Muammar Gaddafi: How he died

Col Muammar Gaddafi died from bullet wounds some time after a failed attempt to escape from the fighters of the National Transitional Council (NTC), but the exact circumstances of his death are still emerging.

Attempt to escape Sirte
After the fall of Tripoli in August, Sirte remained one of the final pockets of loyalist resistance, in particular District 2 in the north-west of the city.
In the early hours of Thursday it appears that Col Gaddafi, accompanied by key loyalists, decided to attempt a breakout from District 2 in a convoy of vehicles.
At about 08:30 local time French aircraft operating as part of the Nato mission attacked the convoy of 75 vehicles heading out of Sirte at high speed approximately 3-4 km (two miles) west of the city near the western roundabout.
Among those in the convoy were Col Gaddafi's son Mutassim and head of Gaddafi's army Abu Bakr Younis Jabr - both men were later reported dead at the scene and Mutassim's body shown on Libyan TV.
According to Nato, a first strike destroyed one vehicle and caused the convoy to disperse into several groups.
One of those groups, carrying Col Gaddafi, headed south and was hit again by a Nato fighter, destroying 11 vehicles

“Start Quote

My master is here ... Muammar Gaddafi is here and he is wounded”

Unnamed Gaddafi bodyguard

Col Gaddafi and a handful of his men managed to escape on foot and sought refuge in two large drainage pipes filled with rubbish. Rebel forces then closed in.

Fighter Salem Bakeer told Reuters: "At first we fired at them with anti-aircraft guns, but it was no use.
"Then we went in on foot. One of Gaddafi's men came out waving his rifle in the air... as soon as he saw my face he started shooting at me. I think Gaddafi must have told them to stop. 'My master is here, my master is here', he said, 'Muammar Gaddafi is here and he is wounded'".
Gaddafi caught Col Gaddafi was initially captured, with serious injuries, at around noon.

The al-Jazeera news channel broadcast footage showing the dazed and wounded Col Gaddafi gesticulating while being man-handled by rebel fighters.
Salem Bakeer told Reuters: "We went in and brought Gaddafi out. He was saying 'What's wrong? What's wrong? What's going on?' Then we took him and put him in the car." One fighter showed reporters a golden pistol he said he had taken from Col Gaddafi.
What happened next and how Libya's former leader died remains unclear.
What is certain is that at 16:30 local time, Mahmoud Jibril, the NTC prime minister, confirmed the news that Col Gaddafi was dead, saying: "We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Muammar Gaddafi has been killed."
He later told journalists that a "forensic report" had concluded that the colonel had died from bullet wounds when the car he was in was caught in crossfire. "The forensic doctor could not tell if it came from the revolutionaries or from Gaddafi's forces," he said.
According to Mr Jibril, the colonel died just minutes away from hospital.
But a man claiming to be an eyewitness told the BBC that he saw Col Gaddafi being shot with a 9mm gun in the abdomen at around 12:30 local time.

Col Muammar Gaddafi was shot in the abdomen, according to a man who says he was there

Video footage seemed to show his body was dragged through the streets of Misrata.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, has said there should be a full investigation.
Her spokesman Rupert Colville told the BBC: "There are two videos out there, one showing him alive and one showing him dead and there are four or five different versions of what happened in between those two cellphone videos. That obviously raises very, very major concerns."

Pakistan wins UN Security Council seat alongside India

Pakistan may resist Western attempts to sanction Syria and Iran

Pakistan has won a seat alongside its regional rival India on the UN Security Council.

It was contesting elections for five positions with two-year terms.
Morocco, Guatemala and Togo have also been elected as new temporary members of the council. The Eastern European seat is still being contested.
Pakistan's win means both South Asian nuclear states will serve, but diplomats do not think regional rivalry will play out in a big way there.
The positions of Pakistan and India are similar on many international issues.
The elections replace five of the 10 temporary members of the council every year.
Usually regional groupings endorse the seats in advance, but this year there was an unusually high number of contestants, making the outcome unpredictable.
Guatemala ran unopposed and Morocco won easily, but Togo's victory took three rounds and the fifth seat is still contested.
Pakistan's ambassador, Abdullah Hussain Haroon, said he expected to work well with his Indian counterpar - he received a congratulatory call from the Indian envoy while talking to journalists.
Diplomats say the greater impact may be on wider council dynamics - they suspect Pakistan may join emerging powers in resisting Western attempts to sanction countries such as Syria and Iran.
If so, it would continue positions held by Brazil, whose term is ending.
Togo's victory ensures a black African presence on the council, something that was in doubt because its run-off was against the Arab state of Mauritania.

Obituary: Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz al Saud

Crown Prince Sultan's death has again shone a spotlight on the Saudi succession

Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz al Saud has died after a long battle against colon cancer. As one of the sons of the favourite wife of the founder of Saudi Arabia, he was a major influence for many years in the Kingdom, serving as minister of defence and aviation.

Crown Prince Sultan was a member of the most powerful family group in Saudi Arabia, the Sudairi Seven.
They are the sons of Ibn Saud's most influential wife, Hassa bint Ahmad al-Sudairi. The oldest of the seven was King Fahd, who died in 2005 - to be succeeded by a half-brother, the current King Abdullah.
So, Sultan was born to power and influence and, as the oil riches poured into Saudi Arabia, wealth.
His first appointment was as governor of Riyadh. He was made Minister of Defence and Aviation in 1963.
In this post, he oversaw extraordinary expenditure on modernising the armed forces, as multi-billion dollar deals made Saudi Arabia one of the world's biggest arms spenders.
BBC Middle East analyst Sebastian Usher says that despite this, Saudi Arabia is still widely seen as unable to defend itself against major threats.
Sultan was also involved in the setting up and development of the national airline, Saudia. Huge sums of money flowed into Saudi Arabia because of the deals - and Sultan benefited as much as anyone.
He was one of the strongest supporters of forging close ties with the US - links which came under strain after 9/11.

Crown Prince Sultan's son, Bandar (r), was Saudi ambassador to the US for many years

His son, Prince Bandar, was instrumental in this as the Kingdom's Washington ambassador for more than 20 years.
Sultan was still defence minister in 1990 at the time of the first Gulf War, when US troops deployed in Saudi Arabia to help defend the country against Iraq forces that had overrun Kuwait.
Another of his sons, Prince Khaled, served as the top Arab commander in Operation Desert Storm.
Health issues
Sultan's health and age had already raised questions over whether he would be able to succeed Abdullah as King.
The crown prince had a string of health issues. He underwent surgery in New York in February 2009 for an undisclosed illness and spent nearly a year abroad recuperating in the US and at a palace in Agadir, Morocco.
Furthermore, his death has again shone a spotlight on the Saudi succession. Correspondents say the mechanism of picking the next crown prince is not entirely clear.
Another member of the Sudairi Seven, interior minister Prince Nayef, was made second deputy prime minister in 2009 - in effect the next in line after Sultan.
But their generation of Saudi leaders are now in their 70s or 80s and there is no clear idea yet of who will take over among Ibn Saud's legion of grandsons when they have died out.
The Saudi King traditionally names his successor but, as the Associated Press reports, it is possible the king could put the decision of his heir to the Allegiance Council, a body he created a decade ago as one of his reforms. The council is made up of his brothers and nephews with a mandate to determine the succession.

Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz al Saud dies

Crown Prince Sultan was one of the sons of Saudi Arabia's founder

Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz al Saud has died, Saudi TV says.

The crown prince was King Abdullah's half-brother and first in line to the Saudi throne. He was also minister of defence and aviation.
He was in his eighties and was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2004. He is thought to have died at a New York hospital.
Prince Sultan had been on a visit to the US for medical tests, and he had an operation in New York in July.
The royal court confirmed the death in a statement carried by SPA, the state news agency:
"With deep sorrow and sadness the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz mourns the death of his brother and his Crown Prince Sultan... who died at dawn this morning Saturday outside the kingdom following an illness."
'Moderniser' Crown Prince Sultan was a member of the most powerful family group in Saudi Arabia, the Sudairi Seven, and one of the sons of the country's founder, King Abdulaziz, known as Ibn Saud.
The Sudairi Seven are the sons of Ibn Saud's most influential wife, Hassa bint Ahmad al-Sudairi.
The oldest of the seven was King Fahd, who died in 2005 - to be succeeded by a half-brother, the current King Abdullah.
Prince Sultan's first appointment was as governor of Riyadh and he became minister of defence and aviation in 1963.
He oversaw extraordinary expenditure on modernising the armed forces - with multi-billion dollar deals making Saudi Arabia one of the world's biggest arms spenders.
Prince Sultan was also involved in the setting up and development of the national airline, Saudia.
He was one of the strongest supporters of forging close ties with the US, which faced its biggest challenge after 9/11.
His son, Prince Bandar, was instrumental in this as the kingdom's Washington ambassador for more than 20 years.
But BBC Middle East analyst Sebastian Usher says that, with the current generation of Saudi leaders now in their seventies or eighties, there is no clear idea yet of who will take over among Ibn Saud's legion of grandsons when they have died out.
Next in line
Prince Sultan's most likely successor as the next in line to the Saudi throne is Prince Nayef, 78, also a full brother of King Abdullah and one of the Sudairi Seven.
He has been the interior minister, in charge of the security forces, since 1975. In contrast to King Abdullah, who is seen as a cautious reformer, Prince Nayef is believed to be closer to conservative Wahhabi clerics.
Earlier this year, as part of a package of reforms to see off unrest spreading from other Arab countries, the king announced an extra 60,000 posts to be created within the security forces.
In 2009, after Prince Sultan fell ill, King Abdullah named Nayef as his second deputy prime minister, traditionally the post of the second in line to the throne.
However, the king has also established a succession council, made up of his brothers and nephews. It is expected to meet for the first time to determine who will be named as the next in line to the Saudi throne.

Fifa to re-examine bribes inquiry, says Sepp Blatte

Fifa president Sepp Blatter denies world football's governing body is corrupt

Documents relating to the case are believed to show senior Fifa officials were paid kickbacks in return for granting World Cup television and sponsorship rights during the 1990s.
Fifa president Sepp Blatter said: "This is an issue which has been raised by the national associations and members.
"The executive committee has decided that this case should be opened."
Blatter said the executive committee will examine the documents relating to the company, International Sport and Leisure, at a meeting in December.

Continue reading the main story

We will give this file to an independent organisation outside of Fifa so they can delve into this file and extract its conclusions and present them to us

Sepp Blatter Fifa president

World football's governing body has repeatedly blocked attempts by journalists to have the documents released.
Last year, lawyers acting for Fifa and its senior officials paid 5.5m Swiss francs (£3.9m) to settle the case and keep their identities secret.
Blatter also detailed an overhaul of Fifa's ethics bodies and announced the creation of three "task forces" and a good governance committee to drive through reforms.
He laid out a two-year timetable for implementing the reforms.
Regarding the ISL case, Blatter said: "The executive committee has at my request agreed that in the meeting of 16-17 December we will re-open this file.
"If there are any measures to be taken they will not be taken by the executive committee - it is not the body that can take sanctions or release anyone
"So we will give this file to an independent organisation outside of Fifa so they can delve into this file and extract its conclusions and present them to us."

Bolivia's Evo Morales scraps Amazon road project

There had been vocal support for the protesters' cause

Bolivia's President Evo Morales has scrapped plans for a road project in the Amazon that had triggered protests by indigenous people.

Mr Morales said the highway would no longer cross through a rainforest reserve.
Mr Morales made the announcement a day after protesters arrived in La Paz after a two-month march from the Amazon lowlands to voice their opposition.
It is not yet clear what the demonstrators' response will be.
The president said he would send a measure to Congress that would accommodate the protesters' demands.
"The matter is resolved," Mr Morales said.
An indigenous leader Rafael Quispe, said the president's proposal was a "good sign" but said they had 15 other demands that needed to be discussed, the Spanish news agency Efe reported.
Thousands of residents were on the streets of La Paz this week as some 1,000 protesters arrived to call for the project to be stopped.
The government had argued that the road would boost economic development and regional integration.
The protesters said the project - funded by Brazil and built by a Brazilian company - would encourage illegal settlement and deforestation in their rainforest homeland.
The plans were for a highway through the Isiboro Secure Indigenous Territory and National Park - known by its Spanish acronym Tipnis.
President Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president, has seen his popularity dented by the protest.
He had already suspended the project and offered talks with the protesters.
However, there were also demonstrations in support of the road project from indigenous groups that are loyal to the president.

US economy: Foreign home-buyers sought

Most foreign homebuyers choose Florida and California for their purchases

Two US senators have proposed a plan to offer visas for foreigners buying homes worth $500,000 (£314,000) or more.

Democrat Chuck Schumer and Republican Mike Lee, sponsoring a bill, say it is a move to increase housing demand.
The proposal is similar to an existing Green Card program for foreigners who invest at least $500,000 in an American business that creates at least 10 jobs.
The US Chamber of Commerce has announced its support for the new legislation proposal.
"Our housing market will never begin a true recovery as long as our housing stock so greatly exceeds demand. This is not a cure-all, but it could be part of the solution," said Mr Schumer, a Democrat from New York.
Mr Lee, a Republican from Utah, described the bill as a "free market method for increasing demand for housing".
Residential restrictions Sales of previously owned homes in the United States dropped to 3% in September following a jump in August, according to the National Association of Realtors.
The same group said residential sales to foreigners and recent immigrants totalled $82bn between April 2010 and March 2011, up from $66bn.
Some 31% of all international housing buyers choose Florida.
The proposal would provide a three-year residential visa for foreign owners.
Prospective buyers would need to spend at least $250,000 on one property that would serve as their primary residence, and could make up the $500,000 requirement with additional rental properties.
To qualify for the visa, however, the purchases must be in cash, and the owners would have to reside at the primary residences for 180 days out of the year.
They would also have to apply for a separate work visa in order to be employed in the US, and would not be eligible for government aid programs.
"The bill does not limit people from being productive," Mr Schumer said. "It simply prevents them from coming here and taking jobs that otherwise would go to Americans."
The idea has also been supported by billionaire investor Warren Buffett.
"If you wanted to change your immigration policy so that you let 500,000 families in but they have to have a significant net worth and everything, you'd solve things very quickly," Mr Buffett told PBS's Charlie Rose in August.
Mr Schumer said he was working to get the backing of the Obama administration on Thursday.