
At least 11,000 Syrians poured into neighboring countries in a single day, U.N. officials said Friday, in a dramatic surge in the exodus of refugees fueled by heavy battles between regime forces and rebels for control of a border town.

Activists say Syrian rebels have killed more than 20 soldiers and captured three security compounds in a northern town near the border with Turkey.

The Obama administration is engaged in a quiet and largely fruitless effort to persuade Egypt's security services to arrest scores of terrorists who were released or escaped from prisons during the country's recent revolution.

Gen. Omar Suleiman emerged in recent weeks as the man most likely to oversee a transition toward political reform in Egypt. However, he is an unpalatable choice for the hundreds of thousands of Egyptians who have gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square.