A political crisis is brewing in Libya with the imminent resignations of the president of the legislature, dozens of lawmakers and as many as eight Cabinet ministers, following the adoption of a law that bans officials who had served under late dictator Moammar Gadhafi from holding public office.
The Arab Spring that prompted the ouster of authoritarian regimes in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya also led to the rise of Islamists who are bent on creating Islamic states that adhere to Shariah law — and that fate could await Syria after dictator Bashar Assad falls.
The United States, Britain and France said on Wednesday that the "international community" is concerned over "armed intimidation" of Libya's elected government as it struggles to consolidate a democracy more than a year and a half after the death of dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
Libya's defense minister agreed to remain in his post hours after he had resigned in protest, accusing armed militias who laid siege to several government ministries in Tripoli of committing an "assault on democracy."
"I'm proud to be the general manager of the Washington Redskins," the general manager said. "We represent an iconic sports franchise that's 81 years old, that involves millions of fans worldwide, that has thousands of alumni. It's ludicrous to think in any way that we're trying to upset anybody."
Hundreds of people gathered Thursday at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian for a discussion of sports teams' use of racially insensitive imagery that, as such discussions often do, turned into an ongoing complaint against a certain Washington football team's continued use of a certain Indian-inspired nickname.
Security in Benghazi, the eastern Libyan city where four Americans were killed Sept. 11 in a terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate, has decayed to the point where Westerners are fleeing, assassinations and kidnappings are rife and residents worry that U.S. drone strikes on jihadist targets are imminent.
South African President Jacob Zuma says that former President Nelson Mandela has been admitted to hospital in Pretoria to undergo tests.
