BBC News with Gaenor Howells

The British Defence Secretary Liam Fox has resigned after days of controversy over his relationship with a personal adviser. Doctor Fox has been under pressure to explain why his friend Adam Werritty, who had no official role, attended some defence ministry meetings and frequently met him abroad. Doctor Fox said he had mistakenly allowed the distinction between his personal interests and his government activities to become blurred. Gary O'Donoghue reports.

It was Liam Fox's decision to resign, but in truth he had no choice: eight solid days of negative headlines and no sign of the problem going away. Once he acknowledged the blurring of the distinctions between the public and the private sphere, he was always going to be on the back foot. What really did for the defence secretary was the emerging detail of how his unofficial adviser and friend Adam Werritty was funded to fly around the world, attending conferences and private holidays without any of the backing being declared.

Gun battles have taken place in the Libyan capital Tripoli for the first time since anti-Gaddafi forces took control of the city in August. Residents in the Abu Salim neighbourhood say clashes broke out when Gaddafi loyalists tried to raise a symbolic green flag after morning prayers. The BBC's Rana Jawad in Tripoli has been following events.