Syria killed 9 more of its people Saturday.
Egypt defended its raids on foreign organizations, claiming they had been funding political activities inside their Nation, but agreed to move up the election schedule which will favor Islamist parties.
Elements of the Arab League have recommended that the body pull its monitors out of Syria since they aren't doing anything to stop the slaughter there anyway.
The Syrian National Council and the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change in Syria said they signed an agreement that lays out the parameters for democratic rule after Mr. Assad's ouster.
Activists also said tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators turned out Saturday for protests and, in some cases, funerals that turned into opposition rallies.
Meanwhile, Arab League observers continued their mission Saturday to check whether the government was implementing a pledge to halt a crackdown on dissent.
Amateur video posted online late Friday purportedly showed an observer in the southern city of Daraa saying “there are snipers; we have seen them with our own eyes.” The man, wearing an orange vest with the Arab League logo, is also heard saying that if the snipers are not withdrawn within 24 hours, “there will be other measures.”
But, the state-run SANA news agency reported Saturday an Algerian media team visited Daraa and “affirmed that life in the city is normal.”
Syrian authorities agreed to allow observers to monitor the situation in the country, under international pressure and threats of Arab sanctions. The plan requires the government to give the monitors freedom of movement except for sensitive military sites.
An Arab League advisory body is calling for the immediate withdrawal of league monitors from Syria, saying the unit is failing to prevent the killing of civilians by government forces.
Syrian activists say forces loyal to embattled President Bashar al-Assad killed at least nine people Saturday, as leaders of the country's two largest opposition groups signed a deal laying out the scope of democratic rule should the Assad government be toppled.
Sunday, the speaker of the Arab Parliament, Ali al-Salem al-Dekbas, said the violence in Syria is continuing to claim many victims, including children. He said the pullout of the monitors should be immediate, given the ongoing deaths.
The United Nations estimates more than 5,000 people have been killed in Syria since March during a crackdown on protests inspired by the Arab Spring democracy movement. The Assad government claims armed terrorists are driving the revolt.
The Arab League is scheduled to dispatch additional observers to Syria later this week, and it was unclear Sunday what impact the Arab lawmaker's call would have on the planned deployment.
Syrian authorities, under increasing international pressure, agreed last month to allow Arab League monitors into the country. The deal required the government to give monitors freedom of movement through most of the country except for sensitive military sites.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said Saturday recent violence has left hundreds of people dead or wounded and many others in military custody
Two Egyptian ministers have defended last week's raids on the offices of 10 organizations, rejecting denunciations from the United States, the United Nations and Germany.
Planning and International Cooperation Minister Faiza Aboul Naga and Justice Minister Adel Abdel-Hamid Abdullah said Sunday that prosecutors were justified in investigating the groups because they appeared to have broken Egypt's law on political funding.
Aboul Naga voiced repeated complaints from the judiciary and the ruling military about civil groups accepting foreign funds to promote instability and “influence public opinion in non-peaceful ways.” She said the order to investigate came from independent judges, and that the violations are potentially criminal and could result in imprisonment.
Abdullah stressed that “even the U.S. bans” foreign funding of groups engaged in political activities. He said the number of non-governmental organizations violating the law has grown since last year's uprising that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak.
Angered by the sweeps, Washington called on Egyptian authorities to stop the “harassment” of the targeted groups, which include the U.S. government-funded National Democratic Institute and International Republican Institute. Washington-based Freedom House also was hit.
All three groups denounced the raids, as did the seven Egyptian NGOs that were targeted.
A statement signed by 28 Egyptian civil society groups said the sweeps were part of a wider campaign to discredit activists who criticize the country's interim military rulers. The groups called the raids “unprecedented,” adding that not even under Mr. Mubarak's repressive government did such actions occur.
Heavily armed men searched offices in Cairo and at least two other cities, confiscating computers, documents, cell phones and funds while holding staff members incommunicado.
The U.S. State Department said Egypt agreed to halt the raids and return property seized in the crackdown. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson spoke Friday with senior Egyptian officials to underscore Washington's concern about the sweeps.
In a separate development, Egypt's army rulers decreed Sunday they would hasten multi-phase elections for parliament's upper house, the Shura, after deadly clashes in Cairo last month raised pressure for a quicker handover to civilian rule.
Final run-offs to the assembly's upper house will end on February 22 instead of March 12, and the house will hold its first sitting on February 28, nearly a month earlier than previously expected.
Fifty-nine people were killed in confrontations in late November and December between security forces and protesters demanding the military leave power sooner.
An earlier end to the drawn-out election process could take some momentum out of the protests, led by Egyptian Islamist groups.
Pakistani officials say border guards have detained three Iranian security personnel after they crossed into Pakistan late Sunday while chasing two men.
The officials in the Mazah Sar area of southwestern Baluchistan Province said the Iranian guards tried to take the two Pakistani nationals back into Iran. They said both men were wounded in the incident and one later died of his injuries.
Mazah Sar is located southwest of Quetta, the capital of insurgency-hit Baluchistan province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan.
In a separate incident Sunday in the same province, militants set off a roadside bomb next to a Pakistani military convoy, killing at least three soldiers. The attack took place near Sui town, southwest of Quetta.
Baluchistan, which is also home to pro-Taliban militants, has been in the grip of a regional insurgency for years as separatist militants fight for more autonomy and greater control over natural resources
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