Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, given a new lease of life by a solidarity rally as well as U.S. fears over al-Qaida and 150 deaths in a killer blast, has taken the initiative against calls for his ouster.

Scoffing at pressure to quit at a time of growing insecurity, as highlighted by the blast at an ammunitions plant in southern Yemen, Saleh challenged his opponents to leave the country instead, in remarks published on Tuesday.

Facebook group The Syria Revolution 2011, which has emerged as the motor behind demonstrations demanding "freedom" in Syria, is calling for sit-ins across the country Friday despite a bid by the state to reach out to protesters.

"The Friday of Martyrs. In all governorates, in all mosques, in all squares. An overnight sit-in until our demands are met -- all our demands," read a banner poster as the group's profile picture.

World powers vowed Tuesday to continue military action until Moammar Gadhafi stops his "murderous attacks" on Libyan civilians, as loud blasts rocked his stronghold in Tripoli.

At a meeting of more than 35 nations in London, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and British Prime Minister David Cameron said that allied air strikes would go on until the Libyan leader met U.N. demands for a ceasefire.

Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Naji Otri on Tuesday tendered his government's resignation to President Bashar al-Assad, who promptly re-appointed him caretaker premier, state media reported.

"President Bashar al-Assad today accepted the resignation of the government of Mohammed Naji Otri and designated it to act in a caretaker capacity pending the formation of a new cabinet," state-run news agency SANA said.

A court in Kuwait on Tuesday condemned to death two Iranians and a Kuwaiti national for belonging to an Iranian spy ring, a judiciary source told Agence France Presse.

A Syrian and a stateless Arab were handed life terms at the end of the espionage trial, while an Iranian man and the only woman defendant -- daughter of one of the two Iranians on death row -- were acquitted, he said.

Yoram Cohen, an Arabist with 30 years experience at Israel's internal security service, Shin Bet, has been appointed as its new director, the prime minister's office said.

Cohen, who replaces Yuval Diskin and will assume the position on May 15, was named by Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday night.

Bahrain's parliament on Tuesday accepted the resignations of 11 out of 18 Shiite MPs who stepped down in protest at violence against pro-democracy demonstrators, exposing them to prosecution.

The house in a unanimous vote "accepted the resignations of 11 MPs of Al-Wefaq, the largest bloc in the 40-member parliament of the Shiite-majority state, official news agency BNA said.

Israel's Knesset, or parliament, has passed a law which would enable the court system to revoke the citizenship of anyone convicted of spying, treason or helping the enemy during times of war.

The bill, which was passed by 37 to 11 at a late-night session on Monday, was initiated by two Knesset members (MKs) from the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party of Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

A Kuwaiti MP Tuesday filed to question Information Minister Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al-Sabah in parliament over alleged financial and administrative irregularities and failure to perform his duty.

Independent MP Faisal al-Duwaisan claimed that Sheikh Ahmad, also the oil minister, has failed to take action against senior information ministry officials implicated in administrative and financial wrongdoings.

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi called for an end to the "barbaric offensive" against Libya in a letter addressed to international powers meeting in London Tuesday to discuss his nation's future.

In the letter, addressed to the "contact group" of nations meeting to map out a post-Gadhafi future for Libya, the strongman likened the NATO-led air strikes to military campaigns launched by Adolf Hitler during World War II.