A nuclear power plant that was shut down after an earthquake struck central Virginia Aug. 23 had seismographs removed in the 1990s to save money. Officials said that the North Anna Power Station, which has two reactors, lost offsite power and switched to diesel generators to maintain cooling operations after the 5.9 quake. The North Anna plant, which was near the epicenter of the quake, is reportedly located on a fault line. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) rates the plant as the seventh most likely to receive core damage from a quake, although it says the odds are very low. According to the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy (DMME), the Virginia Tech Seismological Observatory (VTSO) removed all seismographs from around the plant in the 1990s due to budget cuts. In February, Dominion Virginia Power announced plans to add a third reactor at the plant. (Raw Story, Aug. 23)

Libyan rebels on Aug. 23 stormed Moammar Qaddafi's fortress-like compound in Tripoli, the Bab al-Aziziya, blasting through the gates and meeting no resistance, after hours of gun-battles in the surrounding streets. The compound was overrun by rebels and Tripoli citizens generally. A statue of Qaddafi was dragged out and dismantled, his head thrown to the ground. One young man raided Qaddafi's bedroom, and was interviewed for the cameras while wearing the strongman's infamous gold-braided colonel's cap, gold chain and golden scepter. But there is no sign of Qaddafi or his family. State TV, apparently still in pro-Qaddafi hands, continued to broadcast audio messages from the missing strongman, but they were presumably pre-recorded. Rebel leaders say they believe Qaddafi is still in Tripoli, and they are determined to hunt him down.

Media reports from Tripoli are sketchy and contradictory, but it is clear that heavy fighting continues in the city. The only working hospital in the Libyan capital has been overwhelmed with casualties. NATO is air-dropping leaflets urging the Qaddafi regime's defenders to lay down arms. The presidential palace was reported to have been torched by rebels. However, Saif al-Islam, son of Moammar Qaddafi, earlier reported to have been captured by the rebels, made a public appearance at Tripoli's Rixos Hotel, where foreign journalists stay. "I am here to refute the lies," Saif al-Islam said. "We broke the back of the rebels. It was a trap. We gave them a hard time, so we are winning." Television footage showed him pumping his fists, smiling, waving and shaking hands with supporters, and holding his arms aloft with each hand making the V-for-victory sign. Qaddafi's eldest son, Mohammad, who was also reportedly detained by rebels, is now reported to have escaped.

Libyan rebels took the center of the capital, Tripoli, early Aug. 22 as Moammar Qaddafi's defenders seemingly melted away. Thousands of jubilant citizens filled the streets to cheer the convoys of pickup trucks packed with rebel fighters shooting in the air. AlJazeera's correspondent said from the Green Square: "There's a party in the Libyan capital tonight. The people are in charge of the city. They've decided the square is now called Martyr's Square, the original name. They're shouting 'we're free' and shooting at a poster of Qaddafi." Rebel leaders said that two of Qaddafi's sons have been arrested. Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, confirmed that Seif al-Islam Qaddafi has been detained and said the ICC would contact the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) about his transfer to the Hague. (AlJazeera, Aug. 22)

A Turkish air-strike killed seven family members in a Kurdish village in northern Iraq, a local official said Aug. 21. Qalat Diza mayor Hassan Abdullah said the strike hit two parents and their five children as they rode in a truck the village of Kortek, is located in Qalat Diza township, about 180 kilometers northeast of Sulaimaniya along the Turkish border. The Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq has expressed concern as Turkish warplanes carry out air-strikes against suspected rebel strongholds of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the Kandil Mountains along the border. On Aug. 19, the Turkish military said warplanes and artillery struck more than 100 targets in northern Iraq. Dozens of Turkish soldiers have been killed over the last month in fighting with the PKK. The air raids came in response to a PKK ambush on a Turkish military convoy at in Çukurca in Turkey's eastern province of Hakkari. (CNN, Aug. 21; Hurriyet Daily News, Aug. 20)

The government of Peru's newly elected President Ollanta Humala announced this week that it is suspending the US-backed coca eradication program in the Upper Huallaga Valley, the only ongoing eradication campaign in the country. According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Peru has surpassed Colombia as the world's top coca producer, although Colombia maintains a slight lead in cocaine production.

Egypt registered a formal complaint with Israel over the killings of three Egyptian officers at the Sinai border and demanded an immediate investigation on Aug. 19, one day after militants carried out deadly attacks near Israel's Red Sea resort of Eilat. Egyptian security officials said that the three officers were killed when an Israeli helicopter fired at suspected militants who had fled into a crowd of security personnel on the Egyptian side of the border. Dozens of Egyptians demonstrated outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo, burning the Israeli flag and chanting, "Close the embassy! Expel the ambassador!" (AlJazeera, NYT, Aug. 19)

Citing unnamed "Libyan and Arab sources," the pan-Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat on Aug. 17 reported that Moammar Qaddafi has sent one of his closest advisers, Bashir Saleh, to Mali and the Tunisian island of Djerba, to meet with British and French officials to discuss "securing a safe exit for Qaddafi and his family from Libya." Saleh reportedly met in secret with officials from the British Foreign Office and the French Presidency, in an effort to negotiate terms for the besieged strongman's exile.