Saif Al Islam Gadaffi Captured

Sensational stuff on BBC World at the moment. John Simpson live on the line with Peter Dobbie in London. Simpson is in Ajidabia, and air strikes and dropped bombs could be heard ongoing in the background. Military planes are bombing arms dumps nearby. For some reason, they cut-away from John mid sentence, although he was clearly very far from the bombings.

Libyan army have taken over the town of Marsa el Brega, which is the home of a major oil terminal Sirte Oil Company (SOC). The company and terminal are named after the town of Sirte (pronounced "Sirt") where Ghadaffi was born.

Many foreign companies (mainly oil contractors) have representation in Marsa el Brega.

Have just seen probably the best interview of the conflict so far. AJE's Anita MacNaught ("The Ice Maiden") doing an interview with Saif al-Islam Gadaffi, in Tripoli.

Anita was relentless and fearsome, and took the interviewee to task on several issues. Great to see her again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFigOpOBpxo

Alex Crawford excelling once again in her reports from Zawiya.

Having dropped the ball on foreign stories in recent years, namely the disaster in Haiti, Sky News are truly in top form with this story. Superb coverage.

Agree. Alex Crawford is vindicating her third TV journalist of the year award. She's been absolutely fantastic, as have Lisa Holland and Dominic Waghorn.

It does seem that Sky, the BBC and AJE are doing a MUCH better job of covering this than any mainstream US network. CNNI are doing an OK-ish job I suppose...

Just a question about why Anita McNaught interviewing Gaddafi's son is in the topic title when Sky's Lisa Holland did so the day before? I haven't seen McNaught's effort admittedly, but is it worth a watch?

Isn't that always the case though? As pointed out by Hilary Clinton the other day, the US is 'losing the information war' because their news channels are falling behind and don't provide 'real news'. She singled out AlJazeera (and mentioned Russia Today and CCTV) but the BBC and Sky are also miles ahead (although of course Sky isn't available in the US and the BBC only limitedly).

She is right, the mainstream US broadcast news is barely news most of the time, just look at Jon Stewart's take on CNN last week http://tv.gawker.com/#!5772963

Yep - I guess I should also have reported that the Pope is still apparently Catholic.

It must be amazingly frustrating to be working at CNNI when CNN domestic is changing beyond all recognition.

Alex Crawford's first video report from Zawiyah is quite extraordinary.

Included in it is shocking footage of a man arriving at the hospital with an unexploded anti-tank grenade in embedded in his leg.

Libya: Gaddafi forces detain and beat BBC team:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12695077

AlJazeera reporting one of their cameramen has been killed during an ambush in Benghazi. Frantic scenes on the Arabic channel, live in Benghazi where thousands of protesters remain, and the correspondent there showing the x-ray of the killed cameraman. Both the male and female anchors in Doha seem quite emotional.

http://aljazeera.net/channel/livestreaming - If anybody is interested. Not sure how the English channel is covering it.

Looks as though this story is going to run and run tonight and into tomorrow. The "International Community" (heard that term used a million times today) now ready to launch military operations. The erstwhile Anita MacNaught of AJE appears to be the only anchor who has remained in Libya from day one. Nic Roberston of CNN is also there, mind you.

Kevin Connolly in the far-eastern Libyan port of Tobrouk, with rather dodgy telephone lines.