Egyptian magnate-cum-politician quits Mubarak party www.reuters.com

The BBC reports that a BMI plane travelling from Heathrow to Cairo was turned round mid-flight. Other flights to Egypt have been cancelled due to the rapidly changing situation.

One of our readers asked earlier if there had been any examples of looting. The BBC says looters are 'on the rampage' in parts of Cairo and earlier looters broke into the Egyptian Museum and destroyed two Pharaonic mummies. www.reuters.com

More now on that BMI flight turned round mid-flight between Heathrow and Cairo. A statement released by the airline reads: "Due to the rapidly changing situation in Egypt, British Midland International flight BD771 which was en route to Cairo is returning to London Heathrow." The plane was carrying 64 passengers and six crew.

The protesters who attacked the bank building in a Cairo suburb have been turned back by the army, who used tanks and fired shots into the air. The protesters, who were using wooden planks to try to break into the buiding, fled after seeing the tanks approach and hearing the shots.

President Mubarak has chosen a Vice-President for the first time since he took office in 1981, appointing his intelligence chief and confidante Omar Suleiman to the post.

As President Mubarak refuses to bow to demands that he resign, heads of state and politicians have offered their take on the situation.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

"He (President Hosni Mubarak) pledged a better democracy and greater economic opportunity. I just spoke to him after his speech and I told him he has a responsibility to give meaning to those words, to take concrete steps and actions that deliver on that promise."

"Violence will not address the grievances of the Egyptian people and suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away."

"What's needed now are concrete steps that advance the rights of the Egyptian people, a meaningful dialogue between the government and its citizens and a path of political change that leads to a future of greater freedom and greater opportunity and justice for the Egyptian people."

WILLIAM HAGUE, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY

"He (Mubarak) must seize this moment to make these reforms real and visible and to base them on the universal values that are the right of people in all countries."

"We are working with our EU partners and other allies on the latest developments to deliver a clear coordinated message about our expectations of President Mubarak and in particular the need for him to take responsibility to deliver change. Peaceful reform not repression must be the way forward."

JONAS GAHR STOERE, NORWEGIAN FOREIGN MINISTER

"Egypt has to embark on a process of reconciliation and these vast groups of people need to be given a clear vision of the future that is there for them -- jobs, opportunity, education.

"But we also see that fundamental rights is mobilizing people to go to the streets, for the right of expression and the right of elections."

DOMINIC ASQUITH, BRITISH AMBASSADOR TO EGYPT

"I'm struck by the variety of age, of class, of gender, (of the protesters) it's across the board, you can see it, you can see the variety of people there.

"It's not, from my perception, religiously driven. This is not the Muslim Brotherhood."

ALI LARIJANI, IRAN'S PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKER

"The Americans can tolerate seeing bloodshed in Egypt but not see a regime fall in Egypt into the hands of the people,"

GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTRY STATEMENT

"It is crucial that action quickly follows words. Commitment to political and economic reforms goes in the right direction, but must be implemented quickly and consistently. The security forces should not use violence against peaceful protesters."

CATHERINE ASHTON, EU FOREIGN AFFAIRS CHIEF

"I reiterate my call on all parties to exercise restraint and calm and I urge the authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all peaceful demonstrators from detention."

"I also reiterate my call upon the Egyptian authorities to urgently establish a constructive and peaceful way to respond to the legitimate aspirations of Egyptian citizens for democratic and socioeconomic reforms."

KING ABDULLAH OF SAUDI ARABIA

"No Arab or Muslim can tolerate any meddling in the security and stability of Arab and Muslim Egypt by those who infiltrated the people in the name of freedom of expression, exploiting it to inject their destructive hatred."

CARL BILDT, SWEDISH FOREIGN MINISTER

"You can describe it as a demographic tsunami to the south of the Mediterranean that can only be met by sustained economic reforms."

"It is now even more obvious that what Egypt needs is a political initiative that leads to an open and democratic presidential election later this year."

SALAM FAYYAD, PALESTINIAN PRIME MINISTER

"There is no question, a lot of changes need to take place.

"If this process of change is managed well -- and that begins by those in government not being dismissive of the desire for change given the high degree of dissatisfaction with the status quo."

Analysts have also been reacting to the events in Egypt. Here's what they had to say:

FAWAZ GERGES, PROFESSOR OF MIDDLE EASTERN POLITICS AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AT THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS

"This is the Arab world's Berlin moment. The authoritarian wall has fallen -- and that's regardless of whether Mubarak survives or not. It goes beyond Mubarak.

The barrier of fear has been removed. It is really the beginning of the end of the status quo in the region.

The introduction of the military speaks volumes about the failure of the police to suppress the protesters.

The military has stepped in and will likely seal any vacuum of authority in the next few weeks. "Mubarak is deeply wounded. He is bleeding terribly. We are witnessing the beginning of a new era."

KISHORE MAHBUBANI, DEAN AT THE LEE KUWAN YEW SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY IN SINGAPORE

"Be careful what you wish for, you may get something worse.

The biggest geopolitical nightmare for Israel is to have the most populous Arab country at your doorstep with political instability. Believe me, it changes the whole balance of the Middle East, it makes everything else look very simple because suddenly we go back 30 years."

YORAM MEITAL, MIDDLE EAST ANALYST

"There is currently a sort of earthquake, nothing less. It started in Tunisia, it is continuing in Egypt; the political situation in Lebanon is, in any case, very complicated; in Yemen there are already two straight days of protests which have their own local peculiarities ... it cannot be said that these are just isolated incidents, there is something broader which can be termed the Tunisia or Al Jazeera effect.

Is the appointment of Omar Suleiman designed to ease a handing over of power? This is a popular theory on Twitter, anyway.

@sharifkouddous tweets: "Chanting in Tahrir Sq: "Mubarak, the plane is waiting for you at the airport."

Here are five facts about Omar Suleiman:

* He has been the director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Services (EGIS) since 1993, a role in which he has played a prominent public role in diplomacy, including in Egypt's relations with Israel and with key aid donor the United States.

* He was born on July 2, 1936 in Qena, in southern Egypt. He later enrolled in Egypt's premier Military Academy in 1954, after which he received additional military training in the then Soviet Union at Moscow's Frunze Military Academy.

* He also studied political science at Cairo University and Ain Shams University. In 1992 he headed the General Operations Authority in the Armed Forces and then became the director of the military intelligence unit before taking over EGIS.

* Suleiman took part in the war in Yemen in 1962 and the 1967 and 1973 wars against Israel.

* As Egypt's intelligence chief, Suleiman was in charge of the country's most important political security files, and was the mastermind behind the fragmentation of Islamist groups who led the uprising against the state in the 1990s.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry has confirmed that family members of Israeli diplomats stationed in Egypt were evacuated from Cairo on a special flight on Saturday.

CNN reporting that Egyptian police are firing on protesters near Interior Ministry in Cairo. Local time in Egypt now 6:40pm.

Twitter user Khaled Said: BBC Arabic Reporter in Tahreer square now says Protesters & Army in complete harmony, chatting, eating & laughing together #Jan25 #Egypt

Egypt Defence Ministry spokesman says armed forces will act to ensure security.