Two local journalists are being held in a town known for its support of deposed ruler Muammar Gaddafi, a Libyan militia commander said.

Two British journalists who were detained in Libya have revealed they were held because their captors confused a passage of Welsh written on their medical supplies for Hebrew, leading to suspicions they were spying for Israel.

The head of a Libyan militia holding two British journalists captive has accused them of spying on government facilities and of entering the country illegally.

Two British journalists have been arrested in Libya, the Foreign Office confirmed last night.

The moral authority of Libya's new government was called into question by two leading international aid groups yesterday as concerns rise that the National Transitional Council, backed by Western governments in last year's civil war, is failing on its promises to deliver freedom and democracy.

Libya slips back towards the barbarism of Gaddafi

Kim Sengupta, in Misrata, reports on the wrangling over the fate of the former leader's body, while Jane Merrick looks at the potential threat posed by the only missing family member

Muammar Gaddafi's blood-streaked body has been stashed in a commercial freezer at a shopping centre as Libyans try to keep it away from crowds as they figure out where and when to bury the hated ex-leader.

The closest I've come to a Kalashnikov was when someone presented me with a glass replica of an AK-47 filled with vodka. It's the kind of thing a dictator might like to display on his sideboard but I couldn't help thinking there were far too many genuine AK-47s in Tripoli last week, even as jubilant rebels wandered awe-struck through the opulent villas of Colonel Gaddafi's eight children. One young man from Misrata stripped to a pair of shorts and launched a yellow kayak into a swimming pool belonging to Hannibal Gaddafi, who beat up his pregnant girlfriend in Paris in 2005, but he didn't let go of his rifle as he grinned for the camera.

A de-mining team run by one of the world’s largest humanitarian networks is clearing rebel-controlled Misrata of tons of unexploded ordnance to bring safety to the city’s civilians.

War crimes investigators were said last night to have amassed thousands of documents which could be used in a case against the Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. They reportedly include details of attempts to starve people living in Misrata, the port city that has been under siege since February.

Provoked by renewed daylight Nato bombing of his capital, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi raged against the alliance, screaming his message and daring Western forces to keep it up.

Libyan government forces have pounded the outskirts of the rebel-held city of Misrata, killing at least 22 people, a hospital physician said today.