Crude headed for its longest run of gains this year as Libya’s biggest oil field suffered another outage while Russia signalled it is weighing an extension of Opec-led production cuts.

Fighter jets dispatched by Libya’s internationally recognised government bombed a Greek-owned tanker ship at an eastern city controlled by Islamist extremists, killing two crew members and wounding two, Libyan and Greek officials said.

MUAMMAR GADDAFI taunted his Libyan enemies and their Western backers last night as rebel forces battled pockets of loyalists across Tripoli in an urgent quest to find and silence the fugitive strongman.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's children flaunted their wealth plundered from the country and behaved like mini-tyrants, according to secret US diplomatic memos.

A clutch of insurance stocks helped drive the London market higher today after an update from Friends Provident cheered the sector.