U.S. ambassador to Syria Robert Ford has delayed his return to Damascus until later in the year, the State Department said Monday.

"We are now consulting with our allies and partners on an appropriate timing for his return," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland. "We do still intend for him to go back."

Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces on Monday rejected the resignation of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf's cabinet, state television reported, quoting a military source.

Cabinet spokesman Mohammed Hegazy said earlier that the cabinet had resigned, as deadly clashes raged for a third day in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

Yemen's embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh has agreed to sign a plan to transfer power to his deputy and end the crisis that has gripped the country since January, a senior opposition figure said on Monday.

"The negotiations that have been under way for the past three days have led to an agreement by which the Gulf initiative and mechanisms for implementing it will be signed on Tuesday," Mohammed Bassandawa, who heads the National Council of revolutionary forces, told Agence France Presse.

Saudi Arabia on Monday pressed the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to conform fully with an Arab League plan aimed at ending his government's deadly crackdown on dissent.

A statement after a cabinet meeting chaired by Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz urged Damascus to "hold fully to its commitments" in accepting a League plan to end the crisis, and hailed the pan-Arab bloc's efforts to do so.

Bahrain admitted on Monday "excessive force" was used on pro-democracy protesters earlier this year as tension escalates two days ahead of the unveiling of a probe into the deadly crackdown.

Bahrain's Independent Commission of Inquiry, commissioned by King Hamad, will on Wednesday unveil the results of its investigation into alleged government misconduct during the February-March crackdown on Shiite-led protests.

As Islamists move closer to power in Tunisia, it is Morocco's turn to go to the polls to elect a new parliament Friday that will likely hand a majority of seats to another Islamist party.

The high-stakes vote comes a few months after Moroccans overwhelmingly approved a July referendum on constitutional reform hastily called by King Mohamed VI as neighboring autocratic regimes toppled.

France on Monday condemned the killing of pro-democracy protesters in Egypt and called for elections to be held as planned next week in order for the country's democratic transition to succeed.

"France is deeply concerned by the clashes in recent days. It condemns the violence that led to the deaths of over 20 demonstrators," foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero told journalists.

Egypt's culture minister has resigned in protest at the government response to demonstrations in Cairo's Tahrir Square in which more than 20 people have died, the official MENA agency said on Monday.

Emad Abu Ghazi handed his resignation to the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces -- which took power when Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February -- "in protest at the government's handling of the recent events in Tahrir Square," MENA said.

One police officer was killed and another injured in Egypt's Sinai on Monday during clashes with members of an Islamist group suspected of attacks on a pipeline, a security official said.

Police officers in the north Sinai town of el-Arish were preparing to arrest individuals suspected of belonging to the Islamist al-Takfeer wal Hijra, when they were shot at and clashes ensued killing one officer and wounding another, the official said.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Syrian President Bashar Assad Monday that his days as leader were numbered and he cannot remain in power indefinitely through military force.

After reports that two buses carrying Turkish pilgrims came under attack in Syria, Erdogan said his one-time ally's defiant refusal to end a bloody crackdown on protesters had increased the prospects of foreign intervention.