Budget airline Ryanair has had to alter its flights to Sicily due to the air strikes against Libya.

LIBYAN rebels have claimed as many as 8,000 people opposed to Col Muammar Gaddafi’s rule may have died since the uprising began, as the US claimed last night coalition forces had succeeded in establishing a no-fly zone after two nights of airstrikes.

A Tunis Air passenger plane went down in the sea today off the Sicilian coast on a flight from Bari, Italy, to Tunisia, the Palermo airport tower said.