Libya updates

• 9:17am

  Rebel-controlled eastern Libya is at risk of running out of petrol within a week after refineries in the region halted operations, Gulf News reports.
  Dwindling supplies of vehicle fuel in Benghazi and throughout eastern Libya were a rising concern for the rebel movement, the Dubai-based newspaper reported.
  A spokesman for eastern Libya's rebel-controlled interim government, Tarek Bu Zaqiya, told the newspaper the region faced "severe shortages" of fuel soon.
  While oil is still flowing in eastern Libya, regional refineries had cut crude processing, the report said.
  Rebels were discussing plans to obtain imported fuel, including from Italian refineries, the report said.
  The rebels, who already control huge areas of Libyan territory, rely on a steady supply of fuel to wage battle soldiers loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in a push to topple his regime.
• Timestamp: 

  7:12am

  Migrants from North Africa arrive on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa.
  More than 1,000 illegal immigrants escaping political turmoil in North Africa arrived on this southern Italian island in the Mediterranean during the night. [Reuters]
  
• Timestamp: 

  6:04am

  Libyan state television has denied a report by Al Jazeera and two Arab newspapers that Colonel Gaddafi has sought a deal with the rebels that would see him step down with certain guarentees.
  It was reported that a Gaddafi representative made the proposal to the opposition's so-called "National Council" based in Benghazi. The council apparently rejected the offer.
• Timestamp: 

  5:44am

  Musa Kusa, the Libyan foreign minister, said that the regime of Muammar Gaddafi was disappointed by the actions of President Barack Obama, who "spoke like a child".
  

  We felt that he was a democratic man and he would extend his hand to others, especially people of the third world because he came from that world.
  Unfortunately he spoke like a child and said we should punish those people that have sided with Muammar Gaddafi.

• Timestamp: 

  5:35am

  Japan approves sanctions against Libya, including an assets freeze and travel ban against several regime leaders, in line with a UN resolution agreed last month, officials say.
  Prime Minister Naoto Kan's cabinet decided to immediately freeze any assets held in Japan by Muammar Gaddafi and five others, and ban them and 10 others from entering and leaving Japan.
• Timestamp: 

  3:52am

  Al Jazeera has received pictures that purportedly show Libyan army officers killed for refusing to fire on the rebels.
  It is claimed the soldiers refused to shoot rebels in the mountainous region west of Tripoli. The pictures were sent to Al Jazeera by a rebel group in the area.
  
  A survivor of the killings says the men were rounded-up, their legs tied before being shot in the head or back from close range.
  
  The pictures emerged as rebel fighters face perhaps their greatest challenge yet as they take stock of what seems a slowing of momentum in their campaign.