Meanwhile, Mohammed Morsi faced fissures from within after a stunning surge of street rage reminiscent of Egypt's Arab Spring revolution in 2011 that cleared the way for Morsi's long-suppressed Muslim Brotherhood to win the first open elections in decades.

Three government spokesmen were the latest to quit as part of high-level defections that underscored his increasing isolation and fallout from the ultimatum from Egypt's powerful armed forces to either find a political solution by Wednesday or the generals would seek their own way to end the political chaos.

The Cabinet, led by the Morsi-backed Prime Minister Hesham Qandil, was scheduled to meet later Tuesday. But the defense and interior ministers were expected to boycott in a sign of support for the military's warnings.

The police, which are under control of the Interior Ministry, have stood on the sidelines of the protests, refusing even to protect the offices of the Muslim Brotherhood that have been attacked and ransacked.

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The statement was read and broadcast live on state television.

Sixteen Egyptians were killed and hundreds more injured after a day of mass protests nationwide Sunday gave way to violent clashes outside the ruling Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in Cairo overnight.

Millions took to the streets in Cairo and other cities — in demonstrations that dwarfed the protests of the uprising two years ago — to call for President Mohamed Morsi, a former Brotherhood leader, to step down after a turbulent year in power.

As night fell, demonstrators besieged the Islamist movement’s headquarters — throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails, to which Brotherhood members holed up inside responded with gunfire, witnesses said. Eight peopled were killed in ensuing clashes, and protesters eventually ransacked and looted the office, according to the health ministry.

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From the New York Times:

Mr. Pochter, who was to enter his junior year at Kenyon in the fall, worked as an intern at Amideast, a nonprofit organization “engaged in international education, training and development activities in the Middle East and North Africa,” according to the group’s Web site. A statement issued by Mr. Pochter’s family said that he had planned to return to the Middle East for his spring semester abroad.

“Our beloved 21-year-old son and brother Andrew Driscoll Pochter went to Alexandria for the summer, to teach English to 7- and 8-year-old Egyptian children and to improve his Arabic,” the statement said. “He was looking forward to returning to Kenyon College for his junior year and to spending his spring semester in Jordan.”

"He went to Egypt because he cared profoundly about the Middle East, and he planned to live and work there in the pursuit of peace and understanding,” the family said.

Following the violence, the American State Department issued a warning for Americans "to defer nonessential travel to Egypt at this time due to the continuing possibility of political and social unrest.”

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Stewart interviewed the Egyptian political satirist on his show earlier this year after Youssef was arrested by Egyptian authorities for "denigrating Islam" and criticizing Egypt's president, Mohamed Morsi.

Stewart, sporting a short beard, was brought onto Youssef's "The Program" as a prisoner marching to "The Final Duel" from "Star Wars." He even practiced some Arabic for the audience.

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Female genital mutilation (FGM) has no medical benefits and has been banned in Egypt since 2008, but the parents of Soheir al-Batea brought her to Aslan Fadl's private clinic near Cairo to have the procedure performed anyway.

After her blood pressure dropped as a result of the surgery, al-Batea was rushed to the emergency room on Thursday of last week; she died that night.

Fadl turned himself over to the authorities, but has denied any wrongdoing: “The operation was successful and the girl did not suffer any bleeding,” he said.

UNICEF and the United Nations Population Fund in a joint statement called on Egypt to enforce its law against FGM and urged authorities to launch a full investigation into al-Batea's death:

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Israel will send thousands of African migrants to an unidentified third country, new documents reveal.

The plan aims to tackle the influx of around 60,000 African migrants who have crossed into Israel from Egypt over the last few years.

Critics worry that actions to remove the vulnerable migrants, who are mostly escaping difficult economic and political conditions in Eritrea and Sudan, may lead to more harm.

Israel will lose oversight of the migrants once they are deported, sparking fears of mistreatment or the third country sending them back home.

It is also not clear if the move is legal under international law.

The drastic increase in non-Jewish migrants from Africa has divided Israeli society.

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Youssef, who was arrested for "denigrating Islam," "spreading false news" and "diminishing the president's stature," was released on bail earlier this month. His case attracted international attention, however, as activists cited the arrest as one of the greatest free speech infringements by the Mohamed Morsi's government since he came to power.

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Since Youssef’s arrest, nearly every story about the incident labels the heart-surgeon-turned-TV-star as “Egypt’s Jon Stewart.” But Youssef — who continues to risk his freedom and career to ridicule Egypt’s political elite — has little in common with Stewart, a man who’s built a comedy empire on an unwarranted reputation for prophetic humor and moral integrity. And even while Youssef himself cites Stewart as an influence, the Egyptian humorist far outshines his American counterpart in his willingness to challenge political and social taboos.

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The comedian, Bassem Youssef, uses his weekly satirical news show — which is based loosely on Comedy Central’s "The Daily Show" — to “insult the president” and “insult Islam,” the complaint filed against Youssef said. Youssef was released on $2,200 bail as investigations continue.

Critics are calling it an unprecedented assault on free speech in post-uprising Egypt, with even the US State Department and Jon Stewart from "The Daily Show" weighing in to support Youssef. The responses caused a diplomatic tiff in which the official Twitter account of Egypt’s presidency chastised the US Embassy in Cairo feed for posting "The Daily Show" clip criticizing President Mohamed Morsi.

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Satirist Bassem Youssef, who hosts "The Program" (in Arabic, "El-Bernameg"), a weekly production modeled on Jon Stewart’s "The Daily Show," has been snickering at that enormous hat, too. Earlier this week, when Youssef was summoned by the country’s top prosecutor in response to legal changes of insulting Morsi and Islam, Youssef himself wore a massive, to the point of ridiculous, replica of the hat in question. But why arrest Youssef now? Will the legal action trigger a chilling effect on freedom of expression in Egypt?

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On Tuesday, the U.S. embassy in Cairo sent out a link to the Stewart clip, inciting a response from the Egyptian government:

[embedtweet id="319135360586244097"]

The U.S. embassy responded on Wednesday by disabling its Twitter feed temporarily and then deleting the offending tweet, sparking what the AP calls "an unusual diplomatic incident."

From the AP:

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CNN's Christiane Amanpour interviewed Youssef on Monday, asking him about the experience:

"Basically we were going through the punch lines that were considered by others as an insult to the president or being in contempt to the Islamic religion. We were basically answering questions, line by line, phrase by phrase and joke by joke."

But Youssef isn't afraid of the Muslim Brotherhood, the leadership that backs Morsi. "I'm not intimidated; I'm just exhausted by this," he said. "So I'm not going to let this drain me. I'm just going to continue and continue with the show, continue with the same high tone of the show. I'm not going to back down."

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Bassem Youssef is the most prominent critic of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi to be called in for questioning in recent weeks in what the opposition says is a campaign to intimidate critics. It followed warrants for five prominent anti-government activists accused of instigating violence.

Youssef, the host of the weekly show "ElBernameg" or "The Program," is known for his skits lampooning Morsi and Egypt's newly empowered Islamist political class, but also mocks the opposition and the media.

Several dozen supporters gathered outside the public prosecutor's office as he presented himself for questioning, a day after the warrant was first reported in the media.

The media also intently followed the comedian's interrogation. He first tweeted a series of quips from the prosecutor's office. "They asked me the color of my eyes. Really," one read.

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In a statement on his official Facebook page, Col. Ahmed Mohammed Ali said divers were arrested while "cutting the undersea cable" of Egypt's main communications company, Telecom Egypt.

"The armed forces foiled an attempt and arrested three divers while they were cutting a submarine cable," Ali wrote.

The statement, accompanied by a photo of three young men who were apparently Egyptian, said they were captured while on a speeding fishing boat just off the coast of Alexandria. It did not say who they were or why they would want to cut the cable.

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The committee argued that such a step, if adopted, would not violate Islamic law, allowing heads – or emirs – of the country's 13 local administrative regions to begin using the new method when needed.

"This solution seems practical, especially in light of shortages in official swordsmen or their belated arrival to execution yards in some incidents; the aim is to avoid interruption of the regularly-taken security arrangements," the committee said in a statement.

The ultra-conservative Gulf kingdom beheaded 76 people in 2012, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Human Rights Watch (HRW) put the number at 69.

Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under Saudi Arabia's strict version of Sharia, or Islamic Law. So far this year, three people have been executed.

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Military police deployed Wednesday around a government complex where demonstrators have been camped out for weeks. The military removed protester tents to try to prevent renewed violence after three days of clashes that left six people dead, including three policemen.

Protesters angry about what they say is the excessive use of force by police have also torched three government buildings in the recent unrest.

Despite the military's efforts Wednesday, protesters hurled stones at police, prompting the police to respond with tear gas.

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A swarm of locusts hit Egypt over the weekend, just ahead of Passover.

The Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation said 95 percent of the swarm that descended on Cairo on Saturday was eradicated, according to Egypt Independent.

A statement from the ministry released late on Sunday said small numbers of locusts were spotted above Nasr City, Cairo Stadium and the airport. Nearly 17,452 locusts were exterminated, according to the ministry.

According to Israel National News, officials estimated that at least 30 million locusts swarmed fields and farms, causing massive damage to agriculture.

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Yet Kerry also served notice that the Obama administration will keep close watch on how Morsi, who came to power in June as Egypt's first freely elected president, honors his commitment and that additional U.S. assistance would depend on it.

"The path to that future has clearly been difficult and much work remains," Kerry said in a statement after wrapping up two days of meetings in Egypt, a deeply divided country in the wake of the revolution that ousted longtime President Hosni Mubarak.

Egypt is trying to meet conditions to close on a $4.8 billion loan package from the International Monetary Fund. An agreement would unlock more of the $1 billion in U.S. assistance promised by President Barack Obama last year and set to begin flowing with Kerry's announcement.

"The United States can and wants to do more," Kerry said. "Reaching an agreement with the IMF will require further effort on the part of the Egyptian government and broad support for reform by all Egyptians. When Egypt takes the difficult steps to strengthen its economy and build political unity and justice, we will work with our Congress at home on additional support."

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"In January, the Interior Ministry ordered the import of 140,000 teargas canisters from the United States," Egypt Independent reported this week. According to the English-language publication, a memo from the Egyptian police's Major General Magdy al-Gohary indicated that the U.S. government only okayed the permit for the tear gas import when "the company’s name and country of origin" were removed from the canisters. During the Arab Spring, pictures from Tahrir Square of empty canister brandished with "made in the USA" logos garnered viral attention and international outrage as protesters reportedly suffocated in excessive tear gas fumes and were directly struck by canisters.

Egypt Independent cited the Major General's memo as reading:

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Via the Guardian:

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