SYRIA
Syrian troops push to the Turkish border in their sweep against a 3-month-old pro-democracy movement, sending panicked refugees, including children, rushing across the frontier to safe havens in Turkey. The European Union announces it is slapping new sanctions on the Syrian regime because of the "gravity of the situation," in which the Syrian opposition says 1,400 people have been killed in a relentless government crackdown.
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LIBYA
Supporters of Moammar Gadhafi rally in Tripoli after the Libyan leader lashes out at NATO over civilian casualties, calling the alliance "murderers" following an airstrike on the family home of a close associate. A few hundred supporters, most of them women, gather in the capital's Green Square hours after the late-night speech, vowing to defend the Libyan leader against rebels seeking to oust him and NATO forces giving them air support. Gadhafi also warns the alliance that its more than three-month mission in Libya is a "Crusader's campaign" that could come back to haunt the West.
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EGYPT
The outgoing Arab League chief says the Arab world's uprisings have set the region on a path of change. It is Amr Moussa's last speech Thursday to the 22-member organization before he leaves to run for president of Egypt. Moussa says the ongoing revolts will not be in vain, because "the Arab nation is on the right track."
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YEMEN
A senior U.S. diplomat pushing for a peaceful transfer of power in Yemen says that whichever side emerges from the four-month political crisis to lead the nation will cooperate with Washington in battling Yemen's al-Qaida branch. The Obama administration fears Yemen's turmoil will give al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula more room to operate freely and plot attacks on the West from the country's remote and mountainous reaches. The U.S. says the Yemen-based militants are now the terrorist network's No. 1 threat and has carried out expanded strikes against them with armed drones and warplanes.