Loyalists of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh shot dead five people in Sanaa on Thursday who had been protesting against a power transfer deal that promises him immunity from prosecution, medics said.

The five were all killed by live rounds, said the medics at a field hospital set up protesters in the capital's Change Square, where they have been camped out since February.

An influential Iran parliamentarian has said that the country has arrested twelve agents of the American Central Intelligence Agency, the country's official IRNA news agency reported.

Parviz Sorouri, who sits on the powerful committee of foreign policy and national security, that the alleged agents had been operating in coordination with Israel's Mossad and other regional agencies, and targeted the country's military and its nuclear program.

France renewed its support for humanitarian corridors in Syria on Thursday but said such a move would have to either be agreed by Damascus or come under an international mandate.

Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Wednesday that France would ask its EU partners to consider the idea of setting up protected escape routes for Syrian civilians fleeing the regime of Bashar Assad.

Egypt's military rulers apologized on Thursday for the deaths of demonstrators at the hands of police as protests demanding an immediate handover to civilian control entered a seventh day.

At least 35 protesters have been killed since Saturday -- when clashes erupted -- and more than 2,000 injured, prompting expressions of concern from Western governments and a call from the United Nations for an independent inquiry into the "excessive use of force."

Two men were shot dead during renewed Shiite protests in Saudi Arabia, as police exchanged fire with gunmen who "infiltrated" the funeral of another protester, the interior ministry said Thursday.

It said the new deaths late Wednesday brought to four the death toll of protests that began on Monday in the Eastern Province, while nine others were wounded, including two policemen and a woman, according to a statement carried by SPA state news agency.

The United States Wednesday called on Bahrain to punish those guilty of human rights abuses in anti-government violence this year, and said it would closely follow its ally's actions.

The statement followed the publication of a special independent commission report in Bahrain that found police used "excessive force" and tortured detainees in a crackdown on the Shiite-led democracy protests in March.

U.S. President Barack Obama urged Yemen on Wednesday to immediately implement a deal under which President Ali Abdullah Saleh has agreed to hand over power after 33 years in office.

"The United States will continue to stand by the Yemeni people as they embark on this historic transition," Obama said in a written statement.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal on Wednesday accused Iran of continuing to interfere in neighboring Gulf states, warning that its nuclear program could pose a threat to regional security.

In a ministerial meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Faisal spoke of "continued Iranian meddling in the internal affairs of the countries of the region."

France will ask its EU partners to consider setting up humanitarian corridors in Syria, Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Thursday after talks with Burhan Ghalioun, head of the opposition Syrian National Council.

Juppe said France considered the SNC a "legitimate interlocutor" and he would take to Brussels the idea of protected escape routes for Syrian civilians fleeing the crackdown of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

The grand imam of Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's highest seat of learning, called on Egyptian police on Wednesday not to shoot at protesters demanding democratic change as four more people died in clashes.

As thousands rallied for a fifth straight day in Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square, epicenter of the Arab Spring uprising which overthrew veteran president Hosni Mubarak in February, an opinion poll found that 43 percent of Egyptians thought the ruling military was trying to slow down or reverse its gains.