Reuters 
Following are the latest political and military developments in the Libyan crisis.   

  
* Rebel fighters seized a village south of the Libyan capital and another group advanced towards Tripoli from the east on Wednesday in the biggest push in weeks towards Muammar Gaddafi's main stronghold.    

 
* Tens of thousands of Libyans waving European and rebel flags marched through the rebel capital of Benghazi on Wednesday in a noisy bid to boost morale in an increasingly stalemated war against Gaddafi.     

* A Chinese diplomat met with leaders of Libya's National Transitional Council at their base in Benghazi, China's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday, building deeper relationships with rebels seeking to oust Gaddafi.    

 
* The head of NATO said on Wednesday he had no confirmed information that Gaddafi was looking for a way to step down after more than four months fighting a rebellion and sustained Western bombing.    

 
* NATO said it conducted 140 air sorties on Wednesday, 57 of them strike sorties that aim to identify and hit targets but do not always deploy munitions.     

* NATO said key targets hit on Wednesday included:     
-- Military refuelling equipment, eight armed vehicles, two armoured fighting vehicles and one truck in the vicinity of Brega     
-- One anti-aircraft gun in the vicinity of Gharyan     
-- Three armed vehicles in the vicinity of Misrata     
-- One military storage facility in the vicinity of Waddan   
-- One artillery piece and one armed vehicle in the vicinity of Yafran     
-- Eight armed vehicles in the vicinity of Zlitan     
-- One armed vehicle in the vicinity of Zintan     

 
* Since NATO took over command of air strikes on March 31,its aircraft have conducted 14,147 sorties, including 5,342 strike sorties. NATO members participating in air strikes in Libya include France, Britain, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Italy and the United States.     

* Seventeen ships under NATO command are patrolling the central Mediterranean Sea to enforce a U.N. arms embargo. On Wednesday, 12 vessels were hailed to determine destination and cargo. Two were boarded but neither was diverted.     
A total of 1,663 vessels have been hailed, 150 boarded and nine diverted since the start of the arms embargo.