AL JAZEERA

A cameraman for Arabic television network Al Jazeera has been murdered in what is believed to have been an ambush near Benghazi in rebel-controlled eastern Libya.

European Union (EU) leaders have demanded that Moammar Gaddafi must give up power in Libya.

In a sign that forces loyal to Moammar Gaddafi may finally be gaining the upper hand in the crisis in Libya, rebel groups have been forced out of the strategic oil port of Ras Lanuf (300 miles east of Tripoli) fleeing relentless barrage of attacks from government forces.

International journalists continue to be targeted in the trouble-torn Middle East countries with the most extreme case coming from Libya, where BBC journalists had the first hand experience of Muammar Gaddafi regime's harassment of scribes.

The Libyan stalemate appeared to intensify on Thursday as Muammar Gaddfi's forces made further gains in rebel-held cities while the regime faced more international opposition to its plans to cling on to power.

U.S. stocks ended modestly lower in choppy trading as unfolding events in Libya and their impact on oil prices seem to be the overriding factors to most investors.

Libyan officials have arrived in Brussels, Belgium for talks with European Union delegates, just before the EU foreign minister meet to discuss the crisis in Libya, according to Al Jazeera.

U.S. stocks wavered between small gains and losses on Wednesday as oil prices remained near $105 a barrel amid reports of intensified fighting in Libya.

Moammar Gaddafi-backed forces have reportedly launched fresh air strikes on the key oil port city of Ras Lanuf, raising fears about the vulnerability of local gas facilities and a possible humanitarian catastrophe.

A Libyan airplane carrying a senior representative of Moammar Gaddafi’s government has apparently landed in Cairo. The Libyan official on the aircraft is reportedly set for talks with Amr Moussa, chief of the Arab league.

Even as calls for the intervention of the U.S. and the western forces in the Libyan crisis gained momentum, besieged Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has said there is a foreign plot to colonize his country.

If Moammar Gaddafi steps down from power within the next 72 hours, rebels in Libya will not seek to prosecute for crimes they believe he has committed, according to a report in Al Jazeera.

Confusion reigns in Libya over whether Moammar Gaddafi offered rebel leaders a peace deal or not.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was looking for an agreement allowing him to step down, said Al Jazeera quoting sources in the governing council.

Yemeni riot police have reportedly fired warning shots and used night-sticks to beat back prisoners in the central jail of the nation’s capital, Sanaa, after they demanded the overthrow of Ali Abdullah Saleh, according to a security official.

Fears of a civil war and a looming humanitarian crisis grew in Libya as forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi escalated attacks on rebel-held cities in a bid to recapture control, causing dozens of deaths and mass exodus of people.

Saudi Arabia banned all public demonstrations in the country and vowed to use all forces to stop the Shiite-led protesters from breaking public order, reports have said.

Protests at the state security building in Alexandria, Egypt led to violent clashes between demonstrators and security officers who fired on them

Members of the Houthi insurgent group in north Yemen said armed government soldiers forces fired rockets and artillery on their anti-government protest, killed two people and injured seven others.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed concern on Thursday that the United States was losing the information war internationally, and especially in the Middle East, drawing a critical comparison between the U.S. media and broadcaster Al Jazeera.

Security forces in the Libyan capitol of Tripoli have fired tear gas on hundreds of protesters who gathered on the streets after Friday prayers.