"Any Muslim in any part of the world who works with Switzerland is an apostate, is against (the Prophet) Mohammad, and God and the Koran," he [Gaddafi] told a meeting [sic] in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.

Of the many unusual aspects of the Gaddafi family, add a love affair with the London School of Economics.

On January 12th, the LSE accepted a donation from the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation of £1.5 million (~$2.5 million). The Foundation is headed by Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi and an LSE alumnus. 

Previously, LSE President Howard Davies served as Britain's economic envoy to Libya. See the UK's embarrassing communique from that meeting here.

Someone should really tell Davies that the idea of LSE accepting money from Gaddafi to do research on "Global Governance" is basically like Harvard Med School taking money from Philip Morris to study smoking cessation.

What do Hannibal Gaddafi (Muammar's fifth son) and Beyonce have in common... Apparently they both like money. A lot. Hannibal likes to spend it, and Beynoce likes to get paid. Anyone see where this is going?

Apparently Hannibal--whose rap sheet includes assaulting police in Rome, beating his wife senseless in London, doing the same to his servants in Switzerland, and driving the wrong way on the Champs Elysées drunk out of his mind--paid the pop superstar $2 mil to preform a one hour concert at his New Years party.

From the Guardian:

The audience included Beyoncé's husband, Jay-Z, and despite the best efforts of the pair's publicist to hush up the provenance of the fee, there are those beginning to question whether a couple whose combined worth was recently estimated at $1bn really need to rent themselves out to sons of one of the Great Satan's least beloved antagonists.

Everyone's favorite tyrant is back in the news, this time for attempting to evangelize Rome's beauties. From the BBC:

The girls had to be beautiful, between 18 and 35 - and at least 1.70m tall. The dress code was strict: plunging necklines and short miniskirts were most definitely out. Two-hundred women passed muster and were bussed to a plush residential corner of the Italian capital.

Security scanned and shown into an imposing reception room, they were then left waiting, as several complained, without so much as a glass of water. An hour later, their host's identity was finally revealed. Col Gaddafi proceeded to preach the benefits of Islam, taking particular pains to assure his guests that it was not misogynistic, and encouraging them to convert.

Two hours later, the women left, looking a touch bemused, 50 euros ($75; £45) better off and clutching a copy of the Koran.

Gaddafi rarely makes sense, but is almost always entertaining.

Update: Der Spiegel has an epic photo set here. And Al Jazeera's Arabic language service is reporting that one of the girls actually converted. Money quote translated:

"Reports stated that one of the participants said--at the end of the lecture that lasted two hours--that she was convinced by what the Libyan president said and has decided to convert to Islam. While another participant merely pointed out that what Gaddafi said was important."

Hat tip to Diana for help with the translation.