• Family of Syrian opposition leader arrested
• Amnesty says Assad regime targeting dissidents' relatives
• Libya's new leaders poised to declare victory
• Read the latest summary
Here's an afternoon summary:
Syria
• Turkey has announced plans to conduct military exercises close to the Syrian border as Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed plans to impose sanctions against the Assad regime. Supporters of the Assad regime handed a petition to the Turkish embassy in Damascus describing sanctions as an act of aggression. Russia has branded as "unacceptable" a watered down draft UN resolution against Syria.
• There are conflicting reports about the fate of a relative of Syria's new opposition leader, Burhan Ghalioun. The campaign group Avaaz claimed that Ghalioun's niece, Bushra Zein, was kidnapped after he spoke of plans to overthrow the Assad regime at a meeting of the Syrian National Council in Turkey. Activists later claimed she was freed in return for the release of Alawite women who had been kidnapped in retaliation. The SNC could not confirm the reports but pointed out that Ghalioun's brother was arrested in August.
• Amnesty accused the Syrian government of torturing relatives of overseas activists in an attempt to silence international criticism of the regime. In a new report it details more than 30 cases of direct and indirect intimidation of activists in Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, the UK and US. Around 40 protesters took part in a "I am not afraid demonstration" outside the Syrian embassy in London today.
• A Syrian Ba'ath family official has accused the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas - a longstanding ally of Assad - of channelling money to groups in Europe opposed to the Sryian regime. The official told the National: "They have decided to bet against the regime."
Libya
• The Red Cross has reminded Nato and both sides fighting in Libya of their duty to protect civilians, after delivering supplies to the besieged Gaddafi stronghold of Sirte. Two anti-Gaddafi fighters were among the latest casualties in the battle for Sirte.
• There was confusion after UK firm Heritage Oil said it had taken a 51% stake in a Benghazi-based oil services firm only for Libya's National Oil Company (NOC) to deny knowledge of the deal. NOC chairman Nuri Berruien said that any accord for the transfer of licenses to Heritage would requiore NOC approval.
• Libya's new leaders are poised to declare the country's "full liberation" is complete and appoint a new transitional government. The new government will regard the war as won with the fall of Muammar Gaddafi's home town, Sirte – where there is still heavy fighting.
• Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing has said his role in the attack had been exaggerated and the truth about what happened would emerge soon. He said he has only "a few more days, weeks or months" left to live.
Bahrain
More anti-regime protesters in Bahrian have been handed long jail sentences. Fourteen members of the Shia opposition party Amal have been jailed for between five and 10 years by a military court, the state news agency reports.
Egypt
• Egyptian activists have expressed their fear that a blogger who is on hunger strike could die before his appeal is heard after his case was adjourned until October 11. Maikel Nabil was jailed for three years in April for criticising the armed forces. The charges were condemned by activists and Human Rights Watch. He has been on hunger strike for 43 days. Nabil's tearful brother told al-Jazeera: "Maikel's going to die."
• Egypt is putting the finishing touches to a new contract for gas exports to Israel that will see a big increase in prices, the Ma'an news agency reports, citing al-Ahram. One of the charges faced by ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak and his two sons is selling gas to Israel at far lower prices than those commanded in the international market. They deny the charges. Supplies to Israel have been suspended since September when there was the latest in a series of attacks on the pipeline in the Sinai region by people opposed to the sale of gas to Egypt's neighbour.
Russia has condemned an already watered down draft UN resolution on Syria as "unacceptable".
Deputy foreign minister Gennady Gatilov told Interfax news agency that Russia refused to back it threatened possible sanctions against Syria.
"It is unacceptable because it includes the possibility of imposing sanctions against Syria," he said.
The security council is due to vote at 9pm GMT on Tuesday on the resolution condemning Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's six-month-old crackdown on protesters demanding an end to his 11-year rule, Reuters reports.
Gatilov said Moscow also opposes the draft resolution because it fails to include a clause calling on powers not to become involved in internal Syrian affairs and calling for a dialogue between Assad and demonstrators.
A spokesman for the opposition Syrian National Council confirmed that the brother of its president Burhan Ghalioun was arrested six weeks ago.
But said it not have information about his niece. In a brief statement, the spokesman said:
Since the beginning of the uprising in the country, the Syrian security apparatus has, on numerous occasions, targeted human rights and pro-democracy activists through members of their families. On 20 August, the security apparatus arrested Mohammed Khair Ghalioun, the brother of pro-democracy activist Burhan Ghalioun, based in France.
More anti-regime protesters in Bahrian have been handed long jail sentences. Fourteen members of the Shia opposition party Amal have been jailed for between five and 10 years by a military court, the state news agency reports.
They were convicted of promoting the overthrow of the regime, broadcasting false media and malicious speeches and providing fake pictures to foreign media. Nine members of Amal were acquitted. In two separate cases nine Shias were sentenced to to 15 years in prison and four to 10 years for kidnapping two policemen, the Bahrain News Agency said.
Amal chairman Sheikh Mohammed al-Mahfoodh, who was arrested with other party members in May, was tortured and held in solitary confinement for 45 days, his daughter told Reuters.
"He was tortured with electric shocks and whips. There was no tangible evidence to condemn my father or the others."
She said the men's access to lawyers was restricted to just five minutes at each of the six court sessions.
In April, the government said it would dissolve Amal and the main Shia opposition group Wefaq, but held off after public criticism from the United States.
Mattar Mattar, a member of Wefaq, told Reuters:
The courts have looked at many cases of trying to 'overthrow the regime' since King Hamad came to power. This shows the situation in Bahrain is not stable and political reform is essential for stability. "The cases always lack evidence of physical weapons used on the ground. Is it enough to overthrow the regime just through statements?
The sentences come after the outcry last week, when 20 Bahraini medics were jailed for between five and 15 years for treating activists wounded during anti-government protests.
In a separate statement, Bahrain's Interior Ministry said it would block a planned "human chain" protest by Wefaq around its headquarters in the capital Manama later on Tuesday. It said:
"This most recent attempt to disrupt life in Bahrain and further inconvenience its citizens follows recent weekend rioting in a popular mall and calls for a traffic blockade aimed at preventing people from reaching their places of employment."
Maryam Alkhawaja, from the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, tweeted that Wefaq was still intending to go ahead with the human chain.
Meanwhile, rival petitions have been set up on Twitter concerning the president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, Nabeel Rajab. One says that he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for his work, while the other denounces him as an "anarchist and terrorist" and says he should not be given the prize. More than 15 times more people had signed the petition calling for him to be awarded the prize at the time of writing.
Turkish-Syrian relations have turned even more sour. Ankara now plans a show of military strength near the border, while Damascus says Turkey's threat of sanctions is an act of aggression.
Turkey's military says it will conduct exercises near the border with Syria, AP reports.
The manoeuvres will take place in the southern province of Hatay over the next week it said.
Prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced plans to visit Syrian refugee camps in the Hatay area, where he is expected to outline sanctions against the Assad regime.
Syria's state new agency Sana, said a petition was handed to the Turkish ambassador in Damascus denouncing the planned sanctions.
The letter delivered by Assad loyalists said they considered threats to impose economic sanctions an act of "aggression".
There are unconfirmed reports that Bushra Zein, a relative of opposition leader Burhan Ghalioun, has been released. Details are sketchy and hard to confirm, but according to one source, who did not wish to be named, Zein, a Sunni, was freed in exchange for the release of an unknown number of Alawite women who had been kidnapped in retaliation.
The Red Cross has reminded Nato and both sides fighting Libya of their duty to protect civilians, after delivering supplies to the besieged Gaddafi stronghold of Sirte.
Staff from the International Committee of the Red Cross, were given permission to cross the front line on Monday to deliver oxygen cylinders, body bags, surgical equipment and other supplies. They also evacuated a Dutch nurse working in one of the city's hospitals.
"The situation on the ground was very tense with ongoing fighting," said Hichem Khadraoui, the ICRC delegate in charge of the operation.
The conditions in Sirte prompted Georges Comninos, the head of the ICRC delegation in Tripoli, to issue this warning: "The ICRC reminds those fighting on the ground as well as NATO forces of their obligation under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and allow safe access for health-care and humanitarian personnel."
Nouri al-Naari, a doctor at a field hospital in a mosque on Sirte's outskirts, told AP that two anti-Gaddafi fighters had been killed and 28 wounded in fighting on Monday.
A new Guardian gallery shows images of what is being described as the "final assault" on Sirte.
Dozens of anti-government demonstrators congregated outside the Syrian embassy in London this morning to show that they would not be silenced despite reports that President Bashar al-Assad's regime is trying to stifle international condemnation by torturing the relatives of those protesting abroad, writes Sam Jones.
Many clutched placards on which they had written their names and home towns in Arabic and English as they chanted: "Down, down Assad!" and "One solution: revolution!"
The "I am not afraid" protest, which was co-ordinated by Amnesty International, attracted around 40 Syrians from around the UK.
In contrast to previous demonstrations, when protesters have reported being photographed by embassy employees, there was no sign of diplomatic staff or attempted interference with the hour-long event.
Khalil Daaboul, a 25-year-old security guard originally from Lattakia in western Syria, said he had gone to protest to make it clear that he no longer feared the Assad regime.
"I was worried all the time before the uprising on 22 March, but when I saw the uprising I was not afraid any more," he said. "I rang my brother and said, 'I'm sorry if they arrest you, but I can't remain silent'."
Daaboul said he had left Syria because he had no wish to do his military service.
"Imagine if I was there now," he said. "They might make me kill my friends or my brother. I know what the military does … [but] I am sure the [Assad] regime will be changed as Syrians are saying enough is enough."His sentiments were echoed by Razan Saffour, 18, a student from north west London.
"I'm down here to support our family in Syria and the show them that we're not scared," she said. "I don't think that anyone will allow this regime to stay. It may take a long time, but eventually [Assad] will go."Ahmad Alhusari, a 22-year-old engineer from Glasgow, had left Scotland at 3am to make sure that he and his friends arrived in good time for the demo.
He said they had felt dutybound to protest even though he knew he had been photographed by embassy staff on previous occasions and his family had suffered during the uprising.
"[We would do] anything for Syria," he said. "If people there are willing to give their lives and face bullets and tanks, why should they frighten us here?"
Here's a summary of the latest developments:
Syria
• Three relatives of Syria's new opposition leader, Burhan Ghalioun, have been arrested in his home city of Homs, according to activists. The campaign group Avaaz claimed that Ghalioun's brother, nephew and niece were all arrested after he spoke of plans to overthrow the Assad regime at a meeting of the Syrian National Council in Turkey. One man was killed, and another two were injured as they tried to rescue Ghalioun's niece Bushra Zein, according to Wissam Tarif, founder of the human rights activist group Insan.
• Reports of the arrests came as Amnesty accused the Syrian government of torturing relatives of overseas activists in an attempt to silence international criticism of the regime. In a new report it details more than 30 cases of direct and indirect intimidation of activists in Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, the UK and US. People have been taking part in an "I am not afraid demonstration" outside the Syrian embassy in London today.
• A Syrian Ba'ath family official has accused the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas - a longstanding ally of Assad - of channelling money to groups in Europe opposed to the Sryian regime. The official told the National: "They have decided to bet against the regime."
Libya
• There was confusion after UK firm Heritage Oil said it had taken a 51% stake in a Benghazi-based oil services firm only for Libya's National Oil Company (NOC) to deny knowledge of the deal. NOC chairman Nuri Berruien said that any accord for the transfer of licenses to Heritage would requiore NOC approval.
• Libya's new leaders are poised to declare the country's "full liberation" is complete and appoint a new transitional government. The new government will regard the war as won with the fall of Muammar Gaddafi's home town, Sirte – where there is still heavy fighting.
• Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing has said his role in the attack had been exaggerated and the truth about what happened would emerge soon. He said he has only "a few more days, weeks or months" left to live.
Egypt
• Egyptian activists have expressed their fear that a blogger who is on hunger strike could die before his appeal is heard after his case was adjourned until October 11. Maikel Nabil was jailed for three years in April for criticising the armed forces. The charges were condemned by activists and Human Rights Watch. He has been on hunger strike for 43 days. Nabil's tearful brother told al-Jazeera: "Maikel's going to die."
• Egypt is putting the finishing touches to a new contract for gas exports to Israel that will see a big increase in prices, the Ma'an news agency reports, citing al-Ahram. One of the charges faced by ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak and his two sons is selling gas to Israel at far lower prices than those commanded in the international market. They deny the charges. Supplies to Israel have been suspended since September when there was the latest in a series of attacks on the pipeline in the Sinai region by people opposed to the sale of gas to Egypt's neighbour.
Confusion surrounds the deal announced by UK firm Heritage Oil to take a stake in Libya's oil industry (see 11.21am), Malta Today reports:
The head of Libya's National Oil Company has denounced UK oil firm Heritage Oil over its announcement this morning that it had "acquired" 51% in a Benghazi-based oil services firm.
NOC chairman Nuri Berruien said that he "has not" been approached by Heritage Oil over the acquisition of the controlling interest on Sahara Oil Services (SOSH) which holds long term permits and licenses to provide oil field services in Libya, for US$19.5 million in cash.
Speaking to Dow Jones Newswires, Nuri Berruien said that any accord for the transfer of licenses to Heritage would be "null and void" as such a move first requires NOC approval.
It wasn't clear if Berruien was exclusively referring to licenses to explore and produce oil and gas, or for all licenses to operate in Libya.
A Heritage spokesman stressed that the deal with Sahara was for the provision of oil field services, not exploration and production licenses, which he said Heritage would still have to bid for.
One man was killed, and another two were injured in the Syrian city of Homs, as they tried to rescue Bushra Zein, niece of Burhan Ghalioun, according to Wissam Tarif, founder of the human rights activist group Insan.
Speaking on feint line from the Turkish Syrian border where he is monitoring events, Tarif said Zein was is one 25 women and girls who have been kidnapped in Homs in the last ten days.
He said three men were injured at an army checking point as they tried to rescue Zein from a Taxi she had been driven away in. One of the men died this morning, Tarif said.
Update: The activist group the Local Coordination Committee of Syria say it looking into claims that two children were found in a rubbish bin at a school in Homs.
The fighting may be continuing in Libya but the British firm Heritage Oil has already made a play for a stake in the country's precious natural resources. In the Guardian's Market Forces Live Blog, Nick Fletcher writes:
Heritage has bought a 51% controlling interest in Benghazi-based Sahara Oil Services for $19.5m, following reports last month from Reuters that the company had hired ex-SAS commando John Holmes to help it win work in Libya. It said the new acquisition would allow it to pay a significant role in Libya, allowing it to look at ways to gain access to key producing fields and licences.
Heritage said it had been talking to senior members of Libya's National Transitional Council during the last five months:
Heritage is exploring ways to assist the NTC and the state oil companies rehabilitate certain of their existing fields and recommence production. [Sahara Oil] has been granted long-term licences to provided full oil field services in Libya, including the ability to drill onshore and offshore and holds both oil and gas licences.
Heritage's chief executive Tony Buckingham has a long history in Africa, and the company also has operations in Iraq, so it is no stranger to troubled areas. Buckingham said:
Heritage is well placed to play a significant role in the future oil and gas industry in Libya. This acquisition is consistent with Heritage's first mover strategy of entering regions with vast hydrocarbon wealth where we have a strategic advantage.
The Palestinian group Hamas is beginning to distance itself from the Assad regime, according to the UAE daily the National.
A Syrian Ba'ath Party official, told the paper that Hamas was hedging its bets by funding anti-regime organisation.
In public Hamas says it is not with either side in the [Syrian] crisis but in reality they have turned their back on Syria and have sided with Syria's opponents. We have information that Hamas is channelling money to anti-regime groups in Europe. They have decided to bet against the regime.
There is nothing positive between the regime and Hamas at the moment. The regime wants Hamas to change its attitude and openly support them but people inside Hamas believe they have to be with the Syrian people on this issue.
Leading Syrian dissident Ammar Abdulhamid says the new formed opposition group the Syrian National Council will be portrayed as sectarian by the regime because it is not representative of the country's minority groups.
While the Council in its new formation cannot be denounced as Islamist anymore, it cannot be described with any credibility as truly representative. In sectarian terms, Sunni Arabs seem to make up a majority that is much higher than their demographic size should entail. There seems to be a problem with regional representation as well. We should be able to form a clearer picture once we have full disclosure of the names, backgrounds and affiliations of council members.
The strategy might prove effective indeed as far as the international community is concerned, that is, until experts begin sifting through the backgrounds of the various individuals making up the Assembly. Domestically though, the SNC's current makeup is bound to send the wrong message to the Alawites and Christians, playing right into Assad's hands of framing the revolution in purely confessional and sectarian terms.
The BBC has a useful Q&A on the SNC.
The campaign group Avaaz has more details about the reported capture of relatives of the Syrian opposition leader Borhan Ghalioun. It says his 21-year-old niece, Bushra Zein, was kidnapped from her grandfather's house on Monday, citing activists.
She had been accompanying her mother on a visit to the house in the neighbourhood of Jab Jandali near the Salahuddin School, in Homs.
At about 2 pm, three people, two of them believed to be men disguised as women, knocked at Bushra's grandfather's house. They forced themselves through the door and seized Bushra. The 21-year old was bundled into a car, screaming. Her mother, Zeinat Ghalion, ran after the vehicle, managing to grab hold of the car door. But she was unable to hold on as the car sped away.Several young men tried to save the girl but they were fired upon by government forces stationed at barriers erected around the neighbourhood. Three of these youths are now in a critical condition.
Security forces have also arrested Borhan Ghalioun's brother and his nephew.
Nato jets made 36 strike sorties over Libya yesterday but hit no targets, according to its latest update.
On Monday National Transitional Council commanders announced a "final assault" on Gaddafi's stronghold of Sirte after the end of a two-day truce to allow civilians to flee.
Welcome to Middle East Live. Here's a round up of the main developments.
Syria
• Three relatives of Syria's new opposition leader, Burhan Ghalioun, have been arrested in his home city of Homs, according to activists. The camapaign group Avaaz claimed that Ghalioun's brother, nephew and niece were all arrested after he spoke of plans to overthrow the Assad regime at a meeting of the Syrian National Council in Turkey.
• Reports of the arrests came as Amnesty accused the Syrian government of torturing relatives of overseas activists in an attempt to silence international criticism of the regime. In a new report it details more than 30 cases of direct and indirect intimidation of activists in Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, the UK and US.
• The Syrian government says it taken control of Rastan, the central town where a battalion of troops deserted last month. "The defectors were the main reason behind the war on Rastan," a resident told the New York Times.
• The US ambassador to Syria Robert Ford was confirmed by the Senate last night, Foreign Policy magazine's Cable blog reports. It also notes that in his latest Facebook update, Ford describes coming under attack from the regime supporters while he made his way to a meeting with an opposition leader.
Protesters threw concrete blocks at the windows and hit the cars with iron bars. One person jumped on the hood of the car, tried to kick in the windshield and then jumped on the roof. Another person held the roof railing and tried to break the car's side window. When the embassy car moved through the crowd, the man fell off the car.
• The Syrian government have blamed "terrorist" attackers for killing the son of a prominent Sunni Muslim cleric, but opposition groups suggest his death could be another targeted assassination. "What the regime is trying to do here is reinforce the sectarian story," said Amr Azm, an associate professor of Middle East Studies at Shawnee State University in Ohio and member of the opposition council. "The regime wants to portray the uprising as a group of armed Islamic militants who are running amok in the country," he told the Los Angeles Times.
Libya
• Libya's new leaders are poised to declare the country's "full liberation" is complete and appoint a new transitional government. The new government will regard the war as won with the fall of Muammar Gaddafi's home town, Sirte – where there is still heavy fighting.
Speaking at his home in Tripoli, he said:
The facts [about Lockerbie] will become clear one day and hopefully in the near future. In a few months from now, you will see new facts that will be announced," he said. "The west exaggerated my name. Please leave me alone. I only have a few more days, weeks or months.
• A Libyan Jewish man who returned from exile in Italy to join the revolution against Gaddafi has been blocked from trying to restore Tripoli's main synagogue. David Gerbi said he went to clean rubbish from the synagogue but was told armed men were coming from all over Libya and would target him if he did not leave the area.