News about Muammar Gaddafi

The Royal Navy is in its most pathetic state since the Dutch fleet sailed up the River Medway in 1667. None of our six attack submarines (pictured above) are at sea, so our supposedly independent nuclear deterrent (itself decrepit and under great strain) is probably being guarded by American warships. Our surface fleet, until recently kept at a total of about 50 destroyers and frigates, is now a pitiful remnant. Down to 15 ships, much of it is silent and immobile, tied up alongside being repaired or just rusting.

An international search for victims of the Lockerbie bombing has been launched by the FBI almost 36 years after the atrocity which killed 270 people. The US intelligence agency is looking for people directly affected by the 1988 attack on Pan Am 103, including through 'emotional injury'. The appeal comes ahead of the trial in a US federal court of Abu Agila Masud who is accused of the 'destruction of an aircraft resulting in death'. It is being made with a view to granting victims around the world remote access to the court proceedings in Washington DC.

Adventure travel company Untamed Borders plans trips to many of the world's most 'interesting and inaccessible' countries. Many of its tours operate in countries that rank among the world's most dangerous destinations on the 2024 Global Peace Index. MailOnline speaks to founder James Willcox, to find out what's awaiting travellers in countries on the 'Do Not Travel' list...

In the course of his career as a PR professional, Phil Elwood worked for some of the world's worst humans, making news and spinning propaganda for dictators, tycoons, and crooked politicians, including the Qatari government and Muammar Gaddafi. In one memorable - and terrifying - weekend in Las Vegas , he had to do the opposite, keeping secret the wild excesses of Gaddafi's murderous son Mutassim from the world's press. And trying not to get killed by the petulant, gun-wielding nepo baby in the process.

Former French first lady and supermodel Carla Bruni (left) was today being questioned by police as a criminal suspect in a wide-ranging corruption case. The 56-year-old is said to have tried to 'whitewash' her husband, former President Nicolas Sarkozy (right, on the left), 69, over allegations that he accepted millions in cash from the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi (right). Bruni, who denies any wrongdoing, on Thursday attended the Paris offices of the Central Office for the Fight against Corruption and Financial and Tax Offenses. 'Her status is free suspect,' said a source close to the case. 'She has spoken to officers before, but not as a suspect in a case in which she's accused of trying to whitewash her husband.' Bruni is a close friend of Mimi Marchand - a French media fixer who has been placed under formal investigation for 'witness tampering' and 'criminal corruption'.

PETER HITCHENS: Lord Slippery of Tripoli proves almost daily that he is the man in this country who is most strongly unqualified to be Foreign Secretary. Last week he annoyed the Americans by telling them to shower money for munitions on to Ukraine. I think Baron Cameron has done this three times since he took on his new post, twice by flying at our expense to Washington DC and once by penning an article for a political website in the American capital. The main response has been nothing. But last week the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, squelched our former premier by refusing even to meet him. There were immediate sad cries of, 'What about the Special Relationship?', but as I keep telling you, there is no such thing. We matter to the Americans slightly more than Bulgaria, and much less than Ireland.

Spencer Matthews had a frightening run-in with Muammar Gaddafi's late son, who saw him hide under a bed with his date as a youth. When appearing on the Daily Mail's Everything I Know About Me podcast, the former Made in Chelsea actor, 36, opened up about how his bad habits in the past had harmed his marriage with his wife Vogue Williams. Spencer's encounter with the former Libyan tyrant's son Mutassim occurred while holidaying in St. Barts with his family as a child.

PETER HITCHENS: Why does Lord Slippery of Tripoli like conflict so much? Our Foreign Secretary has a number of responsibilities, and his main job is unquestionably to keep us safe in this volatile world. However, David Cameron's exuberance in making the world more volatile. Has he learned nothing from his disastrous intervention in Libya while he was Prime Minister? Sir Anthony Blair, his idol and model, has been chastised for his Iraq folly. However, Lord Slippery gets away with what he did in Libya. I can't remember why. Two events have occurred since he decided to overthrowrown that country's despot, Muammar Gaddafi. Migrants migrate to Western Europe in huge numbers, contributing to a social and political crisis from Naples to Hamburg, which no one can solve.

Thousands of people killed in Libya's flood disaster may have been saved if early warning and emergency response systems were operating properly, according to the United Nations. The World Meteorological Organisation of the United Nations said that with better coordination authorities, 'could have avoided the majority of the human casualties.'

In reaction to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request made by royal biographer Andrew Lownie, the Duke of York's correspondence with Ministers, which included specifics of his work as a trade ambassador, came to light. Several requests were made by the royal expert, who was looking for more details on numerous company trips, most of which were paid for by the taxpayer, and the Prince's 63 in particular. Documents transferred to The National Archives in Kew from government departments are kept under lockout for 20 years under normal circumstances. However, the Royal Family is given a special dispensation. Mr Lownie, on the other hand, believes there is a "culture of secrecy" surrounding royal correspondence, which has called for a "more mature approach to royal data disclosure.'

In a failed attempt to kill Muammar Gaddafi, a former Italian prime minister stunned the world today by saying a French air force missile brought down a passenger jet in 1980, killing 81 people. The plane was shot by mistake across the Mediterranean Sea, according to former two-time Premier Giuliano Amato, and a Libyan military jet was the intended target. Amato appealed to French President Emmanuel Macron to either refute or confirm his statement about the cause of the crash of Itavia flight 870 on June 27, 1980.

The BBC journalists were part of a film crew filming a documentary about Lebanese imam Musa al-Sadr, who was welcomed to the region in 1978 but then disappeared. The journalists, who have not been identified, were arrested shortly after arriving in Tripoli in March. 'We'll chop you to pieces and bury you here,' a prison guard told one of the crew, photographer Kassem Hamadé (pictured).

As soon as he heard that the fishing boat that had left from Tobruk's Libyan port of Tobruk capsized and sank early on Wednesday morning, Aftab Khan (left), from Wolverhampton, sank. The shipwreck that killed at least 78 migrants is killing, according to rescuers, but with the hours approaching, the chances of finding the hundreds of people who are now missing are rapidly decreasing. So far, 104 survivors have been retrieved from the sea, one of whom was found alive was Khan's cousin who was among them. Two of his cousins, as well as children, were among the hundreds of passengers stranded from the capsized boat that was carrying up to 750 passengers, according to Khan. 'We don't know where the majority of them are at this time,' he told Sky News. We're just trying to figure out.'

As the RNLI announced it was called out 209 times last year to save the lives of 108 people, including migrants trying to enter the country, more migrants were escorted ashore by UK Border Force officials (pictured). More than 1,200 small boat migrants arrived in Britain in just three days yesterday, marking a return to levels not seen since last year (bottom right). On Monday, the Home Office reported 545 migrants crossed the Channel, after 703 over the weekend. It means that the readings are at their highest level since November.

Lexie Alford holds the Guinness World Record for being the youngest person to visit every world region. All 196 of them. She found some places so dangerous that she recommends only intrepid travelers visit them, and the average tourist should avoid visiting them. The 25-year-old Californian has visited all of these destinations in recent years and has no regrets, according to MailOnline Travel: 'Each place has taught me something new about the world and has encouraged me to become a more seasoned traveler.'

Professor Karol Sikora (inset) explains how a cancer drug initially refused to NHS patients, expanded the life of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi (left). A bomb installed aboard Pan Am flight 103 on December 21, 1988, killing 270 people aboard. The death toll in Lockerbie, Scotland, was caused in part by some of the wreckage. Al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie Bomber, was the only one ever convicted of the crime. However, he was released in 2009 on compassionate grounds after suffering from terminal prostate cancer. After a renowned oncologist gave him just months to live, al-Megrahi was allowed to live out his remaining days in Libya with his family. However, the bomber would live to this apprehension, surviving for nearly three years after his release before dying in 2012. Now a new book by Professor Sikora, one of the medics who was originally asked to assess al-Megrahi's life expectancy, partly owes to a drug called abiraterone.

Exclusive: The red carpet film premieres and appearances by Hollywood A listers make it the epitome of glamour and the most coveted date on the film calendar. But there's a seedy underbelly of sex at the Cannes Film Festival, which will concludes today, behind the pictures of posh frocks and glitzy parties at the French Riviera's heart. According to an investigation by MailOnline, upmarket call girls from around Europe, also known as 'putes de luxes,' in France, are coming to the annual festival to sell their bodies in luxurious hotels. Around 1,000 euros per hour for sex with a high class guaranteeing freedom to get around France's strict anti-prostitution laws.

Since Sudan's Omar al-Bashir and Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, Putin has been the third serving president to have been issued an ICC arrest warrant. If the Russian president sets foot on their territories, the ICC's warrant now requires the 123 member states to arrest him and transfer him to The Hague for trial. However, Kremlin slammed the court's decision as "outrageous and ineffective," rather, arguing that any decisions of the ICC are 'null and null' with respect to Russia, considering that Moscow does not accept the court's jurisdiction. The government's position has always cast doubts over how Putin will be arrested, with the possibility of a trial being a long way off.

According to the United Nations nuclear watchdog, around two-and-a-half tons of uranium have gone missing in war-torn Libya, sparking nuclear security concerns. Natural uranium cannot be used immediately for energy production or bomb fuel because the enrichment process typically requires the metal to be converted into a solid before being spun in centrifuges to reach the desired standards. However, each ton of natural uranium - if obtained by a group with the technological means and resources - can be refined to 12lb of weapons-grade material over time, improving the missing metal's recovery, according to non-proliferation experts.

BULLOCK: Beyonce's Halo has fallen. The singer, who has amassed $500 million thanks to a once-in-a-generation talent and a peerless brand of savvy, has set her own target by selecting a Dubai hotel for her live showdown. The opening of Atlantis The Royal, the crown jewel of the UAE's tourism industry, is a strange choice in a land where homosexuality is unlawful and punishment can result in the death penalty. Beyonce, a well-known gay figure, has been lauded as an ally of LGBTQ rights. Beyoncé and Jay-Z received the Vanguard Award at the 30th Annual GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Discrimination) Media Awards for their contributions to the community in 2019. Jay-Z paid tribute to his own mother, Gloria Carter, who is openly gay. 'Beyonce, a contributor to the LGBTQ+ website, was once interviewed, 'The amount of courage and apprehension it takes to do what society has expected is different, to be brave and be different, and being yourself is just so beautiful.' Beyonce herself seemed a little more restricted in Dubai, a world away from her fabled alter ego Sasha Fierce.

As the Russian President's popularity continues to plummet amid a string of military setbacks in Ukraine, his former ally has stated that he would nominate his chosen replacement this year rather than risk being deposed. Putin will prefer to hand over power to a vetoed heir and retire to his £1 billion Black Sea 'palace,' rather than risking the ignoble fate of deposed tyrants like Muammar Gaddafi, according to Abbas Gallyamov, Putin's former speechwriter. Like Mayor Sergey Sobyanin (top right), Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin (bottom left), or his deputy chief of staff Dmitry Kozak (top left), Gallyamov said the despot will most likely nominate a "trusted servant" as president. Putin's circle no longer sees him as a "gurant of stability" and is worried by Yevgeny Prigozhin's (bottom right), the head of the heavily armed Wagner private army, which is so far loyal to the Kremlin, but also threatens an elite seen as weak in the war, according to Gallyamov.

According to the Libyan prime minister, the man suspected of the Lockerbie bombing was escorted from his Tripoli home at midnight and handed over to the US. Abu Agila Mohammad Kheir Al-Marimi, Muammar Gaddafi's explosives specialist, appeared in court in Washington, DC, on Monday. Masud faces three charges, including two counts of firefighter and a third count of accidental destruction of a vehicle resulting in death. Any of the allegations are punishable by a life term, the death penalty, or a fine of up to $250,000. Masud was taken into police detention, but the state Department refused to disclose how it was obtained, only to say that it was "lawful." Following a complaint from Masud's family, Libya's top prosecutor opened an investigation.

The man who crashed Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988, killing 270 people on board, will not face the death penalty. On Monday, Abu Agila Mohammad Kheir Al-Marimi appeared in a federal court in Washington. He faces three charges, including two counts of burning an aircraft resulting in death and a new count of destroying a vehicle that resulted in death. Any of the charges can be punished by a term of up to life, the death penalty, or a fine of up to $250,000. However, lawyers advised the court that they did not pursue the death penalty because it was not constitutionally available at the time of the bombing.

On a journey around every continent in search of the lost, disappearing, and vanished, you will be transported around the world. Travis Elborough, a writer and cultural commentator, explores not only how the world looks today but also how it appears in Atlas of Vanishing Places: The Lost Worlds As They Are Today (Aurum Press), but also how it once looked. From Skara Brae in Orkney to the vast ancient city of Chan Chan Chan in north-west Peru, Elborough is observing natural wonders that are shrinking at an alarming rate, from the Congo Basin Rainforest to the Everglades and the Dead Sea, and threats to man-made worlds. In addition, the river in Canada that vanished in four days - as well as the Caribbean's submerged pirate town.