“Libya has started making payments into a nearly $2 billion fund to compensate the families of American victims of Libyan-linked terror attacks in the 1980s, another step in the full normalization of long-strained ties between Washington and Tripoli, the State Department said Thursday. The ’substantial amount’ deposited overnight into a U.S. government account is not the full amount needed to fulfill a compensation agreement reached earlier this year, but officials said it demonstrated Libya’s willingness to resolve outstanding claims over the 1988 Pan Am 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland and the 1986 bombing of a German disco.” (10/09/08)