LIBYA

Gold rose above $1,430 an ounce on Friday, while silver surged 3 percent to 31-year highs, as soaring oil prices fueled by widening clashes in Libya prompted investors to pile into safe havens.

Savage fighting has erupted again in the strategic Libyan city of al-Zawiyah, raising the specter for a prolonged civil war between forced loyal to and opposed to Moammar Gaddafi

Witnesses said on Saturday that Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi’s army launched a second attack on rebel forces and protesters in a town just 30 miles west of Tripoli.

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.

Explosions at a military weapons depot outside the rebel-controlled city of Benghazi in eastern Libya have killed nineteen people and wounded more than two dozen.

Brent oil prices pushed above $116 a barrel and U.S. oil jumped more than $3 to its highest since September 2008 on Friday, as fighting in Libya worsened and protests in the Middle East intensified.

Reports are surfacing that the Libyan government is now preventing foreign migrant workers in the country from leaving.

U.S. employers hired workers at the fastest pace in nine months in February and the jobless rate slipped to a nearly two-year low of 8.9 percent, showing the economy is finally kicking into a higher gear.

U.S. stocks dropped as a spike in oil prices (driven by deepening unrest in Libya) overshadowed a strong February jobs report.

Wall Street erased most of its weekly gains on Friday as fears of more geopolitical turmoil and higher oil prices threaten to stifle rallies in coming weeks.

Brent oil prices pushed back above $116 a barrel and U.S. oil hit its highest since September 2008 on Friday, as fighting in Libya intensified and threatened the country's oil sector.

U.S. stocks closed down and erased most of gains for the week on Friday as fears of more geopolitical turmoil and higher oil prices threaten to stifle rallies in coming weeks.

At least thirty civilians have been killed in the western city of Az Zawiyah after soldiers loyal to Moammar Gaddafi tried to seize control of the rebel-dominated town, which is near the capitol of Tripoli.

U.S. crude prices jumped to their highest since September 2008 on Friday and Brent rose above $116 a barrel as Libyan security forces cracked down on protesters in Tripoli and clashed with rebels near the major oil terminal of Ras Lanuf.

U.S. crude prices jumped to their highest since September 2008 on Friday and Brent rose above $116 a barrel as Libyan security forces cracked down on protesters in Tripoli and clashed with rebels near the major oil terminal of Ras Lanuf.

The Libyan telecommunications operator has cut off Internet traffic from inside the country.

Gold rose toward $1,425 an ounce on Friday as U.S. February payrolls data supported expectations the Federal Reserve will hold off tightening monetary policy and as unrest in North Africa continued.

Many Bangladeshis remain stuck in Tripoli and other cities, but cannot leave due to the extremely volatile situation between pro- and anti-Gaddafi forces; while others have struggled to cross into neighboring Tunisia.

Moammar Gaddafi has reportedly hired the services of hundreds of Tuaregs from the nation of Mali and Niger as mercenaries in Libya.

Libyan state television Al-Jamahiriyah has broadcast footage of three Dutch soldiers (including one woman) who were captured by forces loyal to Moammar Gaddafi while trying to help evacuate foreign citizens from the strife-torn country.

Stocks fell slightly on Friday as February's jobs report came in better than expected but fell short of the most optimistic expectations.