Unrest, Libya | featured news

The crisis in Libya again pushed oil prices higher as the New York Mercantile Exchange opened for trading Monday.

Opposition forces trying to reach Surt, the hometown of Moammar Kadafi, retreat to the desert outpost of Ras Lanuf after a ground and air assault.

As Libya moves toward civil war, reports of violence and casualties continue to mount between forces loyal to longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi and rebel fighters who refuse to let up until Gadhafi's rule ends.

Hundreds of demonstrators call for Moammar Kadafi's downfall in Tripoli but are quickly dispersed by security forces. Rebels continue to hold nearby Zawiya after an assault organized by one of the embattled leader's sons.

If the U.S. military is hesitant to enact a no-fly zone over Libya, the Army is capable of giving the opposition the capacity to use anti-aircraft defenses themselves, Sen. Joe Lieberman suggested Thursday.

The Libyan government has accepted a Venezuelan plan that seeks a negotiated solution to the uprising in the North African country, a spokesman for President Hugo Chavez said on Thursday.

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 Militias loyal to Moammar Gadhafi opened fire Friday on protesters streaming out of mosques and marching across the Libyan capital to demand the regime's ouster, witnesses said, reporting multiple deaths. In rebellious cities in the east, tens of thousands held rallies in support of the first Tripoli protests in days.

Moammar Gaddafi, Libya's strongman ruler, is commonly portrayed as an egomaniacal buffoon - an autocrat with an affinity for incomprehensible speeches and a flair for the melodramatic.

Stocks fell sharply and oil prices spiked to their highest level in two years on Tuesday as investors worried about the increasingly violent unrest in Libya.

Libyan security forces open fired on mourners at a funeral for anti-government protesters in the eastern city of Benghazi again Sunday, a day after commandos and foreign mercenaries loyal to longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi pummeled demonstrators with assault rifles and other heavy weaponry as well as knives.