LIBYA

Hong Kong stocks are set to rise slightly on Thursday as investors seek bargains amongst Chinese shares listed locally as mainland markets look poised to continue their outperformance relative to the region.

Britain, France and Tunisia have started airlift thousands of Egyptians stuck at the Libya-Tunisia border to safety in Cairo, in response to pleas from the United Nations (UN) to prevent a humanitarian crisis.

U.S. stocks edged up higher on some positive jobs data and reassurance from the Federal Reserve that the economy is recovering.

Libya’s embattled leader Moammar Gaddafi has offered amnesty and some other concessions to anti-government rebels who turn in their weapons.

Gold touched a record high above $1,440 an ounce on Wednesday, as a bullish confluence of political unrest in Libya, surging oil prices and easy monetary policies spurred safe haven buying.

The United Nations (UN) has warned that up to100,000 African migrants may seek to escape strife-torn Libya and cross into poverty-stricken Niger in the next few weeks, fearing they may be killed by anti-Gaddafi Libyans who believe they are mercenaries.

Exile for Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi is an option, according to U.S. Officials. While no world leaders have publicly offered asylum weeks into a crisis threatening to become civil war, the leaders of Venezuela and Nicaragua have shown support for Gaddafi in recent days.

About 350 illegal migrants from Tunisia have reached Italy by boat, raising fears of more people strife-torn North Africa will try to cross the Mediterranean for Europe.

The International Criminal Court prosecutor said on Wednesday he would investigate the violence in Libya after the U.N. Security Council referred the case to the Hague-based war crimes tribunal.

Fears of a supply disruption arising from continued unrest in Libya have pushed up oil prices, but a leading Libyan oil official warns they could spike even higher if there is no immediate resolution to the ongoing violence.

Gold prices held just below the previous session's record high in Europe on Wednesday, as the acceleration of global inflation and the threat that violence in the Middle East and North Africa will spread supported interest in the metal as a haven from risk.

Here are some vignettes of pitched battles raging in Libya as well as visuals of the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the North African country:

With anti-secrecy site WikiLeaks, and social media platforms Twitter and Facebook in the running, Internet dominates the race for Nobel Peace Prize 2011.

The United Nations General Assembly suspended Libya from the Human Rights Council, expressing its deep concern over the killings of hundreds of anti-government protesters in the country.

The top two U.S. defense officials have not confirmed if the Libyan government has been firing on its own people from aircraft.

The United Nations has called for an epic humanitarian evacuation of people seeking to escape Libya for Tunisia, citing the “crisis point” conditions at the border between the two countries.

Non-Libyan Africans are reportedly becoming the target of revenge killings in Libya, owing to the perception that foreigners form a large part of Moammar Gaddafi’s mercenary force paid to kill anti-government protesters,

Spot gold rallied to a record of $1,432.10 an ounce, surpassing its previous record of $1,430.95 set on December 7, as chaos in Libya and political turmoil in the Arab world prompted safe-haven buying and soaring oil prices boosted bullion's inflation hedge appeal.

As the United States moves military ships toward the Mediterranean Sea and officials discuss the possibility of imposing a no-fly zone over Libya, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said it was irresponsible to consider all options to resolve the situation there, including an invasion.

Libya could descend into civil war if Muammar Gaddafi refuses to quit, the United States said on Tuesday, its demand for an end to his rule carrying new weight after word of unspecified Western military preparations.

Spot gold rose to a session peak at $1,421.35 an ounce and was up 0.6 percent at $1,419.66 an ounce by 1240 GMT. It rose 6 percent in February, its largest monthly rise since August, when the U.S. Federal Reserve first indicated that it would continue the massive money printing by monetizing government bonds.