Pressure mounts on Gadaffi – live updates

• UN imposes sanctions on Gaddafi regime • Britain urges Libyan leader to step down • Libya mounts PR campaign to show all’s well • Interim government forms in Benghazi 11.06am: The Libyan regime is doing its best to show that it retains some semblance of control in the Tripoli area at least, so it has flown in a number of international journalists into the country, including the Observer’s Peter Beaumont. I spoke to him a few moments ago as he is being taken to a town 30 kilometres from Tripoli where the opposition is said to control. We arrived last night to chaotic scenes at the airport, there’s a lot of people trying to flee, people sleeping on rugs outside. In fact at the hotel most of the staff have fled and that goes for some of the other big hotels… We’re here at the invitation of the Libyan government to show that Tripoli is safe and not as bad as reported. The traffic is moving freely and it is relatively calm, but there are queues for food and there are queues for banks… 10.42am: Good morning and welcome to the Guardian’s live blog of the thirteenth day of turmoil in Libya where, Muammar Gaddafi’s regime is clinging on despite international condemnation at the UN and moves to form an interim government in the east. Here are the main developments overnight and so far this morning. Foreign Office revokes diplomatic immunity of Gaddafi and his family, as Foreign Secretary William Hague urges the Libyan leader to step down. . More than 150 workers rescued from the Libyan desert as two RAF Hercules aircraft – backed by the SAS – pulled off a high-risk evacuation of British and other citizens. Some 200 to 380 Britons remain. The UN Security Council last night voted unanimously to impose sanctions on Libya. It has imposed an arms embargo and asset freeze while referring Gaddafi to the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity. The Gaddafi is showing western journalists round the Tripoli area as it tries to portray to the world that it is still in control of at least the capital. Arab and Middle East protests Libya Bahrain Yemen Egypt Tunisia United Nations Mark Tran guardian.co.uk

Posted by on February 27, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry