4 Killed in Egypt Clashes

Officials say three anti-government protesters have been killed in the southern Egyptian city of Assiut, after suspected Islamists riding a motorbike fired on protesters outside a local government building. One was killed and seven injured, prompting protesters to march on the local office of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party, where at least two more were shot by gunmen inside the building, the AP reports. Another protester was killed outside Freedom and Justice party headquarters in Beni Suef.

The country is gripped with anti-government protests today, with hundreds of thousands massing in Cairo's Tahrir Square and other cities around the country to call for the removal of President Mohamed Morsi, the AP reports. "Today is the Brotherhood's last day in power," says one protestor at Tahrir. "I came here today because Morsi did not accomplish any of the [2011] revolution's goals ... the needs of the poor were not met." But Morsi, who has three years left in office, remains defiant in the face of growing opposition and calls for an early election. "If we changed someone in office who [was elected] according to constitutional legitimacy—well, there will be people opposing the new president too, and a week or a month later they will ask him to step down," he told the Guardian. (More Egypt stories.)