Clinton to meet Libyan opposition

WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will travel to Egypt and Tunisia next week to press democratic reforms after rebellions that ousted the two countries' autocratic rulers. She will also meet members of Libya's opposition who are fighting to topple Moammar Gadhafi, and announced Thursday that the U.S. was suspending relations with the Libyan embassy in Washington.

Clinton will be the first cabinet-level Obama administration official to visit either Egypt or Tunisia since unrest exploded across the Middle East in January. Her trip to Cairo and Tunis comes as the U.S. tries to maintain its influence in the region as well as reassure its Arab allies of continued support amid rapidly changing developments on the ground.

Clinton said she'll also meet Libyan opposition figures in the U.S. and when she travels to Egypt and Tunisia. The U.S. has confirmed talks with groups organizing in Libya's east, which has been largely wrested from Gadhafi's control, but Clinton's will be the highest-level discussions with figures fighting for an end to the Libyan leader's 42-year grip on power.

The U.S. is cutting relations with Gadhafi's remaining representatives in Washington.

"We are suspending our relationship with the existing Libyan embassy," Clinton told a congressional panel. "So we expect them to end operating as the embassy of Libya."