The Pentagon is moving naval forces closer to Syria in case President Barack Obama decides to order military strikes, US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has suggested.

Libyan government forces have captured Muammar Gaddafi’s ex-spokesman outside a besieged town, the prime minister’s office said today as Libyans marked the anniversary of the ousted dictator’s death.

Protesters angered by an anti-Islam film have stormed the US Embassy compound in Yemen’s capital, two days after America’s ambassador was gunned down at the US Consulate in Libya.

The US government is investigating whether the attack on the US Consulate in Libya in which America’s ambassador was gunned down was a planned terrorist strike to mark the anniversary of the September 11 2001 attacks rather than a spontaneous mob enraged over an anti-Islam YouTube video.

President Barack Obama has vowed the United States will “work with the Libyan government to bring to justice” those who killed US ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in an attack on the consulate in Benghazi.

A human rights organisation has called on Nato to compensate survivors of airstrikes in Libya which it says killed dozens of civilians.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has called off a planned trip to Libya after a militia group surrounded the headquarters of the caretaker Libyan government.

Two British journalists held by a Libyan militia after they were accused of spying have been transferred to the custody of the government, the UK Foreign Office said.

The Libyan government has been “extremely apologetic” about the desecration of British war graves in the eastern city of Benghazi, a UK Foreign Office Minister said today.

The death of ex-Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi paves the way for the settlement of legal claims by IRA victims in the North, the DUP's Jeffrey Donaldson has said.

Libya’s de facto leader said today he is optimistic the former rebels will declare total victory over forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi in less than a week, opening the way for a transitional government to be formed within a month.

The Gaddafi regime warned British officials that there would be “dire consequences” for relations between the UK and Libya if Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi died in his Scottish jail cell, it has emerged.

THE fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime could help secure compensation for Libya’s past support for the IRA, it was claimed yesterday.

FOR four decades, the willful, mercurial figure of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has been a thorn in the side of the West.

Rebels clashed with regime loyalists and staged large anti-government protests around Tripoli today.

Libyan government forces have tapped into their stores of Scud missiles, firing one for the first time in the conflict with rebels, but hurting no one, US defence officials said today.

The Libyan government has denied rebel reports that Muammar Gaddafi's youngest son was killed in a Nato air strike on a front-line town in western Libya.

LIBYAN rebels have taken over the eastern oil hub of Brega, in their most significant advance in months against forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi.

ITALIAN Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he was against NATO intervention in Libya but had to go along with it, an admission that exposed the fragility of the alliance trying to unseat Muammar Gaddafi.

Nato has denied a Libyan government charge that it is intentionally using its air strikes to help rebel advances, saying it is sticking to its mandate to protect civilians.

THE Libyan government said it was in talks with rebel leaders, but a resolution to the conflict seems slim as both sides stuck to entrenched positions on the fate of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

THE Libyan government yesterday renewed its offer to hold a vote on whether Muammar Gaddafi should stay in power, a proposal unlikely to interest Gaddafi’s opponents but which could widen differences inside NATO.

The Libyan government said civilians were killed in a Nato airstrike that hit a residential neighbourhood in Tripoli, adding to charges that the alliance is striking non-military targets.

Nato warplanes have launched a daytime raid on the Libyan capital Tripoli.

Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi will not be coming to the London 2012 Olympics, the Government said today.

Shelling by Libyan government forces has killed at least 22 people near the rebel-held city of Misrata, a hospital doctor there says.

THE embattled regime of Muammar Gaddafi has vehemently denied accusations by a UN panel and Western nations that Libyan government forces have committed crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Low-flying Nato planes pounded Tripoli today in a series of 26 strikes that shook the Libyan capital in rare daytime raids designed to step up pressure on Muammar Gaddafi to leave power.

China said today that Libya’s foreign minister was visiting Beijing just days after Chinese officials announced they had reached out to the rebel forces challenging Libyan dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

Muammar Gaddafi is ready for a truce to stop the fighting in his country, the visiting South African president said after meeting the Libyan ruler, but he listed familiar Gaddafi conditions that have scuttled previous cease-fire efforts.

Nato today struck a command and control centre where Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi sometimes lives. It is not know whether he was present at the time.

Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi cast doubt on Libyan reports that Muammar Gaddafi’s son and three grandchildren were killed in a Nato air strike, saying coalition forces believed the claim to be “propaganda”.

Libyan rebels clashed with Sudanese mercenaries fighting for Muammar Gaddafi near the border with Sudan today.

Nato fighter jets struck the harbour in Tripoli bombing runs overnight, damaging five coast guard boats and a warship, the Libyan government said today.

Four foreign reporters held by the Libyan government for several weeks have been released and moved to a Tripoli hotel.

Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi have shelled villages and towns to try to take control of the high ground in a western mountain range.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi taunted Nato, saying he was alive despite a series of air strikes and “in a place where you can’t get to and kill me”.

Pressure is mounting on Muammar Gaddafi from within his stronghold in the Libyan capital, with increasing Nato air strikes, worsening shortages of fuel and goods and a wave of anti-government protests in several neighbourhoods, according to an activist.

MUAMMAR GADDAFI’S regime reacted angrily to a NATO-led decision to provide funding to the three-month-old rebellion against his rule in Libya, describing as “piracy” plans to tap its assets frozen abroad.

CASH-STRAPPED Libyan rebels won a financial lifeline potentially worth billions of dollars from the United States and other allies yesterday, as forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi pounded a rebel town in the west.

The United States is trying to free up some of the more than $30bn (€20.5bn) it has frozen in Libyan assets so it can support the rebels, US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton told a conference today.

FORCES loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi fought a gun battle with Tunisian troops in a frontier town as Libya’s conflict spilled over its borders.

Nato planes pounded Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces attacking the rebel-held city of Misrata, destroying armour advancing on the port that is the besieged city's sole lifeline.