Jan 3 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will host Libya's foreign minister on Thursday -- the first such visit by the top Tripoli diplomat since 1972 -- in a sign of warmer ties between the former foes.

Here is a chronology of recent relations between Libya and the United States:

January 1986 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan orders halt to economic and commercial relations with Libya, freezes Libyan assets in the United States.

April 1986 - Libya blamed for bombing of West Berlin disco used by U.S. servicemen that killed three people and injured more than 200.

April 1986 - U.S. aircraft bomb Tripoli, Benghazi and the home of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Libya says more than 40 people are killed, including Gaddafi's adopted baby daughter.

December 1988 - Pan Am flight 103 from London to New York blown up over Scotland, killing 259 people on board and 11 people on the ground in Lockerbie.

April 1999 - Libya hands over two suspects in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103. They stand trial in the Netherlands under Scottish law. EU suspends sanctions against Libya.

January 2001 - Three judges unanimously find Abdel Basset al-Megrahi guilty of murder and acquit Al-Amin Khalifa Fahima. Megrahi is given a mandatory life sentence. In June 2007, an independent review body said Scotland's High Court would hear an appeal by Megrahi against his conviction.

March 2003 - Libya reaches political agreement with the United States and Britain to accept civil responsibility for the bombing. Libya agrees to pay about $2.7 billion in total.

January 2004 - Lawmakers arrive on the first visit by a U.S. congressional delegation to Libya since Gaddafi came to power.

June 2004 - U.S. resumes diplomatic ties after 24 years.

September 2004 - Libya signs a deal to pay $35 million compensation to more than 160 victims of 1986 Berlin nightclub bombing.

September 2004 - President George W. Bush formally ends U.S. trade embargo on Libya to reward it for giving up weapons of mass destruction but leaves in place some U.S. terrorism-related sanctions.

Feb. 11, 2005 - United States ends a restriction barring Libyan diplomats in the U.S. from traveling more than 25 miles from Washington and New York.

Sept. 28, 2005 - Bush waives some defense export restrictions to allow U.S. companies to participate in destroying Libya's chemical weapons.

May 15, 2006 - Bush administration says it will restore formal ties with Tripoli and take Libya off the list of countries deemed state sponsors of terrorism.

July 11, 2007 - Bush announces he is sending the first U.S. ambassador to Tripoli in nearly 35 years. (Writing by David Cutler and Paul Grant, editing by Todd Eastham)

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