Libyan regime struggles to contain turmoil
Reports of gunfire and navy bombing in Tripoli
Eastern cities reported to be in opposition control
Bahrain grand prix cancelled, five dead in Morocco riots
Read a summary of events here
6.27pm: Signs that the Gaddafi regime is being abandoned by key officials are growing. They include Libya's entire delegation at the United Nations. The Associated Press news agency reported:
Libya's ambassadors at the United Nations are calling for leader Muammar Gaddafi to step down as the country's ruler.
Deputy Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi said Monday that if Gaddafi does not relinquish power, "the Libyan people will get rid of him."
Dabbashi urged the international community to impose a no-fly zone over Libya to prevent mercenaries, weapons and other supplies from reaching Gaddafi and his security forces.
Dabbashi also said he was not resigning.The diplomat says the Libyan delegation is also urging the International Criminal Court to investigate possible crimes against humanity committed against the Libyan people during the current protests.
6.19pm: Libya dominated the headlines on the BBC six o'clock news, which reported: "Libya is burning, and the fire has spread".
In the absence of a team on the ground, like other news organisations, the BBC showed footage from Youtube of the uprising on streets of Tripoli and in other cities.
Reporting from Tunisia, the BBC's Ian Pannell said that Muammar Gaddafi's son, Saif, had made a "bizarre and rambling" speech in the early hours of the morning on state television "blaming drug addicts and even the BBC."
The channel also carried a segment from a short interview in Cairo with the Prime Minister, David Cameron, in which he said that condemned the violence of the Libyan regime and said that aspirations for greater rights should be met with reform.
6.17pm: Reut! ers is r eporting that 160 people have died in Tripoli, citing a television channel in the Gulf, although the figure has not yet been independently verified.
Clashes in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Monday have left 160 people dead, Arabiya television quoted eyewitnesses as saying.
The Arab satellite channel gave the number in a newsflash, without providing further details.
6.08pm: Reuters says the UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon held talks with Muammar Gaddafi on Monday, during which he condemned the escalating violence in Libya and told him it "must stop immediately,"
A UN spokesman said:
The secretary general expressed deep concern at the escalating scale of violence and emphasised that it must stop immediately. He reiterated his call for respect for basic freedoms and human rights, including peaceful assembly and information
The secretary general underlined the need to ensure the protection of the civilian population under any circumstances. He urged all parties to exercise restraint and called upon the authorities to engage in broad-based dialogue to address legitimate concerns of the population.
6.04pm: Our Middle East editor Ian Black has been looking at reports that Libyan diplomats are deserting the regime. We are preparing it for publication now, but here's an extract
Libyan diplomats are voting with their feet as the country's crisis deepens, with ambassadors resigning their positions in China, India, Indonesia, Poland as well as from the Arab League in Cairo.
But Omar Jelban, head of the London People's Bureau, on Monday flatly denied an al-Jazeera report that he had quit. Jelban was earlier called into the Foreign Office to hear what William Hague called "our absolute condemnation of the use of lethal force against demonstrators."
Australia also summoned the Libyan envoy to protest at the bloodshed.
Libya's deputy UN ambassador told the BBC that "all the Libyan people w! ant Gadd afi to go." Other members of Libya's UN mission said they were quitting to support anti-government protesters. "We are aware that this will put our families back home in danger, but they are in danger anyway," said Adam Tarbah.
In New Delhi Ali al-Essawi accused his own government of deploying foreign mercenaries against the protesters.
Three local employees of the Libyan embassy in Stockholm, Sweden said they had quit in protest. "It would be hypocritical to assist the Libyan government while we see them attacking people in the streets," said Sayed Jalabi.
5.59pm: Salem Gnan, a London-based spokesman for the National Front for the Salvation of Libya, says eyewitnesses in Tripoli have told him the navy has opened fire on parts of the capital.
We have just heard that the military ships are bombing an area in Tripoli and many people have been killed although we don't know how many at the moment because people have just called to tell us it is happening.
Gnan said the navy appeared to be bombing a residential area outside the city centre as part of a desperate crackdown by Gaddafi's troops.
He is even turning the ships on his people now. His plan is to use absolutely everything he can to stop what is happening.
Gnan said he had had also had reports of ongoing shooting around Gaddafi's residence in Tripoli and said more people were taking to the capital's streets as darkness fell. "This is going on because if it stops that means it is finished. This will be the last act." He said people were travelling to Tripoli from across the west of Libya for a "final showdown."
I have had calls from people in towns and cities all across Libya. Those in the east can not get out but those in towns and cities in western Libya, everybody is saying: "We are going to Tripoli." The plan is to come from everywhere and go to Tripoli to sack the city, for the finish.
5.55pm: Here is a summ! ary of e vents today:
The crisis in Libya has deepened with reports that Muammar Gaddafi ordered fighter jets to attack parts of the capital, Tripoli. Salem Gnan, a London-based spokesman for the National Front for the Salvation of Libya, says eyewitnesses in Tripoli have told him the navy has opened fire on parts of the capital.
Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, "may have gone to Venezuela", British foreign secretary William Hague has said. But sources in the Venezuelan government denied the reports.
Two Libyan fighter jets and two civilian helicopters have landed in Malta.
Elsewhere in the Middle East, the Bahrain grand prix has been cancelled because of anti-government protests there. And five people are dead after riots in Morocco.
Follow this live blog for continuing coverage into the evening.
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