TRIPOLI, Libya — Libya’s outgoing prime minister called Sunday for speeding up the timetable for holding elections, warning that a political vacuum could develop in a country emerging from an eight-month civil war. Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril noted that under current plans, Libyans would have to wait until June to choose a panel to oversee the writing of a new constitution, which would set the stage for presidential and legislative elections. Read full article > >

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Libyan leader wants to speed up elections

TRIPOLI, Libya — An autopsy confirmed that Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi died from a gunshot to the head, the country’s chief pathologist said Sunday, just hours before Libya’s new leaders were to declare liberation and a formal end to an eight-month civil war to topple the longtime ruler’s regime. Read full article > >

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Autopsy shows Gadhafi killed by head shot, official says, as Libya to declare liberation

TRIPOLI, Libya — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton traveled to the Libyan capital on Tuesday, bringing encouragement and millions of dollars in new U.S. aid to a transitional government struggling to consolidate control over a country ravaged by dictatorship and civil war . Clinton arrived in Tripoli just after noon, becoming the first cabinet-level U.S. official to visit the country since autocratic leader Moammar Gaddafi was driven from the capital nearly two months ago. Read full article > >

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Clinton arrives in Libya bearing aid and encouragement

Through no fault of his own, the North Carolina writer Charles Frazier fell from everybody’s favorite success story to a symbol of the publishing industry’s profligacy. After he came out of nowhere in 1997 to sell millions of copies of a Civil War odyssey called “ Cold Mountain ,” New York publishers bid like drunken sailors on a one-page outline for Frazier’s second book. Random House trounced all opponents at auction by tossing off an absurd $8 million advance, the kind of money that might have paid for manuscripts from hundreds of promising literary novelists. No one was particularly surprised — though some were fiendishly delighted — when the book Frazier eventually produced, “ Thirteen Moons ,” received jeering reviews and sold far fewer copies than his debut. Read full article > >

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Ron Charles reviews ‘Nightwoods,’ by Charles Frazier

BAGHDAD — A suicide bomber blew himself up inside Baghdad’s largest Sunni mosque Sunday night, killing 29 people during prayers, a shocking strike on a place of worship similar to the one that brought Iraq to the brink of civil war five years ago. Iraqi security officials said parliament lawmaker Khalid al-Fahdawi, a Sunni, was among the dead in the 9:40 p.m attack. Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, a spokesman for Baghdad’s military operations command, confirmed the bombing happened inside the Um al-Qura mosque during prayers in the western Baghdad neighborhood of al-Jamiaah. The blue-domed building is the largest Sunni mosque in Baghdad. Read full article > >

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Iraqi officials say suicide bomber kills 29 inside Baghdad mosque, 38 injured

Following talks with rebels about ending civil war.

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Top Gaddafi Minister Quits: Report

Even as many senior Afghan officials echoed President Hamid Karzai, closer to the ground, local leaders and ordinary people expressed fears of civil war.

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Karzai Welcomes Withdrawal, but Many Afghans Are Wary

The UK presses Sri Lanka to investigate alleged atrocities during its civil war after “horrific” video of apparent prisoner killings aired in a TV programme.

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UK urges S Lanka war crimes probe

What began as a peaceful protest movement demanding the departure of a president is turning into a bloody battle on the streets of the Yemeni capital, pitting two powerful families against each other and raising fears of a civil war. At their core, the increasingly violent clashes are an old-fashioned struggle for power and money between two segments of Yemen’s elite — supporters of President Ali Abdullah Saleh and tribesmen loyal to one of the country’s leading families, the Ahmars. The fighting in Sanaa has claimed about 130 lives in 10 days and added to concerns about a breakdown in authority in the impoverished, fragile country. And it has little to do with the democratic aspirations of the youths who first took to the streets in January, inspired by the uprising in Tunisia. Read full article > >

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Elite Yemeni families at center of clashes

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa defends the conduct of the military during fighting at the end of the country’s protracted civil war.

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Sri Lanka defends military record

The violence in Yemen seems to be spiraling to new levels. President Salih is seeking to arrest Hashid tribal leader Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar, on charges of waging armed rebellion; while the US is ordering out nonessential diplomatic staff. The dangers of a descent into civil war in Yemen are fairly obvious: there are multiple fracture lines…

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Situation in Yemen Deteriorating

The United States has ordered all non-essential diplomats and their family members to leave Yemen as the country spirals into civil war. At least 72 people have died there over the past three days in confrontations between tribal fighters and…

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U.S. Recalls Diplomats from Yemen

The grave of Robert Selden Garnett, killed in Virginia in 1861, has been found in Green-Wood Cemetery, where a Civil War sesquicentennial commemoration is planned.

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City Room: Confederate General Buried Far From the Battlefield

The 6-foot-4 Manassas businessman Creston Owen was a go-big-or-go-home kind of guy, so when he began planning for the Civil War sesquicentennial, everyone knew it wouldn’t be a small affair. After immersing himself in history books and movies and buying Civil War garb, Owen unveiled in 2009 his grand vision for a nine-day extravaganza that would center on a reenactment in which tens of thousands of “soldiers” marched the rolling countryside, re-creating the First Battle of Manassas. Busloads would arrive for an event that he said would capture the nation’s imagination. He even wanted to build an RV park where people could camp in the middle of the action. Read full article > >

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As Civil War anniversary nears, Manassas sees a historic opportunity

The Civil War sesquicentennial means a major tourism opportunity for Manassas. Read full article > >

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Manassas’s battlefield promotion