LIBYA Libyan fighters launch a two-pronged assault on one of the last towns to resist the country's new rulers, clashing with Moammar Gadhafi's supporters inside Bani Walid as a week-long standoff dissolves into street-to-street battles, the former rebels say. The former rebels had set a Saturday deadline for Bani Walid to surrender or face an offensive but decide to attack early after Gadhafi forces fired volleys of rockets at the fighters' positions around the town. ___ SYRIA Thousands of Syrian protesters appeal for international help in the face of a bloody government crackdown, marking a fundamental shift in an uprising that has defied bullets, tanks and snipers but has failed to crack the regime of President Bashar Assad. Protesters initially reluctant to call for any outside help now want to see human rights monitors who could help deter attacks on civilians. "We want international protection!" protesters shout in cities across the country. ___ EGYPT Hundreds of Egyptian protesters, some swinging hammers and others using their bare hands, tear down parts of a graffiti-covered security wall outside the Israeli Embassy in Cairo. Thousands elsewhere protest for the first time in a month against the country's military rulers. ___ YEMEN Clashes break out in Taiz, Yemen's second most populous city, between tribes and security forces during protests demanding that President Ali Abdullah Saleh step down. Also, a roadside bomb blast seriously wounds a resident of Taiz, south of the capital, Sanaa. Hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets in 16 other provinces to denounce Saleh. A smaller group of several thousand pro-Saleh supporters rallies in the capital. Saleh remains in Saudi Arabia receiving medical treatment after a June blast on his compound in the capital. ___ BAHRAIN The harsh crackdown on anti-government protests in Bahrain has failed to silence people's demands for greater rights, a senior Shiite cleric in the Gulf kingdom says as thousands of opposition supporters rally on the outskirts of the capital. ___ TUNISIA A long-suppressed Tunisian rights group has been allowed to hold its annual congress for the first time in 11 years, and it is calling on the country's next leaders to ensure independent courts, women's rights and the end of capital punishment.
