Libya

Britain took responsibility Monday for a NATO helicopter attack in Afghanistan which wounded five local children, voicing "deep regret" over the incident and saying an investigation was under way.Five Afghan children were injured in a strike carried out by a British Apache attack helicopter, the Ministry of Defence has said.

A Saudi Muslim scholar appeared on state-run Libyan satellite television on Monday to call for a fatwa (religious ruling) by key scholars in Saudi Arabia and other Islamic countries calling on the rebels in Libya to put their arms down and talk peace with the regime of Muammar Gaddafi.

Thousands of Africans are taking to Twitter to vent grief and anger over another famine in Somalia, raising money and comforting each other showing that once again social network are increasingly used to highlight international issues.

While the international community battles over road maps, peace talks and cease fire plans, saying they are in touch with the Libyan government, one leader, Muammar Gaddafi seems blissfully unaware that he supposedly is on the brink of accepting a deal that will force him to step down from power.

Chinese President Hu Jintao told his South African counterpart, Jacob Zuma, on Thursday that China will continue to work with the African Union in finding a solution to the Libyan crisis, state news agency Xinhua reported.

As the Muslim world prepares to enter Ramadan, it seems that Libya's rebels asked France for extra arms to help them overrun Tripoli within "days", indicating they are preparing for a pre-Ramadan offensive against Muammar Gaddafi' s forces.

The Libyan conflict is now being treated as a civil war, but while the Transitional National Council (TNC) is now recognised as the legitimate representative of the people of Libya by various international states including the U.K., France and most recently, the U.S., not much is known about who the Libyan people really support.

Two members of Libya's rebel Transitional National Council are meeting French President Nicolas Sarkozy Wednesday amid international efforts to further support the Libyan opposition.

David Cameron will today admit that British aid money may have been wasted but that increasing the aid budget is still the right thing to do.

The United Kingdom will not be able to maintain their position as a Global power if the Government continue to cut British defences, according to a report by the Henry Jackson Society.

More than 30 nations, including the United States, on Friday declared that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime is no longer legitimate and formally recognized Libya's main opposition group as the legitimate government until a new interim authority is created.

Despite claiming that Gaddafi is preparing to leave for now several weeks, NATO and other leaders meeting in Istanbul are considering proposals that allow for a peaceful resolution to the conflict without the Libyan leader's unconditional surrender or flight.

The situation in Libya will be the first item on U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's packed agenda during her latest around-the-world diplomatic tour, it appears.

According to U.S officials, rebel forces that captured towns from Nalut to Kikla in Libya's western Nafusa Mountains managed to cut a vital crude oil pipeline that feeds one of the government's major refineries in the town of al-Zawiya, greatly impeding the Libyan government's ability to continue fighting the rebels.

France acknowledges that it is growing impatient with the lack of progress on reaching a political solution to the crisis in Libya, but officials denied Paris is in talks with Gaddafi's government or could consider him not quitting power.

China has recently been at the forefront of the International scene as it leads a diplomatic offensive which proves that it wants to enlarge its sphere of influence further away from the Asian pacific zone.With the Libyan conflict, China has broken away from one of its golden rule by formally recognizing the rebels' National Council and getting actively involved in peace talks, thus interfering in a country's domestic affairs.

Somalia is close to famine, causing over a 1,000 people a day to travel over the border into Kenya and Ethiopia, according to the United Nations.

A senior Chinese diplomat visited the Libyan rebel stronghold of Benghazi and met members of the opposition, state media said Thursday, as Beijing becomes more deeply engaged in the war-torn nation.Chen Xiaodong, in charge of North African affairs at the foreign ministry, met with officials of the opposition's National Transitional Council (NTC), the official Xinhua news agency said.

Libyan rebels backed by NATO air power on Wednesday launched a promised assault on a key gateway to Tripoli, attacking positions just 50 kilometres from the capital.

Mr Brian Johnson-Thomas, a former arms trafficking expert for the UN Security Council incriminatory comments were made on the TV channel Russia Today and came after the Libyan army said it had intercepted 100 Belgian-made FN assault rifles, as well as thousands of rounds of ammunition of the same calibre used in the guns, allegedly coming from Qatar.

As the Libyan conflict is dragging on, headlines indicating that Gaddafi is preparing to leave Libya are emerging once again. Could the Lion of Africa really be on his way out, or is this just part of a desperate tactic aiming at retaining public support at a time when both the rebels and Nato are heavily criticised.

A Russian newspaper said on Tuesday that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was willing to give up power in exchange for security guarantees, citing a high-level Russian official.

Few can be in any doubt that British and French airstrikes in particular have done their utmost to expedite Colonel Muammar Qaddafi's passage to the hereafter.

Turkey cut its diplomatic ties with Muammar Gadhafi's Libyan government and recalled its ambassador, the Turkish Official Gazette reported over the weekend.

Libya is involved in direct and indirect talks with rebels trying to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader's daughter said, although the Benghazi-based opposition maintain they have ruled out further contact with Tripoli.

After years of repression, intimidation and exploitation, regimes in the Middle East and North Africa became aware they risked being forced out by the people they oppressed.

Just a day after its limited release, China swiftly decided to block Google+, highlighting once again the country's strict censorship practices.

France provided weapons, munitions and food to Libyan rebels in the Western Mountains in early June to prevent troops loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from overrunning the region, a military spokesman said on Wednesday.

Brooks Newmark, the Conservative MP for Braintree and a government whip, held talks on Monday with the controversial Syrian leader Bashar Al-Assad, whose brutal repression of protests has been condemned by the UK. As the press and activists were outraged by the MP's meeting with Assad, the Foreign Office has insisted that Newmark's trip does not have government backing.

The International Criminal Court in The Hague has issued arrest warrants for Colonel Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam, and his intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi for crimes against humanity. The court says there is evidences he ordered attacks on civilians during the recent uprising, in which more than 20,000 Libyans are thought to have died so far.