Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: A Speech and a City Demolished

1920 GMT: Doctors say Yemeni security forces wounded at least 10 people when they fired on a protest march in Sanaa today.

About 200 more demonstrators were overcome by tear gas when they marched outside their normal protest zone in the streets near Sanaa University.

"We neared the Sanaa Trade Center when police confronted us with tear gas, and suddenly opened heavy gunfire on us from all directions," said Sabry Mohammed, a protester. "A state of terror set in among the demonstrators, and some of them fled into side streets."

1915 GMT: State TV reports that Oman plans to spend 1 billion rials ($2.6 billion) to "satisfy the demands" of protesters seeking jobs and political reforms.

Earlier this spring, up to seven people died in a series of demonstrations against the regime of Sultan Qaboos bin Said. Dozens of protesters have continued to camp in tents near the country's Shura Council in the capital Muscat.

The Sultan's office did not specify how the money would be spent.

1910 GMT: C.J. Chivers, who has been providing first-hand reporting from Misurata for The New York Times (see separate entry), says 140 people have been injured in the last two days by the fighting in the Libyan city.

1900 GMT: Three demonstrators have reportedly been killed by gunmen at a funeral for a slain anti-regime protester near Homs in Syria.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the shooting. One witness said gunmen wearing black clothes opened fire, but others said they saw soldiers and security forces open fire, even shooting at homes and balconies.

Thousands --- Associated Press says "tens of thousands" --- have rallied today, 24 hours after President Assad tried to assuage protesters in a nationally-televised speech.

1535 GMT: Reuters reports chants by several hundred people, "The people want freedom," at the grave of independence leader Ibrahim Hananu in Syria's second city Aleppo, as well as the attack by a pro-Assad group on the demonstration in the southern city of Suweida.

1530 GMT: Journalists and activists report security forces firing on hundreds of protesters in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa. One journalist says there is live ammunition, tear gas, and water cannon, firing what protesters say is sewage water --- "Certainly smells like it".

1520 GMT: The BBC crew in the Libyan capital Tripoli report heavy anti-aircraft fire close to the hotel where foreign journalists are staying.

1320 GMT: Women gather again on Saturday in Baniyas in Syria to protest the actions of security forces, including the detention of men of the town:

And today there was a protest in Suweida --- some reports indicated that it was subsequently broken up by Syrian security:

1315 GMT: Al Jazeera English's Mike Hanna reports that regime forces have turned the tide of battle in northern Libya, out-flanking the opposition fighters outside Brega and sweeping on opposition-held Ajdabiya.

The regime troops have bombed the western gate. NATO aircraft have been prevented from intervening by a sandstorm.

1000 GMT: Thinking his microphone is turned off, President Obama makes some sharp comments about the Emir of Qatar, to the laughter journalists, thinking his microphone is turned off:

He is a big booster, big promoter of democracy all throughout the Middle East. Reform, reform, reform.

Now he himself is not reforming significantly. There's no big move toward democracy in Qatar. But you know part of the reason is that the per capita income of Qatar is $145,000 a year. That will dampen a lot of conflict."

0910 GMT: Another push by the opposition to get increased coaliation assistance, this time in the west of Libya --- Major General Abdul Fatah Younis, commander of the insurgent forces, has called on NATO for "a more effective performance". He claimed he could break the siege of Misurata if his forces received helicopter gunships.

0855 GMT: Interesting spin from the Obama Administration, using favoured outlet David Sanger and Eric Schmitt in New York Times that it "has begun seeking a country, most likely in Africa, that might be willing to provide shelter" to Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi.

The Administration sources lay out a deal in which Qaddafi would be given effective immunity from prosecution:

The effort is complicated by the likelihood that he would be indicted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland in 1988, and atrocities inside Libya.

One possibility, according to three administration officials, is to find a country that is not a signatory to the treaty that requires countries to turn over anyone under indictment for trial by the court, perhaps giving Colonel Qaddafi an incentive to abandon his stronghold in Tripoli.

0800 GMT: A picture of the bombardment of Misurata in Libya, with smoke and fire in the industrial area near the seaport:

0740 GMT: A delegation from Yemen's opposition coalition, the Joint Meeting Parties, will meet Foreign Ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council today in Saudi Arabia.

The rotating president of JMP, Yasin Saeed Noman, said the delegation will brief the Gulf ministers on what is happening in Yemen.<,p>

Noman denied reports that the US and European Union was backing a plan for Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down within 30 days.

0735 GMT: We have already featured 13 videos of Friday's protests in Syria against the Assad regime, but more striking footage, claiming to be of the demonstrations, continues to emerge. Here are two clips of the tearing-down of images of President Assad and his father, the late President Hafez al-Assad --- the second video is from Zamalka:

0730 GMT: We have posted a special feature by Christina Baghdady reviewing the changes in Egypt after the fall of President Hosni Mubarak. Are the Constitutional amendments the way forward for the country or do they abruptly halt the process of change?

0630 GMT: Maryam al-Khawaja of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights discusses her appeal for the US Government to address Bahrain's human rights situation and the talks she has had so far with American officials. Al-Khawaja is the sister of Zainab al-Khawaja (@AngryArabiya), who is on hunger strike over the detention of three relatives, including their father.

0550 GMT: In Syria yesterday, President Assad, in the guise of addressing the first session of the new Cabinet, offered a nationally-televised speech to ease protests. The statement, in a marked shift from Assad's hold-the-line address earlier in the month, promised an end to the 1963 Emergency Law, acknowledged the deaths since the uprising began 15 March, and promised to meet the demands of the Syrian people.

We are waiting to see the reactions across the Syrian political spectrum, but one response came in this candle-lit demonstration in Horan last night:

Meanwhile, in Libya, no sign of relief for the embattled city of Misurata, which has been under siege by regime forces for more than seven weeks. As reports emerged of the use of cluster bombs by Qaddafi's troops, more rockets and mortars hit the city, Libya's third-largest and only 210 km (130 miles) from Tripoli.

Yesterday we posted a picture and video graphically showing the before-and-after of the destruction, and this morning we will soon post a detailed portrayal by C.J. Chivers of The New York Times.