9:00amWith Libyan oil production reportedly down by 25%, Western nations consider economic sanctions against the Gaddafi family.
8:45am An Algerian man, who like the others reported below, asked not to be identified, tells us of discrimination at Tripoli airport:
We suffered so much at the airport. Shame on the Arabs, but Europeans were treated better. Arabs were badly treated. I am so tired and I will never set foot in Libya again. We are so grateful to the Libyans for their hospitality when the situation was peaceful - but thank God that we are back, safe and sound in our country.
8:40am Another Algerian tells Al Jazeera, having fled Libya:
I feel like crying, I am so happy to be back in Algeria. Thank God I escaped the carnage.
Did you see Baghdad? It was like being in Baghdad. They used planes, helicopters. People, women, were screaming, as they were slaughtering people. There were about 60 dead people in Green Square in the centre of Tripoli, these 60 people were slaughtered.
High buildings, the ministry of justice, were burned down. We were just working there, trying to make a living. Thank God, our president - bless him - has helped us. It took us four days to get to the airprort. You need too many papers to get in and leave the country.
8:30am Algerians returning home from Libya speak to Al Jazeera. One man who was in Tripoli tells us, as foreigners, they were targeted: "It was just crazy. It did not make sense. There were so many mercenaries shooting at people." Our reporter asked if he saw the mercenaries with his own eyes.
Yes, I did. Of course I did. They entered houses - but even the Libyans used violence against the foreigners - Moroccan, Tunisian, all Arabs - under the pretext they were against the regime.
8:12amA Libyan woman in Ras Lanuf, 400km west of Benghazi, tells us she is scared of Libyan airstrikes, as she lives near an oil refinery. "We are terrified every time they say they will attack something," she says.
8:09am Charles Levinson of the Wall Street Journal tweets:
Meeting of Bayda elders gave us standing ovation today. 1st time meeting wstrn journos in 42yrs. Gadhafi says foreign journos = al qaeda
7:55amMore from the western Libyan city of Misurata. This photo was published by Feb17.info, and purports to show protesters having taken over a tank in the city.
7:44am "The Libyan Youth Movement" @shabablibya has launched a campaign to get the Google logo changed into the red, green and black of the country's former flag, now adopted by protesters as the Libyan 'independence flag'.
7:33am It seems Gaddafi is losing control of more cities. If these videos are correct, the city of Misurata - less than 200km from Tripoli - is the latest to have been taken over by protesters. Al Jazeera's Charles Stratford examines how much of Libya Gaddafi still controls.
7:23am Highlights from those WikiLeaked diplomatic cables on Libya's ruling family say Gaddafi "enjoys flamenco dancing and horseracing", who fears flying over water or staying in upper floors of buildings. He apparently also paid Mariah Carey US$1milion to perform four songs at a party (other western pop stars also reportedly performed at the same do).
US ambassador Gene Cretz reported last year that the family - with allegations of drug abuse, scuffles with police and one son reportedly beating his then-girlfriend - "provided enough dirt for a Libyan soap opera". More details at The Guardian.
7:10amDriving under the influence? Here's a video which shows vodka bottles allegedly found in an abandoned tank - reportedly used by mercenaries - in Benghazi airport.
7:00am The pilot of Gaddafi's private jet, 57-year-old Norwegian Odd Birger Johannsen, has fled with his wife and family to Vienna, reports Norwegian TV2. He reportedly told them:
Right now, things are burning around me ... I am not a hero, I will go home.
6:45am The Gaddafi boys know how to party. Here's a video of them throwing a pretty big bash, complete with a 50Cent performance, at the 2005 Venice Film Festival.
The text at the beginning reads: "Libya palace presents: The parties of Saadi and Motassem Gaddafi at Venice Film Festival 2005." The clip ends with the words: "May Allah be my guide, with regards, Libya palace"
6:34am Further to reports we got in from Tripoli late last night, of up to ten tanks - as well as carloads of people cheering for Gaddafi - heading toward the city centre, a medical student identified as Sara called us on Skype. She said she had seen men in civilian dress holding swords - and running toward the farm opposite her house in the Janzour suburb of east Tripoli.
She and her family barricaded their front door with couches and furniture, which she doesn't think will be enough if a group tries to break through. They can hear "booming sounds in the near distance", which Sara thinks are doors being broken down at other houses.
6:25am Tunisian, Algerian and Moroccan opposition parties have made a joint statement on the killings in Libya, calling on their governments to intervene.
At this very moment, our Libyan brothers are suffering the agony of another age. Hundreds of victims have fallen under bullets, heavy arms and war planes. It is a genuine industry of extermination that has been unleashed. We must stand up to it, as any conscious individual would, and do everything to stop this massacre.
Gaddafi is capable of anything: he is setting tribes against one another, activating his militia and using an army of foreign mercenaries. This man has lost all sense of humanity.
The political parties which co-sign this statement urgently call on the governments of the Maghreb and international authorities to do everything to halt this revolting massacre which will remain engraved as a disgraceful stain on the collective memory.
The statement is signed by: Parti démocratique progressiste (PDP, Tunisie); Mouvement Ettajdid (Tunisie); Forum démocratique pour le travail et les libertés (Tunisie); Parti du progrès et du socialisme (PPS , Maroc); Union socialiste des forces populaires (USFP, Maroc); Front des Forces Socialistes (FFS, Algérie)
6:18am Libyan state TV says it will are a video that shows 'samples and the scheme of the conspiracy that was aimed at the security and stability of the country".
6:16am Online reports say an underground prison complex has been found in Benghazi.
6:01am A report of a new strategy in recruiting support for Gaddafi: "God give victory to our leader and the people," reads a text message sent round the national mobile phone network. The message also promised free phone credit if it were forwarded to other mobile users, says the AFP press agency.
5:37amGaddafi has long promoted himself as one of Africa's great leaders, touting a vision of progress and wealth for the entire continent. But after a week of violence in Libya, the African Union has condemned his actions against the pro-democracy movement. Al Jazeera's Yvonne Ndege filed this report from Abuja.
4:27am Twitter user @rutevera posted this to Twitpic:
4:18amAccording to some bloggers, a protest has been planned outside the Libyan Embassy in London from 14:00GMT to 18:00GMT.
4:17amBenghazi, eastern Libya's biggest town, refused orders from power controllers in Tripoli to cut the power.
3:30amIn an interview to Democracy Now website, Libyan American activist Abdulla Darrat says:
It really shows what over the last 40 years has become a country dominated by the megalomania of this one human being [Gaddafi], who cares more for his self and his power than he cares for anybody in Libya.
2:17am Abdul Rahman Shalgum, head of the Libyan mission to the UN, has said the situation in his country is very dangerous. Addressing Libyan leader as brother, he said Libya is bigger than all of us.
The Libyan diplomat said:
The nation is bigger, stronger and greater than us all. Our nation is in danger. The brother leader [Gaddafi] can take a decision that saves and salvages the country and stops the bloodshed. Libya now has entered a very dangerous tunnel.
1:48amAisha, Gaddafi's daughter, has appeared on state television, denying a report she tried to flee to Malta. "I am steadfastly here," she said. She added she was unaware of a report she had been dropped by the United Nations as a goodwill ambassador.
1:14am In the eastern city of Benghazi, cradle of the uprising and home to tribes long hostile to Gaddafi, thousands filled the streets, lighting fireworks and waving the red, black and green flag of the king Colonel Muammar Gaddafi overthrew in 1969, accoding to Reuters news agency.
1:31amThe UN Development Program has dropped Libyan leader's Muammar Gaddafi's daughter as a goodwill ambassador.
1:24am According to Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera's political analysts, the Libyan leader has lost all three pillars of his rule - tribal, military and diplomatic. Judging from his desperate speech last night, he seems to be losing his mind and perhaps his nerves.
1:14am Gaddafi vows to fight until his "last drop of blood", and urges supporters to take to streets.
12:30amObama said on Wednesday, he would send Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Geneva for a meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council at the weekend and for talks with allied foreign ministers.
12:15am Obama said:
It is imperative that the nations and peoples of the world speak with one voice.
12:07amBarack Obama, the US president, for the first time has spoken on the Libyan crisis. He offered his condolences to the people who have been killed and suffered in the violence during the Libyan uprising.
He said that the suffering and bloodshed is "outrageous" and it is "unacceptable".
The US president on Wednesday said the violent crackdown in Libya violated international norms and that he had ordered his national security team to prepare the full range of options for dealing with the crisis.
12.05am Late on Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke at a press conference, calling for unity in the international community to ensure a "prompt and peaceful transition'' in Libya.
12.01amUS president Barack Obama will speak publicly at 22.15GMT (12.15am Libyan local time).
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