.
The taking of Bani Walid, one of the last Gadhafi strongholds captured by the new leadership late last year, was the first such organized operation by armed remnants of Gadhafi’s regime. A simultaneous outbreak of shootings in the capital and Libya’s second-largest city, Benghazi, raised authorities’ concerns that other networks of loyalists were active elsewhere.
There were no immediate signs that the uprising was part of some direct attempt to restore the family of Gadhafi.
Instead, the fighting seemed to reflect a rejection of National Transition Council control by a city that never deeply accepted its rule.
Arab League seeks help from U.N.
DAMASCUS, Syria — The Arab League sought help from the United Nations on Tuesday to address the escalating crisis in Syria.
Gulf Arab countries pulled out of an Arab League monitoring mission, saying it was ineffectual, further casting into doubt the fate of the initiative.
Activist groups reported the deaths of at least 38 people, most of them in Homs, as the government responded to the growing international pressure by stepping up its attempts to crush the revolt.
Egyptian general eases detention law
CAIRO —Egypt’s ruling general announced Tuesday the partial lifting of an emergency law more than three decades old. Abolition of the emergency law, which allows the state to detain and hold Egyptians for virtually no reason, was a key demand of revolutionaries last winter. Denver Post wire services
