RAS LANOUF, Libya —Libya's opposition battled for military and diplomatic advantage against Moammar Gadhafi's regime on Thursday, winning official recognition from France and hitting government forces with heavy weapons on the road to the capital.

France became the first country to formally recognize the rebels' newly created Interim Governing Council, saying it planned to exchange ambassadors after President Nicolas Sarkozy met with two representatives of the group based in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi. Germany said it froze billions in assets of the Libyan Central Bank and other state-run agencies. The U.S., UK, Switzerland and other countries have also frozen Gadhafi's assets.

“The brutal suppression of the Libyan freedom movement can now no longer be financed from funds that are in German banks,” Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle said.

Both sides in Libya are lobbying for support from Western countries as their leaders debate whether to protect the rebels from Gadhafi's air force by putting a no-fly zone over some or all of the country. Britain and France have backed the rebels‘ calls for a no-fly zone, but the Obama administration has expressed deep reservations about involvement in another conflict in the greater Middle East.

The international Red Cross said dozens of civilians have been wounded or killed in recent days in grueling battles between Gadhafi's army and the opposition movement trying to oust him.

Fighting between rebels and forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi around Ras Lanouf set two oil installations ablaze Wednesday and inflicted yet more damage on Libya's crippled energy industry.

In the west, Gadhafi claimed victory in recapturing Zawiya, the city closest to the capital that had fallen into opposition hands.

BEIJING — The death toll in an earthquake that toppled houses and damaged a hotel and supermarket in China’s extreme southwest has risen to 22. More than 200 others were injured.State media is reporting that witnesses reported seeing people buried under debris from buildings damaged by the quake near the border with Myanmar.State broadcaster China Central Television said the quake hit while many people, including students, were home for a customary midday rest.The website of the Chinese government earthquake monitoring station said the magnitude-5.8 quake struck just before 1 p.m. today.