Fighting in Libya spread to towns near Tripoli, as eastern cities organized interim governments. France called for Moammar Qaddafi to step down, and Italy is preparing a “rescue mission.”
Israeli forces fired rubber-coated bullets at protesters in the West Bank city of Hebron, leaving at least nine injured. Protesters demanded a withdrawal of Israeli army troops from the city.
Several deaths are reported after security forces fired on protesters in Mosul and Haweija, as thousands marched across Iraq in a national “day of rage.”
Tens of thousands took to the streets in Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Yemen and Bahrain to demand political reforms. The march in Tunis was the largest since the fall of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
As his regime totters, Col. Qaddafi calls the insurrection an al-Qaeda conspiracy. But will it be enough to assure the good graces of his one-time advisor Richard “Prince of Darkness” Perle?
More than 100 people have died in suicide attacks in Afghanistan in the last three weeks—as the New Yorker reports that the US has entered into exploratory talks with the Taliban.
Was Raymond Davis, the CIA operative held by Pakistan in connection with a shooting incident last month, supplying nuclear and biological warfare materials to al-Qaeda?
The Algerian Council of Ministers approved a draft ordinance repealing the country’s 19-year state of emergency, delivering on a promise made the week before in the face of protests.
Government troops in the Comoros killed or repelled French-speaking white mercenaries who tried to seize control of part of the Indian Ocean archipelago nation.
Senegal cut diplomatic ties with Iran, accusing Tehran of arming separatist rebels in its restive southern Casamance region, where 16 soldiers have been killed this year.
Moammar Qaddafi’s regime has lost vast swathes of Libya’s east to insurrectionists, with many army troops going over the rebels. Two pilots defected after being ordered to bomb Benghazi.
Fidel Castro writes in his column “Reflections of Comrade Fidel” that NATO’s planned invasion of Libya will begin in “a matter of hours or a few days.”
