Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Gold/Mining/Energy : Lundin Oil (LOILY, LOILB Sweden) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tomas who wrote (1574)	4/4/2000 11:53:00 AM
From: Tomas	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2742

U.S. Expected to Lift Travel Ban to Libya - Report WASHINGTON (Reuters) April 4 - The United States is poised to lift a 13-year-old ban on travel to Libya, a step toward normalizing relations with the North African country that is trying to shed its pariah status, USA Today reported Tuesday. The paper quoted U.S. officials as saying a State Department delegation that visited Libya last month for the first time in 20 years came back satisfied that U.S. citizens faced no 'imminent danger' there. Their recommendation will be sent to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright for a final decision as early as this week, the paper reported. ``Imminent danger' is the criterion Albright uses to determine whether U.S. passports can be used for travel to a given country. A decision to lift the ban would enable Americans to travel to Libya without special permission. It also would facilitate a visit by a congressional delegation expected this month. ``We do expect the team to prepare a recommendation,' State Department spokesman James Rubin said. The likely end to the ban comes amid reports that Libya has invited the leader of the Israeli Labor Party, Raanan Cohen, to visit. Libya has been among the most virulent opponents of Israel and a supporter of anti-Israel terrorist groups. Officials in the Libyan capital denied the invitation, but European Commission President Romano Prodi confirmed it after meeting with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in Cairo, Egypt. It was unclear whether Cohen would go. European businessmen have been visiting Libya in growing numbers since a U.N. ban on air travel was lifted last year. U.S. oil industry executives also have visited after receiving waivers from the U.S. travel ban. U.S. officials say Albright cannot ban travel to a country unless Americans face ``imminent danger' there. Only Libya and Iraq are currently in that category. U.S. economic sanctions against Libya will remain in place until the country cooperates with the Pan Am trial, which is scheduled to begin May 3 in the Netherlands, and compensates the victims' relatives, who object to lifting the travel ban. Diplomatic ties between Washington and Tripoli were severed in 1981 and Washington later imposed economic sanctions. The U.N. Security Council added to the sanctions in 1992 when Libya refused to hand over for trial two men accused of planting the bomb which blew up the Pan Am plane over Lockerbie, Scotland. The U.N. sanctions were suspended last year after Libya handed over two suspects for trial in the Netherlands under Scottish law. dailynews.yahoo.com