In a story developing throughout the week, Libyan rebels sold 230,000 barrels of crude oil officially owned by Libyan National Oil Company to a North Korean-flagged tanker heading to an unknown destination. In response, the Opec member country sacked Prime Minister Ali Zeidan on Tuesday. [AFP and Reuters]

The Tesla Motors sales model took a hit when New Jersey blocked direct sales of its cars to customers. Tesla’s approach cuts out dealerships and middlemen who are fighting to maintain their market share. “Tesla’s stores cut out the dealerships and enable Tesla to own the branding and customer sales experience. Where Tesla can’t directly sell cars to customers it can operate experience outlets that just show off the products to visitors, but don’t actually sell cars in the stores.” [Gigaom]

Recently-discovered natural gas deposits in Tanzania leave the government and international organizations scrambling to put a resource extraction regulatory framework in place that can avoid the “resource curse.” Part of this effort involves public feedback and a World Bank survey of about 1,600 families produced both expected and unexpected results. [The World Bank]