Libya, North Africa | featured news

"Negotiations are over, and we are waiting for orders" to attack, said Mohammed al-Fassi, a rebel commander at a staging area about 45 miles from Bani Walid.

Libya's provisional government said it was closing in on bastions of support for Muammar Gaddafi on Saturday and planned to resume oil production at key fields within days.

The rebels' Tripoli military commander, a former leader of an Islamic militant group, insisted Friday that the new Libya will shun extremism.

In a message of utter anger and defiance broadcast Thursday, a man purported to be Libya's fugitive leader Moammar Gadhafi urged Libyans to continue the fight and not surrender.

A man claiming to be Moammar Gadhafi's son Seif al-Islam vowed to fight to the death and said nobody will surrender.

The U.S. government has seen no indication that Muammar Gaddafi has left Libya, the White House said on Monday.

Moammar Kadafi 's wife and three of his children fled Libya to neighboring Algeria on Monday, firm evidence that the longtime leader has lost his grip on the country.

Rebel fighters gave loyalists in Moammar Gadhafi's hometown until Monday to disarm or face "liberation," an opposition spokesman said.

A spokesman for Libya's ousted leader apparently sought talks on a transfer of power. Rebels offer only 'safety and a fair trial.' A top-ranking rebel government official Sunday dismissed a supposed offer by Moammar Kadafi to negotiate a transition, insisting that the country's long-time ruler should turn himself in.

There is no water, scarcely any gas or fresh food, and only intermittent power, but Tripoli’s heart is slowly beginning to beat again. Streets in the Libyan capital were mostly quiet Saturday, and there were no signs of snipers as the city’s new rulers eliminated a last pocket of loyalist resistance on the road to the international airport.