World View: Both sides in this conflict are guilty of spreading propaganda – and foreign journalists have on occasion been all too eager to help

Human rights organisations have cast doubt on claims of mass rape and other abuses perpetrated by forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, which have been widely used to justify Nato's war in Libya.

An explosion blamed on forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi struck outside a hotel popular with foreign diplomats in Benghazi yesterday, as the regime suffered another setback with the defection of its oil minister.

World View: Air strikes will defeat Gaddafi. But unless regional partners help force his departure, he will fight to the finish – ushering in years of chaos and crisis

After the 157,000 tickets to the Chelsea Flower Show sold out in record time, demand is proving so high that many are being resold online for up to five times their original price.

The European Union plans to open an office in the rebel-held Libyan city of Benghazi to facilitate assistance to the rebel council based there, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said today.

Billions of dollars of Colonel Gaddafi's money stashed outside of Libya are to be used to pay for the uprising against him under plans revealed by the US in Rome yesterday. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that Washington was trying to free part of £30bn in frozen Libyan assets in the US and give them to the leadership in the rebel-held city of Benghazi.

An urgent appeal for gas masks to be sent to the residents of Misrata has been delayed after supplies in Benghazi were found to have expired and be useless. Unconfirmed reports yesterday that pro-Gaddafi forces who are surrounding the port city have been seen wearing masks prompted an urgent appeal to Libya's interim government in Benghazi.

The view from Benghazi

US Senator John McCain, one of the strongest proponents in Congress of the American military intervention in Libya, today said that Libyan rebels fighting Moammar Gadhafi's troops are his heroes.

It is in danger of being seen not as a struggle for self-determination, but a Western-backed coup

Two more Western powers said yesterday they were joining Britain in sending military advisers to help rebel forces in Libya. But media reports suggested that France and Italy had, in fact, deployed a handful of officers to the rebel headquarters in Benghazi some time ago. The announcements by Paris and Rome probably amounted to an admission – and an extension – of what was already happening.

Deployment of troops sparks fears of 'mission creep'

Opposition leaders hope that time is on their side. Possibly they are right. But Iraqi opponents of Saddam Hussein thought much the same 20 years ago