Protesting Airport Guards Stop Libyan PM Boarding Plane

Airport guards stopped Libya's Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni from getting on a plane to Tunis in protest against his choice of interior minister, officials said, in a stark demonstration of the collapse of state authority in the oil producer. Thinni's internationally-recognized government is also fighting Islamist insurgents and has been holed up in the small eastern city of Bayda since an armed group seized the capital Tripoli in August and set up a rival administration. Government officials have said, Thinni had to appoint a new interior minister after suspending Omar al-Zanki for making public statements about another potentially embarrassing division, saying army general Khalifa Haftar had tried to stop the premier from visiting the eastern city of Benghazi.