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Convinced that their battlefield strategy will work, the rebel forces are refusing France's demands that they negotiate with the Libyan leader to peacefully end their uprising. As the Libyan war grinds on across three fronts and rebel forces find themselves pinned down on their own territory outside two strategic eastern oil cities, the rebels' most resolute European ally, France, is insisting that they negotiate with Moammar Kadafi to peacefully end their 5-month-old uprising.

Hosni Mubarak's lawyer said the ousted Egyptian president has suffered a stroke and is in a coma. However, a doctor at the hospital where Mubarak has been held under arrest denied the report.

The battle for the Libyan oil town of Brega switched from the desert to intense street-to-street fighting on Sunday, as rebel forces said they punched into a residential area in the town's northeast.

Tripoli was rocked by a series of airstrikes by NATO forces in the early hours of the morning Sunday.

The United States and other nations on Friday formally recognized Libya's main opposition group as the country's legitimate government until a new interim authority is created.

Moammar Gadhafi vowed Thursday not to buckle to international demands that he cede the power he has held tightly for nearly 42 years as the leader of Libya, and instead said he would remain "until the last drop of my blood."

Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi is sending fresh signals through emissaries that he is ready to discuss stepping down, Western diplomats said Tuesday, as new intelligence assessments pointed to worsening conditions among his troops. The overtures by aides close to Gaddafi appeared to reflect a deepening pessimism inside a government that is under assault on two fronts and faces shortages of critical supplies, according to U.S. and European analysts and government officials.

Egypt sacked nearly 600 top police officers Wednesday, the start of a promised cleansing of a force blamed for chronic abuses during the rule of Hosni Mubarak, state television reported.

The United States and Spain said Saturday they won't let Moammar Gadhafi's threats of retaliatory attacks in Europe deter their mission to protect Libyan civilians.

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi threatens attacks in Europe if NATO continues its air campaign against his forces.