Shashank Cairo, February 05:Egypt’s credit rating and economic outlook have been downgraded by rating agencies due to the ongoing political unrest.
Credit Agricole bank revised downward its growth forecast for Egypt this year from 5.3 percent to 3.7 percent, DPA reported.
On Saturday, Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak met ministers holding economic portfolios and the head of the central bank at the presidential palace in Cairo, state media reported.
Jammu, February 05:In a powerful message of being with his own people, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Saturday did not wait even for the weather to clear and left for Handwara where a youth was killed in an army ambush Friday night.
Having expressed his anger and anguish on Twitter over the killing of Manzoor Ahmad, a 21-year-old youth in Chogal village in Handwara area of Kupwara district in northwest Kashmir, Abdullah air dashed to Srinagar and thereafter undertook the 70-km journey by road to the village where protests erupted Saturday.
Bhubaneswar, February 05:Orissa’s Woman and Child Development Minister Pramilla Mallik Saturday resigned over a scandal involving irregularities in the supply of pulses to children.
She submitted her resignation to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, said an official. “She resigned on moral grounds,” the official told IANS.
The Congress had demanded her resignation after the state vigilance department found last month irregularities in the supply of pulses to both children and women under various welfare schemes.
–IANS
Cairo, February 05:The Egyptian Army has stopped the gas flow at a pipeline in Egypt’s North Sinai following an explosion, the governor of the province said Saturday.
The explosion at the pipeline, which supplies gas to Israel, occurred Saturday morning near the Egyptian town of El Arish, close to the Egyptian-Israeli border.
The governor told state television that a gas station located near the blast site was not damaged. The explosion has not hit the residential areas, he added.
Rae Bareli (Uttar Pradesh), February 05:Congress president Sonia Gandhi was flooded with public complaints when hundreds of locals in her parliamentary constituency Rae Bareli discussed their grievances with her here Saturday, a party official said.
“Around 1,000 locals met Sonia Gandhi with their complaints and problems,” Congress spokesperson in Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Pratap Singh told reporters. The meeting took place at the Bhuemau guest house for three hours.
New Delhi, February 05:They say love has no boundaries. But many same sex couples in India rue that despite homosexuality being decriminalised, they cannot publicly display affection. Toilets and trial rooms in stores are among the few places available to them to cozy up.
“We’ve got our rights on paper under Indian law, but ‘society’ is still not ready to understand our behaviour. Homosexual love is still taboo in the eyes of the masses and that is a problem,” Akshay Gupta, a 25-year-old Delhi resident, who is in a relationship with Gaurav, told IANS.
Washington, February 05:Amidst the crisis in Egypt, US Vice President Joe Biden spoke with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and “reaffirmed the US commitment to building a global, strategic partnership with India.”
There weren’t many details available or if the call Friday was related to Egypt with a short White House readout only saying they discussed “regional and global issues of mutual concern.”
Washington, February 05:An assassination attempt on Egypt’s Vice President Omar Suleiman has failed, but it left two of his bodyguards dead, a media report said.
The attempt to kill Suleiman took place in recent days, sources told Fox News Saturday.
Embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had appointed Suleiman as vice president to quell the unrest in the country.
Mubarak, who has ruled the country for nearly 30 years, is under intense pressure to quit with defiant protesters gathered at Cairo’s downtown Tahrir Square stepping up their demonstration.
Tehran, February 05: Iran’s supreme leader saluted on Friday what he termed an “Islamic liberation movement” in the Arab world, and advised the people of Egypt and Tunisia to unite around their religion and against the West.
“The awakening of the Islamic Egyptian people is an Islamic liberation movement and I, in the name of the Iranian government, salute the Egyptian people and the Tunisian people,” Khamenei told worshippers at Friday prayers in Tehran.
Chennai, February 5:Madras High Court today granted conditional bail to a top official of a city-based private university, arrested by CBI after he was allegedly caught on camera demanding capitation fee from a medical student in a sting operation in 2009.
A Subramanyam, suspended Deputy Registrar of Sri Ramachandra Medical College and University, was arrested by CBI last week in connection with the case relating to alleged demanding of Rs 40 lakh in capitation fee from a student for admission to the MBBS course in 2009.
Hyderabad, February 05: Intensifying their agitation, pro-Telangana TRS, BJP and other organisations would launch a “non-cooperation movement” for achieving the separate statehood goal from the second week of this month.
Leaders of the parties, under the auspices of the Telangana political Joint Action Committee (JAC), would meet Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy tomorrow and convey to him their decision to undertake the “non-cooperation”.
New York, February 5:An Egyptian journalist died Friday of a gunshot wound suffered while covering unrest a week ago in Cairo, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.
Ahmad Mohamed Mahmoud, who was working for the newspaper al-Ta’awun, was hit by what the newspaper described as sniper fire while filming a confrontation between security forces and protesters Jan 28 near Cairo’s Tahrir Square.
His death Friday was the first by a journalist covering the unrest in Egypt, according to CPJ, a New York-based non-governmental organization.
Mumbai, February 5:Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan, who is currently shooting in New Zealand for Abbas Mastan’s “Players”, is in for a surprise birthday treat Saturday as wife Aishwarya and his friends are planning to visit his sets and take him out for some thrilling adventure sports.
Abhishek’s friends will be flying down to New Zealand to indulge him in his favorite adventure sports.
The sources said, the friends and Aishwarya have planned an entire day of bungee jumping, white water rapids and zorbing since Abhishek is a complete adventure junkie.
Tehran, February 5:The fire started Friday morning at the NGL fractionation unit of the complex, which is under construction, the Mehr news agency reported.
The Iranian Oil Ministry has not yet explained the cause of the fire.
Eight of the injured people are receiving treatment at the Mahshahr Petrochemical Industries Hospital, and the three others were transferred to Tehran for treatment due to the seriousness of their injuries.
Five months ago, a similar incident took place at the same unit, but no casualties were reported.
Cairo, February 5:Hundreds of people gathered behind police barricades in Times Square on Friday afternoon chanting “Mubarak must go.” One demonstrator held up a sign saying, “Long live the Egyptian intifada.”
The larger demonstrations in Egypt were named the “Day of Departure” for Mubarak.
The U.S. government says close to 60,000 Egyptian-Americans live in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York. Community members say the real number is twice that figure.
Mumbai, February 5:He composed music for critically acclaimed “Mr And Mrs Iyer” and now tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain is eager to make music for Bollywood films again.
“The problem is that I’m here always for a very less time and to give music in a Bollywood film you have to be here because producers can call you any time to make changes in the song; so it becomes a little difficult for me to do it,” said Hussain who is based in US.
Malegaon, Feb 4 (PTI) Onion growers today condemned lathicharge on them by the police during a protest at Mungse area after some people pelted stones on policemen.
Five policemen were injured and vehicles were damaged in the incident yesterday.
The Agriculture Produce Market Committee at Mungse remained closed today after the incident, police said.
Police had arrested 41 farmers who were allegedly involved in stone-pelting.
Cairo, February 5:Gaza’s fuel supplies have dropped significantly due to the situation in Egypt, causing serious problems for Palestinians living in the territory.
Tel Aviv frequently shuts the borders of Gaza, and Israeli courts have also reduced the regular fuel quota entering the Gaza Strip for no given reason.
In addition, the fuel and other badly needed supplies that used to be brought in through the underground tunnels between Gaza and Egypt have stopped coming.
Mumbai, February 5:A member of the Chota Rajan gang and an arms supplier were arrested in two separate cases by the Mumbai Police’s Crime Branch and arms recovered from them, police said Friday.
“Zuber Abdul Hamid Jamadar, who was arrested Wednesday is an aide and cousin of slain underworld operative Farid Tanasha,” Joint Commissioner of Police Himanshu Roy told reporters.
“Jamadar was booked for rioting and murder in the 1993 riots and had served a prison term during which he came into contact with the Chhota Rajan gang,” Roy added.
Cairo, February 5:Egyptian activists protesting against the government of President Hosni Mubarak have launched their own newspaper to disseminate information about their ongoing revolt.
“The newspaper is just a single sheet and is called ‘Maidan Tahrir’,” said Raed Jaber, editor of Anbaa Mosku, the Arabic-language version of the Moscow News.
He added that the opposition is also trying to set up a radio station.
Hundreds of thousands of protesters Friday gathered on Tahrir Square demanding Mubarak’s resignation on what they dubbed the “day of departure”.
London, February 5:Jenny McCarthy stays in shape by having lots of great sex with her new boyfriend, sports agent Paul Krepelka.
The 38-year-old beauty started dating Krepelka after being introduced by her sister in December and the former Playboy model claims she has her new lover to thank for keeping her in shape, reports femalefirst.co.uk.
“I didn’t have to work out before 35 but now I have to so it’s treadmill, bikram yoga, watching what I eat and of course great sex. Lots of great sex!,” she said.
–IANS
Islamabad, February 5: The ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Friday rejected rumours that President Asif Ali Zardari has secretly tied the knot in the United States with a Pakistani doctor based in Boston.
Rumours flew on Zardari’s remarriage to Tanveer Zamani, 40, who has declined to comment.
The president’s office has not only rebutted but also condemned the report as baseless propaganda against Zaradri’s personal life, The Nation reported Friday.
Lucknow, February 5:In a fresh reshuffle, the Uttar Pradesh government today transferred five IAS officials, including a divisional commissioner, an official spokesman said here.
Ajay Chauhan, district magistrate Shahjahanpur, where 19 ITBP aspirants died after falling from a moving train on Tuesday last, has been shifted to Agra in the same capacity.
He will be replaced by special secretary medical education department Navdeep Rinwa.
Washington, February 5:US President Barack Obama Friday appealed to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to listen to his people and make the “right decision” about the best way forward for the country.
Obama would not say whether Mubarak should resign before his September timeframe for leaving office, but made it clear that “going back to the old ways is not going to work”.
London, February 5:Miley Cyrus is reportedly dating British actor Joshua Bowman after meeting him on the set of her new movie “So Undercover”.
“They were inseparable at the movie’s wrap up party but Miley’s back in Los Angeles at the moment and Joshua’s in Louisiana, so they’re going to see how it goes,” femalefirst.co.uk quoted a source as saying.
Last year, Joshua hit the headlines after he was spotted with Amy Winehouse on the beach in St. Lucia, while Miley split from ex-boyfriend Liam Hemsworth in November.
–IANS