We take a look at Libya's Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, who has been Africa's and the Arab world's longest-ruling, most erratic leader, presiding for 42 years over this desert republic with vast oil reserves and just 6 million people.
Amid growing division among the international community over the military campaign in Libya, the United States has accused the Libyan regime of distributing Viagra to soldiers to carry out rapes as a weapon of war.
Rediff.com takes a look at some of the most brutal and oppressive tyrants on the planet
The volatile situation in Libya and some other countries in that region, which has caused "uncertainty" with regard to energy supplies and prices, is expected to be discussed at a five-nation summit to be attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in China.
Born in a desert near Sirte in 1942, Muammar Gaddafi, the mercurial and eccentric strongman, was the longest-serving leader in both Africa and the Arab world, having ruled Libya since he toppled King Idris I in a coup at the age of 27.
Insisting that Muammar Gaddafi has lost the legitimacy to rule, the United States has hoped that the military action against him by the international coalition would result in the 'brutal' Libyan leader ending his regime. "We believe that the Libyan people no longer want Gaddafi to remain in power as the leader of Libya," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said. "We support a democratic transition, free and fair elections," he said.
Undaunted by missile and air-strikes on his military, Muammar Gaddafi's forces are pressing ahead with their assault on rebel-held towns of Misruta, Ajdabiya and Zintan in Libya.
Donald Trump called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States.
Coalition airstrikes bombed Libya's air defence systems for a second night in which a missile flattened a building housing Muammar Gaddafi's command centre very close to his private residence in Tripoli, even as the United States insisted he is not on the target list.
The rebel-stronghold of Benghazi came under attack on Saturday from ground and air, with explosions rocking the city despite a ceasefire announced by Muammar Gaddafi forces, prompting a warning by the United States that the Libyan leader was violating the truce.
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation spy planes mounted a 24-hour air space surveillance over Libya, as British Defence Secretary Liam Fox hinted that a no-fly zone could be enforced without wiping the North African nation's air defences.
Armed forces on Tuesday launched fresh air raids on Libya's rebel-held eastern oil port of Ras Lanuf in a bid to prevent protestors from advancing towards Tripoli, amid mounting global calls for enforcing a no-fly zone over the country.Muammar Gaddafi's warplanes dropped missiles near rebel positions in the desert east of Ras Lanuf, reports said, adding there were no casualties or damage.The Libyan ruler's supporters moved eastward in an effort to push the rebels back.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement, "Given the continued levels of illegitimate violence within Libya, we call upon Colonel Gaddafi to put an immediate stop to the use of armed forces against the Libyan people."
Amid the crisis in Libya, increase in fuel prices would become 'inevitable' if crude oil remains at $100 per barrel, Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council chairman C Rangarajan said on Monday.
Heavy machine-gun fire rocked Muammar Gaddafi's bastion of Tripoli on Sunday as the fighting between his forces and rebels raged in Libya's east and west, with the strongman seeking a UN or African Union probe into the crisis, promising that investigators would not face any hindrance.
A 1,000 more Indians returned from Libya in the wee hours of Friday. Some of them were happy to be safe; the others disappointed at the Indian government's slow response in rescuing its people. N Ganesh spoke to them soon after they landed at Mumbai airport as they recalled their tales of horror.
The new arrests came as the injured toll doubled from 59 to 119.
In an unusual gesture, United States President Barack Obama took German Chancellor Angela Merkel for a two-hour dinner at a Washington restaurant on the eve of their crucial official talks at the White House.
A government order issued last evening blocked the assets of Gaddafi and 28 other members of his clan, including his wife Safia al-Barrasi, his sons and his only daughter Aisha as well as several relatives and leaders.
A 42-year old contract worker from Tamil Nadu employed with a Korean group has been killed and another seriously injured in gunfire during the anti-government violence in Libya, the victim's family said.
Officials said the addition shows the measure was set on the basis of security and was not a 'Muslim ban'.
South African President Jacob Zuma has said that Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is "ready" to implement an African Union plan to end the Libyan conflict. He, however, remained silent on his plans to leave Libya, something that the rebels have insisted on, prior to any settlement.
"Cargo originating from some cities in India, Qatar, Pakistan, Iran, Bangladesh, Thailand, the Maldives, Sudan and Libya will have to be re-screened after arriving in Britain before being loaded onto onward flights," Britain's Transport Secretary Philip Hammond told newsmen.
The world will welcome the lofty ideas that have figured in Obama's Arab Spring speech, but the credibility deficit will remain till the US conduct on the ground matches the President's golden vocabulary, says TP Sreenivasan.
FIFA lifted Cameroon's indefinite suspension from international football on Monday, clearing the way for the team to finish their World Cup qualifiers.
Civil society, whose legitimacy lies primarily in its own eyes, has won an equal role in shaping the Lok Pal Bill, which has the potential to change the way India is governed.
The Nifty ended at 5,687 up 33 points.
The Japanese triple tragedy earthquake, tsunami and the very dangerous situation in the nuclear power plants has also brought into sharp focus how the effectiveness of complex supply chains, which are at the heart of globalisation of output, is crippled if there is a crisis in a large manufacturing or high-technology economy.
Noting that the United States and its NATO allies have been successful in its mission in Libya, the United States President Barack Obama on Wednesday said that the Muammar-al Gaddafi needs to step down.
United States President Barack Obama has asserted that it is America's policy that the Libyan leader, Muammar Al Gaddafi must go and his Administration has multiple tolls to ensure that this goal is achieved.
Ibrahim Dabbashi, Libya's deputy envoy to the United Nations, who had turned against Muammar Gaddafi, has called on the United Nations Security Council to pass a resolution imposing a no-fly zone in the North African country within the next 10 hours.
The small state becomes the first to challenge the ban, which they say violates the US Constitution.
12 persons have so far been rescued from the sea. Nine sailors are still listed as missing.
India as the predominant power in the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation ought to act as the saviour for not just the Indians stranded in Libya, but nationals of other smaller countries as well.
Rediff.com caught up with some of the rescued Indians from Libya, who landed at the Delhi airport.
Sensex and Nifty lost about 3.0 per cent to end the day at nearly 2-week lows.
Libyan Ambassador to India Ali al-Essawi has reportedly resigned in protest against his government's violent crackdown on demonstrators.
'Biden's promise of returning to 'normalcy' after Trump appears to mean that the same old politicians, who are responsible for the 'endless wars' in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, are being brought out of the woodwork after four years,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Pakistan's disgraced nuclear scientist A Q Khan has said that despite "saber rattling" between Islamabad and New Delhi, there is no chance of a nuclear war between the two neighbours.
United States investigation officials have stumbled upon an unreleased video of Osama bin Laden which shows the slain Al Qaeda chief speaking on the recent unrest in the Middle East but has no reference to the uprisings in Libya, Yemen and Syria.
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