Tunisian police fired teargas Friday to break up an anti-government protest in the capital, witnesses said.

After Friday prayers, hundreds of protestors joined a sit-in near the seat of government in the Kasbah neighborhood to demand the resignation of the interior and justice ministers.

Some 1,000 Israelis and Palestinians gathered in east Jerusalem on Friday for a protest march to support the Palestinian bid for United Nations recognition.

The marchers waved Palestinian flags and carried signs reading "marching to independence" and "only free people can negotiate for peace," an Agence France Presse photographer said.

Thousands of protesters rallied across Egypt on Friday, capping a week of nationwide sit-ins to demand political change as anger grows with the military rulers over the slow pace of reform.

More than 28 movements had called for the rallies to pressure the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) -- which took power when president Hosni Mubarak was toppled -- to respond to their demands.

Ten Yemenis were killed and at least 37 others wounded in the city of Taez, south of Sanaa, security and tribal sources and witnesses said on Friday.

Security official Colonel Ahmed Rezaz and two companions were killed in an ambush by armed opposition tribesmen, a security source in Taez said.

The Libya contact group recognized Friday the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) as the country's "legitimate governmental authority," according to a statement seen by Agence France Presse.

The group of major Western and regional powers also urged "all relevant parties" to make efforts "for the formation of an interim government to ensure a smooth and peaceful transition of power," said the statement, to be formally issued at the end of a meeting in Istanbul later Friday.

At least 10 people, mostly journalists, were injured on Friday when police tried to stop clashes between pro-reform demonstrators and government supporters in central Amman.

Police used batons to disperse the clashes outside city hall, beating and injuring nine journalists who were wearing orange vests marked "press," an Agence France Presse reporter at the scene witnessed.

Syrian opposition activists have called for a simultaneous "Conference of National Salvation" to be held on Saturday in Damascus and Istanbul to look at ways to oust President Bashar al-Assad.

A statement said the conference will be held simultaneously in both cities "to draw up a road map that will bring the country out of despotism towards democracy and define the mechanism to overthrow the regime (as) sought by the (people of the) Syrian street."

More than one million protesters flooded Syrian streets on Friday seeking an end to President Bashar al-Assad's regime as security forces opened fire and killed at least 28, among them 23 in Damascus and its suburbs, and wounded nearly 100, an activist said.

Rights activist Abdul Karim Rihawi said the deaths included two in al-Qadam and four in Douma, both suburbs of the capital, in addition to three in the northwestern city of Idlib and two more in the southern town of Daraa.

Five Saddam-era officials, including two of the late dictator's half-brothers, will be executed within a month after being handed over to Iraqi authorities by the US military, an official said on Friday.

The group, transferred to Iraqi custody on Thursday morning, were among 206 high-value detainees still being held by American forces ahead of a U.S. military pullout due by the end of the year.

Israeli jets struck the Gaza Strip late on Thursday for the third time in as many days, moderately wounding four Palestinians, security and medical officials said.

Security officials and eyewitnesses said that the Israeli aircraft hit three targets; two in the Gaza City area and a third in Khan Younis, further south.