Egypt: elections on as protests continue - Thursday 24 November

• Military says elections will go ahead
• Interior ministry says it can't guarantee election security
• Muslim Brotherhood torn over protests
• Yemeni protesters vent anger at Saleh's immunity deal

•

Four down, how many to go? Muammar Gaddafi leans on Hosni Mubarak and Ali Abdullah Saleh as they pose with Zine el Abidine Ben Ali at the Afro-Arab Joint Summit in Sirte, Libya in October 2010. Photograph: Khaled Desouki/AFP

5.58pm GMT / 12.58pm EST: Here's a summary of the main developments today:

Egypt

• The ruling junta have said the elections will start as scheduled on Monday despite the widespread protests and calls for a postponement. Earlier the interior ministry said it could no longer secure the elections but the Supreme Council of Armed Forces [Scaf] said the army would help with the security. It said the elections were the best way to help the country at present and they would go ahead no matter what. The military rulers said they hoped to appoint a new government before the elections.

• The military rulers have again apologised for the deaths of protesters over the past week and pledged that those responsible would be prosecuted. They held a minute of silence for the dead at the end of their press conference. But they also said that they had never fired on any Egyptian civilians.

• Protesters remain in Tahrir Square chanting for field marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi to hand over power. Soldiers have built a wall in Mohammed Mahmoud street, next to Tahrir Square and scene of some of the worst violence, in order to separate protesters and the security forces.

• The US-based Egyptian writer Mona Eltahawy said she was detained for 12 hours at the interior ministry in Cairo during which she was beaten and sexually assaulted by members of the central security forces. Eltahawy said she was freed by military intelligence who also said they would investigate the alleged assault. A spokeswoman for the Egyptian embassy in the UK said she couldn't believe the exaggerations and hoped Eltahawy "wasn't exaggerating". Another US-Egyptian, documentary-maker Jehane Noujaim, remains in custody after being arrested in Tahrir Square on Wednesday.

• Three US students accused of throwing petrol bombs at the security forces in Tahrir Square have been released. Derrik Sweeney, Luke Gates and Gregory Porter, will not face any charges. They have been warned that it might not be safe for them to stay in the country.

Yemen

• At least five people were killed when gunmen including Yemeni security forces opened fire on protesters in the centre of the capital Sanaa. Meanwhile, activists stormed an opposition rally in Change Square to celebrate the departure of president Ali Abdullah Saleh, in protest at the immunity offered to Saleh under the deal for him to stand down.

Syria

• Armoured vehicles stormed a rural area west of Rastan, in Homs province, where many army defectors are known to live, according to the Local Co-ordination Committees of Syria. It claimed 15 people were killed in the operation. The LCC said 26 people have been killed – 27 in Homs provincein total today, including a pregnant lady and a child. 401 people were killed in the first half of November (up to 15 November).

• Arab foreign ministers have given Syria until tomorrow to sign a protocol admitting international observers into the country or face sanctions. The protocol must be signed in Cairo by 1pm on Friday, otherwise the Arab League will vote on sanctions on Saturday. They could include a suspension of commercial flights to Syria and a halt to dealings with its central bank.

• .The head of the renegade Free Syrian Army, has called for foreign air strikes on "strategic strikes".. Colonel Riyadh al-Assad told AFP: "We are not in favor of the entry of foreign troops as was the case in Iraq but we want the international community to give us logistical support." He said targets considered "crucial" should be targeted.

• The European Union says protecting civilians caught up in the crackdown "is increasingly urgent" but it stopped short of endorsing a French call for humanitarian corridors to be established. Spokesman Maja Kocijancic said the EU stands ready to engage with representatives of the Syrian opposition "who adhere to nonviolence and democratic values," according to AP.

Bahrain

• Riot police fired teargas and sound bombs at anti-government protesters at the funeral of a driver who activists claim was killed by police who forced him off the road. After the funeral, youths moved rubbish bins into the middle of roads in anticipation of police 4x4 cars chasing them. Riot police fired teargas and youths threw stones in clashes that lasted some two hours, Reuters reported. An interior ministry statement said police reacted to youths throwing stones and firebombs at them in an illegal protest.

• A leading opposition figure has called for the entire goverment to resign in the wake of a critical report into the government's handling of pro-democracy protests. Khalil Marzooq, deputy chairman of Al-Wefaq, said: "We expected the entire government to tend its resignation immediately after they heard the content of the Commission's report." The Bahraini government has continued to insist that Iran helped instigate the protests despite the commission's finding that it hadn't.

5.57pm GMT / 12.57pm EST: This video, uploaded yesterday, appears to shows members of the Egyptian security forces shooting at head-level on Mohammed Mahmoud street.