Chavez meets Gaddafi in Libya

The Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, has held talks in Tripoli with the Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, as part of his tour of oil-producing states.

Reports say the two leaders visited the site where Mr Gaddafi's adopted daughter died in a US bomb attack in 1986.

Mr Chavez's tour has proved controversial because of his decision to include Iraq, in defiance of criticism from Washington.

On Thursday, Mr Chavez became the first foreign head of state to visit Baghdad since the end of the Gulf War, in 1991.

He later called for the lifting of international sanctions against Iraq.

Mr Chavez is inviting members of the oil-producers' cartel, OPEC, to a summit of heads of state and government in Venezuela next month, which, if it happens, will be only the second summit at this level in the organisation's history.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service