Top Egyptian officials ask Pres. Mubarak to resign

Egypt braced for a seventh day of protests Monday while the Egyptian military and Cabinet allegedly asked President Hosni Mubarak to resign, sending his 30-year dictatorship into crisis.

Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman and Defense Minister Mohamed Tantawi raised to Murabak the idea that he should step down, the online version of the British daily Sunday Times said Sunday. Both Suleiman and Tantawi were looking for a "respectable" way for Mubarak to leave, the report said.

Mubarak named Suleiman vice president Saturday.

The political opposition to Mubarak led by Mohamed ElBaradei, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has launched discussion on a post-Murabak government. At Tahrir Square in Cairo Sunday with some 10,000 protesters, ElBaradei said the Mubarak government should step down so that the Egyptian people can live in freedom in a new Egypt.

The New York Times said Monday that Egypt`s opposition parties are discussing forming "a mega-administration" excluding the ruling National Democratic Party.

Global pressure is also increasing for Egypt to implement change. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday that the Arab country`s recent Cabinet reshuffle is just a start, adding the best option for Egypt is a peaceful and orderly transition to real democracy.

A high-ranking U.S. official told the Washington Post that Clinton meant that the transition administration should lead the nation until the presidential election in September.

Protesters continued to hold street riots Monday in defying curfew. They declared an indefinite strike and said a million people will take to the streets Tuesday.

The death toll has gone up to between 120 and 150 after seven days of unprecedented protests in Egypt.

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