The United States started organizing Sunday the evacuation of its nationals from Egypt as an angry anti-government revolt raged into a sixth day amid increasing lawlessness and mass jail breaks.
"The U.S. embassy in Cairo informs U.S. citizens in Egypt who wish to depart that the department of state is making arrangements to provide transportation to safehaven locations in Europe," an embassy statement said, as other countries issued travel warnings and tourists scrambled for flights out.
Full StorySaudi King Abdullah has told U.S. President Barack Obama that there should be no bargaining on Egypt's stability and the security of its people, the Saudi press agency said Sunday.
SPA said that Obama phoned the king in Morocco, where he is recuperating from surgery, and that both leaders were not happy with the chaotic situation and looting.
Full StoryThousands of inmates escaped prisons across Egypt on Sunday, including at least one jail that housed Muslim militants northwest of Cairo, adding to the chaos engulfing the country as anti-government protests continue to demand the ouster of longtime authoritarian President Hosni Mubarak.
Security officials said the prisoners escaped overnight from four jails after starting fires and clashing with guards. The inmates were helped by gangs of armed men who attacked the prisons, firing at guards in gunbattles that lasted hours.
Full StoryIsrael is carefully watching developments in Egypt and its efforts are focused on maintaining the "stability and security" of the region, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.
"We are attentively following what is going on in Egypt and in our region," Netanyahu told reporters at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting after holding late-night talks with top intelligence brass and key ministers.
Full StoryBritish Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Egypt's Hosni Mubarak to avoid violence "at all costs" in a joint statement Saturday.
The three leaders called on Egypt's embattled president to commit to change in response to what they said were the "legitimate grievances" of his people.
Full StoryLeading Egyptian dissident Mohammed ElBaradei said on Saturday that the appointment of a vice president and a new prime minister in Egypt was not enough to end a revolt against President Hosni Mubarak's rule.
He also urged Mubarak to leave Egypt as soon as possible for the good of the country, in comments to Al-Jazeera television.
Full StoryLibyan leader Moammar Gaddafi spoke by telephone with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Saturday, the fifth day of protests calling for the end of Mubarak's regime, the Libyan news agency Jana reported.
Without giving details of their conversation, the news agency said Gaddafi called Mubarak "to reassure himself on the situation in Egypt."
Full StoryIsrael repatriated families of its diplomats in Egypt on Saturday in response to the unprecedented street protests in the Arab state with which it has a 1979 peace deal, the foreign ministry said.
"A special aircraft brought back to Israel on Saturday the families of diplomats and other official envoys, as well as about 40 Israelis on private visits to Cairo who wished to leave," said ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor.
Full StoryThousands of people have joined a Facebook group calling for anti-government protests across Sudan on Sunday, the day preliminary results are due out on the vote on southern independence.
Entitled "January 30, a word to the Sudanese youth," the Facebook site shows an angry protestor holding an Arabic placard that reads: "A better Sudan."
Full StoryEmbattled Hosni Mubarak tapped Egypt's military intelligence chief as his first-ever vice president and named a new prime minister as tens of thousands took their deadly revolt to the streets on Saturday for a fifth day demanding that the president step down.
Fresh riots erupted in several cities. In Cairo, three people were killed, and an enraged mob killed three police in the Sinai town of Rafah.
Full Story