• Yemen tribal leader al-Ahmar announces ceasefire
• Syrian opposition plans another Friday of defiance
• 'Second day of rage' planned in Egypt
• Reports of Gaddafi on the run prompt Apache deployment
2.35pm: Before Yemeni militia leader Sadeq al-Ahmar announced today's ceasefire the Guardian's Tom Finn toured his compound in the Hasaba area of Sana'a as wounded tribesman were being bought in. Here's a subtitled version of Tom's footage.
At the end there is some Reuters film of al-Ahmar branding President Saleh a liar and claiming that mediation would fail. A day later, after hours of mediation talks, Al-Ahmar announced that he had signed a ceasefire. It is is still holding in Sana'a.
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2.26pm: During Friday protests over the last few weeks Yemen's President Saleh has made brief but defiant speeches to his supporters. But there has been no sign of him today.
Ginny Hill, Yemen expert from the thinktank Chatham House, asked on Twitter:
I've been speculating for a while that Saleh unable to leave the palace (except for previous Friday speeches) - what's the view in Sana'a?
Activist Ibrahim Mothana replied the Saleh's speech was cancelled.
2.20pm: Around 100,000 people have gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square for the 'Second Day of Rage' protests, a live blog by the Egyptian daily Ahram reports.
'Where is the Brotherhood, Tahrir is here,' the protesters chanted to underline the secular nature of the demonstration.
The blog explains:
The Brotherhood had announced earlier in the week that they will not join today's protests, which they said will only create tension between the people and the armed forces. Since Mubarak stepped down on 11 February, the Brotherhood have lost all the goodwill they gained among protesters for their role, if belated, in the revolution. Stunts like using religion to push the 'yes' vote in the constitutional referendum and distancing themselves with the ongoing protests calling for the remainder of the revolution's demands have portrayed the group as opportunists.
2.11pm: Twenty people have been killed in clashes outside the Yemeni capital Sana'a, Hakim Almasmari editor of the Yemen Post just told Al-Jazeera. But he confirmed that the ceasefire is holding in the capital.
The Guardian's Tom Finn provides a Twitter update on the funeral for six killed in yesterday's fighting in Hasaba.
Rain falling on a morbid funeral procession in Sana'a, carrying the bodies of 6 residents killed in Hasaba clashes yesterday #yemen
1.54pm: Eight people have been killed in today's protests in Syria, according to Damascus-based lawyer and human rights monitor Razan Zeitouneh, writes Nidaa Hassan reports from Syria.
In addition to four people killed in Dael, close to Deraa, this morning, she says there is one person confirmed dead in Zabadani, close to the Lebanese border, and three in Qatana near Damascus.So far it is hard to tell if protests are as widespread or have gathered as large crowds as last week. Demonstrators, blocked from gathering in many cases by security forces, have taken to new methods of protest: gathering increasingly during the week, at night (which makes video hard to take), popping up for flash protests before dispersing and holding small localised protests in neighbourhoods of cities such as Homs.
'We are still confident of the strength of the movement,' says one activist in Damascus.
'But we realise media interest is essential and small spread-out protests don't send such a strong message.'
Nidaa Hassan is a pseudonym
1.41pm: At least seven Air Force bombers were deployed to Nehm, in North East Yemen, defence officials have confirmed, according to CNN's Mohammed Jamjoon. In a Twitter update he says two military compounds were seized by tribal fighters.
Defense Min official: At least 7 Air Force bombers deployed to Nehm, where 2 military compnds were overtaken by tribal fighters #yf #yemen
1.23pm: While militia leader Sadeq al-Ahmar announced a ceasefire in Sana'a, tribal leaders from outside the capital claimed they had seized a government military camp prompting air strikes from the president's forces.
Reuters reports:
Yemeni tribesmen said they had seized control of a military compound from elite troops loyal to President Saleh.Tribal leader Sheikh Hamid Asim told Reuters his fighters killed the base's military commander and a separate tribal source said the Yemeni air force dropped bombs to prevent the tribesmen from seizing an arms cache at the site.
Further bombing sorties by the air force could be heard near Sanaa during the course of the day.
If confirmed, the Republican Guard's loss of a military compound to tribesmen with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades would be an embarrassing setback for Saleh, whose security forces have been drawn into pitched street fighting in the capital this week that has killed nearly 100 people.
AP had a similar report:
Friday's assault on the base in the el-Fardha Nehem region was the most significant escalation yet outside the capital. Tribal fighters stormed the camp, 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Sanaa, and killed tens of troops including the base commander in the fighting, said Sheik Ali Saif, a leader from the Hashid tribe.
After the Hashid fighters captured the camp, government airplanes bombed them and other forces clashed with them on the ground, he said. At least 12 tribesmen were killed, Saif said.
Saif said the tribe attacked the base to prevent soldiers there from moving in Sanaa to reinforce government troops there.
1.04pm: Patrick Wintour, the Guardian's politics editor, writes from the G8 summit in France that the summit has 'reached a tough position on Gaddafi', saying in unusually stark terms that he has lost legitimacy and must go. Patrick writes:
That appears to reflect a hardening of the Russian stance since they had previously opposed the military action and were more circumspect on whether Gaddafi could remain in power. In practical terms this means little since the G8 is not a military power, but it does suggest greater international diplomatic consensus than had been expected. Nato will start to deploy air attack helicopters in the next few days.
Leaders of the G8 have also been discussing with the Tunisians and Egyptians how much aid they can give them to help the painful transition process from autocracy to democracy. Both economies are in a dire state, partly due to the loss of tourism. A special communique on the Arab spring prepared by the G8 suggests in vague terms that multilateral institutions can provide $20bn (£12.17bn) in loans and aid to the two countries, but much of this is existing money apart from new loans being provided by the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development. The EBRD has changed its mandate so it can operate in the Middle East.
There is a suspicion that Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, is working with his fellow summiteers so he can produce a larger number including bilateral aid as large as $40bn. But as students of Gordon Brown and G8s know, these headline figures have to be viewed with suspicion.
12.52pm: Protests have broken out across Syria as expected, writes Nidaa Hassan in Damascus.
From Deir Ezzor in the east, Abu Kamal on the border with Iraq and Banias on the coast to Amouda in the Kurdish area and the central city of Homs and areas around Damascus, Syrians have taken to the streets in their thousands.
'There are protests across the town, from Baba Amro neighbourhood to Bab Dreeb,' a doctor in Homs told the Guardian.
So far, he said, he had no reports of security forces shooting, but reports suggest security forces have opened fire in other places including Deir Ezzor. Pictures of Hezbullah leader Hassan Nasrullah are being burned in Abu Kamal, after he made a speech this week backing Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, and in other areas protesters are chanting against Syrian media, which has blamed unrest and violence on infiltrators and foreign gangs.
Nidaa Hassan is a pseudonym
12.37pm: There are reports of protests across Syria as shown in this Google map put together by opposition activists.
One of the largest demonstrations so far appears to be in the city of Hama. Video purports to show thousands of chanting protesters today.
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12.32pm: Nicolas Sarkozy has proposed the G8 give $40bn (£24.4bn) to support new Arab democracies, Reuters is reporting Tunisian finance minister Jalloul Ayed as saying. This was not broken down by country and it is unclear whether other leaders supported it. So far the G8 have pledged $20bn for Tunisia and Egypt specifically.
12.25pm: Reuters has news from Libya on the state of the fighting between Gaddafi's forces and anti-government rebels. Gaddafi's forces launched rocket attacks overnight in the rebel-held town of Zintan and are fighting rebels on the outskirts of Misrata, which Gaddafi's enemies also control.
The news agency says the British and French helicopters are likely to be deployed in Misrata first. They are needed there because 'pro-Gaddafi forces are able to evade attack from high-altitude warplanes by concealing artillery pieces under trees or moving them once they have fired, a tactic known as 'shoot and scoot''.
The news agency's reporter in Misrata said he could see white puffs of smoke and dust from where mortars fired by pro-Gaddafi forces were landing. The rebels responded by firing back with rockets and heavy machine guns, shouting 'Allahu Akbar!', or 'God is Greatest!', after each volley. Doctors at Misrata's hospital said three rebels were killed and 16 wounded in the fighting on Friday.
Faraj al-Mistiri, 36, a rebel fighter, said:
We are being attacked from all sides with rockets, RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades] and mortars. It started between 5.30 and 6.00am [4.30-5am BST]. They have advanced. It's normal to and fro. They are trying their hardest to get back into Misrata.
In Zintan, which is about 150km (93 miles) south-west of Tripoli, Anja Wolz of Doctors Without Borders said:
There must have been about a hundred [strikes]. I wasn't counting, but there were four or five rockets every half an hour or 15 minutes … Zintan is emptying, people are leaving.
In Tripoli, several large explosions were heard and a column of smoke seen rising from Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziyah compound.
Earlier, Libyan prime minister Al-Baghdadi Ali Al-Mahmoudi gave a rare news conference at which he repeated offers of a ceasefire. Rebels have rejected previous truce offers because they say Gaddafi's departure is a precondition. Al-Mahmoudi said: 'Libya is serious about a ceasefire,' but he added: 'The leader Muammar Gaddafi is the leader of the Libyan people; he decides what the Libyan people think. He is in the hearts of the Libyan people.'
12.11pm: Reuters has more from the G8 summit in France. Angela Merkel (left), the German chancellor, has said her country wants Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to be removed and is not isolated in this stance.
She also said the EU would contribute €1.3bn (£1.127bn) to aid for Tunisia and Egypt.
12.04pm: Tribal leader Sadeq al-Ahmar announced a ceasefire in the fighting with government forces before a huge rally in Sana'a, Tom Finn reports from the Yemeni capital during Friday prayers.
Speaking in front of a crowd of hundreds of thousands of people al-Ahmar also declared his backing for the protest movement against Ali Abdullah Saleh, the president.
Al-Ahmar came on to the microphone briefly to loud cheers to announce they have signed a ceasefire. He said he was fully backing the protest movement here.
There was deafening applause when he announced that he wanted the revolution to be peaceful. I've been told that about five miles of this motorway is filled. It is incredible, hard to describe.
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11.54am: More on Russia's offer to mediate in Libya. According to Reuters, Mikhail Margelov, Moscow's special representative on Africa, has told reporters at the G8 summit in France:
We shouldn't talk to Gaddafi himself but with members of his cabinet, possibly with his sons. And we are making such contacts, so there is a hope for a political resolution.
Asked to specify who Russia's main partner would be in such talks, he said:
Can you imagine, if I give you this person's name and his head were to be cut off the next day? But yes, we do have people in Gaddafi's camp.
11.48am: More from Reuters at the G8 summit in Deauville, France, on Russia's offer to mediate in the Libyan crisis (see 11.14am). Sergei Ryabkov, the Russian deputy foreign minister, said:
If the respectful tone that Russia maintains in its dialogue with the Libyan authorities would help Mr Gaddafi take the right decision, I think this will become our serious and significant contribution to the resolution of the grave and potentially even more dangerous situation for Libya and the region.
He added that he felt Gaddafi had lost all legitimacy and should step down.
Colonel Gaddafi has deprived himself of legitimacy with his actions; we should help him leave. There are no disagreements about that with G8 partners, although the tone may differ.
An aide to Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, told reporters later that Russia had partners in the Libyan leader's entourage with whom it could negotiate his departure.
Other G8 officials have said they are unsure what role Moscow might play in Libya. European diplomats said there were signs that Russian officials were apparently in contact with Libyans, but it was unclear to western governments what that involved.
11.37am: Three residents in Dael, a southern town close to Deraa, were shot dead by security forces this morning, Nidaa Hassan reports from Syria.
Both the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Reuters are reporting the killings, citing local residents. The death toll since mid-March has now reached more than 1,000 people, while thousands more have been detained.
Reuters correspondent Suleiman al-Khalidi,who spent several days reporting from the southern protest hub of Deraa in March and was later detained by the Syrian security forces, has written a strong account of the scenes of torture he witnessed during his detention.
'Mostly I was blindfolded, but the blindfold was removed for a few minutes,' he writes.
'That allowed me - despite orders to keep my head down so that my interrogators should remain out of view - to see a hooded man screaming in pain in front of me.
'When they told him to take down his pants, I could see his swollen genitals, tied tight with a plastic cable. 'I have nothing to tell, but I am neither a traitor and activist. I am just a trader,' said the man, who said he was from Idlib province in the north west of Syria.
'To my horror, a masked man took a pair of wires from a household power socket and gave him electric shocks to the head.'
Nidaa Hassan is a pseudonym
11.33am: UN officials say most of Choucha refugee camp in Tunisia, at the main border crossing with Libya, has been damaged and needs rebuilding; the Guardian revealed yesterday that locals burned and looted the camp. The Associated Press news agency reports:
UN refugee agency spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said Friday at least two-thirds of the camp had been destroyed or looted after a fire in the camp last Sunday 'set off a spiral of events' that led to the deaths of four Eritrean refugees and left numerous others injured. The UN withdrew staff because of the unrest.
Some of the 3,500 refugees at the camp outside Ras Ajdir demonstrated over fears they will be sent back to home countries or abandoned.
On Tuesday, a mob of local residents wielding clubs and iron bars attacked refugees. Tunisian troops fired tear gas and warning shots.
11.14am: Russia says it is prepared to mediate in the Libyan crisis following a request from its G8 partners, according to Reuters, citing Russia's deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov.
Earlier the US and France upped the rhetoric further against Muammar Gaddafi's regime, by vowing to 'finish the job' in Libya.
Speaking at joint press conference with Nicolas Sarkozy, Barack Obama said: 'Meeting the UN mandate of civilian protection cannot be accomplished when Gaddafi remains in Libya, directing his forces in acts of aggression against the Libyan people. We are joined in resolve to finish the job.'
Meanwhile, Nato has given an update on the latest air strikes against Libya, amid reports that Apache attack helicopters will be deployed within the next 24 hours.
11.04am: Video from the Yemeni capital Sana'a shows families fleeing the violence on Thursday. It also shows sandbagged checkpoints as a gunshot rang out.
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Since the video was recorded there has been a lull in the violence, according to the Guardian's Sana'a correspondent Tom Finn and the Yemen Post.
10.45am: Syrian opposition activists are planning to map today's protests and reports of deaths in a Google map that will be updated throughout the day.
The group the Local Coordination Committee of Syria has also been tracking the number of killings in Syria since the crackdown began, in an interactive chart.
10.32am: Egyptian blogger and activist Wael Khalil explains why protesters are taking to the streets again today in a 'Second Day of Rage'.
In a post on Comment is Free, he writes:
The call for a 'second revolution' chimes with a growing restlessness and impatience at the pace of developments and the overall performance of the governing Supreme Council of the Armed Forces ...
One concern is the growing talk and continuous leaks about intentions to pardon Hosni Mubarak and members of his regime from facing criminal trials. We demand no clemency for Mubarak, his family or his regime.
The biggest grievance has been the manner in which the security forces – the military police, the army and the police – reacted when the protests got more heated. There has been more than one incident since the revolution when they have used disproportionate force, mass arrest, torture as well as live ammunition against protesters. We demand that not a single peaceful demonstrator should be confronted, arrested, beaten up or humiliated. The Egyptian people have earned themselves that right.
The army have also extended their use of military trials against civilians to unprecedented levels, with hundreds of civilians having received severe and disproportionate prison sentences.
10.07am: Thousands and thousands are flocking towards the protest camp at Sana'a university, Yemen, amid reports that mediators have intervened to stop the fighting, Tom Finn reports from the Yemeni capital.
'Every week we have seen more and more people filling up this motorway, which is a ring road round Sana'a. Last week it was four miles worth, this week it is going to be more,' he said.
Troops loyal to General Ali Mohsin, who defected in March, will watch over the protest, Tom reports. On Thursday the general made a 'fiery speech' urging soldiers not to obey Saleh, but so far his troops have stayed out of the fighting.
Meanwhile, the battle between Saleh's troops and the Hashid tribal militia have calmed in the last 24 hours, Tom says.
There has been an eerie quiet hanging over Sana'a. I'm told there are tribal mediators doing some negotiations behind the scene. We haven't heard any mortar fire or machine guns for at least 10 hours.
A lot of people will be joining the protest because of the violence. They desperately don't want to see Yemen dragged into a violent conflict, so they want to show their solidarity with peaceful protesters.
Tom says reports of mediation to end the tribal fighting point to a possible involvement of Saudi Arabia. 'They [Saudi Arabia] have lots of informal networks with politicians and businessmen and are able to pull the strings without people knowing about it. So it quite possible that they are involved in these negotiations.'
Tom also warned Twitter users to be wary of 'sensational and fear-mongering tweeting about Yemen'.
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9.55am: Widespread protests are once again expected today - on the 11th Friday of Syria's uprising, Nidaa Hassan reports from Damascus.
Amnesty International said it had evidence that the Syrian government was implementing a 'shoot-to-kill' policy, citing video footage.
This matches with protesters' accounts that bullets are predominantly being shot at the head and neck, and is raising the international pressure on the regime whose senior officials have already been hit by US and EU sanctions and a UN security council resolution is being prepared.
Reuters, which has seen a draft of the text pushed by European countries, reports that the text says Syria's actions may amount to crimes against humanity. Amnesty says officials should be referred to the international criminal court.
As the protests continue to rumble on and the regime continues to hit back, opposition and diplomats say they are concerned that protesters will increasingly pick up arms.
Some - a small minority - have already done so, say diplomats and protesters. This may account for a small number - though not all - of the deaths of Syrian security forces.
Syrian government officials told AFP on Thursday that 112 soldiers and security troops and 31 police officers had been killed.
Meanwhile, Syrian TV yesterday aired a statement by the prominent Deraa shiekh Ahmed Sayasna saying he was mistaken in backing activists.
'I realised too late that there is a conspiracy and calls for bloodshed in Syria,' he said. Activists have condemned it as a fake confession extracted under pressure, pointing to the central role played by Sayasna, whose Omari mosque became a field hospital and focus for protesters in the southern hub as he spoke out against the government.
Nidaa Hassan is a pseudonym
9.38am: The Yemeni capital Sana'a is now a city divided, Reuters reports. It claims that the north of the city is controlled, not by the militia leader Sadeq al-Ahmar, but by a general who until now has stayed out of the conflict.
South Sana'a is under the control of President Ali Abdullah Saleh's security forces, and the north is mainly controlled by General Ali Mohsin, one of Yemen's most powerful military leaders, who defected in March to protesters demanding the end of Saleh's nearly 33-year-old rule.
Heavily armed soldiers behind barricades, sandbags and checkpoints separate the two sides as they continue a week-long battle that may decide the future of a failing state convulsed by protests for the past four months.
The fighting, pitting forces loyal to Saleh against members of the country's most powerful tribe, the Hashid led by Sadeq al-Ahmar, was the bloodiest Yemen has seen since anti-government protests began in January.
9.18am: Human Rights Watch has written to Formula One urging it to reconsider rescheduling the Grand Prix in Bahrain.
F1 bosses are meeting next week to decide a new date for the Bahrain Grand Prix after the event was postponed in March due to security concerns. HRW suggested the event should be cancelled in protest at the continuing political repression in the Kingdom.
In the letter, deputy programme director Tom Porteous, wrote:
We seriously question whether a successful Formula One event can be staged in an environment characterised by an unrelenting official campaign of punitive retribution against many who participated in or otherwise supported the pro-democracy protests, which authorities from the prime minister on down have retrospectively characterised, with zero evidence, as a treasonous coup inspired by Iran.
8.59am: A colonel in Yemen's Republican Guard is reported to have defected and issued a video condemning Saleh as a butcher whose orders should not be obeyed.
Yemen watcher Jane Novak writes:
This may be the straw that broke the camels back. It's quite significant. The Republican Guards are the unit headed by Saleh's son Prince Ahmed. Coupled with the earlier tribal excommunication, I'm nearly optimistic for a quick resolution. Tick tock.
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8.08am: Welcome to Middle East Live. Will be tracking planned protests after Friday prayers in Yemen, Syria and Egypt today.
In Yemen huge demonstrations are expected after protesters called for a 'million-man' march and a 'day of peaceful revolution to defy the small minority seeking violence'.
In Syria the opposition is planning another Friday of defiance as dissidents prepare to meet in Turkey to set up a transition council to represents the Syrian revolution.
In Egypt Cairo's Tahrir Square will again be the focus as the opposition plans a Second Day of Rage. Marches are also planned in Alexandria and Suez.
The Egyptian daily Ahram lists the protesters demands:
There is no one demand that unites all participants, but the chief ones are: replacing the military council with a presidential one that would rule the country until the coming elections, designing a new constitution before parliamentary elections, holding former regime figures and above all ousted president Hosni Mubarak accountable through prompt fair trials, releasing all political detainees arrested in the last three months by military police, ending the trials of civilians in military courts, abolishing the emergency law, and lifting censorship from state-owned media.
Here's a round-up of the some of other key developments in the region.
• Yemen edges closer to civil war as clashes between Hashid clan and president's forces intensify. The foreign secretary, William Hague, urged Saleh to hand over power, reduced embassy staff and warned all British expatriates to leave Yemen immediately.
• David Cameron has been told by UK intelligence that Muammar Gaddafi is increasingly paranoid, on the run, and hiding in hospitals by night. The MI6 report prompted Cameron to authorise a high-risk escalation of attacks by agreeing to deploy four Apache helicopters into Libya with orders to gun down regime leaders.
• Libya's battered regime has made its most plaintive plea yet for a ceasefire, offering to talk to anti-government rebels, move towards a constitutional government and compensate victims of the three-month conflict. The plan represents an advance on previous ceasefire bids, which had focused largely on implementing a proposal by the African Union that calls for international monitors to observe a negotiated truce. But Gaddafi's name was again conspicuously absent from the new discussion about a ceasefire.
• Britain is to set aside £110m over the next four years to foster democracy and economic growth in Tunisia and Egypt as part of a wider international package to show support for the Arab spring. David Cameron argued that if Britain did not help the fledgling democracies of north Africa the result would be poisonous extremism and waves of illegal immigration into the UK.
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