Libya was in chaos tonight with anti-government protesters fiercely refusing to be cowed by threats amid swirling rumours that leader Muammar Gaddafi had fled the country.

Moammar Gaddafi’s forces fired on mourners leaving a funeral for protesters today, killing at least 15 people and wounding scores more as the regime tried to quell calls for an end to the ruler’s 42-year grip on power.

African leaders were under fire today after choosing Equatorial Guinea’s coup plotter and dictator of 31 years as their ceremonial leader for this year.

BRITAIN’S complicated relations with Libya returned to centre stage yesterday as Foreign Office diplomats took the unusual step of denying a newspaper report about a secret deal with Moammar Gaddafi’s regime.

Thousands of Austrians packed the southern city of Klagenfurt today to mourn Joerg Haider, a politician who was denounced as a Nazi sympathiser in the 1990s but had remained hugely popular as a provincial governor.

Hundreds of rebels penetrated the capital of Chad today, clashing with government troops and moving on the presidential palace after a three-day advance across the Central African nation, officials and witnesses said. Looting, gunfire and explosions were reported.

A Libyan court today condemned to death five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor for deliberately infecting 400 children with the HIV virus.

Nigeria’s announcement that it is ready to hand over exiled Liberian warlord Charles Taylor – the first former African head of state indicted for crimes against humanity and war crimes – is a reluctant gesture that sends a powerful message to other warmongers on the continent.

A UN technology summit in Tunisia was set to get down to business today as it focused on giving more communications, including internet access, to countries where the cost has been too high and the technology too low-tech.

Two main rebel groups in Sudan’s conflict-ridden Darfur region signed a declaration yesterday pledging to adhere to a ceasefire and help facilitate the flow of humanitarian relief aid.

President Robert Mugabe’s government has acquired six fighter jets “to deal with any challenges”, Zimbabwe state radio reported today.

Police were investigating Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi’s youngest son after he allegedly injured his pregnant companion and damaged a hotel room in a rampage.

A video emerged today of an American abducted last November by gunmen in Baghdad pleading for his life and appealing to Arab rulers including Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi to intercede to spare his life.

The EU ended 11 years of sanctions against Libya and eased an arms embargo today to reward the North African country for giving up plans to develop weapons of mass destruction.

The son of Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi said today he is working to win the release of Briton Ken Bigley, being held hostage in Iraq.

THE British Embassy in Iraq has no information about news reports that hostage Ken Bigley has been handed over to another kidnapping group.

The British Embassy in Iraq has no information about news reports that hostage Ken Bigley has been handed over to another kidnapping group.

The United States resumed direct diplomatic ties with Libya today after a 24-year break.

they tend to do when one of theirs has fallen, world leaders converged from near and far for the state funeral of Ronald Reagan who gently steered the Cold War towards a peaceful end.

Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi ended his first trip to Europe 15 years by criticising British democracy as false for going to war in Iraq against public opinion.

Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi, once considered one of the world’s most dangerous men, came to Europe for the first time in 15 years today offering an olive branch and business deals.

Mercurial Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi came in from the cold today when he made a VIP visit to EC headquarters in Brussels, declaring his readiness to work with the West peacefully after years of championing armed struggle against it.

Right wing extremist Joerg Haider was easily re-elected governor of the Austrian province of Carinthia today, a formality after his Freedom Party defeated rival Socialists in provincial elections.

Libya had more than 25 tons of mustard gas and the materials to make thousands of tons of sarin nerve gas, international inspectors revealed.

Joerg Haider powered his political party to a stunning win in his home province in Austria today, confounding pundits and strengthening the odds for a national comeback for the controversial rightist known for anti-Jewish slurs and a friendship with Saddam Hussein.

A leading member of the Ulster Unionist Party has demanded that the Libyan government provide compensation to victims of IRA violence.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi promised today to convey Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi’s desire to normalise relations with the United States to President George Bush.

A US congressional delegation flew into Tripoli today aboard a US Navy plane, saying it was the first plane flying an American flag to land in Tripoli since Colonel Moammar Gaddafi took power in 1969.

In a new signal that Libya is serious about renouncing its weapons of mass destruction, UN officials said that the former rogue state has ratified the nuclear test ban treaty.

In signs of a potential thaw in relations between historic enemies, Libyan and Israeli officials have held at least two meetings in recent months, Israeli media reported today.

Libya has agreed to throw open its nuclear activities to pervasive inspection by the UN atomic agency as early as next week.

LIBYA’S leader Moammar Gaddafi last night promised to dismantle his country’s secret weapons of mass destruction programme, British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced.

The UN Security Council is expected to lift sanctions against Libya today - clearing the way for the €2.4bn Lockerbie deal pay out.

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.

France reiterated today that new compensation by Libya for families of victims of a 1989 bombing of a French airliner was an “indispensable condition” for sanctions to be lifted against the North African country.

Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi has called European Commission President Romano Prodi to say he longs to normalise relations after agreeing to compensate the families of victims of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, the EU head office said today.

Talks between British, American and Libyan officials about the Lockerbie bombing are making progress, with negotiators from the North African country reportedly “closer” to accepting responsibility for the 1988 attack.

Mortuaries were filled to overflowing in the Liberian capital Monrovia today as the battle for control of the city continued.

Libya today recalled its ambassador to Saudi Arabia for consultations following a heated and public exchange of insults between Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah at an Arab summit.

Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi’s son said today that he is working to win the release of eight foreign aid workers held in Afghanistan on charges of preaching Christianity and predicted they would be freed soon.

Colonel Moammar Gaddafi has gone on television to defend Libya over the Lockerbie bombing.