Tripoli: Libya's legislative assembly gathered on Sunday to vote on a law banning officials who worked for Muammar Gaddafi from the new administration, a step that could potentially force out the prime minister and other senior officials.
The wording has been wrangled over for months and Sunday's vote has been prompted by the actions of heavily armed groups who have taken control of two government ministries and say they will not leave until the legislation is passed.
"It's a very unfair and extreme law, but we need to put national interests first in order to solve the crisis," said Tawfiq Breik, spokesman for the liberal National Forces Alliance (NFA) bloc.
On Sunday, more than a dozen vehicles mounted with anti-aircraft weapons and machine guns remained parked outside the Justice Ministry, and the Foreign Ministry has been similarly encircled for the past week....
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06:03 PM, Jan 05, 2013
On the anniversary of the capture and killing of Moammar Gaddafi, Libya is still grappling with the legacy of his four decades of rule. ...
09:59 AM, Oct 21, 2012
Tripoli: On the anniversary of the capture and killing of Moammar Gaddafi, Libya is still grappling with the legacy of his four decades of rule as the interim government and the dictator's former spokesman engaged in a war of words amid the ongoing chaos. The Libyan government said Saturday its forces had detained Gaddafi's high profile spokesman Moussa Ibrahim, but an online recording from a man purporting to be Ibrahim...
09:10 AM, Oct 21, 2012
Tripoli/Benghazi: Crowds of joyful Libyans, some with tears in their eyes, parted with the legacy of Muammar Gaddafi's dictatorship on Saturday as they voted in the first free national election in 60 years. But in the eastern city of Benghazi, cradle of last year's uprising but where many now want more autonomy from the interim government in Tripoli, protesters stormed a handful of polling stations and publicly burned hundreds of...
07:47 AM, Jul 08, 2012
Tripoli/Benghazi: Crowds of joyful Libyans, some with tears in their eyes, parted with the legacy of Muammar Gaddafi's dictatorship on Saturday as they voted in the first free national election in 60 years. But in the eastern city of Benghazi, cradle of last year's uprising but where many now want more autonomy from the interim government in Tripoli, protesters stormed a handful of polling stations and publicly burned hundreds of...
12:40 AM, Jul 08, 2012
Tripoli/Benghazi: Libya holds its first free national election in 60 years on Saturday in a vote designed to shake off the legacy of Muammar Gaddafi but which risks being hijacked by autonomy demands in the east and unrest in the desert south. Voters will choose a 200-member assembly which will elect a prime minister and cabinet before laying the ground for full parliamentary elections next year under a new constitution....
07:29 AM, Jul 07, 2012
New Delhi: In a major setback for one of Karnataka's most decorated police officers Shankar Bidari, the Karnataka High Court on Friday struck down his appointment as the state DGP. In a scathing verdict, the court described Bidari as 'worse than Saddam Hussain or Muammar Gaddafi' for alleged atrocities committed by the Special Task Force led by him during the hunt to nab smuggler Veerappan. Dismissing as "without merit and...
07:05 AM, Mar 31, 2012
Tripoli: The administration of ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was running a covert programme to conceal weapons in Libyan embassies across the globe, a senior official in the new government said on Thursday. The weapons included handguns, grenades and bomb-making materials and were shipped using the diplomatic bag. They may have been intended for use in assassinations on Libyan dissidents abroad, or for operations against the embassies' host countries. The...
11:59 AM, Mar 09, 2012
Washington: The US on Tuesday warned that it had a "tough fight" on its hands in Afghanistan and plans to redeploy its forces by September so that 68,000 American troops remain in the war-torn country. "Much tough fighting lies ahead in Afghanistan, but the gradually improving situation permits the remainder of the US surge force to redeploy by the end of September 2012, leaving 68,000 US troops in Afghanistan at...
09:00 PM, Feb 14, 2012
United Nations: The UN Security Council on Friday ordered assets of two Libyan banks that had been under the control of Muammar Gaddafi to be unfrozen, clearing the way for the return of more than $ 40 billion to help the new government rebuild the country. The transitional government had asked the council's committee monitoring sanctions against Libya to lift the asset freeze on the Central Bank of Libya and...
08:49 AM, Dec 17, 2011
Algiers: A lawyer for Muammar Gaddafi's daughter said on Wednesday he had written to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to ask if an investigation had been launched into the killing of her father and brother. A copy of the letter, said that Muammar Gaddafi and his son Mo'tassim were "murdered in the most horrific fashion with their bodies thereafter displayed and grotesquely abused in complete defiance of Islamic...
01:30 AM, Dec 15, 2011
Tripoli: The man whose arrest in February sparked Libya's revolution was sworn in as a minister in the new interim government on Sunday but said he had been hesitant about taking on the new job. Fethi Tarbel, Libya's new sport and youth minister, wiped away tears after he took he swore a pledge of allegiance to Libya with one hand placed on the Koran, the Muslim holy book. Standing in...
01:40 AM, Dec 05, 2011
Tripoli: Dozens of Libyan religious leaders on Monday urged authorities to disarm former rebels and form a national army, backing the transitional government's struggle to exert control over the militias that overthrew dictator Muammar Gaddafi. The fighters are widely admired for their role in bringing down the Gaddafi regime, but the clerics' statement reflected concern over the militias' refusal to submit to the central authority. Dozens of militias have held...
03:10 AM, Nov 29, 2011
Tripoli: About 100 Libyan women took to Tripoli's streets on Saturday in a silent march to demand more support from the country's new government for victims of rape during the eight-month war that ousted Muammar Gaddafi. Their mouths covered with duct tape, women both young and old marched for an hour to Prime Minister Abdurrahim El-Keib's office and later met him to discuss their demands. Wearing pink scarves and carrying...
04:31 AM, Nov 27, 2011
Tripoli: Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) on Tuesday named a new government featuring several surprise appointments that suggested the line-up was aimed at trying to soothe rivalries between regional factions. Earlier, the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor conceded that the captured son of Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam, may be tried in Libya rather than in The Hague, meaning he faces the death penalty if convicted. In forming a government, the...
01:23 AM, Nov 23, 2011
Tripoli: The International Criminal Court's prosecutor said on Tuesday that Libya can put Muammar Gaddafi's son and one-time heir apparent on trial at home, but that The Hague court's judges must be involved in the case. Luis Moreno-Ocampo was in Tripoli on Tuesday for talks with Libya's new leaders about their plans for Seif al-Islam Gaddafi, who was captured on Saturday in southern Libya and is being held by fighters...
12:43 AM, Nov 23, 2011
Tripoli: Libya's prime minister-designate finalised his line-up for a cabinet on Monday and remained adamant he would pick the best people to steer the country towards democracy rather than those with the most political clout. Three months after Muammar Gaddafi fled Tripoli in the face of a revolt against his 42-year rule, Abdurrahim El-Keib said he would name his cabinet on Tuesday, and even though he would ignore regional rivalries,...
01:37 AM, Nov 22, 2011
