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An armed group has stormed the Tripoli headquarters of the National Oil Corporation (NOC) in Libya. Security forces clashed with the armed men at the landmark building in the centre of the city, and blasts and gunfire could be heard, witnesses say. A security official at the site said at least two staff members and two gunmen have been killed in the attack. Last week, the UN announced that a truce between warring militias had been agreed in the capital. A UN-backed government is nominally in power in Tripoli but militias occupy much of the rest of the country. …...

A bloodied and beaten Moammar Gadhafi asked the fighters who captured him "Do you know right from wrong?" in what could well have been the final words of the ousted Libyan dictator. New video footage emerged Friday showing the former strongman apparently in his last moments, surrounded and pleading for his life, repeatedly telling the mob swarming around him, "What you are doing is forbidden in Islamic law." One of the group is heard responding, "Shut up you dog," as the armed fighters fired celebratory bullets in the air. The footage ends with Gadhafi telling them, "What you are doing...

Disturbing images of a blood-stained and shaken Moammar Gadhafi being jostled by angry fighters quickly circulated around the world after the Libyan dictator's dramatic death near his home town of Sirte. Related content Biggest killers of Americans now are dead ‘Our martyrs' blood did not run in vain’ Picture apparently shows captured Gadhafi A look at Gadhafi's children Who killed Gadhafi? Conflicting stories emerge NBC correspondent answers questions about Gadhafi With warped vision, Gadhafi maddened Libya, West Captured Gadhafi, bloodied and dazed, shown on TV . . The exact circumstances of his demise are still unclear with conflicting accounts of...

I am watching Sky News and they are reporting via Reuters that Khadaffi has died of his wounds suffered during his attempted capture.

The rebel stronghold of Benghazi is under attack from the south, the west, and the sea. Extensive shelling is reported in the western part of the city, and tanks are moving into the suburbs. Panicking civilians are fleeing east as rebel leaders demand immediate international intervention. A rebel fighter jet has been shot down over the city, possibly by friendly fire. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/19/us-libya-idUSTRE7270JP20110319 Gaddafi spokesman read two open letters, one addressed to Obama the other directed to Ban Ki Moon, Sarkozy and Cameron. Both defended Libya’s right to defend itself from what he described as terrorists, but the letter to Obama...

WASHINGTON -- Sen. John McCain called Moammar Khadafy "insane" today as he reaffirmed his call for a US-backed no-fly zone over Libya to prevent its embattled leader from using aircraft to slaughter its citizens. During an interview on ABC News' "This Week," McCain told Christiane Amanpour that the US cannot "risk allowing Gadhafi to massacre people from the air, both by helicopter and fixed-wing [aircraft]." McCain (R-Ariz.) furthered reiterated his support for imposing a no-fly zone, saying Ghadafi's air assets were "not overwhelming." "Let's just call a spade a spade. A no-fly zone begins with an attack on Libya to...

Perhaps the better question is:  "can rag-tag rebels take Tripoli anytime soon?" He's lost 3/4 of Libyan territory... army desertions rampant... international community now attempting to employ the stage-hook... so how's the 'mad dog of the Middle East' still hanging on?  First, there's a real reason the Libyan Army can't solve this all as cleanly as was done in Egypt: distrusting military officers like himself who possess the desire -and ability- to stage coups, Col Gaddafi long ago emasculated his own army, rendering them largely unable to topple him.  They possess the oldest weapons, have limited intelligence capabilities, and number...

How much more suffering does the Obama administration want American relatives of Lockerbie bombing murder victims to take? Fresh off delivering a hero’s welcome for freed Lockerbie jihadist Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, blood-stained Libyan terrorist-enabler Moammar Gadhafi is headed to America next month.

Italy agreed to pay Libya $5 billion as compensation for its 30-year occupation of the country during the 20th century. The money will be invested by Italy over a 25-year period. For VOA, Sabina Castelfranco reports from Rome. The Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Saturday signed a "friendship pact" with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Under the pact, Italy agreed to compensate Libya for abuses it committed during its colonial rule of the North African country. Italy will invest $5 billion in Libya in a deal that effectively turns the page on colonial-era disputes that have long...

Excerpt - Libya has taken "worryingly retaliatory measures" against Switzerland following the recent arrest of leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's son in Geneva, according to the Swiss Foreign Ministry. Col Gaddafi's government has recalled some of its diplomats from Switzerland, reduced flights between the countries, stopped processing visa requests from Swiss citizens, demanded the closure of Swiss firms in Libya and detained two Swiss citizens. Swiss foreign minister Micheline Calmy-Rey has formally complained about the moves to her Libyan counterpart and has advised citizens not to travel to Libya. ~ snip ~

(AGI) - Geneva, 17 July - The detention of Hannibal Gheddafi, son of the Libyan President, and his wife lasted just one night. The Gheddafis, arrested yesterday evening accused of mistreating two staff of the hotel in Geneva where they were staying, were released after the payment of bail of 309,000 euro. The most serious charges were made against Colonel Gheddafi's daughter-in-law, 9 months' pregnant and admitted today to the University of Geneva hospital. The two employees of the Hotel Presidente Wilson, a Moroccan man and a Tunisian woman showed the injuries to the judge but the Gheddafis' lawyers...

Excerpt - TRIPOLI, Libya -- Recently, Libyan strongman Col. Moammar Gadhafi wrote a letter to President Bush, asking: Where are we going with our relationship? Five years ago, the Bush administration helped persuade Libya -- for decades one of the world's leading sponsors of terrorism -- to scrap its nuclear ambitions and dismantle its terror infrastructure. It ranks as one of the president's signature foreign-policy successes and was supposed to blaze a path for other rogue states, principally North Korea and Iran. Now, these ties are fraying. According to Libyan diplomats who have seen the letter, sent in early March,...

Scandal surrounding special forces: more than 30 police-, Bundeswehr- and GSG-9- officers apparently trained Lybian collegues; in secret and illegally. They allegedly earned hundreds of thousands of Euros with their activities, now the interior minister of Northrine-Westphalia has filed charges. Düsseldorf - illegal discretionary earnings from Muammar al-Gaddafi: German security officers are facing a volley of reproaches. Without the knowledge of their offices they allegedly flew to Lybia in their free time - to train police officers of the authoritarian regime. "This behavior is completely unacceptable", the interior minister of Northrhine-Westphalia Ingo Wolf (FDP) said and confirmed that in his...

Nineteen years ago, a Pan Am flight took off from London to bring 259 people to New York, 179 of them Americans. It never made it past Scotland, where the plane exploded, killing all aboard. A trial in Scotland placed blame on Libya, and found a man guilty, despite mounting evidence that the trial had at least gotten the conspiracy wrong -- and did so under pressure from the American government. Jeff Stein at CQ Politics lays out the fascinating story: Back in 1988, Iran was immediately suspected of authoring the mass murder, in retaliation for the accidental downing of...

Excerpt - Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi arrives in Paris Monday for a high-profile visit set to usher in multi-billion-euro nuclear and aviation contracts, even as critics lashed President Nicolas Sarkozy for welcoming the former pariah. Staying in a heated Bedouin tent pitched near the Elysee presidential palace, Kadhafi is expected during the five-day visit to approve the purchase of three billion euros (4.4 billion dollars) of Airbus planes, a nuclear reactor and possibly Rafale fighter jets. ~ snip ~

Jerusalem, 14 May (AKI) - The Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was taken to hospital on Sunday after suffering a stroke, according to a report on the Palestinian news agency Maan, quoted by Israeli news site Ynet. The condition of the 65-year old leader is reported to be serious and family members have been arriving at the hospital, the report said.

TOKYO - Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi told a visiting Japanese official that his country has urged North Korea to give up efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction, the Foreign Ministry said Friday. Iwao Matsuda, Japan's state minister for science and technology policy, held talks with Gadhafi in Sebha, about 375 miles south of Tripoli, on Wednesday, the ministry said in a statement issued Friday. Gadhafi surprised the world in late 2003 when he swore off terrorism and announced plans to dismantle his country's weapons of mass destruction programs. Libya was eager to end his international isolation and economic hardships...

April 15, 2006 -- The American pop star Lionel Richie and the Spanish opera singer Jose Carreras have performed in a concert in Tripoli to mark the 20th anniversary of the U.S. bombing raid on Libya. About 40 people, including an adopted daughter of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, were killed in the raids on Tripoli and Benghazi in the early hours of April 15, 2006. Then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan said the air strikes were launched in retaliation for Libyan complicity in the bombing of a West Berlin discotheque that killed an American soldier.

LIBYAN leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi called French President Jacques Chirac overnight to express his concern about rioting in Paris suburbs and other parts of France. The Libyan national news agency reported that Mr Chirac thanked Colonel Gaddafi for his interest and reassured him that the situation was under control. Colonel Gaddafi was reported saying Libya was "disposed to help France overcome these events," which he described as "regrettable." The report did not outline what kind of aid might have been forthcoming. French authorities have stepped up police action against youths responsible for more than a week of urban riots, in...

Here are some excerpts from a report by the official news agency in Libya on Muammar al-Qathafi's statements: The Leader underscored the need to launch full freedom in Libya, the Jamahiri state " the state of men and women, a country which is all civilian society and is self- run." He called for lifting all restrictions that stand in the face of this, so that Libyans be fully free in selecting economic activities, including founding companies on partnership bases, or on the bases of wages " work with fees". The leader also underscored the freedom of faith, worship, and religion,...