President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a decree toughening sanctions on Libya five months after the measure was passed by the U.N. Security Council in March, the Kremlin said Friday.

It was not immediately clear why Medvedev signed the decree implementing the sanctions so long after Resolution 1973 was passed.

Khamis, the feared military commander and son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, was shown on state television on Wednesday, days after rebels reported his death.

Tripoli denied the claim at the time, but a rebel spokesman on Wednesday insisted that Khamis was dead.

Austrian oil and gas giant OMV reported Wednesday a drop in profit in its second quarter results due to the political unrest in North Africa and the Middle East.

Bottom-line net profit sank 26 percent to 269 million euros ($386 million) in April-June from 365 million in the previous quarter, OMV said in a statement.

The European Union has slapped further sanctions on the regime of Moammar Gadhafi, targeting two "economic entities" linked to the Libyan strongman, France said Tuesday.

The measures decided Monday "reinforce the system of international sanctions" already in place against Gadhafi's regime, foreign ministry spokeswoman Christine Fages told reporters.

Several powerful blasts rocked Libya's capital on Tuesday, as the executive branch of Libya's rebel government was sacked in a political crisis a week after their military chief's assassination.

The explosions in the Fernej district of southwest Tripoli struck at between 1:00 am (23:00 GMT) and 2:00 am, sending flames shooting into the night sky, an Agence France Presse correspondent said.

Libya's rebel leader disbanded the entire executive branch of his de-facto government Monday, officials said, in a bid to end a major political crisis caused by the assassination of a top rebel general.

Mustafa Abdul Jalil, chairman of the National Transitional Council dismissed several senior officials, including the rebels' finance, defense and information ministers.

Pope Benedict XVI called Sunday for a redoubling of efforts to restore peace in conflict-torn Syria and Libya.

In his weekly address to pilgrims, the pontiff asked for the "legitimate aspirations" of the Syrian people to be met, while urging the international community to revive efforts for a Libyan peace plan.

Rebels in the western Libyan town of Zliten were said to be low on ammunition and on the defensive on Sunday, as the regime said its forces had retaken the strategic southwest town of Bir Ghanam.

Abdul Wahab Melitan, a rebel spokesman in the port city of Misrata near Zliten, said forces loyal to strongman Moammar Gadhafi had launched an assault on rebel positions in Zliten's Souk Telat area, killing three and wounding 15.

Rebel commanders said their fighters captured the town of Bir Ghanam, 80 kilometers south of the Libyan capital, on Saturday.

An Agence France Presse correspondent, although he did not visit Bir Ghanam, was with the several hundred fighters as they advanced north on a road strewn with burned-out vehicles of the Libyan army, some with bodies of dead soldiers inside.

Libya's rebel forces on Friday said a NATO strike killed Moammer Gadhafi's youngest son Khamis and 31 others in the disputed town of Zliten, in what would be a severe setback for Tripoli's military leadership.

The claim was denied by government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim, who said "the news about the killing of Khamis by a NATO air strike are very dirty lies to cover the murder of civilians in the peaceful city."