Persistent violence in Syria and Egypt has sharply divided senior White House advisers over a moral dilemma: How far should the U.S. go to stop the killing when its actions could lead to war with Syria or damage relations with Egypt?
Officials say an Egyptian court has ordered the release of ex-President Hosni Mubarak, but it's not immediately clear whether the prosecutors will appeal the order.
Senior diplomats from the European Union's member states are discussing how the 28-nation bloc will respond to a week of bloody violence in Egypt that has left nearly 900 people dead.
Egyptian officials say security forces fired tear gas at a prison truck Sunday in an attempt to free a badly beaten police officer from rioting detainees, killing at least 36 suspects.
Heavy gunfire rang out Friday throughout Cairo as tens of thousands of supporters of Egypt's ousted president clashed with armed vigilantes in the fiercest street battles to engulf the capital since the country's Arab Spring uprising. At least 64 people were killed in the fighting nationwide, including police officers.
Egypt is bracing for more violence after the Muslim Brotherhood called for nationwide marches after Friday prayers and a "day of rage" to denounce this week's unprecedented bloodshed in the security forces' assault on the supporters of the country's ousted Islamist president that left more than 600 dead.
President Barack Obama on Thursday canceled joint U.S.-Egypt military exercises, saying America's traditional cooperation with Egypt "cannot continue as usual" while violence and instability deepen in the strategically important nation.