– Mustafa Abdel Jalil, head of the Libyan Transitional National Council, announced the country officially “liberated” from the rule of Muammar Qaddafi and promised to institute a more democratic, but also more strictly Islamic, system.
– NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Friday the that the alliance would begin winding down its aerial campaign over Libya with the aim of ending the operation completely by the end of the month. “We did what we said we would do, and now is the time for the Libyan people to take their destiny fully into their own hands,” Fogh Rasmussen said.
– U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford has has been withdrawn after a series of threats, including articles published in state run media, that led to attacks on the embassy and his residence by supporters of President Bashar al-Assad.
– Iraqi Prime Minsiter Nouri al-Maliki said that immunity for U.S. trainers was indeed the sticking point in negotiations over extending the U.S. troop presence in Iraq beyond the end of the year. He pledged the U.S. would never operate with immunity in the future.
– A report by the U.S. Special Inspector General for iraq Reconstruction found that only 12 percent of the money allocated by the State Department to fund training for Iraqi police was actually going to training, with much of the rest focused on security for the 115 trainers.
– The Hill reports that lawmakers “will soon send the congressional deficit panel the details of a Pentagon report that shows defense firms over the last decade ripped off the military to the tune of $1.1 trillion.”
– The Palestinian bid for full membership in UNESCO could result in a cutoff of U.S. financing for the organization. Legislation dating back 15 years mandates a cutoff of U.S. funding for any U.N. agency that recognizes Palestine as a full member.
– U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Scott Gration said the U.S. was “talking with the Kenyans right now to figure out where they need help” in the recently escalated fight against the Somali militant group Al Shabaab.
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