LIBYA A Libyan rebel spokesman says negotiations held primarily with Moammar Gadhafi's chief spokesman over the peaceful surrender of a regime stronghold have failed. Abdullah Kanshil, a rebel negotiator outside Bani Walid, tells reporters that opposition fighters stationed outside the town are waiting for the green light to launch a final assault. He says talks with Moussa Ibrahim fail because Ibrahim wants the rebels to disarm. ___ SYRIA A wave of violence and arrests sweeps Syria as the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross visits Damascus to address issues including caring for the wounded and access to detainees during the government's crackdown on a 5-month-old uprising. Activists report military operations and sweeping arrests in flash point areas including Idlib near the Turkish border and the eastern city of Deir el-Zour. The U.N. estimates some 2,200 people have been killed since March as protesters take to the streets every week, despite the near certainty that they will face a barrage of bullets and sniper fire by security forces. The regime is in no imminent danger of collapse, leading to concerns violence will escalate. ___ BAHRAIN A Turkish rights group protests the visit by the king of Bahrain, accusing his Sunni dynasty of carrying out a brutal crackdown on demonstrations for greater rights by the Gulf nation's Shiite majority. The state-run Anatolia news agency says dozens of members of the pro-Islamic advocacy group Mazlumder gathered outside Bahrain's embassy in Ankara and burned posters of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, who is paying a private visit to Turkey. Hundreds of people have been arrested since Bahrain protests began in February, inspired by other Arab uprisings. ___ YEMEN Yemeni security forces have fired on a rally in the capital Sanaa, wounding five. Protesters have been holding almost daily rallies since February against President Ali Abdullah Saleh, demanding his resignation. Saleh has been in Saudi Arabia for two months for treatment of serious wounds suffered in an attack on his compound, but he refuses to quit. security forces opened fire at the rally as it passed the Foreign Ministry, leaving five protesters wounded. Security forces sealed the city to try to prevent a large turnout.
