Spain's government said Thursday it had received a message from Libyan Prime Minister al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi seeking a ceasefire.

Spain said it was standing with other European governments, however, in seeking a set of conditions for such an agreement.

An ammunition store belonging to the powerful al-Ahmar tribe blew up in the Yemeni capital Sanaa killing 28 people, the defense ministry's 26sep.net news website said on Thursday.

"Twenty-eight people were killed in an explosion at an ammunition store belonging to Hamid al-Ahmar" in Sanaa, 26sep.net said in a text message.

Syria's pro-democracy movement has reached out to the army ahead of Friday protests that have become a weekly ritual, appealing to soldiers to join their cause.

"We urge our supporters to deliver a message to free soldiers in the Syrian army so that hand in hand the guardians of the homeland join our peaceful revolution," said Syrian Revolution, a Facebook group spurring anti-regime protests.

Thousands of followers of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr staged a mass rally in Baghdad on Thursday against U.S. forces, as Iraqi leaders consider asking for an extended American troop presence.

The demonstration comes with just months to go before U.S. forces must withdraw from Iraq, but senior American officials have said they hope Iraqi leaders will ask for troops to stay, while acknowledging the unpopularity of the soldiers.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Wednesday dismissed a Libyan claim that an April 30 NATO air strike killed one of strongman Moammar Gadhafi's sons, the ANSA news agency reported.

Berlusconi said the international coalition had no information that 29-year-old Seif al-Arab, Gadhafi's youngest son, was dead, dismissing the report by a Libyan government spokesman as "propaganda".

Heavy clashes between Yemeni tribesmen and elite Republican Guard troops on Wednesday prompted the closure of the capital Sanaa's airport and the diversion of flights, aviation and tribal sources said.

"Sanaa's airport has been shut down and flights have been diverted to the airport of Aden," the southern regional capital, the official said.

Egypt will open the Rafah border crossing on a daily basis starting this weekend in a bid to ease the blockade on the Gaza Strip, the official MENA news agency reported on Wednesday.

Palestinians will now be able to travel through Rafah -- Gaza's only crossing that bypasses Israel -- under entry rules in place before the blockade was tightened in 2007.

U.S. President Barack Obama said Wednesday the possible Palestinian drive for national recognition at the United Nations was a "mistake", in his most direct criticism yet of the campaign.

Obama also urged Israel and the Palestinians to make "wrenching compromise" for a peace deal after a week of acrimony left prospects of a final settlement more distant than ever.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday slammed a speech by Israel's prime minister and said the Palestinians would seek U.N. recognition if peace talks don't resume.

"Our first choice is negotiations, but if there is no progress before September we will go to the United Nations," Abbas said, criticizing a speech by Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu to the U.S. Congress on Tuesday.

Turkey is ready to help any initiative to end Libya's turmoil but has had no contact so far with South Africa's leader on an exit strategy for Moammar Gadhafi, a government official said Wednesday.

"We have had no particular dialogue (with South Africa) so far but it does not mean that we will not have any in the future," the foreign ministry official told Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity.