LIBYA

[Investors] don't believe in the gold story anymore, declared Kevin Norrish of Barclays Capital on Wednesday, announcing the bank's latest commodity investment survey of institutional players. Not one single respondent chose Gold Bullion as the likely best performer in 2011, Norrish said.

The triple disaster in Japan and the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa likely would have only a limited impact on the global economy - provided the twin shocks of higher oil prices and the supply chain disruptions from Japan do not get much worse, market research firm IHS said.

US stocks ended higher on Thursday as investors are shrugged off bad news and focused on some positive developments from the US corporate sector.

From lecturing handpicked group of young western women on Islam to his fear of flying over waters, and from virgin bodyguards to maniacal imperial delusions, Muammar Gaddafi’s traits are as strange and funny, or even more so, as his weird dress sense. The following are some of his idiosyncrasies, peculiar hatreds, strange loves and manifestations of borderline psychosis:

The swelling ranks of protesters in the Syrian city of Deraa demanded the end of the cancerous regime of Bashar al-Assad and warned that the country was a bomb ready to explode.

U.S. Military officials are working on details on the transfer of command and control power for enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya.

NATO, with all its 28 member nations in agreement, agreed on Thursday that it will take over command and control of operations to enforce a no fly zone over Libya and all necessary measures to protect civilians, with the United States handing over the heavy lifting to its partners.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev spoke by phone on Thursday morning, discussing developments in the Middle East at length, with a particular focus on Libya, the White House said.

As the western powers and some of their allies in the Middle East impose a no-fly zone over Libya in an effort to protect civilians from Moammar Gaddafi’s armies, many questions have been raised about the campaign and its long-term implications.

In what appears to be a dramatic change of heart, Turkey has agreed to allow NATO to takeover command of the Western alliance’s military campaign in Libya.

U.S. oil prices steadied on Thursday after spiking in early trade on supply worries amid fighting in Libya and growing unrest in the Middle East.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the prosecutor for the International Criminal Court said Wednesday that he was 100 percent certain members of the regime of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi will face charges of crimes against humanity.

Gold hit its second new record high on the trot at the London Gold Fix on Thursday morning, hitting $1441.25 per ounce for US investors as the Dollar held flat on the forex market, and US crude oil rose.

Oil prices dropped back on Thursday in a bout of profit-taking as investors paused after a hefty rally on supply worries amid the fighting in Libya and growing unrest in the Middle East.

US stocks continued to rally on Thursday as investors are shrugging off the bad news and focusing on the positive developments from the US corporate sector.

Brent crude oil prices edged back up on Thursday on news that a French fighter jet, part of a U.N. coalition enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya, had destroyed a Libyan war plane, raising more worries of a longer supply outage from the strife-torn North African nation.

French Fighter jets shot down a Libyan warplane about 150 mile east of Tripoli Thursday after Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces violated a no-fly zone, according to a report on Wednesday about 150 miles east of Tripoli.

Wall Street was poised for a higher open on Thursday with retail stocks in focus after Best Buy reported higher-than-expected profit, but light trading volume suggested the optimism was limited.

NATO has agreed to take over the job of enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya from U.S. led coalition.

About 20,000 people have gathered in the southern Syrian city of Deraa for the funeral of six people killed on Wednesday allegedly by the Syrian security forces.

Stock index futures rose on Thursday as investors shifted focus to jobs data later in the morning, temporarily brushing off euro zone debt concerns.