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Moammar Gadhafi's troops forced rebel fighters from the oil port of Ras Lanuf with a withering rain of missiles, mortars and tank fire as Western nations struggled to find a way to stop him. France recognized the rebels' provisional government, and the EU called on member nations to do the same.

Before Moammar Gadhafi came to power, the roughly 140 tribes and clans in Libya helped shape the country's military and political landscape. When Gadhafi took the reins, he used the classic tactic of divide and conquer to reduce the tribes' authority. Now the tribes are striking back.

Moammar Gadhafi's regime launched several new airstrikes in the oil port of Ras Lanuf to check the rebel advance west toward Tripoli, as Libyan troops bore down on the western town of Zawiya. Meanwhile, opposition leaders said they rejected an offer of negotiations from Gadhafi's government.

Raj Rajaratnam, the billionaire founder of the Galleon Group hedge fund company, goes on trial Tuesday, accused of participating in one of the largest insider trading cases in years. The government's case is expected to hinge on the kind of evidence usually presented in organized crime cases.

The president said NATO is consulting on a range of possible options and warned that Moammar Gadhafi's regime will be held accountable for violence against the Libyan people. Earlier, Libyan warplanes bombed a key oil port where rebel forces were regrouping after a ferocious government assault.

Libyan rebels said Monday they will regroup and bring in heavy weapons after forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi pounded opposition fighters with helicopter gunships, artillery and rockets to stop the rebels' rapid advance toward the capital.

Rebels advanced from their eastern stronghold toward Sirte, setting the stage for fierce fighting with pro-Gadhafi forces who hold sway in the area. Saturday's seesaw battle suggests the conflict could last for weeks and maybe months, with neither side mustering enough military power to decisively defeat the other.

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's regime struck back at anti-government forces Friday, launching a strike on an opposition-held city near Tripoli and clamping down on protesters in the capital. In eastern Libya, a massive explosion at a rebel-held military base killed at least 17.

"Moammar Gadhafi has lost legitimacy," Obama says, as opposition fighters strengthened their defenses in the town of Brega. That's where earlier this week the regime's forces launched a failed attack on a major oil facility.

Mutinous army units in pickup trucks armed with machine-guns and rocket launchers deployed around the strategic oil installation at Brega Thursday.