Wounded Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh is "well" but the date of his return cannot be confirmed, the deputy information minister said on Tuesday, amid conflicting reports on the embattled leader's health.

"We have no confirmation yet" on the date of the return of Saleh, recovering in Riyadh from wounds sustained in an explosion as he prayed at his palace mosque earlier this month, "but we assume he'll be back within the few coming days," Abdo al-Janadi told Agence France Presse.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Ankara Tuesday for talks with Turkish leaders amid disagreements over the formation of a Palestinian unity government, officials said.

Abbas will have a "private program" before talks with Turkish leaders on Thursday and Friday, a Turkish diplomat told Agence France Presse, without giving other details.

The army of Moammar Gadhafi has laid land mines in Libya's Nafusa Mountains to counter rebel attacks there, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday.

The mountains, which lie to the south of Tripoli, have been the site of clashes between the two sides, as the rebels attempt to edge toward the capital.

Tunisian authorities came under fire Tuesday for their high-speed sentencing in absentia of ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his wife to 35 years in jail for embezzling public funds.

The court's quick verdict Monday after only six hours of deliberation on the first day of the landmark trial was dismissed as a "charade" by some Tunisians and a "joke" by a Ben Ali lawyer.

Syrian security forces opened fire on protesters on Tuesday, killing four people, even as President Bashar al-Assad ordered a general amnesty, activists said.

"Two civilians were killed in Homs and six wounded when security forces opened fire on demonstrators calling for freedom," an activist in the central city said.

France stepped up pressure Monday on the United Nations to speak out against Syria's deadly crackdown on protests, but Russia again said it opposed "interference" in the country's internal affairs.

"The U.N. Security Council cannot remain silent for much longer," French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said during a joint press conference in Paris with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Gunshots and explosions were heard Tuesday from the Syrian side of Turkey's border with the unrest-hit Arab country, where thousands of fleeing people have massed, an Agence France Presse reporter said.

The shooting appeared to come from a hill overlooking the demarcation line at the frontier, about a kilometer from the Turkish border village of Guvecci, the reporter said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said Tuesday after talks with Syrian authorities that it has been granted access to areas and people affected by the unrest in the Middle Eastern country.

"The Syrian officials were receptive, and agreed to give the ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent wider access to areas of unrest," said ICRC president Jakob Kellenberger.

A major Libyan civil society conference set to be held in Rome this weekend and planned to include tribal representatives has been delayed indefinitely, the Italian foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

"The dates are still being defined. It won't be this weekend," a ministry spokesman told Agence France Presse. The spokesman said the meeting organized by opponents to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi plans to represent "all of Libyan society."

Jordan's Information Minister Taher Adwan said on Tuesday he has resigned because of laws he deemed "restrictive for freedom of expression."

"I submitted my resignation today to Prime Minister Maaruf Bakhit in protest at a government decision" to debate new press and publication laws in parliament that he opposed, Adwan told Agence France Presse.