LIBYA

A NATO aircraft destroyed guard towers at Muammar Gaddafi's compound in Tripoli , and later staged a rare daytime air strike on the Libyan capital, stepping up pressure on him to quit, a NATO official said, reported Reuters on Saturday.

In a surprise move, Russia took the side of Britain and France over Libya for the first time yesterday, calling for the Middle-East despot to leave office.

As NATO air-strikes hit Tripoli for the fifth straight night and Russia teaming up with Western powers in demanding his exit, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is feeling the heat of tightened military and diplomatic pressure, Reuters reported.

British intelligence sources are convinced that Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi has become “paranoid” that NATO’s missile attacks on his country will lead to his death, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph newspaper, quoting UK diplomats.

While there are clear differences between the two - then-Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic's ethnic cleansing campaign was racially motivated, whereas Col. Muammar el Qaddafi is trying to protect his rule from an insurrection - there are parallels as well.

Oil pared gains on Friday as weaker-than-expected U.S. pending home sales data for April triggered fresh concerns about the pace of recovery by the world's largest energy consumer and after a softer dollar initially lent support to prices.

HSBC <0005.HK> faced a fresh backlash from investors on Friday over high executive pay and mediocre returns, echoing the stinging attacks of a year ago that it had tried to duck by revamping its remuneration package.

HSBC Holdings Plc executives faced investor anger on Friday over lackluster returns and high executive pay, prompting Chairman Douglas Flint to admit performance had been disappointing.

Oil rose on Friday as a softer dollar tempered demand worries triggered by euro zone debt concerns and weak U.S. economic data.

Brent crude hovered barely changed at around $115 a barrel on Friday, paring earlier gains, as a softer dollar tempered demand worries triggered by euro zone debt concerns and weak U.S. economic data.

Libya's government has pushed for a ceasefire, saying for the first time it is prepared to talk to the rebel adversary.

On the first day of the G8 Summit, the presidents of the European Commission and council and the leaders of the Group of Eight countries seemed primary to be focusing on the political situation in Middle East and North Africa, the debt crisis within EU and Japan's post-quake reconstruction, reported news.xinhuanet.com on Friday.

The bill dealing with the conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya gave rise to a heated debate as lawmakers voiced frustration over the lack of an end in sight after 10 years of war, a Reuters report stated on Wednesday.

Tripoli was rocked once again by fresh NATO airstrikes late on Thursday night, leaving smoke rising from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziyah base, Reuters reported.

US Lawmakers sent a clear warning to President Barack Obama about growing exhaustion over the war in Afghanistan on Thursday as they passed a defense policy bill authorizing $690 billion in military spending for the 2012 fiscal year reported Reuters on Thursday.

The House of Representatives resoundingly voted to prohibit spending any tax dollars on deploying ground forces in Libya and narrowly defeated a measure to speed up a timetable for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan.

Some of the biggest and best-known international banks held billions of dollars Libyan state oil money.

Facebook is not working on opening up the world's biggest social network to children under the age of 13 in the short term, founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said Wednesday, contradicting some media reports.

The West is bracing for long military operations in Libya to help end conflict there, U.S. President Barack Obama told the British parliament on Wednesday.

Raising military pressure on Gaddafi’s force, NATO strikes Tripoli for a second day, killing 19 civilians overnight, Libyan state television reported. At least six large explosions rocked Tripoli.

As part of his state visit to Britain, US President Barack Obama has teamed with Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday to honor and support soldiers from both the nations.