Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Battlelines Drawn

2150 GMT: In Oman, about 200 protesters in Sohar defied a call to disperse at 6 p.m., reamining at the Globe Roundabout until late evening.

The number of protesters was sharply down from Monday, when nearly 2000 gathered. Six protesters were reportedly killed this weekend by the security forces.

2145 GMT: Associated Press is reporting that security forces killed two demonstrators when they fired tear gas at 100s of anti-government protesters in Sadr in southern Yemen.

2100 GMT: Oliver Holmes claims this exclusive in Time magazine:

Yemen's embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh has reached an agreement to step down after the opposition coalition in parliament offered him a five-point plan earlier on Wednesday. That plan included a demand that Saleh leave office within the next nine months. "The leadership has reached an initial agreement on the five points, an official statement is due tomorrow," a government official told TIME. Another government official reached by TIME said,"details are being worked out."

The five-point plan said the president must leave power by the end of this year and all political parties in Yemen would confer on the best means to transfer power democratically. It is not clear if the offer changed after discussions today or if a more definite schedule for Saleh's departure has been set up.

The plan also said that Yemenis should be allowed to protest peacefully without fear of violence, a committee should be formed to investigate attacks against protesters, and that the families of all protesters killed or injured should be compensated for by the State. Twenty-seven demonstrators have died since protests started, according to London-based Amnesty International. A government official told TIME earlier that "mediators met with members of both the ruling and opposition parties" today and talks were "productive".

1940 GMT: The Arab League has released a statement, after a conference of foreign ministers, condemning "crimes" against the peaceful protests in several Libyan cities, specifically noting the hiring of foreign mercenaries and the use of live and heavy ammunition against protesters.

They renewed the call for the immediate halt of violence and demanded that the Libyan authorities lift the ban on the media, opening communications and phone lines, and safeguard medical aid.

1920 GMT: In Egypt, hundreds of demonstrators continued to protest in Cairo's Tahrir Square, demanding the resignation of the transitional Cabinet of Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, the dissolution of the State Security Investigation Bureau, and the immediate release of all political prisoners.

The protesters are calling for yet another mass demonstration on Friday. Hundreds of thousands gathered last week for Friday Prayers, celebration, and protest. Some have put up tents with the intention of camping until Friday.

1720 GMT: Peter Beaumont of The Guardian opens his latest first-hand report from Libya:

In the Khadra hospital in Tripoli, the opposition's injured are visibly absent. The only wounded people on view are supporters of the regime, who claim to have been shot by "bearded men" –-- shorthand for the Islamists whom the regime blames for the country's uprising.

1700 GMT: Al Jazeera English notes today's protests by "several thousand" people demonstrating against the rule of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

In another development, a Yemeni website claims that 20 protesters were injured in Hodeidah in western Yemen.

1615 GMT: Al Jazeera English's Tony Birtley describes the "victory salute" by opposition fighters as they claim to have held/re-taken the port town of Brega in north-central Libya in a battle with regime ground and air forces:

1540 GMT: The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Campo, has said he will open a formal investigation into possible crimes against humanity in Libya. Moreno-Campo said he made the decision after a "preliminary examination of available information".

1520 GMT: A testimonial about the arrest of Amr Abdalla al-Beheiri on Saturday morning in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Al-Beheiri was sentenced to five years in prison on Tuesday for assaulting a public servant.

1354 GMT: The jet of the Qaddafi regime (see 1345 GMT) has now dropped a bomb close to opposition fighters in what an Al Jazeera English correspondent called a "near miss".

1349 GMT: An image from today's pro-democracy protest, outside the Ministry of Interior, in Manama in Bahrain.

1345 GMT: An Al Jazeera English correspondent has just witnessed a regime airplane dropping a bomb on Brega, where Qaddafi forces have been the opposition throughout the day.

1330 GMT: I was wrong. Muammar Qaddafi is still speaking --- Al Jazeera English can no longer be bothered to cover the talk live.

1320 GMT: An Al Jazeera English correspondent and an eyewitness report on a disorganised, chaotic battle at Brega with the opposition trying to dislodge 200-300 regime fighters who are holed up in the university outside the city.

1315 GMT: I think Muammar Qaddafi has stopped speaking --- Al Jazeera English cut away before the end of the speech of almost two hours.

1245 GMT: In Egypt, a military tribunal http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/news/military-tribunal-sentences-protester-5-years-prison">has sentenced protester Amr Abdalla al-Beheiri, 32, to five years in prison on Tuesday for assaulting a public servant.

Al-Beheiri was arrested early Saturday morning as military police forced demonstrators out of Tahrir Square in Cairo. His lawyer said the trial lasted only five minutes.

1240 GMT: Even as Qaddafi is speaking, an Al Jazeera correspondent reports that the opposition's Libyan Youth Revolutionaries have re-taken Brega from Qaddafi forces.

Regime troops had moved this morning into Brega, on the north-central coast of Libya, with 14 people killed (see 0815 and 0925 GMT).

1235 GMT: A couple of responses to Qaddafi....

An EA correspondent brings us the diagnosis of her physician father: "Qaddafi has paranoid personality disorder wih delusional thoughts."

And in Benghazi in "Free Libya", a crowd --- featured on Al Jazeera English alongside Qaddafi from Tripoli --- has already prepared their signs for an international as well as Libyan audience, in English and Arabic: "Breaking News: Qaddafi is Lying".

1230 GMT: Muammar Qaddafi is still going, mainly walking back and forth over his main theme of the threat of Al Qa'eda --- "there have been no peaceful demonstrations" in Libya, merely the violence of a few Al Qa'eda operatives, "of ripe age" or prison inmates, who infiltrated Libya.

Beyond this is the theme that Qaddafi has been misunderstood and mistreated by foreign countries as he defends Libya, ""Last year, Greece had demonstrations, in Italy there were demonstrations in 30 cities but no country withdrew its nationals."

1210 GMT: So to catch up with Libyan leader is Muammar Qaddafi, who is speaking to a conference of his regime followers in Tripoli.

Qaddafi is much calmer than in his previous speeches, trying to set out the current political and military situation with the balancing act of 1) the enemy are very dangerous, for they are Al Qa'eda and 2) the fighting has not been that serious, as the opposition has only made limited gains (if you can call Libya's second-largest city, Benghazi, a limited gain). The perception that the situation is critical is because of the lies of foreign media.

Qaddafi has explained how Al Qa'eda attacked his army's battalions and took refuge in the mosques. They took over Radio Benghazi, he explains, and turned it into "Radio Jihad". Because he wanted to avoid bloodshed and destruction to his Libya, Qaddafi explains, he ordered his battalions to withdraw.

However, he is explaining that, as "true" footage on State TV shows, the Libyan people still love him, in contrast to those in opposition-held Beyda, Benghazi, and Derna who are living "in fear" of Al Qa'eda.

Al Jazeera English, part of Qaddafi's hated "foreign media", are undercutting him, even as he speaks, by juxtaposing his loyal audience in Tripoli with shots of an anti-regime rally in Benghazi.

1140 GMT: Back from an academic break to find Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi speaking on TV. Live coverage is on Al Jazeera English's feed on the EA website.

0925 GMT: Al Jazeera Arabic is reporting 14 deaths as Qaddafi forces re-took al-Brega, 670 km (410 miles) east of Tripoli (see 0815 GMT).

0915 GMT: For those keeping political score, The Los Angeles Times is putting great stock in yet another interview from Saif Al Islam Qaddafi, the son of the Libyan leader. The headline: "Kadafi's son Seif Islam says government agrees with opposition's democratic aims".

0815 GMT: Developments on the military front in Libya....

Regime forces have taken the port town of Brega in north-central Libya. It is 250 kilometres (160 miles) from Benghazi, Libya's second-largest city, which is the centre of opposition-held "Free Libya".

The town, with a small airport and an oil refinery, was only lightly defended by the opposition. With the takeover, the regime forces have moved the front-line 90 km (55 miles) to the east. Even more significant is the likelihood that the regime units will move on the city of Ajdabiya, 80 km (50 miles) east across the desert. Regime planes tried unsuccessfully in the last 48 hours to destroy the ammunition depots outside the city. There are unconfirmed reports of more air attacks this morning.

In Tripoli, a fuel tanker has exploded, less than a mile from where the regime's People's Congress is meeting this morning. The cause is unknown.

0710 GMT: An interesting passage, in this summary from Leila Fadel and Liz Sly of The Washington Post, of the front-line clashes between the Qaddafi regime and opposition outside Misurata, 210 km (130 miles) east of Tripoli:

Regime opponents are in full control of the center of the town, and several thousand held a large and peaceful demonstration in the main square Wednesday, according to residents and the spokesman. They also claim control over most of the vast military air base to the south.

But militias loyal to Gaddafi have retained control of a portion of the base, and there are near-daily confrontations between rebels and the militias along what has become a front line running through the airfield.

The militias also control a barracks on the edge of the town, and on Sunday night gunmen presumed to be loyal to Gaddafi abducted 400 students from a remote military academy, according to residents. The gunmen shot their way in, loaded the students onto buses and drove them to an unknown destination, said Saadoun, citing the accounts of two officers at the base who managed to escape.

Misurata lies on the coast between Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte and the capital, Tripoli, where he still appears to command enough support to hold at bay the popular uprising that has engulfed other parts of the country.

0540 GMT: Journalist David Macdougall reports that protests have already started today in Bahrain, "1200 march from Pearl [Roundabout] to Ministry of Interior. 1800 [people in] pro-Government rally outside Fateh Mosque."

0530 GMT: The United Nations General Assembly has unanimously suspended Libya's membership on the UN Human Rights Council, citing the Qaddafi regime's "gross and systematic violations of human rights". 

0515 GMT: Picking up from Tuesday's developments....

In Libya, both the regime and opposition further entrenched themselves in the areas that they hold. Clashes continued outside some opposition-held cities in the west, but with no apparent advances by Qaddafi forces. 

With those lines drawn, attention turned to the humanitarian situation at the borders, as thousands in increasingly tense and difficult conditions tried to join the estimated 140,000 people who have left the country.

And the international community filled up a lot of the news space, with continuing debates over whether to intervene. Economic sanctions have now been established by many countries, including the US and members of the European Union, but there is division over whether to take steps such as a no-fly zone over Libya.

Pressure continued on the regimes in Yemen and Bahrain through further marches and demands --- Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh is looking increasingly vulnerable, as he lashed out at supposed US and Israeli backing of protests. There were also marches by "hundreds" in Oman, but the situation appeared more settled than the previous three days in which at least six people were killed in clashes.

Protest also continues in Egypt, but the main news appeared to be the move of the Supreme Military Council towards negotiations with political groups on the transition to elections. Following Monday's five-hour discussion with youth organisations, the Council met political figures, including Mohamed ElBaradei and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, as well as lawyers, journalists, and businessmen on Tuesday.

A quieter day on the streets in Tunisia, but a tumultuous one inside the Government. Three Ministers left, including two former opposition leaders whose participation was considered a vital sign of consensus over the transition to elections and a new system.