Syria, Yemen, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Marching on the Streets

2110 GMT: Reuters now report that 35 anti-regime protesters in Taiz in Yemen were wounded today when plainclothes gunmen fired into the crowd (see 1220 GMT).

2100 GMT: Claimed footage of protesters in the Syrian town of Daraa shouting slogans against the Assad regime as Major General Mohammed Aalgirat leaves a building:

2050 GMT: Analysts close to the regime in Syria say President Assad has nominated Vice-President Farouk al-Sharaa and his assistant Mohammad Nasief, Vice-President for Cultural Affairs Najah al-Attar, and Presidential Advisor Bouthaina Shaaban to take part in dialogue with opposition figures for a resolution to the crisis.

One analyst asserted, "All good Syrians should support the dialogue to find a solution. We want stability and security for our country." However, he warned that “armed salafist groups” in Tal Kalakh --- where four people were killed by security forces today (see 1220 GMT) --- illustrated that “there are some sides who want to block the political solution to the crisis".

An opposition member said the killing of protestors must end and political prisoners must be freed before any dialogue began:

The real dialoguers are in jail, those who were demonstrating in streets. They were arrested so the first condition is to release those who are in jails and to give freedom of expression to all Syrians.

1700 GMT: Video claiming to be of Omani security forces arresting protesters yesterday:

1655 GMT: Claimed footage of a demonstration in Taiz in Yemen today:

1555 GMT: Claimed video of Libyan insurgents moving this week beyond the western gate of Misurata, 210 kilometres (130 miles) east of Tripoli, and towards the town of Zliten several kilometres away.

And a clip of the fighting on Tuesday east of Misurata:

1545 GMT: A lengthy clip of today's funeral in Homs in Syria for Fouad al-Rajoub, slain on Friday.

1525 GMT: Following talks in London and Washington (see 0525 GMT), the head of Libya's opposition National Transitional Council, Mahmud Jibril, has met French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris.

No details of the talks have emerged, although it is likely they will take in Washington's non-committal response to Jibril's request for recognition of the NTC as the sole representative of the Libyan people. France has already taken that step.

Jibril and Sarkozy first met in early March.

1510 GMT: Claimed footage of a protest today in the Qaboun section of Damascus:

1425 GMT: A hospital says that Suzanne Mubarak, wife of the former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, has responded well to treatment for "a panic attack" she suffered after being told she would be detained for further questioning over corruption allegations.

It had been reported on Friday that Ms. Mubarak suffered a heart attack after the meeting with prosecutors, but the official said the panic attack had aggravated her chronic high blood pressure and caused chest pain.

1350 GMT: Thomas Erdbrink of The Washington Post details the mixed reaction to Al Jazeera Arabic's coverage of the uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East:

For months, the Qatar-based al-Jazeera provided intense coverage of the uprisings that have rocked the Middle East, often almost cheering along the protesters. But when tanks from Saudi Arabia rolled in to quell anti-government demonstrations in neighboring Bahrain in March, the Arabic-language news network’s reporting was only sporadic and markedly neutral, critics say.

That contrasting approach has brought fresh attention to al-Jazeera’s close ties to the Qatari government, which owns the influential network, and prompted charges that the broadcaster is serving as an instrument of Qatar’s ambitious foreign policy.

1330 GMT: Al Arabiya reports on the continuing winding-up of protests by the Omani regime, as security forces dispersed camps and arrested hundreds this week.

1250 GMT: More than 8000 people were in this morning's funeral procession of a protester killed on Friday in Homs in Syria.

Mourners for Fouad al-Rajoub marched through the city chanting for an end to the siege on Homs, Baniyas, and Deraa, the major flashpoints in the uprising that began on 15 March.

An eyewitness said that, facing the size of the procession, the military removed and relocated some of the checkpoints established throughout the city.

1220 GMT: Plainclothes gunmen have wounded at least seven people when they opened fire from rooftops upon anti-regime protesters in the Yemeni city of Taiz today.

Several people were killed and scores wounded by security forces earlier this week in Taiz.

1220 GMT: Al Jazeera English is now reporting four dead in this morning's shelling of the southern Syrian village of Tal Kalakh (see 1212 GMT). One person who crossed the border into Lebanon has died of his wounds.

1212 GMT: It is reported that around 12 Syrian families, including two seriously-wounded people, fled on Saturday to Lebanon's border town of Wadi Khaled, after the Syrian military shelled the southern village of Tal Kalakh.

1210 GMT: Claimed footage, taken on Tuesday, on the remains of the tanks of the regime's Hamza Battalion after NATO airstrikes.

1200 GMT: Nadim Houry of Human Rights Watch sends the message that Catherine Altalli-a, a prominent human rights lawyer, was detained in Barzeh by Syrian authorities on Friday.

0730 GMT: EA staff are on a morning break. We will return with updates from 1200 GMT.

0655 GMT: The leader of the Libyan opposition's National Transitional Council, Mahmoud Jibril, speaks with CNN about the movement and what it is seeking from the US --- "We need recognition":

0645 GMT: The Minister of Information, Adnan Mahmud, claimed that the Syrian military has begun pulling out of the coastal town of Baniyas.

Syrian troops and plainclothes officers occupied the town last week. Reports indicate they were able to quell more dissent yesterday as protests took place across Syria.

0545 GMT: A dispute continues over a NATO airstrike on Friday on the eastern Libyan city of Brega, held by the regime.

The regime says 11 people were killed and 45 were wounded, but NATO insists the attack was on a military command-and-control centre: "We are aware of allegations of civilian casualties in connection to this strike, and although we cannot independently confirm the validity of the claim, we regret any loss of life by innocent civilians when they occur."

Libyan State television showed footage on Friday of at least nine bodies with multiple wounds, wrapped in blankets. It said the attack occurred at dawn and most of the victims were clerics who had gathered for a religious ceremony.

0525 GMT: In Libya, the hot "news" was actually a rumour, as the Italian Foreign Minister spoke of regime leader Muammar Qaddafi being injured in a recent NATO airstrike and withdrawing from Tripoli.

In response, Libyan State TV carried an audio from Qaddafi denouncing NATO, saying he was in good health, and declaring he was in a place where the coalition could not find him.

Far more substantial was the visit of the opposition leadership to Washington to lobby for US support and recognition but there was little in the way of a public outcome.

The US National Security Advisor, Tom Donilon, who met the head of the National Transitional Council, Mahmoud Jibril, said the NTC is a "legitimate and credible interlocutor of the Libyan people", but the Administration stopped short of formal recognition.

0510 GMT: Another Friday, another day of dramatic protest across Syria and Yemen.

In Syria, video after video gave a loud rebuttal to the regime's combination of military crackdown, promises of reform, and disruptions of communcations. While the Assad forces appeared to limit the appearance of dissent in central Damascus, apart from a demonstration in one mosque, rallies took place on the outskirts of the capital and across the country.

Clashes were less intense, compared to recent weeks, but six people still reportedly died.

In Yemen, the footage testified to tens of thousands in demonstrations for and against President Saleh. The capital Sanaa and Taiz, in contrast to recent days, were relatively free of violence, but casualties were reported in Ibb in the south.

The anti-regime protesters appeared to have the numerical advantage across the country, but the President remained defiant in his speech to supporters in Sanaa. In response, a spokesman for the opposition coalition claimed Saleh had "declared war".