* Libya rebels battle to purge Tripoli of Gadhafi loyalists Rebel forces began to purge Tripoli's streets of diehard gunmen still loyal to fugitive Muammar Gadhafi on Thursday in the final phase of the battle for the Libyan capital.
* Libyan rebels say Gaddafi and sons surrounded A group of rebels besieging a cluster of apartment buildings near the Bab al-Aziziyah compound of Muammar Gaddafi said on Thursday that they believed the man who led Libya for four decades was hiding in the buildings with some of his sons.
* China military 'closing key gaps', says Pentagon China is on course to build a modern military by 2020, a move that could threaten stability in the Asia-Pacific region.
* Ahmadinejad: Iran is determined to eradicate Israel Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran was determined to eradicate Israel.
* Cheney Says He Urged Bush to Bomb Syria in ’07 Former Vice President Dick Cheney says in a new memoir that he urged President George W. Bush to bomb a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor site in June 2007.
* Jordanian Hamas Terrorist Planned Kidnap, Embassy Attack A Jordanian member of Hamas has been charged with plotting terrorist attacks on Israeli targets.
* NKorea supplied nuclear software to Iran North Korea has intensified its cooperation with Iran this year and supplied it with a computer program that could help the Islamic Republic build nuclear weapons.
* After Arab Revolts, Reigns of Uncertainty The idealism of the revolts in Egypt and Tunisia, where the power of the street revealed the frailty of authority, revived an Arab world anticipating change.
* France calls Libya victory summit, warns Syria French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called a high-level meeting on Libya's post-Gaddafi future and promised support - but no military action - for opposition forces in Syria.
* Tehran to sue Russia over breached S-300 contract Iranian ambassador to Russia Mahmoud Reza Sajjadi announced on Thursday that Iran has filed a lawsuit against Moscow at the International Court of Justice for failing to deliver the S-300 air defense system to Iran.