Bush refuses to lift Libyan sanctions

President George Bush has refused to lift US sanctions against Libya, saying Muammar Gaddafi must take concrete steps to fulfil a pledge to scrap his chemical and nuclear weapons programmes.

Bush said he was keeping in force a declaration of national emergency first issued by President Ronald Reagan in 1986 when the United States blocked Libyan assets in the United States, accusing Gaddafi’s regime of sponsoring terrorism.