Nato airstrikes have targeted Muammar Gaddafi’s sprawling Tripoli compound in a new round of daylight raids.

Libyan oil chief Shukri Ghanem has defected and now supports the rebels, in a major blow to Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi, news reports said, as Nato and its partners decided to extend their Libya mission for another 90 days.

Nato’s secretary general has said he expects member nations to provide extra ground-attack aircraft soon to strike Muammar Gaddafi’s forces in Libya.

Nato has failed for a second day to find new ground-attack aircraft for the fight against Muammar Gaddafi’s forces in Libya but its top official said he expects the additional planes soon.

Nato does not support US and British suggestions that the UN Libya mandate allows them to arm the rebels, the alliance chief says.

Nato says it has taken over all air operations over Libya from the US, which had led the international force that has been bombarding Muammar Gaddafi’s forces

Nato and the international community cannot “stand idly by” if Libyan government forces continue attacking civilians, the alliance’s top official says.

IN his final words before emergency heart surgery, Richard Holbrooke, the influential US diplomat who died on Monday following complications, urged an end to America’s nine-year old Afghanistan conflict.

Nato will start reducing troop levels in Afghanistan next year and hand over control of security to the Afghans in 2014 but will not abandon the country after that and let it slip back into chaos, Nato secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said today.

NATO’s secretary general urged member states yesterday to endorse a proposed anti-missile system that would protect Europe and North America, saying it is the alliance’s responsibility.

Nato’s newly appointed commander of Afghanistan, Gen David Petraeus, sought to reassure allies today that the war against the Taliban was going well despite rising military casualties and problems regaining control over key parts of the country.

NATO does not intend to bribe Taliban guerrillas to defect to the Afghan government side as a way to end the war, NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said yesterday, dismissing concerns over the latest plan to end the country’s growing insurgency.

Denmark will withdraw its 460-strong contingent from southern Iraq by August and transfer security responsibilities to Iraqi forces, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said today.

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen today told US President George Bush that he expects Denmark to reduce its troops in southern Iraq later this year.

Denmark’s prime minister said he did not consider the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed offensive, but understood the rage they caused in the Muslim world earlier this year, according to a new book.

Denmark’s Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen received a shot of adrenaline after being attacked by a bee swarm, it was reported today.

The US Defence Department yesterday identified the three Guantanamo detainees who committed suicide, saying one had ties to al-Qaida, another fought for the Taliban and a third had been cleared for transfer to another country.

Three detainees at Guantanamo Bay committed suicide in what apparently was a joint pact to protest the US military prison that holds suspected terrorists, a senior administration official said today.

The Danish government has received a formal request from the United Nations to imprison Liberian President Charles Taylor if he is convicted by a UN-backed war crimes court, government sources said Tuesday.

Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen today welcomed a joint declaration by the Europe Union on the Prophet Mohammed cartoons, saying it was in line with his government’s view.

Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen today defended the government’s handling of the prophet cartoon crisis.

Denmark’s main opposition party and a government ally today called for an investigation of a national Muslim group’s Middle East trip, which has been blamed for fanning the furore over a newspaper’s publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

The uproar over the Prophet Mohammed cartoons was Denmark’s biggest foreign policy challenge since the Second World War, the prime minister said today.

DENMARK’S Prime Minister yesterday appealed for calm amid what he called a “growing global crisis” over drawings of the prophet Mohammed.

The Danish government was to brief parliament today on the attacks on Danish diplomatic missions during protests over a newspaper’s cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

The Danish prime minister today called Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and assured that him the Danish government “cannot accept an assault against Islam", Abbas’ office said.

Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen was to meet foreign ambassadors today to brief them on the government’s position on the furore over a Danish newspaper’s publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.

MUSLIM anger over a Danish newspaper’s decision to publish cartoons of the prophet Mohammed escalated yesterday, with the EU becoming embroiled in an increasingly angry row.

Danes have given prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen a second four-year term, embracing his government’s pledge to keep immigration in check and taxes, among Europe’s highest, from rising.

As US President George Bush's re-election was confirmed, France, Germany and other European countries he alienated during his first four years promised today to work with the new administration.

Danes who refused to replace the kroner with the euro in 2000, will not vote on adopting the common currency before 2004 at the earliest, said Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, host of the EU summut has been urged by the UN to find a venue for talks on plans to unite Cyprus.

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen today said no extra money was available for 10 candidate countries and that “no compromise” would be made on Turkey’s bid to join the EU.

France and Germany tonight reached a deal on farm spending that boosted chances of success at an EU summit to finalise the bloc’s expansion into eastern Europe.

Denmark’s Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned Irish voters today not to reject an EU treaty again because they risk delaying the Union’s eastward expansion ‘‘for years to come’’.