New York: 20:53 
London: 01:53 
Tripoli: 02:53
02:08 The Telegraph A mercenary from Belarus has spoken of getting paid £1,900 a month to help Col Muammar Gaddafi’s forces fight against the rebels and said there were “several hundred” of his compatriots doing the same thing.
01:39 CBS News Former congressman Curt Weldon is expected to meet with Muammar Qaddafi in Libya sometime this week, and says he plans to ask the embattled leader to step aside.Libya’s bright new dawn
Sitting at a cafe overlooking the second-century Roman arch of Marcus Aurelius, I am basking in the sun. In the nearby bazaar, pedlars shout their wares and customers bargain with the shopkeepers. Young Libyans sip their mint tea and the call to midday prayer beams out from several minarets.
First impressions of Tripoli can be deceiving and things aren’t quite as serene as they seem. People talk of corruption, lack of opportunities, frustration and a chokehold on expression but they are wary of who may be sat on the adjacent table.
Opinions about the government or its projects are whispered in hushed voices. Officials are not mentioned by name if possible, for fear of being overheard by eavesdroppers, especially where Gaddafi and his family are concerned. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named from the Harry Potter series springs to mind. Libyans, young and old, long for freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of thought.
Many Libyans like myself have been fortunate enough to observe these freedoms in practice in the west and to some extent in certain other Arab countries. But many Libyans are not so fortunate.
On my countless visits to Libya I have experienced firsthand the social, civil, political, education and health “systems”: they basically do not exist. During his reign in power, Gaddafi has intentionally dismantled all civil institutions. Libyans have suffered as a result, while Gaddafi and his followers have reaped the financial benefits of the country’s rich natural resources in what can only be described as the most successful mafia operation of the past four decades…
