At least 34 people have been killed in an attack outside the headquarters of the Republican Guard in Cairo, an Egyptian Health Ministry official has said.

Hundreds of thousands of supporters and opponents of ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi gathered in Cairo and Alexandria yesterday, two days after similar gatherings led to nationwide clashes that claimed more than 30 lives.

Egyptian troops have opened fire on supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi as they marched on a Republican Guard facility.

Egypt’s Islamist president has given the army temporary power to arrest civilians during a constitutional referendum he is determined to push through despite the risk of bloodshed between his supporters and opponents accusing him of a power grab.

An angry Mohammed Morsi refused to call off a referendum on a disputed constitution that sparked Egypt’s worst political crisis in two years, drawing chants of “topple the regime!” from protesters who waved their shoes in contempt.

The Egyptian army has deployed tanks outside the presidential palace following fierce street battles between supporters and opponents of Mohammed Morsi that left five people dead and more than 600 injured in the worst outbreak of violence between the two sides since the Islamist leader’s election.

A protest by at least 100,000 Egyptians outside the presidential palace in Cairo turned violent today as tensions grew over Islamist president Mohammed Morsi’s seizure of nearly unrestricted powers and a draft constitution hurriedly adopted by his allies.

Syria’s most prominent defector has put himself forward as someone to unite the fractured opposition as the disparate factions were set to gather in Qatar today to try to agree on a transitional leadership if Bashar Assad’s regime is toppled.

Syrian forces struck back against rebels today with attack helicopters and shelling in Damascus, one day after an audacious rebel attack in the capital killed three leaders of the regime.

Syria’s elite Republican Guard has clashed with rebels outside Damascus in some of the most intense fighting involving the special forces since the uprising against president Bashar Assad began.

Activists have reported heavy clashes between Syrian rebels and the elite Republican Guard in two suburbs of the capital, Damascus, today.

A French journalist has been found strangled with an electrical wire in his hotel room in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, security officials say.

Yemen’s powerful Republican Guard forces opened fire with guns, tear gas and water cannons today at a march by more than 100,000 protesters demanding that the outgoing president be put on trial.

SYRIAN president Bashar al-Assad has denied ordering the killing of thousands of protesters and said “only a crazy person” would target his own people, as global pressure mounted on his regime.

At least 18 people have been killed and 100 seriously injured in election violence in Congo, with most of the deaths caused by troops loyal to President Joseph Kabila, Human Rights Watch said today.

Security forces in Yemen have opened fire on anti-government protesters in the capital, killing at least two people, a medical official said.

Clashes broke out in Yemen’s second most populous city between tribes and security forces during protests demanding that President Ali Abdullah Saleh step down.

Syrian security forces killed at least 20 protesters today despite promises by President Bashar Assad that the military operations against the five-month-old uprising are over.

Yemen's ailing President Ali Abdullah Saleh called for an end to months of street protests seeking his ousting and urged dialogue during the holy month of Ramadan to end the crisis.

YEMEN President Ali Abdullah Saleh, wounded in an attack on his presidential palace, yesterday flew to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment, potentially offering a face-saving end to his three-decade rule.

Soldiers loyal to Yemen’s embattled president have stormed a protest camp in a southern city and fired on the crowds indiscriminately, killing at least 20 people, a medical official has said.

A Yemeni rights activist says a brigade of the powerful Republican Guard run by the son of embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh has defected to the opposition in a southern province.

THE G8 leaders promised $20 billion (€14bn) in aid to Tunisia and Egypt yesterday and held out the prospect of billions more to foster the Arab Spring and the new democracies emerging from popular uprisings.

Fighting that rocked Sanaa for the past five days spread beyond the capital today as Yemeni tribesmen opposed to the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh seized a Republican Guard military camp.

Twelve protesters were killed when Yemeni security forces opened fire on a massive anti-government demonstration in the capital Sanaa.

Fighters trying to install Ivory Coast’s democratically-elected president descended on its largest city and seat of power, poised for a final push to oust the entrenched ruler.

A female spectator was killed today after she was struck by a motorcycle as she watched the 14th stage of the Tour de France.

A top American commander on Friday accused Iran of supplying powerful roadside bombs to militants in Afghanistan and said the US would “act decisively” if the cross-border flow continues.

At least 13 people were killed as Iraqi security forces fought street gunbattles with suspected insurgents in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul after a suicide car bomber blew up a police patrol today, officials said.

Iraqi police arrested eight Sunni Arabs for allegedly plotting to kill the judge who prepared the indictment of Saddam Hussein, the day before the ousted leader’s trial for crimes against humanity resumes.

The courtroom will be the same but uncertainty surrounds nearly everything else as the trial of Saddam Hussein resumes today after a five-week recess.

Iran’s ultraconservative new president – spurning international outrage over his remarks about Israel – joined more than a million demonstrators who flooded the streets of the capital and other major cities yesterday to back his call for the destruction of the Jewish state.

THE tribunal that will put Saddam Hussein on trial released a new video yesterday of the former dictator being questioned by magistrates about the killing of 50 Iraqis in retaliation for a failed assassination attempt in 1982.

A UNITED STATES air strike targeting a purported fighting position used by foreign militants in Fallujah demolished a house and killed 14 people, hospital and local officials said yesterday.

American troops have detained a senior commander of Iraq’s former Republican Guard, US forces said today.

THE appointment of an Iraqi general to head the brigade taking over from US forces besieging Fallujah was reduced to farce yesterday.

The appointment of an Iraqi general to head the brigade taking over from US forces besieging Fallujah was reduced to farce today.

US troops began clearing razor wire from the main entrance to Fallujah today as their commanders met local officials to work out details of a deal aimed at lifting the month long siege of the city.

The area around Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit, a hotbed of resistance since he was ousted by US-led coalition forces, was always an obvious retreat for the fallen dictator.

Iraqi political parties and coalition chiefs are discussing the creation of a 1,000-member militia to bolster the US military’s fight against the guerrilla uprising.

US troops have arrested at least 20 insurgents in a raid in northern Iraq, but they failed to capture their main target – Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, a former Saddam deputy and the King of Clubs in the most wanted list.

Two US soldiers were killed and four injured in an ambush just hours after a suicide car bombing that killed 10 people, including the driver, in the same Baghdad neighbourhood, the US military said today.