Belgium

Gadhafi makes first visit to Europe since 1989

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, once considered one of the world’s most dangerous men, came to Europe for the first time in 15 years Tuesday, offering business deals and an olive branch — along with a veiled threat to return to the “days of explosive belts” if provoked by the West.

He declared his readiness to work with the West peacefully after years of championing armed struggle against it.

“Libya did its duty when duty had to be done by arms,” he said. That included firing missiles at U.S. fighter aircraft in the 1980s and setting up training camps for “freedom fighters” from around the developing world, for which he said Libya was unjustly accused of a “kind of terrorism.”

Now that Libya has given up its weapons programs, it has become “an example to be followed,” he asserted, calling on countries “from China to America” to do the same.

Syria

‘Unidentified terrorists’ hit former U.N. building

Gunmen attacked a former United Nations office in a diplomatic quarter of Damascus late Tuesday, setting off a battle with police that pelted nearby buildings with bullets and grenades. The government said two attackers, a policeman and a civilian were killed.

Syria has not seen such violence since the 1980s, when the government put down an insurgency by Islamic militants.

The vacant building was formerly occupied by the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force, which oversees an agreement between Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan Heights.

“Unidentified terrorists attacked a U.N. office building in Damascus, and this office is surrounded by many embassies as well,” Syria’s ambassador to Washington, Imad Moustapha, said in a telephone interview from Washington.

Moustapha said it was too early to know the motivation of the attackers.