ZAWIYAH, Libya, Aug 18 (Reuters) – Libyan rebels took
control of an oil refinery in the western town of Zawiyah and
blocked the main highway south of the capital on Thursday,
further isolating Muammar Gaddafi’s Tripoli stronghold.

Rebel advances in recent days have cut Gaddafi’s forces off
from their main international resupply routes following a
months-long stalemate, putting the Libyan leader’s 41-year rule
under unprecedented pressure.

GARYAN, Libya (Reuters) – Driving Muammar Gaddafi’s soldiers from this mountain town south of Tripoli came at a high price for rebel fighter Hamid Mahmoud.

“(My son) was killed by a sniper while I was on the other side of the street,” Mahmoud said of his 32-year-old son Ahmed, who fought alongside him during the battle for Garyan.

ZAWIYAH, Libya (Reuters) – Libyan rebels took control of an oil refinery in the western town of Zawiyah and blocked the main highway north to the capital on Thursday, further isolating Muammar Gaddafi’s Tripoli stronghold.

Rebel advances in recent days have cut Gaddafi’s forces off from their main resupply routes following a months-long stalemate, putting the Libyan leader’s 41-year rule under unprecedented pressure.

RAS JIDR, Tunisia (Reuters) – Five months after Sudanese worker Mohammed Hassan fled civil war in Libya he is still stranded in a tent city just across the border in Tunisia.

“In my own country there is a conflict and violence. I cannot go there so where do I go now?” said Mohammed, who comes from Sudan’s troubled Darfur region. He left years ago for Libya to escape violence at home.

DJERBA, Tunisia, Aug 14 (Reuters) – Libyan rebels and
representatives of Muammar Gaddafi’s government held
negotiations late on Sunday in a hotel in southern Tunisia, a
source with direct knowledge of the talks told Reuters.

A spokesman for Gaddafi’s government denied there were any
talks about the Libyan leader’s departure, and said reports
about such negotiations were part of a media war against
Tripoli. There was no immediate comment from rebel officials.

DJERBA, Tunisia (Reuters) – Libyan rebels and representatives of Muammar Gaddafi’s government held negotiations late on Sunday in a hotel in southern Tunisia, a source with direct knowledge of the talks told Reuters.

A spokesman for Gaddafi’s government denied there were any talks about the Libyan leader’s departure, and said reports about such negotiations were part of a media war against Tripoli. There was no immediate comment from rebel officials.

KHARTOUM/JUBA (Reuters) – North Sudan has halted an oil shipment from landlocked South Sudan in a dispute over customs fees, it said on Friday, signalling a rise in tensions that could disrupt supplies from one of Africa’s largest producers.

For use of its oil facilities, North Sudan has demanded fees worth a third of the export value of South Sudan, which became independent last month, after a referendum in January agreed under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) – North Sudan has halted an oil shipment from landlocked South Sudan in a dispute over customs fees, it said on Friday, signaling a rise in tensions that could disrupt supplies from one of Africa’s largest producers.

South Sudan became independent last month after a referendum in January agreed under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war with the North.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Staring at the small handful of change she got back from a merchant after buying spices and beans in a market in central Khartoum, Nadia Ahmed realizes just how badly inflation is hurting her family.

“The market is generally expensive,” she said. “Food commodities are very, very expensive.”

KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Sudan began circulating a new currency on Sunday, days after the newly independent south issued its own new money, in a move likely to heighten differences over handling the economic fallout from the split.

South Sudan, which became Africa’s newest nation on July 9, began circulating its new pound on Monday, pegging it one-to-one with Sudan’s existing pound.