High-level US diplomat meets Libyan rebel leaders

The highest-ranking US diplomat in the Middle East was in the de facto rebel capital in eastern Libya Monday - a show of growing support for the ragtag movement that seeks to oust longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi.

A State Department statement called the visit by Jeffrey Feltman, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, "another signal of the US's support" for the rebels' National Transitional Council, which it called "a legitimate and credible interlocutor for the Libyan people." (AP)