Libya - from Al Jazeera blog

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4.27pm: A Libyan airforce plane has crashed near Benghazi after the crew bailed out, the country's Quryna Newspaper reports. The newspaper said the crew had orders to bomb Benghazi, but refused to carry them out.

4.17pm: Major General Suleiman Mahmoud, a commander in Libyan army in Tobruk, is now on the side of the Libyan people. He called Gaddafi "a tyrant" and told Al Jazeera "the people in the army are steadfast" in the city.

4.10pm: Italy is increasingly concerned about the exodus of immigrants from Libya that could be heading towards Europe. This comes as the interior ministers from six nations - France, Greece, Cyprus, Malta and Italy - plan to meet.

4.03pm: More from Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel Hamid in Tobruk. She reported seeing hundreds of Egyptians fleeing Libya with everything they own. "People are still very scared, especially after Gaddafi's speech, and thought it best to leave the country now," she said.

3.59pm: Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose security forces crushed protests against him in 2009, condemned state brutality against protesters in Libya. He said on Wednesday:

How can a leader subject his own people to a shower of machine-guns, tanks and bombs? How can a leader bomb his own people, and afterwards say 'I will kill anyone who says anything?'

3.51pm: Italy's foreign ministry has said attempts to crush a revolt against Gaddafi's four-decade rule have killed as many as 1,000 people in Libya.

3.41pm: Libyan protesters claim to have taken over Misurata, which would be the largest city in the western half in the country to fall into their hands, news agency AP reports. There are reports that six people were killed and 200 were injured in fighting there.

3.36pm: German oil firm Wintershall said it had stopped oil production in Libya due to the security situation in the violence-hit country.

3.27pm: As much as a quarter of Libyan oil output has been shut down, the Reuters news agency reports. Libya produces almost 2 per cent of the world's oil.

3.19pm: Off the coast of Malta, ships are patrolling following reports of Libyan vessels in the area. It is unclear whether these Libyan vessels are potential defectors, or if they are Gaddafi's navy ships, Al Jazeera's Cal Perry said from Valletta.

3.16pm: Al Jazeera's Jamal Elshayyal reporting from the Egypt-Libya border says roughly 20, 000 have already crossed over the main land terminal between the two countries, carry many things including luggage, satellite dishes and washing machines.


http://blogs.aljazeera.net/africa/2011/02/22/live-blog-libya-feb-23

machine, they are not planning on returning.