The UN Security Council plans to vote today to lift more than a decade of sanctions against Libya, but France could block the long-awaited deal to settle the Lockerbie bombing case.

Negotiations with Libya over increased compensation for families of victims of a 1989 French airliner bombing over the Niger desert have hit an impasse, a representative the families said today.

Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi says agreement over compensation has been reached between his country and the families of the 170 victims of a French airliner that exploded nearly 14 years ago.

LIBYA has agreed to set up a €2.4 billion fund for families of 270 people killed in the 1988 Pan Am bombing, the families' lawyers said, a move that could end UN sanctions and resolve an issue that has made the country an international pariah.