Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Long Haul

2015 GMT: Associated Press reports that NATO warplanes have bombed command centres near Tripoli and in Libya's southwest, trying to cut communications links between the Qaddafi regime and his battlefield units.

2005 GMT: Video of a protest in Idlib in Syria during the funeral of a demonstrator killed on Friday:

2000 GMT: Authorities have detained a Saudi woman after she launched a campaign against the driving ban for women and posted a videotape of herself on Facebook and YouTube to encourage others to copy her.

Manal al-Sherif and other women started a Facebook page called "Teach me how to drive so I can protect myself," which urges authorities to lift the driving ban. She videoed herself on a test drive in the eastern city of Khobar.

1955 GMT: According to a CNN reporter, an opposition official in Yemen has said that Gulf Co-operation Council head Abdullatif al-Zayani has "congratulated the [opposition] JMP on the signing" of an agreement for a transition of power" and "said that [President] Saleh will sign by latest tomorrow morning".

1805 GMT: Claimed demonstration in Daraa in southern Syria today:

1705 GMT: Syrian security forces fire on mourners in a cemetery in Homs. Thousands of people had turned out for the funerals of those slain on Friday; three more were killed today.

1600 GMT: Libyans angered by fuel shortages have attacked a bus carrying foreign reporters, slashing its tires and smashing a door. The journalists --- a Chinese correspondent, a British BBC technician, and a British Reuters producer --- escaped unharmed after a gunman fired into the air to disperse the crowds.

Meanwhile, France's Foreign Ministry said four Frenchmen held by the Libyan opposition on suspicion of spying had been released and are now in Egypt.

The four worked for a private security company and were detained at a checkpoint on 12 May in Benghazi. The fifth member of the group died of gunshot wounds.

1555 GMT: Egyptian Christians have officially ended a sit-in in front of the State TV building in Cairo, almost two weeks after protests over sectarian violence.

The decision came after Father Metyas Nasr announced late Friday that an agreement had been reached to free five Christian men detained Thursday after clashes outside a church in the eastern Cairo suburb of Ain Shams.

Meetings were expected Saturday between authorities and Christian and Muslim clergy to discuss the fate of two Coptic churches that have been closed in Ain Shams.

1540 GMT: Activists now say three mourners have been killed and at least 27 wounded in Homs after security forces opened fire today on funeral processions of more than 40,000 people (see 1355 GMT).

AFP is reporting that five are dead.

1530 GMT: Video of protesters and a heavy security presence in Taiz in Yemen:

1355 GMT: An eyewitness said Syrian security forces and men in plainclothes have opened fire on a crowd of mourners in Homs, killing at least two people and injuring more than 20 as they returned from funerals for demonstrators slain on Friday.

The witness said the wounded have been taken to private clinics and homes because people fear secret police will raid and arrest the injured in the main state hospital.

Earlier, security forces had reportedly opened fire to disperse crowds leaving the Grand Mosque, but they pulling their tanks back given the size of the funeral procession, estimated at more than 40,000.

1350 GMT: Three videos of protesters --- reports say more than 40,000 --- in Homs in Syria, in funeral processions for some of the nine demonstrators killed in the area yseterday.

1335 GMT: More manoeuvring from Yemen's President Saleh, indicating he will once again fail to sign a deal for A transition of power to his Vice President....

Saleh, who has twice backed away from accepting the arrangement, had said through a spokesman that he would sign on Sunday. However, he told supporters today of the threat if he stepped dwon, "If the system falls...Al Qa'eda will capture Maarib, Hadramout, Shabwa, Abyan and al-Jouf (Provinces and) it will control the situation."

Saleh, playing up to American officials who have warned that his departure might jeopardise counter-terrorism efforts, continued, ""This is the message that I send to our friends and brothers in the United States and the European Union....The successor will be worse that what we have currently."

Then the President gave the coldest of receptions to the transition deal, brokered by the Gulf Co-operation Council: "We welcome the Gulf initiative and we say that we will work with it in a positive way for the sake of our homeland (although) in reality it is a mere coup operation ... and part of foreign pressures and agendas."

1310 GMT: The White House has skipped a legal deadline to obtain Congressional authorisation of military action in Libya --- but few on the Hill are objecting.

Under the War Powers Resolution of 1973, a President can only send troops into combat for 60 days without Congressional mandate. That deadline fell Friday.

However, with little apparent objection from Congress, White House officials believe they can continue US involvement in the mission, now led by NATO, without formal Congressional approval --- provided consultations with legislators continue.

0935 GMT: A Syrian activist says that Friday's death toll at the hands of security forces is now at least 44, with most of the casualties in the western province of Idlib and the central city of Homs.

"Syrian authorities are continuing to use excessive force and live ammunition to face popular protests in various regions throughout the country," Ammar Qurabi, head of the National Organization for Human Rights, told AFP by telephone.

0920 GMT: Mass demonstration in Taiz in Yemen on Friday:

0700 GMT: Claimed video of Syria's President Assad being hung in effigy on Friday:

0550 GMT: Egyptian military prosecutors have questioned three journalists after they reported an alleged deal to pardon former President Hosni Mubarak.

The editor and two reporters of El-Shorouk newspaper were interrogated and released Thursday after they signed a pledge to refrain from reporting on issues "which may cause confusion in the streets, without clearance from the armed forces".

El-Shorouk reported this week that Mubarak planned to release an audio appeal on Egyptian State TV for amnesty, offering to turn over all of his assets to avoid a trial. The claim sparked demands for justice from protesters and a denial from the country’s military leaders.

0520 GMT: Syria and Libya had very different places in the news cycle on Friday, but both ended up in the same place: the battles within are nearing marathon status.

After Thursday's overnight raids by NATO on regime ships, damaging eight, the military news was replaced by a Pentagon announcement on Friday that it had delivered 120,000 Halal meals to Libyan insurgents as part of US plans to provide $25 million in non-lethal aid. There were hundreds on the streets of the opposition centre Benghazi demonstrating support for the National Transitional Council, but otherwise the established political and military lines took a back seat to uncertainty in other countries.

The leading case, of course, was Syria. The weekly pattern of widespread defiance of the regime was repeated on Friday, with thousands challenging security forces by turning out in protests across the country. At least 34 of them were slain, according to activists, but far from being suppressed, their call for regime change was repeated in video after video that made its way out of Syria. And, in what may be a telling sign of a shift, claimed footage showed a Baath Party headquarters set on fire in a town in the far east --- that follows our video earlier this week of regime officials fleeing a building before protesters attacked it.

Then there is Yemen and the situation which was not supposed to be over by now. President Saleh again teased his opponents and the international community on Friday, calling for early Presidential elections in a speech to supporters. It appeared to be the latest ploy by Saleh to avoid signing an agreement for his transition of power to a Vice President within 30 days.

Hundreds of thousands of Yemenis certainly weren't accepting it. Video from Taiz, Hodeidah, Ibb, and Sanaa showed mass protests to counter the pro-regime rally in the capital.