As Egypt continues to melt down, with the death toll from days of unrest nearing 1,000, the longtime strongman overthrown in the nation's bloody 2011 revolt is on the verge of becoming a free man. Hosni Mubarak will be released from jail this week, his lawyer tells Reuters, after Egypt's judiciary nullified a corruption charge against the frail 85-year-old. Pending the dismissal of another corruption charge, Mubarak is free to roam the streets. "He should be freed by the end of the week," says the lawyer; a judicial source says that figure is more like two weeks. Though Mubarak faces a retrial for the killing of protesters in 2011, the AP reports he cannot continue to be held in custody because of a two-year limit pending a final verdict. Elsewhere on the ground:
- Some 25 police officers have been massacred as Islamic militants in the Sinai peninsula—where attacks on security forces have soared since Mohamed Morsi was removed from office last month—ambushed a pair of minibuses carrying the officers and killed them execution-style in broad daylight, the AP reports.