Libya crisis: Head of Islamist Tripoli government fired

The leader of one of Libya's rival governments - backed by Islamists and based in Tripoli - has been sacked by its parliament, officials say.

Omar al-Hassi was appointed in August to lead an alternative government after Islamist militia seized the capital.
MPs voted to oust him on Tuesday following allegations he misled parliament about government finances.
Libya has been in turmoil since the Nato-backed removal of former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
The country has had two governments and parliaments since Islamist militia seized Tripoli in August and established the General National Congress (GNC) that was led by Mr al-Hassi.
The seizure of Tripoli forced Libya's existing and internationally recognised government to flee to the eastern city of Tobruk.
The rival parliaments have been holding UN-sponsored talks in Morocco in an attempt to end a period of lawlessness which many fear could strengthen militants allied to Islamic State.
GNC spokesman Omar Humeidan told reporters Mr al-Hassi was removed after an investigation revealed he had exaggerated the government's revenues, amid complaints it could not afford to pay salaries.
"The head of the government was dismissed by the parliament in a vote on Tuesday that was backed by the rest of the ministers," a member of the parliament told AFP.
One of his Mr al-Hassi's aides, Khalifa Ghweil, has reportedly taken over as interim leader.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has arrived in Tripoli, Libya, Downing Street confirmed this morning.

“The PM has arrived in Tripoli to discuss how the UK can continue to help build a strong, prosperous, democratic Libya,” the prime minister's office tweeted.
Cameron's visit comes a week after the UK advised British citizens to leave the Libyan city of Benghazi because of an "imminent" terror threat.  Earlier this week, British diplomats said the UK was was aware of reports of a possible threat to its embassy in Tripoli.
There have been mounting concerns about retaliatory attacks against Western interests in Libya following the French military intervention in Mali and the hostage-taking at a natural gas facility in Algeria earlier this month.
Cameron visited Algeria yesterday for talks with the government there, his office said.
Britain says there is a "specific, imminent threat to Westerners" in Benghazi and is advising its citizens there to leave immediately. The German Foreign Office also cites what it says is a specific threat.
The British Foreign Office also warns against any travel to the area, in a statement on its website.
The U.S. Embassy in Tripoli posted a statement on its website saying it knows of no specific threats to U.S. citizens in Benghazi, but it advises against all travel to the city.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday took on Republican congressional critics of her department's handling of the deadly September terrorist attack in Libya.

Conservative GOP members challenged Clinton on the lack of security at the diplomatic compound in Benghazi as well as the erroneous account that the attack grew spontaneously from a protest over an anti-Islam film produced in the United States.
At two hearings, which together totaled more than five hours, Clinton acknowledged a "systemic breakdown" cited by an independent review of issues leading up to the armed assault and said her department was taking additional steps to increase security at U.S. diplomatic facilities.
Here are five things we learned from the hearings before the Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs committees.
"A lot of diplomatic people, we don’t perceive hem in this country as necessarily putting their lives at risk – we think, oh, they work for the State Department, their job is not as dangerous. And it’s not true," Tapper said. "And people like Secretary Clinton have now learned that firsthand. … The other point to take is, from sources close to her, this really did take a very, very, strong emotional toll on her. In addition to an exhausting job, I think probably it’s all part and parcel of the exhaustion we’ve seen that she’s been suffering.”
[Updated 12:05 p.m. ET] CNN's chief Washington correspondent, Jake Tapper, sums up the criticism that Clinton received from some Republicans on the Senate panel this morning:
"Republicans were focused on two areas of criticism. One, of course, (was) the fact that the administration – specifically the United Nations Ambassador Dr. Susan Rice – initially in the Sunday show appearances ... (gave the view that) this was not a terrorist attack, this was a spontaneous protest because of that anti-Islam video, which of course turns out not to have been the case.
"And a lot of senators – Ron Johnson and John McCain especially – focused on why were these talking points false. Specifically, Johnson said that Dr. Rice was purposefully misleading the American public. Dr. Rice, of course, has said she was not – that she was merely using the talking points provided by the intelligence community, and that there was no effort to mislead. She was providing as much information as she knew at the time.
"The other area where there was significant criticism, of course, came from Sen. Rand Paul, who was talking about the lack of accountability – how come nobody was fired? He said that if he had been president at the time ... he would have relieved Secretary Clinton of her job, specifically for not having read all of these cables from on the ground in Libya, of diplomatic personnel requesting more security in the months leading up to the attack."