2145 GMT: Claimed footage of a protest in Idlib Province in northwest Syria today:
2015 GMT: The video of Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa's speech promoting a "national dialogue":
Tuesday, June 21, 2011 at 14:47 | Scott Lucas in Africa, EA Global, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran Claimed footage of Syrian forces firing on protesters last Friday in the Khalidiya neighbourhood of Homs
2032 GMT: The BBC runs this report from Zliten, Libya...
1907 GMT: The US State Department Spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, has defended a Syrian-government funded trip by a US ambassador to tour northern Syria. Nuland said that it was an opportunity for Ambassador Robert Ford to "see for himself the results of the Syrian government's brutality." According to Ford, the town of Jisr al-Shughour, a focus of the tour, was abandoned, and there were no civilians present to dispute the Syrian government's claims.
1844 GMT: An activist with sources in Libya is claiming that NATO has struck positions occupied by pro-Gaddafi forces near Nalut. Also, Gaddafi's forces in Ghazaya have also been hit by NATO aitstrikes five times in the last day, and his forces in Ruwais have also been struck:
"Mobile Communication cut off in southern #Libya in the following cities :#Sebha #Murzuq #Shatti #Jufra."
1811 GMT: Journalists in Libya are reporting that Misurata is once again being shelled by Gaddafi forces, potentially by Grad rockets. Three or four large explosions have been heard in the last hour, and there were explosions on Benghazi street.
According to Ben Wedeman:
Monday, June 20, 2011 at 15:53 | Scott Lucas in Africa, EA Global, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 1855 GMT: Varying reactions to the speech of Syrian President Assad....
Turkish President Abdullah Gul has said Assad's speech is "not enough", as the President should implement a multi-party-system; however, the deputy secretary-general of the Arab League, Ahmed bin Heli, said Syria is a "main factor of balance and stability in the region" and the League rejects any foreign intervention in its affairs.
1710 GMT: The journalists of the human rights organisation Avaaz claim the Damascus suburbs of Harasta and Arbeen the coastal city of Latakia have been locked down by security forces after protests today challenging the speech of President Assad.
The group asserts that security forces are currently conducting a random wave of arrests in Latakia, detaining dozens and chasing and attacking protesters through the side streets.
1705 GMT: Another protest in Syria reacting against President Assad's speech, this one in Binnish in Idlib Province in the northwest:
Sunday, June 19, 2011 at 14:43 | Scott Lucas in Africa, EA Global, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 
A refugee camp of Syrians in Turkey (Reuters)
2110 GMT: NATO has acknowledged that an airstrike on the Libyan capital Tripoli may have caused "a number of civilian casualties" when a residential building was destroyed.
The Libyan regime, claiming nine people were killed and six injured, has been showing foreign journalists the building site and taking them to a hospital where casualties have been taken.
"This is cold-blooded murder," regime spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said amidst the rubble of the building. "Is this the protection of civilians? Is this really the search for peace and democracy in Libya, to attack peaceful neighborhoods of Tripoli?"
NATO said in a statement Sunday that a military missile site was the strike's intended target: "However, it appears that one weapon did not strike the intended target and that there may have been a weapons system failure."
The development has already had an effect on reporting: the BBC's Jeremy Bowen, in a lengthy report tonight that highlighted the damage and hostile reactions of local residents, declared, "For NATO, this has been the worst day since the start of the conflict."
Gunmen in Tripoli's Green SquareOn Saturday, Libyan authorities ordered Xan Rice, a reporter for The Guardian of London, out of the country. This was the article on Friday that apparently raised their anger:
Locals call them pimps or snitches. They wear plain clothes, drive unmarked cars and are as numerous as scorpions in the Libyan desert, only more dangerous. Loathed and feared in equal measure, they are the eyes and ears of Colonel Muammar Qaddafi, and a large part of the reason that Tripoli has not been able to join the revolt sweeping the country.
President Obama rejected the views of top lawyers at the Pentagon and the Justice Department when he decided that he had the legal authority to continue American military participation in the air war in Libya without Congressional authorization, according to officials familiar with internal administration deliberations.
Jeh C. Johnson, the Pentagon general counsel, and Caroline D. Krass, the acting head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, had told the White House that they believed that the United States military’s activities in the NATO-led air war amounted to “hostilities.” Under the War Powers Resolution, that would have required Mr. Obama to terminate or scale back the mission after May 20.
Friday, June 17, 2011 at 17:29 | Scott Lucas in Africa, EA Global, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran
View LccSy: Syria Protests June 17, 2011 in a larger map Activists records a map of today's protests in Syria.
See also Syria Video Special: The Latest from Friday's Protests
1655 GMT: Anthony Shadid summarises for The New York Times:
Tens of thousands of protesters poured into the streets of Damascus’s suburbs and three of Syria’s five largest cities on Friday, in a weekly show of defiance against President Bashar al-Assad. Activists said at least 19 people were killed.Security forces fired on protesters in Homs, one of Syria most restive locales, and the police and protesters fought in Deir al-Zour, a large city in the east. But thousands were permitted to demonstrate in Kiswa, a town south of Damascus and carry banners that read, “Leave!” and “The people want the fall of the regime.”
Some opposition figures had speculated that the government might try to bring down the weekly death toll, which surged past 100 on one Friday, in anticipation of a speech Mr. Assad is expected to give as early as Sunday. Syrian officials have portrayed the address as significant, though many in the opposition said their expectations were low.
Bashar al-Assad, Libya, Manal, Rami Makhlouf, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Women2Drive, Yemen Thursday, June 16, 2011 at 20:42 | Scott Lucas in Africa, EA Global, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran Tanks surround Jisr al-Shughour in northwest Syria
2015 GMT: A protest in Idlib Province in northwest Syria condemns military occupations:
1925 GMT: Back from a break to find that Spain has expelled the Libyan Ambassador, Ajeli Abdussalam Ali Breni, "because the Qaddafi regime has lost all legitimacy due to its continual repression of the Libyan population."
2030 GMT: Gathering in the coastal town of Latakia in Syria tonight:
1900 GMT: Claimed footage of a demonstration in Idlib Province in Syria today, calling for the downfall of the Assad regime:
Tuesday, June 14, 2011 at 11:14 | Scott Lucas in Africa, EA Global, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 2046 GMT: An activist posts this photo online, claiming to show a pharmacist, who fled from Jisr al-Shughour and set up this "clinic."
2024 GMT: In Yemen, hudreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets in every major city, calling for the arrest of the family and close advisors of President Saleh (see videos below). There were protests reported in Hadramawt, Hodeida, Ibb, Damar and Saada, as well as Taiz (the second largest city in Yemen) and the nation's capital, Sana'a.
Tens of thousands of protesters also gathered outside of Vice President Hadi's residence, vowing to stay until he establishes a transitional council.
President Saleh's health is still debatable, but according to one official, he is having an undisclosed problem with his throat.
1942 GMT: Al Jazeera documents regime thugs beating peaceful protesters in Damascus, and the cries of women and children in Jisr al-Shughour.
1937 GMT: Liberia is now the latest country to withdraw diplomatic recognition of the Gaddafi regime:
"The Government took the decision after a careful review of the situation in Libya and determined that the Government of Colonel Gaddafi has lost the legitimacy to govern Libya."
1929 GMT: As Syrian tanks approach the eastern town of Deir Ezzor, the Arab League has released a statement condemning the violence in Syria. The Assad regime, however, dismisses the condemnation as politically motivated. The Syrian envoy even suggested that outgoing Arab LEague Secretary General, Amr Moussa, was advocating military intervention in Syria:
"Days before leaving his post, Moussa calls for a kind of foreign intervention in the Syrian affairs, when the Libyan blood, shed by Nato air strikes as a result for a [UN] security council resolution, based, regrettably on an Arab demand in which Moussa's efforts immensely contributed, isn't dry yet," he said.
1921 GMT: NATO has stepped up efforts to discourage Gaddafi's soldiers by dropping leaflets to warn them that Apache helicopters will be mowing them down. The problem: they dropped the leaflets over rebel positions near Misurata.
Bahrain, Guido Westerwelle, Libya, Maysoon Sabkar, Syria 
