Families in pickup trucks stacked with mattresses and jugs of water fled Col. Moammar Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte on Tuesday ahead of an expected new push by revolutionary forces to seize the city from die-hard loyalists of the fugitive leader.
Hundreds of joyful Libyans cheered and fired off celebratory gunshots in Tripoli's main square Saturday after the national soccer team won in its first match since rebels toppled Moammar Gadhafi's regime and forced the longtime leader into hiding.
One of the sons of ousted strongman Col. Moammar Gadhafi was negotiating his own surrender, Libyan rebels said Wednesday, while another son issued a defiant message saying that the regime would fight to the death.
Syrian security forces searching for anti-government protesters raided houses in central Syria and made arrests, activists and residents said Wednesday.
TEHRAN | Iran's top leader warned the Arab world Wednesday not to allow Western powers and Israel to "confiscate" the region's uprisings for reform in comments that appear to reflect the Islamic republic's unease about their standing in a profoundly altered Middle East and North Africa.
Libyan rebels pledged Tuesday to launch an assault within days on Moammar Gadhafi's hometown, the ousted strongman's last major bastion of support, while a top official said the rebels have a "good idea" where Col. Gadhafi is hiding.
Syrian security forces opened fire on thousands of anti-government protesters Tuesday, killing at least seven people, including a 13-year-old boy, as worshippers poured out of mosques after prayers to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan, activists said.
Turkey's government is returning hundreds of properties confiscated from the country's Christian and Jewish minorities in the past 75 years in a gesture to religious groups who complain of discrimination that also is likely to thwart possible court rulings against the country.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb took responsibility Sunday for the attack on a military academy in Algeria that killed at least 18 people, including 16 officers in training.
