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.

Ryanair is to base one new aircraft in Bristol airport and two new planes at Liverpool.

ITALIAN authorities said yesterday they had crushed a bid to revive the Sicilian mafia after making around 100 arrests in a series of raids, nearly three years on from the capture of the cosa nostra’s supremo.

RYANAIR is opening two new bases in Italy, basing three new aircraft at a cost of €160m in Alghero and Cagliari.

A DEFIANT Ryanair is adding 40 new routes this winter — saying turbulent times for the industry will not halt its expansion plans.

Ryanair has announced 13 new routes from its Stockholm Skavsta base to Alicante, Basel, Bratislava, Eindhoven, Baden Baden, Liverpool, Malta, Pisa, Porto, Salzburg, Trapani and Valencia.

A resurgent Ryanair leaped ahead by 20c today to €8.30 on foot of an announcement that the airline would be adding five new routes to its timetable.

Ryanair have today announced five new routes for 2007 - four from Dublin to Fuerteventura, Tenerife, Alghero and Trapani and one from Derry to Glasgow Prestwick.

UNDERCOVER police monitored the star-studded Ocean’s Twelve production in Sicily, after suspected mobsters were noticed hanging around the set.