Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh suffered fresh defections on Tuesday when a diplomat and a former minister backed pro-democracy protestors demanding an end to his 32 year-rule.

Unrest spread in southern Syria on Monday with hundreds of people demonstrating against the government in three towns near the main city of Deraa, but authorities did not use force to quell the latest protests.

Saudi Arabia's plan to shell out some $90 billion as part of a state-backed economic aid package continued to buoy regional markets Monday, but it is too early to tell how much the spending package will do to assuage sectarian tensions in the country, market analysts told CNBC.

Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa said a foreign plot against his kingdom had been foiled and thanked troops brought in from neighbouring countries to help end increasing unrest after weeks of protests.

The US began strikes inside Libya Saturday to take out Gaddafi's integrated air and defense missile systems along the northern coast, NBC news reported.

Libya declared a ceasefire against the rebels Friday after the UN authorized military action and a no-fly zone against the country.  The cease-fire announcement sent oil prices plunging and U.S. stock index futures up sharply.

President Barack Obama demanded Friday that Moammar Gaddafi halt all military attacks against civilians and said that if the Libyan leader did not stand down the United States would join in military action against him.

Bahrain's iconic Pearl Roundabout, scene of dramatic protests that began just over a month ago, has been demolished, CNBC has learned.

Saudi King Abdullah announced on Friday billions of dollars in handouts for his people and boosted his security apparatus in a renewed effort to shield the world's top oil exporter from unrest rocking the Arab world.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says Muammar Gaddafi has left the world no choice but to threaten military action against him.

Hundreds of Bahrainis gathered on Friday to bury an activist killed in a crackdown on mainly Shi'ite Muslim protesters that has angered Iran and raised tensions in the world's largest oil-exporting region.

Yemeni security forces and unidentified snipers opened fire at a protest in Sanaa after Muslim prayers on Friday, killing at least 30 people and wounding 200 others, medical sources and witnesses told Reuters.

The United Nations authorized military strikes to curb Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Thursday, hours after he threatened to storm the rebel bastion of Benghazi overnight, showing "no mercy, no pity".

Muammar Gaddafi's forces bombarded Libya's third largest city with artillery fire and advanced on the rebel stronghold of Benghazi on Wednesday as diplomatic steps to prevent him quelling a revolt ran aground.

"A sense of calm with an undercurrent of mild panic," is how one Bahraini described the scene at Bahrain International Airport Thursday morning,after the Bahrain Defense Force (BDF) cleared the country's Pearl Roundabout area of anti-government protestors, killing at least three people.

Most shops in Bahrain were closed, their metal shutters drawn. Banks were shut and people queued at cash machines. The opposition called for Saudi Arabia's military to leave.

Manama's central financial district and the iconic Pearl Roundabout were quiet Wednesday night, despite earlier calls from opposition groups who said they planned to regain their presence there.

From Liberia to South Africa to the island of Madagascar, Libya’s holdings are like a giant venture capital fund, geared to make friends and wi n influence in the poorest region in the world.  The NYT reports.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi slammed Western powers in a German television interview on Tuesday, saying Germany was the only one with a chance of doing business with Libyan oil in the future.

Police and protesters clashed in Saudi Arabia Thursday and the country faces a day of possible mass protests Friday, but even heavy demonstrations will not succeed in removing the current regime, according to analysts at the Eurasia Group.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said he felt betrayed by former European allies like Italy's Silvio Berlusconi who have turned against him and said business links with Europe risked lasting damage.

A furious wave of protest finally swept Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak from power on Friday after 30 years of one-man rule, sparking jubilation on the streets and sending a warning to autocrats across the Arab world and beyond.

Steve Sailer points out why our aid to Egypt doesn’t seem to buy us as much loyalty as it once might have.

Financial markets may have taken a pause Monday after the violent swings of Friday, but it was only to let investors position themselves for a Middle East crisis that's unlikely to go away soon.

Security officials are warning the leaders of major Wall Street banks that al Qaeda terrorists in Yemen may be trying to plan attacks against those financial institutions or their leading executives, NBCNewYork has learned.

Concerns about supply disruptions in the Suez Canal is an 'overreaction,' Natasha Boyden, senior managing director and shipping analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald, told CNBC on Monday.