Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Another Tahrir Square?

2055 GMT: EA sources report that Internet service in Bahrain has slowed to a crawl, making it difficult even to send e-mails.

2015 GMT: Reuters report three people were killed and about 30 wounded in Kut in southern Iraq as about 2000 protesters demanding better basic services fought with police and set government buildings on fire.

2010 GMT: Al Jazeera English reports that hundreds of protesters "torched" Libyan police outposts in the eastern city of Al-Bayda (see video at 1745 GMT), while chanting: "People want the end of the regime."

In the southern city of Zentan, 120 km (75 miles) south of Tripoli, hundreds of people marched through the streets and set fire to security headquarters and a police station, then set up tents in the heart of the town

Police reportedly fired tear gas and violently dispersed protesters, arresting 20, in Benghazi. Families of those arrested are reportedly planning to gather outside the city's security directorate to demand their release.

1815 GMT: Ahram Online says the strike at Egypt's largest spinning and weaving factory, in Al-Mahalla Al-Kobra, more than 100 kilometres (62 miles) north of Cairo, involves more than 20,000 workers.

The protest is over a minimum wages and better conditions, as well as a call for the departure of the temporarily appointed manager of the company.

Almost 300 journalists of the state-run Al-Ahram have apologised for the paper’s “unprofessional” coverage of the demonstrations that toppled the president. They asked for the resignation of editor-in-chief Osama Saraya and chairman of the board Abdel Moniem Saeid.

Journalists said they wrote and signed an apology to the people for publication, but the editorial team refused.

1745 GMT: Claimed video of demonstrations today in Al-Bayda, the third-largest city in Libya:

1730 GMT: In Yemen, police have shot and killed two protesters in the southern city of Aden, while unrest in the capital Sanaa over the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the president.

Police in Aden fired shots into the air to try to break up around 500 protesters. Demonstrators hurled stones at police, set tyres and vehicles on fire, and stormed a municipal building. At least four people were arrested.

1725 GMT: Strikes have continued across Egypt, affecting banking, transport, oil, tourism, textiles, state-owned media, and government agencies. Staff at Cairo airport  also defied the call by the Supreme Military Council to stop all protests, with hundreds of employess demonstrating inside the arrivals terminal.

More than 12,000 workers at a state-owned textile factory went on strike over pay and calls for an investigation into alleged corruption at the factory.

In Port Said, a coastal city at the northern tip of the Suez Canal, about 1,000 people demonstrated to demand that a chemical factory be closed because it was dumping waste in a lake near the city.

Egypt's Ministry of Health has given preliminary figures of at least 365 people were killed and 5,500 injured in the protests that toppled President Hosni Mubarak. A total of 123 injured people remain in hospital.

At least 32 police were killed and over 1,000 wounded during the uprisings, the Ministry of Interior said.

1530 GMT: Reports are coming from Kut, a southern Iraqi province, that at least one person has been killed in clashes between security forces and protesters.

Around 2,000 people had attacked government offices in Kut in protest over poor services. 27 people are also reported as wounded. The protests began at 0600 GMT.

1500 GMT: At least 50 students are in front of the Presidency in Algeria.

1445 GMT: Foreign Ministry of Bahrain issues a statement on the given promise to investigate the deaths and the demands of its people. The statement says:

His Excellency Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Bin Mohamed Al Khalifa, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Bahrain, has confirmed that the reform programme of His Majesty King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa remains ongoing - a programme which guarantees the separation of powers, human rights principles, and the freedom of opinion and expression.

The Minister noted that the protests seen in Bahrain could happen in any free democratic country. He pointed out that the government had responded promptly and responsibly to events, through the establishment by Royal Order of a special committee, chaired by H.E. the Deputy Prime Minister, to investigate the deaths of two dear sons of Bahrain, and to ensure full and proper accountability.

The Ministry of Interior, immediately and in accordance with the proper legal procedures, placed in custody those suspected of involvement in the two cases, steps which make clear that the Kingdom of Bahrain does not condone the use of excessive force at any time. The Investigating Committee will carry out its work impartially and transparently.

Accordingly, His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs called upon all states and international organisations to strive for truth and accuracy, and not to prejudge matters in advance of the conclusions of the Investigating Committee.

The Minister added that Bahrain’s prompt response to these unfortunate incidents demonstrates that it is a country governed by the rule of law and through constitutional institutions, noting that the legislation organising gatherings and demonstrations had been adopted by the elected Council of Representatives. The Minister underlined that the right to freedom of expression is guaranteed by the National Action Charter, the Constitution and the law, which must be respected by all.

1430 GMT: Two video clips show protester's clash with Libyan policemen and how they are exposed to live ammunition. 

1400 GMT: Tweets from an activist (Jan25voices) say that "Memorial Service for Martyrs" march begins at 1:30 PM Friday, from Cairo Opera House and ends at Tahrir Square.

1350 GMT: Picture from the protests in Manama, Bahrain.

1345 GMT: Clash between anti-government protesters and government backers at Sanaa University's gate in Yemen.

1330 GMT: BBC has been removed from the Cable Television network in Azerbaijan. Is the Aliyev government afraid?

1320 GMT: Almost 3,000 protesters were in front of the Ministry of Education in Algeria. 

1300 GMT: Demonstrations are continuing in Egypt. Hundreds of Cairo airport staff were protesting inside the arrivals terminal for better wages and health coverage.

In Nile Delta city, textile workers went on strike over pay and calls for an investigation into alleged corruption at the factory. In Port Said, about 1,000 people demonstrated to demand that a chemical factory be closed because it was dumping waste in a lake near the city.

1245 GMT: Chairman of the Libya Human Rights Association Mohamed Ternish told Reuters that 110 prisoners jailed for membership of banned militant organisation, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, will be released.

It is also reported that clashes between demonstrators and policemen are continuing. 

1230 GMT: It is reported by an activist (tweets from AhmadALGamaty) that two people were killed in Benghazi, Libya.

1225 GMT:The head of the largest Shiite political bloc in Bahrain, Sheik Ali Salman, said: "We are not looking for a religious government like Iran's, but we demand a civil government."

A picture from the occupation of the Pearl Roundabout in Manama:

1220 GMT: Al Jazeera is reporting that the Libyan military have stopped media from going to Benghazi to cover protests.

1215 GMT: Al-Jazeera reports that there are rumours of a third person dying after being injured in protests in Bahrain yesterday. It is still not confirmed yet.

1210 GMT: Al-Jazeera cites the Libyan Quryna newspaper as saying that 14 people were injured in the clashes, including three demonstrators and 10 security officials.

1200 GMT: An activist claims that the Yemeni president allocates huge amounts of "millions" for Sanaa and Amran's tribes.

1155 GMT: Egypt's military spokesman Ismail Etman said that the panel commissioned to change Egypt's Constitution will only work on amending a number of articles rather than drafting a new Constitution.

1150 GMT: Al-Jazeera's Rawya Rageh reports that the re-opening of schools and universities in Egypt has been delayed another week.

1140 GMT: Israel has agreed to a second limited deployment of Egyptian troops to secure the demilitarised north Sinai. 

1130 GMT: Thirty-eight people were injured in clashes between Libyan security forces and demonstrators in Benghazi overnight, the director of Al-Jala hospital told AFP.

1110 GMT: A picture from Bahrain streets, saying "We are not terrorists".

1105 GMT: The office of the UN human rights chief Anders Kompass said it hoped to send a mission to Egypt in the coming days.

1100 GMT: A group of representatives from professional syndicates, intellectuals and university lecturers, has called for the transitional government in Egypt in the coming six months.

1050 GMT: Egypt's central bank closed the country's banks until Sunday.

1045 GMT: UK's Minister for the Middle East and North Africa Alistair Burt said:

I am concerned by the reports of excessive use of force by police during demonstrations in Bahrain that led to the death of two protestors. I call on all sides to exercise restraint and refrain from violence.

The UK will always support, and speak out in defence of, the right to peaceful protest and freedom of expression. It is now critical that the Bahraini Government moves quickly to carry out its commitment to a transparent investigation into yesterday’s deaths and any alleged human rights abuses.

1040 GMT: Yemen has sent 2,000 policemen into the streets and they are blocking thousands of students at Sanaa University from joining demonstrators outside. 

1030 GMT: More video of overnight protests by hundreds in Benghazi in Libya against the detention of lawyer Fathi Terbil.

1010 GMT: The Muslim Brotherhood has put out a petition, calling for collective action to freeze former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's assets worldwide. To be delivered to the G20 meeting, it urges:

We call on you to immediately freeze any assets of the former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, his family, and his circle of friends and advisers --- so they can be investigated and returned to the Egyptian people; and to provide cooperation and assistance to Egyptian authorities under Article 51 of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption.

1000 GMT: Former Egyptian Minister of Interior Habib El Adly, accused of ordering live ammunition to be used on protesters on 28 January, has said during an investigation that he was not responsible.

0845 GMT: A new WikiLeaks cable casts doubt on whether Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the head of the Higher Military Council, will pursue reforms. His priority is "social instability" that reforms may provoke.

0830 GMT: Oliver Roy claims that the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings are different from previous movements in the Arab World:

Look at those involved in the uprisings, and it is clear that we are dealing with a post-Islamist generation. For them, the great revolutionary movements of the 1970s and 1980s are ancient history, their parents' affair. The members of this young generation aren't interested in ideology: their slogans are pragmatic and concrete - "Erhal!" or "Go now!". Unlike their predecessors in Algeria in the 1980s, they make no appeal to Islam; rather, they are rejecting corrupt dictatorships and calling for democracy... The slogans of pan-Arabism have been largely absent, too... This generation is pluralist, undoubtedly because it is also individualist. 

That said, a revolt is not a revolution. The new popular movement has no leaders, no structure and no political parties, which will make the task of anchoring democracy in these former dictatorships difficult. It is unlikely that the collapse of the old regimes will automatically lead to the establishment in their place of liberal democracies, as Washington once hoped would happen in Iraq.

0820 GMT: More on clashes in Benghazi in Libya early this morning....

We had noted the rally protesting the detention of a lawyer who is critical of the Qaddafi regime (see 0625 GMT). Libyan media are now reporting on an incident --- which appears to be another version of that protest --- in which a crowd protested outside a local government office to demand the release of a human rights activist. Clashes with security forces and government supporters, according to these newspapers, injured 14 including 10 police officers.

The online edition of the privately-owned Quryna newspaper claimed the crowd was armed with petrol bombs and threw stones.

A Benghazi resident contacted by Reuters said the people involved in the clashes were relatives of inmates in Tripoli's Abu Salim jail, where militant Islamists and government opponents have traditionally been held.

"Last night was a bad night," said the witness. "There were about 500 or 600 people involved. They went to the revolutionary committee (local government headquarters) in Sabri district, and they tried to go to the central revolutionary committee....They threw stones."

0750 GMT: Claimed photograph of this morning's rally for the funeral of Fahdel Ali Al Matrook, killed by police yesterday.

0745 GMT: The official Libyan news agency JANA is reporting "popular protests in Benghazi, Sebha, Sirt, and Tripoli" in support of the Qaddafi regime.

0625 GMT: In Libya, hundreds of people gathered outside the State Security Directorate in the second city of Benghazi to demand the release of a prominent lawyer who is a critic of the Qaddafi regime. The lawyer was later said to have been released, but the demonstrations continued.

There is no precise figure on the size of the rally. Al Jazeera English says "more than a hundred" while activists claim up to 2000. They said stones were thrown at police who responded with water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets.

Later, State television showed pictures of several hundred people in Benghazi voicing support for the government.

0620 GMT: The Committee to Protect Journalists has condemned the five-year sentence imposed by the High State Security Court on 20-year-old blogger Tal al-Mallohi on Monday on charges of "disclosing information to a foreign country that must remain a secret for national safety".

Al-Mallohi was detained in December 2009 and held in extrajudicial detention for almost a year. Her blog features poems and articles about Palestinian rights and the aftermath of the 2008/2009 Israeli military operations in Gaza.

0600 GMT: The funeral procession for Fahdel Ali Al Matrook, killed yesterday by police gunfire, is gathering outside the Salmaniyia Hospital. It was at the same location, as the crowd waited for the first victim of the conflict, that Matrook was slain.

A live video feed from the occupation at Pearl Roundabout has been established.

0540 GMT: While a post-Mubarak Egypt is in the uneasy transition of military rule, with promises of constitutional reforms and continuing protests over economic conditions, Bahrain has become the headline location of political challenge.

Monday's demonstration quickly turned into Tuesday's Day of Rage and then Day of Occupation. Police fired tear gas and live ammunition into the funeral procession of the first demonstrator to die in the conflict, killing a second man, Fahdel Ali Al Matrook, with the gunfire. The mourners became thousands by the time they reached the ceremony, and then many kept going, heading for the symbolic center of the capital Manama, the Pearl Roundabout with its soaring central monument. By last night, the thousands had set up tents and brought in blankets (and a popcorn machine), preparing not only for a sleep-over but for a long stay until demands for reform were met.

This morning, another escalation as the funeral procession of yesterday's victim begins. Thousands are marching, with no interference by security forces so far.