3.25pm: Libyan state TV this afternoon broadcast a live interview by phone with Muammar Gaddafi that it said was from the town of al-Zawiya. Here is a summary of the key points of the speech. Gaddafi said:

• Osama bin Laden and his followers are behind the protests sweeping the country.

What is happening now in Libya is not people's power, it's international terrorism led by al-Qaeda ... All they want is to kill your kids, that's what Bin Laden wants, he should be happy now, that's what he wants.

• Young people were being duped with drugs and alcohol to take part in "destruction and sabotage".

They have been brain washing the kids and young people... [the protesters] are trigger happy and they shoot especially when they are stoned with drugs.

• The situation in Libya is very different to that in Egypt or Tunisia which have both seen successful revolutions.

There are no queues, people are getting all their daily needs. Why did you have to get involved with this kind of Bin Laden organisation?

• He was merely a figurehead like the Queen in the UK and cannot make rules, only offer advice.

The constitution is very clear: take the weapons from them... I only have moral authority.

• He did not know when the violence would end but again urged his supporters to take to the streets.

I call on the people of Libya to get out of their houses and confront this bunch of people. If they are not brave enough to go out and face this enemy on the street, maybe they should let their women and their daughters go out.

In other news:

• Libya: Rebels are increasing their hold on Gaddafi's ailing regime, by shutting down oil exports and mobilising rebel groups in the west of the country as the revolution rapidly spreads. Gaddafi's hold on power appears confined to parts of Tripoli and perhaps several regions in the centre of the country. Towns to the west of the capital have fallen or are being fought over. Gun battles are taking place between forces loyal to Gaddafi and his opponents in the town of Az-Zawiyah, 30 miles west of Tripoli, according to witnesses. Order is returning to the sacked second city of Benghazi after days of fierce fighting that saw the military defect en masse and virtually all government buildings razed and looted. Gaddafi was expected to make a statement at some point soon.

The British Foreign Office says three flights have either already left or are about to leave Tripoli. HMS Cumberland, which can take several hundred people, is approaching Benghazi and preparing to dock. The culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, says SAS troops "are now ready to spring into action" to help evacuate 170 British oil workers in remote desert camps, which have been described as perilous.

Nato says it will not intervene in Libya. Its secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, says the alliance has received no such requests and that in any case any intervention must be based on a UN mandate. Rasmussen says the turmoil in Libya does not threaten any Nato members, but the conflict could spark a mass refugee crisis.

• Yemen: Protests are occurring in all the major cities: Sana'a, Aden and Hodeidah, says one journalist. Tomorrow, a million people are expected from around the country to gather in Tahrir Square in Sana'a to show their support for the president, Ali Abdullah Saleh. There are fears that government supporters gathering in the centre of the city will clash with the anti-government protesters outside Sana'a University in the west.

• Oil prices climbed to their highest level in 30 months in London. Brent crude hit $119 a barrel for the first time since August 2008, while benchmark crude for April delivery on the New York mercantile exchange was up nearly $4 at $101.67.

To read today's earlier events as they unfolded click here.

3.47pm: Salem Gnan, a London-based spokesman for the National Front for the Salvation of Libya, whom we have spoken to regularly this week, says the situation in his home country today is "very bad".

Gnan says he was called by his niece this morning who lives in al-Zawiya, scene of bitter gun battles between Gaddafi loyalists and protesters and supposed location of Gaddafi's speech this afternoon (see 3.25pm).

She said they are bombing the town and lots of mercenaries have been flown in. People had been going to a gathering to hear speeches this morning when the planes came and bombed them. More than 30 people were killed. It is very bad. My sister's daughter was crying and crying on the phone but the people will not stop fighting.

Gnan said there had been gun battles between anti-Gaddafi forces and mercenaries who had been flown into the area over the past 24 hours.

They [Gaddafi supporting forces] are now in the streets outside the town trying to stop anyone coming or going and the place is very worried.

Gnan said he had also had phone calls from relatives in Tripoli today. He was told of reports that the government was taking the injured and the bodies of those who had died out of the city. It has not been possible to verify the claim.

They seem to be taking the injured and dead away so that when journalists get there they can say there has been no killings. Everyone is very worried. No-one knows where they have been taken.

_

3.54pm: Reuters has a detail from Muammar Gaddafi's speech that we did not pick up on earlier:

Muammar Gaddafi ... said the protesters were fuelled by milk and Nescafe spiked with hallucinogenic drugs ... "Their ages are 17. They give them pills at night, they put hallucinatory pills in their drinks, their milk, their coffee, their Nescafe," said Gaddafi.

3.56pm: Francois Zimeray, France's top human rights official, has said that up to 2,000 people may have already died in the Libyan uprising.

Speaking to Reuters, Zimeray said there was clear evidence Muammar Gaddafi had committed crimes against humanity.

The question is not if Gaddafi will fall, but when and at what human cost. For now the figures we have ... more than 1,000 have died, possibly 2,000, according to sources.

_

3.59pm – Iraq: Elsewhere in the region, Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki has advised Iraqis to stay away from nationwide "day of rage" protests scheduled for tomorrow, warning of possible violence by al-Qaida and members of Saddam Hussein's banned Baath party.

4.11pm: Some British nationals are still stuck in Libya. Matthew Taylor has just been speaking to Thomas Lydon, whose 22-year-old brother Ben is one of more than 40 Britons waiting on board a boat in Tripoli harbour.

Lydon, 19, said his brother was told by the British wmbassy to board the boat on Wednesday. But because of bad weather he will not be able to leave until tomorrow at the earliest.

He has been on the boat for 24 hours already. He was told by the British embassy team on the ground to get on this boat but if he had gone to the airport he would probably have been home by now.

Lydon said he phoned the Foreign and Commonwealth Office this morning to ask what their plans were for his brother and the other British nationals trapped on the boat.

The response was: 'What boat?' … they had absolutely no idea this boat was even there or that there were any Britons on it.

The catamaran, which is due to sail to Malta, has around 300 US citizens on board.

Lydon said: "I spoke to him about hour ago and he is OK but he realises what a crap job the British have done. Every other country has managed to get their people out but the FCO did not even know this boat existed."

The family, from Stroud in Gloucestershire, fears Ben, who has worked as a translator in Libya since April, is still in danger. "He is still in the middle of Tripoli and they are going to be there for at least another day ... If Gaddafi decides to turn one of the gunboats on him that is it."

4.18pm: The Associated Press has news from Zawiya, Misrata and Tripoli.

• Zawiya - as we reported earlier army units and militiamen loyal to Muammar Gaddafi attacked a mosque where protesters were holding an anti-government sit-in. Ten people were killed and around 150 wounded, according to a doctor there. Rebels had been camped at Souq mosque for days. Soldiers opened fire with automatic weapons and hit the minaret with an anti-aircraft gun, a witness said. Zawiya, which is around 40 miles west of Tripoli, is a key city near an oil port and refineries. After the attack, thousands of people rallied in Martyrs' Square by the mosque shouting "leave, leave" in reference to Gaddafi, according to the news agency.

• Misrata - Gaddafi loyalists battled with demonstrators who had seized control of the airport in Libya's third largest city, which is 125 miles east of Tripoli along the coast. Rebels claimed control of the city yesterday and today militiamen with rocket-propelled grenades and mortars fired at a line of them guarding the airport. During the fighting, the airport's defenders seized an anti-aircraft gun used by the militias and turned it against them, according to AP. A medical official said two people were killed, one from each side, and five wounded. He added: "Now Misrata is totally under control of the people, but we are worried because we squeezed between Sirte and Tripoli, which are strongholds of Gaddafi."

• Tripoli - Pro-Gaddafi militiamen – a mix of Libyans and foreign mercenaries – have clamped down on the city since the Libyan leader went on state TV on Tuesday night and called on his supporters to take back the streets. Residents say militiamen roam Tripoli's main avenues, firing the air, while neighbourhood watch groups have barricaded side streets trying to keep the fighters out and protesters lay low.

• Ahmed Gadhaf al-Dam, a cousin and close aide to the Libyan leader, announced he had defected to Egypt in protest against Gaddafi's crackdown against protesters. Gaddafi's son Saif claimed today that the reported death tolls have been exaggerated, although he didn't provide his own figure. In a press conference aired on state TV, he said the number killed by police and the army had been limited and "talking about hundreds and thousands [killed] is a joke".

4.21pm: Here is a video of footage from Libya with audio commentary by Martin Chulov, who is in Benghazi.

_

4.31pm: A question from akacentimetre in the comments:

A clarifying question, though maybe I've just missed the explanation - who are you referring to in these stories when you say "rebels"? Ordinary citizens? The soldiers who have defected so far? Where are they getting the weapons/manpower to push back the mercenaries?

It's very hard to report on the situation in Libya and there are very few western journalists insider the country – most are banned. So the short answer is that we don't know for sure in most cases. But from reports it seems that these anti-Gaddafi rebels are a combination of ordinary citizens and defectors from the army and other security forces. In Benghazi at least, my colleague Martin Chulov has reported that rebels have looted weaponry from the military; the same may be true elsewhere.

5.05pm – Yemen: Here is a video of university protesters calling on Yemen's president to quit.

5.14pm – Egypt: Jack Shenker reports on cronies of Honsi Mubarak facing corruption charges in Cairo.

5.21pm – Libya: Reuters has been rounding up some comment from Libyans about the eccentric speech Muammar Gaddafi made earlier today (see 3.25pm).

Seraj Bensiriti, 25, unemployed, protester in Benghazi

He is trying to divide us, but we are one nation. After 42 years of slavery, this is over. The bloodbath must end.

Said El-Gareeny, 35, engineer, protester in Benghazi

This is the speech of a dead man. People always warn about al-Qaida and say this will become an Islamic state ... to get support from western countries. This isn't true. The Libyan people are free. That's it.

Tripoli resident who did not want to be named

It seems like he realised that his speech yesterday with the strong language had no effect on the people. He's realising it's going to be a matter of time before the final chapter: the battle of Tripoli.

Burashi, on Twitter

Gaddafi's speech seemed more subdued and less threatening this time. Let's hope it means he is on his way out.

Iyad Elbaghdadi on Twitter

Gaddafi is going through the phases of depression. Went from denial to anger to bargaining. Next speech will be depression.

5.39pm – Libya: The Economist has published an interesting piece on Libya and Gaddafi:

No one expects him to go quietly, as the presidents of neighbouring Egypt and Tunisia did. In the densely populated region around the Libyan capital, Tripoli, marauding gangs loyal to the regime, backed by African mercenaries and well-armed troops commanded by Mr Qaddafi's son, Khamis, have spread enough terror to stall the momentum of the street protests that began on February 15th. For now Mr Qaddafi appears safe at his headquarters, within the triple walls of the sprawling Bab al-Aziziya barracks near the city centre. State television remains in denial, broadcasting rallies in support of the leader, and armed men are intimidating doctors and taking bodies from the streets in an effort to cover up the scale of the deaths. Yet if Mr Qaddafi thinks he can make a comeback, he is surely mistaken. One by one, the pillars of his regime have crumbled. After days of clashes between unarmed protesters and government forces, the whole of Cyrenaica, the country's fertile eastern coastal region, has fallen under rebel control. Many army units have mutinied. Two Libyan air force pilots have defected to Malta, taking their aircraft with them and claiming that they had refused orders to bombard Benghazi, Cyrenaica's main city.

5.46pm: Here is a great map of areas under Gaddafi's and rebel control in Libya, courtesy of iyad_elbaghdadi.

_

5.51pm: Britain has urged the world to exert greater pressure on Muammar Gaddafi, as the European Union said it was considering sending a humanitarian intervention force to the country.

William Hague, the British foreign secretary, called for an international investigation into Libyan state violence. The international community must "increase the pressure on a regime which by all accounts is now committing serious offences," Hague told the BBC.

5.55pm: I'm handing over to my colleague David Batty for the evening.

6.10pm: The row over the UK government's handling of the evacuation of Britons from Libya rumbles on with Labour leader Ed Miliband accusing ministers of being "too slow".

"They will need to learn lessons about the speed of response because it is obvious other countries did respond more quickly. They have taken their eye off the ball. British citizens in Libya who are looking to get home, and their families, will want to know that everything is being done to get them home as quickly as possible. I don't think the Conservative-led Government was sufficiently focused on this."

Meanwhile the deputy prime minister's spokeswoman said he is heading back from his holiday to deal with the situation, which will no doubt reassure all those still stranded.

"Nick Clegg is coming back from holiday to attend a meeting of the National Security Council tomorrow morning," she said.

6.17pm: The Swiss government is to freeze any assets belonging to Gaddafi in Switzerland, AP reports.

6.23pm: The US is to join European nations in calling for Libya to be thrown out of the UN Human Rights Council, AP reports.

6.25pm: Obama will discuss what action to take in response to the crisis in Libya, including imposing sanctions, with David Cameron and French president Nicholas Sarkozy later, Reuters reports. White House press secretary Jay Carney said all options would be considered during the president's calls with the two other leaders.

6.33pm: The UN Security Council has agreed to consider further options against Gaddafi, which could include imposing sanctions.

Britain's UN Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant told the council in closed consultations that it was imperative that members look at taking further action against Gaddafi because he had failed to heed theirs demand to end the violence against anti-government protesters, AP reports.

Diplomatic sources said consultations might take place Friday or over the weekend. Germany's UN ambassador Peter Wittig said, "We certainly want the council ... to take action."

6.37pm: The US is not ruling out any response, including military options, to the Libyan crisis, says White House spokesman Jay Carney.

"I'm not ruling out bilateral options. I'm not ruling anything out."

Carney added that the situation "demands quick action", Reuters reports.

6.42pm: Gaddafi will commit suicide as Adolf Hitler did at the end of the Second World War rather than surrender or flee, according to a former Libyan cabinet minister.

The claim comes in an interview with former justice minister Mustafa Mohamed Abud Al Jeleil in the Swedish newspaper Expressen:

"Gaddafi's days are numbered. He will do what Hitler did - he will take his own life."

Al Jeleil earlier claimed that Gaddafi had ordered the Lockerbie bombing.

6.51pm: More on the move by Switzerland to freeze Gaddafi's assets in the country.

"The Federal Council strongly condemns the use of violence of the Libyan leader against the people," the Swiss foreign ministry said in a statement, Reuters reports. "Given the developments, the Federal Council has decided to freeze any possible assets of Muammar Gaddafi."

6.57pm: British officials are drawing up plans with Nato allies to rescue hundreds of international oil workers stranded in camps in the Libyan desert, the UK defence secretary Liam Fox has announced.

Fox said there would be an "international co-ordinated effort" to retrieve the workers, including an estimated 170 Britons, under possible threat from armed gangs roaming the area.

The minister, who discussed the situation with Nato secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen, countries would help evacuate the citizens of other nations, not just their own.

"We may be taking out citizens of other countries, other countries may be taking out UK citizens. The better we have it coordinated and de-conflicted, the better the chances of success."

He said that one option under consideration was to get some of the workers out by road, either to Egypt or Tunisia.

More than 100 UK citizens are preparing to leave Libya's second city, Benghazi, on the Royal Navy frigate HMS Cumberland, which will take them to Valetta in Malta, where they will pick up flights back to the UK.

The much-delayed Foreign Office-chartered flight from Tripoli has delivered 132 British nationals to Malta from Tripoli, while another 51 were flown in on an RAF Hercules. Seventy-nine more landed at Gatwick on an aircraft chartered by oil giant BP.

7.08pm: The US state department says the Obama administration is prepared to take steps beyond seeking to suspend Libya from the UN Human Rights council to try to stop the continuing violence, Reuters reports.

7.20pm GMT: Here is some disturbing video footage posted on YouTube, said to be of a car attacked in Tajoura by mercenaries.

The headline reads:

مقتل عائله - تاجورا على يد مرتزقه

[Death of a family at the hands of mercenaries in Tajoura]

This is Richard Adams in the Guardian's Washington bureau taking from David Batty for the evening.

7.32pm GMT: A colleague points to a retrospectively embarrassing piece by former LSE director Anthony Giddens about his meeting with Gaddafi, from 2007:

As one-party states go, Libya is not especially repressive. Gadafy seems genuinely popular.... Will real progress be possible only when Gadafy leaves the scene? I tend to think the opposite. If he is sincere in wanting change, as I think he is, he could play a role in muting conflict that might otherwise arise as modernisation takes hold.

Time makes fools of us all, as someone once said.

7.50pm GMT: Two very strange tweets from the official Reuters Twitter account @Reuters just now. Here's the first one:

FLASH: U.S. government has no reason to believe that Gaddafi is dead -official Reuters Top News

Reuters



And it was followed by this one:

FLASH: Oil traders cite rumor that Gaddafi shot, pushing down oil prices Reuters Top News

Reuters



All very odd. It's worth remembering the old market motto: "Buy the rumour, sell the fact". Or the other way around, in this case, since Gaddafi's death likely end the turmoil and would remove the biggest threat to Libya's oil supplies.

7.58pm GMT: Reuters has now filed more details on the gnomic tweets mentioned below:

The US government has no reason to believe that Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is dead, a US official said on Thursday after oil traders cited a rumor that Gaddafi had been shot as pushing down oil prices.

But this is worth reading:

Asked if Washington had reason to believe that Gaddafi, who is seeking to crush protests against his 41-year rule in the oil-exporting North African nation, was dead, the US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "No."

8.10pm GMT: Another update from Reuters on the Gaddafi death rumour that pushed down oil prices:

There was no immediate indication of where the rumour had originated or any news report to substantiate it.

8.24pm GMT: Until a couple of months ago, Anne-Marie Slaughter was an Obama administration policy-maker at the State Department. Now, reports Foreign Policy magazine, she is using Twitter to urge international action in Libya:

The international community cannot stand by and watch the massacre of Libyan protesters. In Rwanda we watched. In Kosovo we acted. #Libya Anne-Marie Slaughter

SlaughterAM

By comparing Libya to the genocide in Rwanda, Slaughter is taking a significantly more aggressive position than her former colleagues in the administration.

8.42pm GMT: Just as many in the US were gearing up for "petronoia", in the words of CNN, comes news that the price of oil has fallen for the first time in nine days after the International Energy Agency said the fighting in Libya may have cut oil production less than originally feared.

The IEA said that the events in Libya affected less than one per cent of global daily oil consumption, and that any lost shipments from Libya could be absorbed by the large surpluses held by member countries.

8.55pm GMT: The ferry hired by the US to carry American citizens out of Tripoli is still stuck in port because of bad weather, the State Department has announced, although it may leave later tonight if weather permits.

On board are 285 passengers – 167 US citizens and 118 of other nationalities – along with unidentified US "security forces" and crew.

The suggestion is that the US government's response to Gaddafi is constrained until the ship leaves for Malta, although even then a number of US nationals would still be in the country, mainly near the oil fields.

9.08pm GMT: According to al-Jazeera, Gaddafi's supporters are trying to break into the Qatar embassy in Tripoli.

Luckily the Qatari diplomats are long gone but this is presumably a revenge attack for Qatar's backing of al-Jazeera.

9.20pm GMT: The Guardian's latest tranche of Libya and Middle East coverage has just gone online. Here are the highlights from our correspondents around the world:

• International response gathers pace after Gaddafi counterattacks

International efforts to respond to the Libyan crisis are gathering pace under US leadership after a still defiant Muammar Gaddafi launched counterattacks to defend Tripoli against the popular uprising now consolidating its hold on the liberated east of the country.

• Heavy fighting in former stronghold

Muammar Gaddafi's forces have launched counterattacks to defend Tripoli and western Libya against the popular uprising now consolidating its hold on the "liberated" east of the country and advancing into loyalist territory.

• British evacuees from Libya describe mass hysteria

British citizens fleeing the chaos engulfing Libya finally began arriving back in the UK reporting "mass hysteria" at Tripoli airport with as many as 10,000 people fighting to get out.

• David Cameron 'extremely sorry' as criticism of evacuation grows

David Cameron delivered an unequivocal apology for the failings that left British citizens stranded in Libya, as Douglas Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary, claimed a lack of basic ministerial experience led to the Foreign Office's failure to run an effective evacuation.

9.32pm GMT: The Libyana mobile network has sent text messages to subscribers – presumably on the orders of the government – quoting a decree from senior Saudi cleric Sheik Saleh Fauzan not to watch sattelite channels "which broadcast rumors and incite Muslim bloodshed" such as al-Jazeera and others.

A bit late for that.

9.53pm GMT: Here's a joint statement by Catherine Ashton, the EU's foreign policy chief, and Sergey Lavrov, foreign minister of Russia, on the situation in Libya and the rest of the region:

We condemn and consider unacceptable the use of military force to break up peaceful demonstrations, as well as any other manifestations of violence and insist on an immediate cessation of such actions. In particular, we strongly condemn the violence and the use of force against civilians in Libya, which has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people. We express deep regret and condolences for the loss of human lives. We urge all parties involved to show responsibility, respect human rights and international humanitarian law, and ensure the safety of civilians and foreign nationals. Massive protests expose a range of problems that have accumulated within societies. These problems should be addressed by peoples of relevant countries through national dialogue involving all political forces and society strata aimed at reaching public consensus regarding the ways out of the crisis and conducting the much-needed transformations. Democratization processes should evolve in peaceful forms and within a legal framework. Supporting the peoples of Arab countries in their aspirations for a more just and prosperous life, the European Union and Russia stand ready to provide economic and other assistance to interested countries at their request.

There's more on the status of the Israel-Palestine peace process here.

10.04pm GMT: Some more vivid video from Benghazi, this supplied by the Associated Press:

Compelling new footage has emerged showing an intense street battle, and its aftermath in the Libyan city of Benghazi. The amateur video was supplied to AP Television by Libyan opposition groups.

10.20pm GMT: Italy's government has formally protested to the Libyan authorities after two Italian journalists were attacked in Tripoli. The Guardian's John Hooper reports from Rome:

The regime invited a group of foreign journalists to visit Tripoli, apparently to demonstrate that it is in control of the situation. But the move appeared to have backfired when two of the group were kicked and punched by militiamen at a checkpoint on their way into the city. The nine Italian journalists flew into Tripoli airport on Thursday night to find there was no one there to collect them, so took a taxi into the city. They were stopped at a roadblock, where militia assaulted Fabrizio Caccia of the daily Corriere della Sera after he showed them his Italian passport. "Fabrizio was trying to show them he had a visa. He told me he was punched in the ear and kicked on the hand," said the head of the paper's Rome bureau, Marco Cianca, who spoke to the reporter after he reached a hotel in the city.

Vincenzo Nigro of La Repubblica was also slapped and kicked – "schiaffeggiati e presi a calci" – by the soldiers.

10.33pm GMT: So what is Libyan state television showing this evening? According to reports, Jamahirya TV is filming from a Tripoli hospital interviewing terrified-looking patients, who all maintain that they were injured falling down stairs, tripping in the shower and so on.

Tomorrow is FRIDAY.. Ben Ali fell on a Friday.. Mubarak fell on a Friday .. hmmmm :) #libya #feb17 Dima Khatib أنا ديمة

Dima_Khatib



10.48pm GMT: A happy thought for tomorrow?

11pm GMT: The Maltese foreign ministry says Libya has now demanded that Malta return two the Libyan fighter jets that landed there after their pilots refused to bomb protesters and defected.

11.06pm GMT: CNN is carrying video filmed in the central square of Zawiya, showing it in the hands of protesters earlier today, saying that they had fended off an attack by Gaddafi supporters.

11.21pm GMT: The Associated Press has some behind the scenes reporting on US diplomatic efforts in Washington DC:

Officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss administration planning, also said the US would support efforts to establish a UN-led probe into "gross and systematic violations of human rights by the Libyan authorities." While those measures might seem tame, they were expected to be followed soon by tougher measures aimed at pressuring the unpredictable Gadhafi to end the violence that has wracked much of his country. The US was being forced to temper its tone because hundreds of Americans remained stuck in the country — and many were relying on the goodwill and cooperation of Gadhafi's regime for their safety and planned evacuation.

11.42pm GMT: Barack Obama spoke to Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi today, as well as Nicolas Sarkozy and David Cameron, to bring more pressure on Gaddafi.

According to Reuters:

US officials said specific steps could include seeking stronger UN Security Council action, including possible sanctions, support for calls to suspend Libya from the UN Human Rights Council, and creating and enforcing a no-fly zone to prevent further government attacks. Other measures under consideration including suspending Libya's export licenses, freezing the assets of certain Libyan individuals including members of the Gaddafi family, sending humanitarian relief and increasing the ability to broadcast into Libya, the officials said.

11.52pm: The UN security council will meet again tomorrow to consider further action against Libya and Gaddafi.

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon will attend the closed-door meeting scheduled for 3pm ET (8pm GMT).

The question, as always, is whether Russia and China would be prepared to sign on to tougher measures including a no-fly zone and sanctions.

12.02am GMT: China managed to get two ships out of Libya, carrying 4,500 Chinese workers to Crete, while the ferry chartered by the US remains docked in Tripoli because of the rough sea.

The UN has also started evacuating staff from the country but many airlines have suspended flights to Libya.

12.26am GMT: The Italian journalist Fabrizio Caccia was one of the journalists invited to Tripoli by the Libyan government. He describes his encounter with the regime's militia:

"I'm Italian," I say, showing my passport with the visa, and giving the hint of a friendly smile. But on hearing the word "Italian" one of them flies into a terrible rage. He screams something in Arabic and punches me in the face, sending my glasses flying.