Gaddafi loses grip, flees capital

Libya’s dictator Muammar Gaddafi is losing his 40-year grip on power and some reports say he has already fled the capital of Tripoli in a repeat of fellow desposed Arab leaders Tunisia’s Ben Ali and Egypt’s Mubarak.

The price of oil has jumped, Libyan diplomats are resigning, Bahrain has cancelled the first Formula One race and hundreds are dead after a new round of protests through out the Arab world.

Libya is a closed society, with all foreign media banned from the country, internet and telecommunications shut down and Al Jazerra broadcasts jammed as anti-government forces have taken control of many eastern cities.

Human Rights Watch's latest tally is 233 people killed since anti-government protests erupted on Wednesday, but other reports say the death toll is higher as security forces fire on unarmed civilians, including air attacks on demonstrators in Tripoli.

Protesters in Benghazi, where the revolt began and where more than 200 are said to have been killed, issued a list of demands calling for a secular interim government led by the army in cooperation with a council of Libyan tribes.

Libya is a country in turmoil. Police stations and government buildings, including the General People's Congress, or parliament, have been destroyed or set on fire.

Long queues have formed at food shops and petrol stations as residents stock up on essential goods. Businesses and schools remain closed.

In India, Libya's ambassador said he was resigning in protest at the violent crackdown.The justice minister and members of the Libyan mission to the UN have also quit.

In Egypt, hundreds have gathered in front of the Libyan embassy in Cairo. Similar demonstrations have occurred in Alexandria, where dozens of Egyptians and Libyans carried pictures of Gaddafi and his son Saif al-Islam with their faces crossed out.

The protesters in Cairo waved banners saying "down with the killer, down with Gaddafi" and "Gaddafi has hired African mercenaries to kill Libyans."

In Bahrain, the season-opening Formula One race to be held on March 13 has been cancelled after demonstrations in which police killed six protestors demanding reform. Hundreds spent the weekend camped in Manama's Pearl Square, which was reoccupied on Saturday after police withdrew.

In London, oil futures soared on fears of disruption to Middle East oil exports. The April contract for Brent oil on the ICE futures exchange was up $1.95, or 1.9%, to $US104.47 a barrel, having hit a two-year high of $105.08 earlier.

In New York, where markets are closed for the Presidents' Day holiday, the March contract was up $3.33, or 3.9%, at $US89.53 a barrel, its highest since February 4.

A strike at Libya's Nafoora oilfield was reported to have stopped production, according to Al Jazeera television. BP suspended operations for oil and gas drilling.

Libya is Africa's fourth biggest oil exporter, producing 1.6 million barrels a day, and has 3.3% of the world's reserves.

In Switzerland, bankers have frozen tens of millions of Swiss francs in assets belonging to members of the former Mubarak regime in Egypt. UK authorities are considering a similar request, while the EU has also agreed to seize assets, as has the US.

Egypt's public prosecutor has officially ordered a freeze on the foreign assets of the Mubarak family in the first sign that the deposed president would be held to account for amassing property and cash said to be worth billions of dollars.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron arrived in Cairo yesterday, becoming the first foreign leader to visit post-Mubarak Egypt. He pushed for an end to emergency law, while refusing to talk to the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.

In Yemen, at least five people have been killed during widespread anti-government demonstrations. Four were killed in the southern port city of Aden by gunfire as police moved to disperse protesters. In the capital Sanaa, supporters and opponents of President Ali Abdullah Saleh clashed on the streets.

In Morocco, some 5000 people thousands of protesters took to the streets demanding King Mohammed give up some of his powers, dismiss the government and clamp down on corruption.

In the capital Rabat, some people waved Tunisian and Egyptian flags in recognition of the popular uprisings that overthrew the two countries’ presidents.

In the media, Al Jazeera’s signal across the Middle East and North Africa has been plagued by jamming. Lebanese Telecommunications Minister Charbel Nahhas said the jamming "originated from Libyan territory" and it was also affecting Lebanese channels.

"They [Libyans] see what these televisions carry about what is happening in their country and they jam the transmission points ... so Al Jazeera is affected and we are affected too," Nahhas said.

The Guardian says dozens of reporters from the world’s largest media organisations have gathered at the Egyptian- Libyan border in the hope a blanket ban on foreign journalists will crumble after reports said the demonstrators had taken control of Benghazi.

The BBC has one permanent correspondent in Tripoli and staff journalists from the BBC World Service's Arabic operation but cannot verify their reports. Listen to one here.

"Their phone accounts – often accompanied by the sound of gunfire and mortars – are vivid. However, inevitably, it means we cannot independently verify the accounts coming out of Libya. That's why we don't In present such accounts as 'fact' – they are 'claims' or 'allegations'," BBC World Service news editor Jon Williams said.

In Tunisia, the interim government has formally requested the extradition from Saudi Arabia of ex-President Ben Ali, who is reportedly very ill in hospital after suffering a stroke.

In Algeria, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's government has banned large rallies. Several hundred members of an umbrella group for some opposition parties, human rights bodies and trade unions, gathered in central Algiers but were dispersed by police in riot gear.