Demonstrators

Protesters broke through a security wall and stormed the Israeli Embassy in Cairo late Friday, throwing documents out windows and sharpening the tensions that have been growing between the two countries since the overthrow of former President Hosni Mubarak. Hundreds of demonstrators marched toward the embassy, battered the wall and pulled down barricades recently set up to protect the high-rise. Police did not intervene until shortly before midnight, hours after young men set fire to the embassy's Israeli flag along the Nile.

AMMAN, Jordan - Thousands of demonstrators seeking democratic reforms and more economic opportunities marched through the Jordanian capital Friday in the largest rally here since the "Arab Spring" protests began sweeping the region. The protesters led by the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood called on King Abdullah II, a key U.S. ally, to accelerate reforms. But they pointedly did not demand the end of the monarchy, which retains considerable support here. Instead, the protesters said they were seeking a parliament that represented them better than the largely rubber-stamp, pro-government legislature that has long convened in Jordan.

The White House on Friday condemned violence against protesters in Syria and Yemen and called for peaceful negotiations toward democratic change in those countries. Speaking to reporters, Press Secretary Jay Carney repeated what has been the Obama administration response to months of violence between governments and protesters across the Mideast. “We strongly condemn the Syrian government's attempts to repress and intimidate demonstrators,” he told reporters. Syrian forces reportedly opened fire on protesters in several towns as thousands shouted "Freedom!"

Upscale San Marino, which has its share of company executives, has a controversial answer to the Occupy movement. After about 100 anti-bank protesters marched last month on the home of Tim Sloan, chief financial officer of Wells Fargo Bank, city officials decided to take tough action. Last week, the City Council approved an ordinance creating a buffer zone between activists and their target at any future protest. Those who violate the buffer face arrest. PHOTOS: Occupy L.A. The law requires demonstrators to be 75 feet from the curb or 150 feet from the home, whichever is farther.

Last week, on a sun-splashed day at the center of the revolution, I heard a speaker suggest that occupiers begin growing their own food. Another speaker, who once lived in a tree for 71 days to save it from a developer's bulldozer, called for solidarity. I'm going to go out on a limb myself and predict that the several hundred folks camped out at Los Angeles City Hall aren't going anywhere soon, even as weary city officials and police strategize on how to roll up the welcome mat without using riot gear and tear gas, as cops in Oakland did. Regardless of whether a sister occupation in Van Nuys gathers much support, the City Hall campers are likely to remain firmly rooted.

A little more than two months ago, when Hosni Mubarak's government rigged Egypt's most recent parliamentary elections, the Obama administration issued a notably mild statement expressing "dismay. " That reaction wasn't nearly strong enough for Mohammed ElBaradei, Egypt's leading opposition figure and the man who may lead the country's next government. "I was dismayed," he wrote, "that all [the administration] could say is that it was dismayed. " But the U.S. has attempted a difficult balancing act for decades where Egypt is concerned.

Protests in Yemen mushroomed Friday into the largest pro-democracy demonstrations in the nation's history, as more than 180,000 people marched in streets and squares calling for the ouster of longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh. About 30,000 anti-government protesters, 10 times as many as have gathered in recent days, convened in front of Sana University here in Yemen's capital in peaceful, joyful demonstrations. More than 150,000 others convened in other cities and provinces across Yemen, according to local news reports.

Anaheim is bracing for more demonstrations this weekend after police opened fire on a burglary suspect Friday, the third officer-involved shooting in the city in less than a week, though no one was apparently injured in the most recent incident. Protests over police conduct have rocked Orange County's largest city since July 21, when police fatally shot an unarmed man, Manuel Diaz, 25, who they said was evading arrest. A day later, police shot and killed Joel Acevedo, 21; police say he fired on officers during a foot chase.

CAIRO - At least 11 people were killed Wednesday when unknown attackers armed with guns and firebombs clashed with protesters near Egypt's Defense Ministry in an escalation of violence highlighting political divisions that threaten the country ahead of this month's presidential election. Assailants stormed about 500 demonstrators at dawn, many of them supporters of Hazem Salah abu Ismail, an ultraconservative Islamist preacher recently disqualified from the presidential race. Police did not intervene for hours, and authorities said as many as 200 people were wounded in the nation's worst violence in months.

Demonstrations spread to numerous Syrian cities Friday, with thousands braving a security crackdown in what protesters dubbed a "day of defiance" against President Bashar Assad's government, according to witnesses and videos posted online. Protesters claimed that their movement had expanded to all of the country's major cities from Dara in the south, where the uprising began more than six weeks ago. They reported protests in various neighborhoods of the capital, Damascus, and its suburbs, the northern cities of Aleppo and Latakia, Homs and Hama in the west, the coastal city of Baniyas, and smaller towns and villages.