BBC News with Mike Cooper

Egyptian state television says the cabinet has submitted its resignation to the ruling military council. It said the military leadership was considering whether to accept the resignations. This report from our correspondent in Cairo Jon Leyne.

After three days of tumultuous clashes in Cairo and other cities, it emerged that the cabinet had submitted its resignation. The ministers are clearly uneasy about the violent reaction to the protests, and they were already unhappy with being increasingly sidelined by the ruling military council. The move is bound to add momentum to the protests, but it also poses a huge political dilemma for the military. Any new ministers are bound to demand more power from the military - something the army is fighting to resist. But an even more dangerous scenario for the ruling military council would be if they have to assume open control of the government, that would make them even more directly responsible for everything that's now going wrong in Egypt - exactly what they have been trying to avoid.

The government in Bahrain has admitted that its troops used excessive force during pro-democracy protests earlier this year. With more details, here's Frank Gardner.

Bahrain's cabinet is anticipating heavy criticism from the independent human rights report due out on Wednesday. But instead of waiting for international condemnation, it's issued a humbling statement, taking partial blame. Regrettably, it says, there have been instances of excessive force and mistreatment of detainees. It goes on to say that all those responsible for abuses will be held accountable, adding there will be no impunity. Human Rights Watch describes the situation in Bahrain as dire and puts the number of deaths following protests this year at 43, most of them civilians.