World/Nation Briefs March 11, 2011

Gadhafi forces pound rebels

RAS LANOUF, Libya - With fierce barrages of tank and artillery fire, Moammar Gadhafi's loyalists threw rebels into a frantic retreat from a strategic oil port Thursday in a counteroffensive that reversed the opposition's advance toward the capital of Tripoli and now threatens its positions in the east.

The rout came as the U.S. director of national intelligence stressed that Gadhafi's military was stronger than it has been described and said that "in the longer term ... the regime will prevail."

Hundreds of rebels in cars and trucks mounted with machine guns sped eastward on the Mediterranean coastal road in a seemingly disorganized flight from Ras Lanouf as an overwhelming force of rockets and shells pounded a hospital, mosque and other buildings in the oil complex. Doctors and staff at the hospital were hastily evacuated along with wounded from fighting from the past week.

The opposition, however, made some diplomatic gains. France became the first country to recognize the rebels' eastern-based governing council. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she would meet with opposition leaders in the U.S., Egypt and Tunisia.

Teen may have jumped on dare

SAN FRANCISCO - A high school student on a field trip to the Golden Gate Bridge who survived a leap Thursday from the famed San Francisco span may have jumped on a dare, authorities said.

The unidentified, 16-year-old 11th-grader from Windsor High School in Sonoma County was rescued by a surfer after the 11:15 a.m. incident and was able to climb ashore on his own, authorities said. Suffering bruises, he was taken to a San Francisco hospital.

Windsor Unified School District Superintendent Bill McDermott said the boy was with about 45 other students and two teachers on a humanities class field trip. He told reporters that he did not believe the teen was trying to commit suicide and that officials were investigating whether he had been dared by classmates to jump.

The fall from the bridge between its south tower and Fort Point where the boy jumped was about 220 feet. Last year, 32 people died after plunging from the bridge; all of those deaths were considered suicides by officials.

Terrorism debate turns emotional

WASHINGTON - Congress pushed deep into a raw and emotional debate Thursday over American Muslims who have committed terrorist attacks in the name of religion, in a hearing punctuated by tearful testimony, angry recriminations and political theater.

Republican Rep. Peter King declared U.S. Muslims are doing too little to help fight terror in America. Democrats warned of inflaming anti-Muslim sentiment and energizing al-Qaida.

Framed by photos of the burning World Trade Center and Pentagon, the families of two young men blamed the Islamic community for inspiring young men to commit terrorism. On the other side, one of the two Muslims in Congress wept while discussing a Muslim firefighter who died in the attacks.

The sharp divisions reflect a country still struggling with how best to combat terrorism nearly a decade after the September 2001 attacks. Al-Qaida has built a strategy recently around motivating young American Muslims to become one-man terror cells, and the U.S. government has wrestled with fighting that effort.

Obama talks about bullying

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama smiled when he said his large ears and funny name once made him a target of school-yard harassment. But he was all seriousness Thursday when he told a White House conference on bullying that torment and intimidation must not be tolerated.

Some 13 million students, about a third of all those attending school, are bullied every year, the White House said. Experts say that puts them at greater risk of falling behind in their studies, abusing drugs or alcohol, or suffering mental or other health problems. Kids who are seen as different because of their race, clothes, disability or sexual orientation are more likely to be bullied.

"If there's one goal of this conference," Obama said, "it's to dispel the myth that bullying is just a harmless rite of passage or an inevitable part of growing up. It's not." He spoke to more than 100 parents, students, teachers and others gathered to discuss the problem and share ideas for solutions.

- The Associated Press