A Tunisian court on Thursday sentenced former strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in absentia to 16 years in prison for corruption and property fraud.

His daughter Nisrine was sentenced to eight years in jail and his son-in-law Sakhr al-Materi to 16 years on the same charges, which relate to properties bought in an upscale neighborhood of the capital Tunis.

Syrian forces pressed their clampdown on the pro-democracy movement, killing two protesters and arresting two leading activists, rights groups said on Thursday, on the eve of more mass rallies.

In the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, where security forces were carrying out operations in nearly all neighborhoods, two civilians were shot dead on Thursday night, said Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the Syria Observatory for Human Rights.

Israel and the newly independent country of South Sudan have established diplomatic relations, the Israeli foreign ministry said on Thursday.

"The cooperation between the states will be based on the firm foundations that guide them in forming friendly ties, out of equality and mutual respect," Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a statement.

Libyan rebels seized the town of al-Ghazaya near the Tunisian border Thursday as part of a pre-Ramadan offensive aimed at unseating strongman Moammar Gadhafi.

The heaviest fighting was on the eastern side of the town, some 12 kilometers from the border with Tunisia, in a two-pronged attack that also came from the west and began around 8:00 am (0600 GMT).

Libya's rebel National Transitional Council has nominated Mahmoud Nacua as its ambassador to London, a council official said Thursday after Britain recognized the group as the country's sole government.

"The NTC has appointed an ambassador to take over all current affairs. The ambassador is Mahmoud Nacua," Guma al-Gamaty, the UK coordinator for the NTC, told reporters in London.

Egypt's ex-president Hosni Mubarak's murder trial on August 3 will take place in Cairo, the official news agency MENA quoted a justice ministry official as saying on Thursday.

"It has been decided that the trial of ex-president Hosni Mubarak and his two sons Alaa and Gamal ... will be held in the building of the General Authority for Investment and the free trade areas in the Cairo Expo grounds," it quoted him as saying.

Jordan's government said Thursday it will not tolerate threats or attacks against diplomatic missions or news agencies, a day after an anti-Agence France Presse demonstration was staged outside the French embassy in Amman.

"The government will not allow threats or attacks against institutions ... particularly embassies and news agencies," Interior Minister Mazen Saket told al-Arab al-Yawm independent daily.

A twin attack involving a car bomb and a suicide bombing outside a bank in the north Iraq city of Tikrit on Thursday killed at least 12 people and wounded 28, a health official said.

"A car bomb exploded outside the al-Rafidain Bank in the centre of Tikrit, and one minute later a suicide bomber exploded his vest as people gathered, killing at least 12 people and wounding 28," said Dr. Raad al-Jubburi, head of the health department in Salaheddin province, of which Tikrit is the capital.

Dozens of demonstrators occupied the roof of the Tel Aviv stock exchange on Thursday morning, Israeli military radio reported, as protests over the high cost of living spread throughout Israel.

Protesters scaled the building a day after the powerful Histadrut labor union threw its support behind the demonstrators, who have set up tent cities across Israel to protest the high cost of housing.

A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit southern Israel on Thursday without causing injuries or damage, the Israeli military said.

The rocket landed in an open field in the Hof Ashkelon region, the military said, adding that the projectile was the 24th to hit Israel this month.