Celebrations planned as Wash. legalizes marijuana

SEATTLE (AP) — Legal marijuana possession becomes a reality under Washington state law on Thursday, and some people planned to celebrate the new law by breaking it.

Voters in Washington and Colorado last month made those the first states to decriminalize and regulate the recreational use of marijuana. Washington's law takes effect Thursday and allows adults to have up to an ounce of pot — but it bans public use of marijuana, which is punishable by a fine, just like drinking in public.

Nevertheless, some people planned to gather at 12:01 a.m. PST Thursday to smoke in public beneath Seattle's Space Needle. Others planned a midnight party outside the Seattle headquarters of Hempfest, the 21-year-old festival that attracts tens of thousands of pot fans every summer.

"This is a big day because all our lives we've been living under the iron curtain of prohibition," said Hempfest director Vivian McPeak. "The whole world sees that prohibition just took a body blow."

In another sweeping change for Washington, Gov. Chris Gregoire on Wednesday signed into law a measure that legalizes same-sex marriage. The state joins several others that allow gay and lesbian couples to wed.

That law also takes effect Thursday, when gay and lesbian couples can start picking up their wedding certificates and licenses at county auditors' offices. Those offices in King County, the state's largest and home to Seattle, and Thurston County, home to the state capital of Olympia, planned to open the earliest, at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, to start issuing marriage licenses. Because the state has a three-day waiting period, the earliest that weddings can take place is Sunday.

The Seattle Police Department provided this public marijuana use enforcement guidance to its officers via email Wednesday night: "Until further notice, officers shall not take any enforcement action — other than to issue a verbal warning — for a violation of Initiative 502."

Thanks to a 2003 law, marijuana enforcement remains the department's lowest priority. Even before I-502 passed on Nov. 6, police rarely busted people at Hempfest, despite widespread pot use, and the city attorney here doesn't prosecute people for having small amounts of marijuana.

Officers will be advising people to take their weed inside, police spokesman Jonah Spangenthal-Lee wrote on the SPD Blotter. "The police department believes that, under state law, you may responsibly get baked, order some pizzas and enjoy a 'Lord of the Rings' marathon in the privacy of your own home, if you want to."

Washington's new law decriminalizes possession of up to an ounce for those over 21, but for now selling marijuana remains illegal. I-502 gives the state a year to come up with a system of state-licensed growers, processors and retail stores, with the marijuana taxed 25 percent at each stage. Analysts have estimated that a legal pot market could bring Washington hundreds of millions of dollars a year in new tax revenue for schools, health care and basic government functions.

But marijuana remains illegal under federal law. That means federal agents can still arrest people for it, and it's banned from federal properties, including military bases and national parks.

The Justice Department has not said whether it will sue to try to block the regulatory schemes in Washington and Colorado from taking effect.

"The department's responsibility to enforce the Controlled Substances Act remains unchanged," said a statement issued Wednesday by the Seattle U.S. attorney's office. "Neither states nor the executive branch can nullify a statute passed by Congress" — a non-issue, since the measures passed in Washington and Colorado don't "nullify" federal law, which federal agents remain free to enforce.

The legal question is whether the establishment of a regulated marijuana market would "frustrate the purpose" of the federal pot prohibition, and many constitutional law scholars say it very likely would.

That leaves the political question of whether the administration wants to try to block the regulatory system, even though it would remain legal to possess up to an ounce of marijuana.

Colorado's measure, as far as decriminalizing possession goes, is set to take effect by Jan. 5. That state's regulatory scheme is due to be up and running by October 2013.

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Johnson can be reached at https://twitter.com/GeneAPseattle

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November Unemployment Falls to 7.7 Percent

The economy generated 146,000 new jobs in November and unemployment fell to 7.7 percent, better than economists expected, despite worries that superstorm Sandy and the looming fiscal cliff would dampen hiring.

There are still 12 million people unemployed in the country, but the Labor Department said Sandy did not significantly affect jobs.

Many economists had expected employers to have added about 90,000 jobs, causing the unemployment rate to tick up slightly.

The Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics dialed back job gains for the previous two months. In October, the U.S. economy added 138,000 jobs, not the 171,000 reported before the election. The jobs added in September were also revised downward to 132,000 from 148,000.

Stephen Bronars, chief economist with Welch Consulting in Washington, D.C., said many economists believed Superstorm Sandy would have influenced Friday's jobs report after causing devastation especially in the Caribbean and U.S. Northeast.

Businesses and residents in the tri-state region of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, which produce about one-eighth of U.S. GDP, experienced prolonged power outages and major infrastructure damage.

Bronars said, "Sandy hit the U.S. at a place where it inflicted close to the maximal possible economic damage from a storm that size."

New Jersey and New York were the hardest hit, with at least 120,000 jobs lost, at least temporarily, in those two states.

On Wednesday, payroll provider ADP, reported that private companies added 118,000 jobs in November, down from 157,000 in October. However, ADP includes in its figures people as employed if they remain on payroll, whereas the Labor Department's includes workers as employed if they are paid.

Now that election season is over, employers and investors are surrounded by worries from another uncertainty, the fiscal cliff.

Read more: Eliminating Charitable Deduction Would Help Budget, Hurt Charities

Bronars said the November report will not have quite picked up effects of the looming fiscal cliff, as employers prepare for a mix of government spending cuts and tax increases after the end of the year.

He said the effects of the failure thus far to reach a budget deal are more likely to show up in the December jobs report which will be released in early January.

It is not entirely certain whether the payroll tax holiday will be extended. If it's not, it may raise the cost of hiring workers.

"The next most important issue is sequestration which would bring big cuts to certain employers that depend on government contractors and other employers that indirectly provide support to government contractors," Bronars said. "Employers in these industries may well take a wait and see attitude for hiring until the fiscal issues are resolved."

Concerns about a higher marginal tax rate for top earners, some of whom are employers, may take longer to show a noticeable effect in jobs figures as the disincentive to top earners may take longer to indirectly affect hiring decisions.

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Egypt military orders rival crowds to quit palace area

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's Republican Guard ordered rival demonstrators to leave the area around the presidential palace in Cairo on Thursday after fierce overnight clashes that killed seven people.

Islamist supporters of President Mohamed Mursi withdrew, but the opposition promised more protests there.

The presidency announced that the Republican Guard, whose duties include protecting the palace, had set a 3 p.m. (1300 GMT) deadline for supporters and opponents of Mursi to quit an area they had turned into a battleground.

The military played a big role in removing President Hosni Mubarak during last year's popular revolt, taking over to manage a transitional period, but had stayed out of the latest crisis.

Mursi's Islamist partisans had fought opposition protesters well into the early hours during dueling demonstrations over the president's decision last month to expand his powers to help him push through a mostly Islamist-drafted constitution.

A Reuters witness said the hundreds of Mursi supporters who had camped overnight near the palace perimeter left before the military deadline passed. Dozens of Mursi's foes remained, but were kept away by a barbed wire barricade guarded by tanks.

An official of the opposition National Salvation Front, who asked not to be named, said more protests would take place.

"We are planning marches later today, most probably taking off from Tahrir Square, disregarding the Republican Guard's decision. We had many injuries last night, and we are not going to have their blood wasted."

The commander of the Guard, which has deployed tanks and armored troop carriers to help police pacify the area, said the intention was to separate the adversaries, not to repress them.

"The armed forces, and at the forefront of them the Republican Guard, will not be used as a tool to oppress the demonstrators," General Mohamed Zaki told the state news agency.

Mursi himself, silent in the turbulence of the last few days, will address the nation later in the day, state television quoted a presidential adviser as saying.

The president discussed how to stabilize Egypt with the army chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who is also defense minister, and cabinet ministers, the presidency said.

After the sustained clashes of Wednesday night, the streets around the palace were much calmer in the morning, apart from a brief bout of rock-throwing between the hundreds of Islamists and dozens of opposition partisans still at the scene.

STABILITY AT RISK

Army officers on the spot urged the combatants to back off and stop bloodshed that is further dividing Egypt and imperiling its quest for political stability and economic recovery nearly two years after mass protests overthrew Mubarak.

Officials said 350 people had been wounded, as well as the seven killed. Six of the dead were Mursi supporters, the Muslim Brotherhood said. Each side blamed the other for the violence.

Egypt plunged into renewed turmoil after Mursi assumed wide powers on November 22 to press ahead with a mostly Islamist-drafted constitution and forestall any court challenges to it.

The Supreme Guide of the Brotherhood, to which Mursi belonged before he was narrowly elected president in June, appealed for unity. Divisions among Egyptians "only serve the nation's enemies", Mohamed Badie said in a statement.

With at least seven tanks at the palace corners, backed by about 10 armored troop carriers and 20 police trucks, the two sides mostly shouted slogans at each other from a distance.

Around the palace, traffic moved through streets strewn with rocks thrown during violence in which petrol bombs and guns were also used. Hundreds of Mursi supporters had remained there over night, many wrapped in blankets and some reading the Koran.

"We came here to support President Mursi and his decisions. He is the elected president of Egypt," said demonstrator Emad Abou Salem, 40. "He has legitimacy and nobody else does."

Opposition protester Ehab Nasser el-Din, 21, his head bandaged after being hit by a rock the day before, decried the Muslim Brotherhood's "grip on the country", which he said would only tighten if the new constitution is passed.

Another protester, Ahmed Abdel-Hakim, 23, accused the Brotherhood of "igniting the country in the name of religion".

WESTERN CONCERN

The United States, worried about the stability of an Arab state which has a peace deal with Israel and which receives $1.3 billion in U.S. military aid, has urged dialogue. Britain also called for restraint and an "inclusive" political process.

Mursi's opponents accuse him of seeking to create a new "dictatorship" with his November 22 decree and were further angered when an Islamist-dominated assembly hastily approved the draft constitution due to go to a referendum on December 15.

The president has defended his actions as necessary to prevent courts still full of judges appointed by Mubarak from derailing a constitution vital for Egypt's political transition.

Mursi has shown no sign of buckling under pressure from protesters, confident that the Islamists, who have dominated both elections since Mubarak was overthrown, can win the referendum and the parliamentary election to follow.

Mahmoud Hussein, the Brotherhood's secretary-general, said holding the plebiscite was the only way out of the crisis, dismissing the opposition as "remnants of the (Mubarak) regime, thugs and people working for foreign agendas".

As well as relying on his Brotherhood power base, Mursi may also tap into a popular yearning for stability and economic revival after almost two years of political turmoil.

The Egyptian pound hit its lowest level in eight years, after previously firming on hopes that a $4.8 billion IMF loan would stabilize the economy. The Egyptian stock market fell 4.4 percent after it opened.

Foreign exchange reserves fell by nearly $450 million to $15 billion in November, indicating that the Central Bank was still spending heavily to bolster the pound. The reserves stood at about $36 billion before the anti-Mubarak uprising.

(This story has been corrected to show Egypt's pound hits lowest level in eight years, but did not fall 4 percent)

(Additional reporting by Tom Perry; Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Giles Elgood)

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Employers urged to engage with foreign workers on grievance channels

SINGAPORE: Human resource experts say it is important for employers to engage with their foreign workers in light of the two labour disputes that have taken place in the past weeks.

They said more can be done to ensure employees have and are aware of the right avenues to air their grievances.

The two labour disputes involving foreign workers have been in the limelight.

And it has been called a "wake-up call" for employers.

So what steps should employers take next?

The Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) had earlier urged employers to put in place or re-look their grievance handling procedures. And in light of the current climate, human resource experts say it is timely for companies to reassure and communicate with their workers.

Mr David Ang, Executive Director of Singapore Human Resources Institute (SHRI), said: "What I think companies should do is really to call a briefing or call a communication session with the foreign workers to explain to them that this thing has taken place, why it has taken place and what is wrong in the course of the action that has been taken by this group of people.

"And explain to them that if you do have an issue, and you do have a problem, bring it up to your supervisor. And to some extent, communicating in the language which the workers can best understand will be key to making sure the message goes down."

The Association of Employment Agencies said most foreign workers are aware of the channels to air their problems.

But more can be done.

K Jayaprema, President of the Association of Employment Agencies, said: "What the Ministry of Manpower, maybe what they can do is to include these information they're handing to their workers, a little bit more about the policies, the rules, the regulations of the laws against strikes in Singapore. I think that's what they should include.

"Apart from sounding out to employees about their rights, I think we are looking at the roles and responsibilities of employees also."

Employers also have a part to play.

Experts said clear terms and conditions for workers should be set out in black and white by companies who engage employment agencies.

Mr Ang added: "The bigger companies would certainly have this. But again, down at the ground level, during the course of the recruitment process itself, there could be cases of misrepresentation and so on. So a company must be aware, and be constantly checking on the accuracy of the information given to the workers."

Mr Jayaprema added: "Employers are being informed, it's really whether the employer wants to pass this message down to the employee. So I think it's really the responsibility on the employer now. You can only do so much to educate people, but I think it's the employers who should be more serious about how they are going to manage their workforce."

And experts say it will take two hands to clap to ensure the welfare of foreign workers are looked after.

- CNA/de

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Narhari Modi nets prize catch as Narhari Amin joins BJP

AHMEDABAD: In a prize catch for BJP, Narhari Amin, a former Gujarat deputy chief minister, who recently quit the Congress after being denied ticket to contest the assembly elections, joined the state's ruling party on Thursday.

Amin's entry into the BJP is expected to boost its prospects in the Saurashtra region where renegade saffron party leader and former chief minister Keshubhai Patel's newly launched Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP) is putting a stiff challenge to Narendra Modi.

Like Keshubhai, Amin belongs to the politically influential Patel community, and has a sizeable following among them.

Reflecting the significance of Amin's arrival into the BJP fold, chief minister Modi, seeking a third consecutive term in office, welcomed him into the party, describing it as a move that would strengthen democracy.

"He is a leader who has remained among people to serve them since his youth. Coming of Amin to the party will strengthen democracy," Modi said.

Amin, who had been sulking ever since he was denied Congress nomination on the ground that he had lost two successive assembly elections, said, "I am sure that BJP will win this election and Modi will secure a hat-trick in the state. I will work for the BJP now."

He had quit Congress on Tuesday along with six prominent leaders including spokespersons of Gujarat Congress Jayanti Parmar and Hitesh Patel, state party general secretary Ashish Amin, farmers cell chairman Dashrath Patel, teachers cell chairman Digvijaysinh Gohil, Ahmedabad Congress vice-president RC Patel.

Another 175 of his supporters also joined BJP today with him.

Amin, among the prominent Congress faces in the state, was involved in the poll preparations right from the beginning and was present at all important events.

The former deputy chief minister said he felt "insulted" as Congress had given tickets to little known faces ignoring leaders who had worked tirelessly to build the party.

"Everything was going fine in the Congress party till ticket distribution. At the time of ticket distribution, differences between the state Congress leaders came to fore as all of them wanted tickets to be distributed to maximum number of their supporters," he said.

"The high command also ignored senior leaders and played along with the choices of state leaders. State leaders after elections did not want to have a challenger and that is why they denied ticket to me and other strong contenders who could have easily won elections," he added.

Modi, who is apparently banking on Amin to neutralize Keshubhai Patel's political clout in the Saurashtra region, said, "Congress has not only cheated people, but it has also cheated party workers by denying them tickets. It is important to defeat family-oriented politics of Congress."

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Celebrations planned as Wash. legalizes marijuana

SEATTLE (AP) — Legal marijuana possession becomes a reality under Washington state law on Thursday, and some people planned to celebrate the new law by breaking it.

Voters in Washington and Colorado last month made those the first states to decriminalize and regulate the recreational use of marijuana. Washington's law takes effect Thursday and allows adults to have up to an ounce of pot — but it bans public use of marijuana, which is punishable by a fine, just like drinking in public.

Nevertheless, some people planned to gather at 12:01 a.m. PST Thursday to smoke in public beneath Seattle's Space Needle. Others planned a midnight party outside the Seattle headquarters of Hempfest, the 21-year-old festival that attracts tens of thousands of pot fans every summer.

"This is a big day because all our lives we've been living under the iron curtain of prohibition," said Hempfest director Vivian McPeak. "The whole world sees that prohibition just took a body blow."

In another sweeping change for Washington, Gov. Chris Gregoire on Wednesday signed into law a measure that legalizes same-sex marriage. The state joins several others that allow gay and lesbian couples to wed.

That law also takes effect Thursday, when gay and lesbian couples can start picking up their wedding certificates and licenses at county auditors' offices. Those offices in King County, the state's largest and home to Seattle, and Thurston County, home to the state capital of Olympia, planned to open the earliest, at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, to start issuing marriage licenses. Because the state has a three-day waiting period, the earliest that weddings can take place is Sunday.

The Seattle Police Department provided this public marijuana use enforcement guidance to its officers via email Wednesday night: "Until further notice, officers shall not take any enforcement action — other than to issue a verbal warning — for a violation of Initiative 502."

Thanks to a 2003 law, marijuana enforcement remains the department's lowest priority. Even before I-502 passed on Nov. 6, police rarely busted people at Hempfest, despite widespread pot use, and the city attorney here doesn't prosecute people for having small amounts of marijuana.

Officers will be advising people to take their weed inside, police spokesman Jonah Spangenthal-Lee wrote on the SPD Blotter. "The police department believes that, under state law, you may responsibly get baked, order some pizzas and enjoy a 'Lord of the Rings' marathon in the privacy of your own home, if you want to."

Washington's new law decriminalizes possession of up to an ounce for those over 21, but for now selling marijuana remains illegal. I-502 gives the state a year to come up with a system of state-licensed growers, processors and retail stores, with the marijuana taxed 25 percent at each stage. Analysts have estimated that a legal pot market could bring Washington hundreds of millions of dollars a year in new tax revenue for schools, health care and basic government functions.

But marijuana remains illegal under federal law. That means federal agents can still arrest people for it, and it's banned from federal properties, including military bases and national parks.

The Justice Department has not said whether it will sue to try to block the regulatory schemes in Washington and Colorado from taking effect.

"The department's responsibility to enforce the Controlled Substances Act remains unchanged," said a statement issued Wednesday by the Seattle U.S. attorney's office. "Neither states nor the executive branch can nullify a statute passed by Congress" — a non-issue, since the measures passed in Washington and Colorado don't "nullify" federal law, which federal agents remain free to enforce.

The legal question is whether the establishment of a regulated marijuana market would "frustrate the purpose" of the federal pot prohibition, and many constitutional law scholars say it very likely would.

That leaves the political question of whether the administration wants to try to block the regulatory system, even though it would remain legal to possess up to an ounce of marijuana.

Colorado's measure, as far as decriminalizing possession goes, is set to take effect by Jan. 5. That state's regulatory scheme is due to be up and running by October 2013.

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Johnson can be reached at https://twitter.com/GeneAPseattle

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Kate Middleton Leaves London Hospital

Kate Middleton left King Edward VII Hospital in London this morning after being admitted four days ago following the palace's announcement that she is pregnant and being treated for hyperemesis gravidarum.

"The Duchess of Cambridge has been discharged from the King Edward VII Hospital and will now head to Kensington Palace for a period of rest," Nick Loughran, the assistant press secretary to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, said in a statement. "Their Royal Highnesses would like to thank the staff at the hospital for the care and treatment The Duchess has received."

For Complete Coverage of the Royal Baby, Please Visit Our Special Section – Click Here

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Middleton, 30, who is less than 12 weeks pregnant, was seen leaving the hospital with Prince William at 11 a.m. GT today. A smiling Middleton was holding yellow flowers and waved to the crowd as she departed from the hospital in a black car.

The Duke and Duchess were spending time with her parents in Bucklebury when she became ill with the symptoms of hyperemesis gravidarum, or acute nausea.

Click here for photos of Kate through the years.

Prince William sprung into action and drove his wife, along with their personal security team, 50 miles in their Range Rover to the hospital, where Kate was placed on an IV drip.

The royal family was only notified of Kate's pregnancy a few hours before the rest of the world.

The royal couple decided to go public with the pregnancy because Middleton had to be hospitalized Monday afternoon, a palace source said.

Hyperemesis gravidarum, or acute nausea, is usually diagnosed about nine weeks into a pregnancy, and in most cases resolves itself by 16 or 20 weeks, according to Dr. Ashley Roman, a professor and obstetrician-gynecologist at NYU Langone Medical Center.

It can last the whole pregnancy in rare cases.

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Confrontation between rival protesters looms in Egypt crisis

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood called for a rally backing President Mohamed Mursi outside his palace on Wednesday and leftists planned a counter-demonstration, raising fears of clashes in a crisis over a disputed push for a new constitution.

Mursi returned to work at his compound a day after it came under siege from opposition protesters furious at his drive to ratify a new constitution in a snap referendum set for December 15 after temporarily expanding his powers by decree.

The Islamist president said he acted to prevent courts still full of appointees from the era of autocratic predecessor Hosni Mubarak from derailing the draft constitution meant to complete a political transition in the Arab world's most populous state.

The Brotherhood, from which Mursi emerged to narrowly win a free election in June, summoned supporters to a demonstration outside the palace in response to what it termed "oppressive abuses" by opposition parties.

Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan was quoted on its Facebook page as saying opposition groups "imagined they could shake legitimacy or impose their views by force".

Leftist opposition leader Hamdeen Sabahy promptly urged his supporters to go to the streets as well, heightening the chances of confrontation between Islamists and their opponents.

A spokeswoman for Sabahy's Popular Current movement asked protesters to head to the palace to reinforce those still camped out there after Tuesday evening's protests, in which officials said 35 protesters and 40 police were wounded.

Although they fired tear gas when protesters broke through barricades to reach the palace walls, riot police appeared to handle those disturbances with restraint.

About 200 protesters camped out overnight, blocking one gate to the palace in northern Cairo, but traffic was flowing normally and riot police had been withdrawn.

"Our demands to the president: retract the presidential decree and cancel the referendum on the constitution," read a placard hung by demonstrators on a palace gate.

The rest of the Egyptian capital was calm, despite the political furor over Mursi's November 22 decree handing himself wide powers and shielding his decisions from judicial oversight.

Crowds had gathered on Tuesday for what organizers dubbed a "last warning" to Mursi. "The people want the downfall of the regime," they chanted, roaring the signature slogan of last year's uprising that ousted Mubarak.

But the "last warning" may turn out to be one of the last gasps for a disparate opposition that has little chance of stopping next week's vote on a constitution drafted over six months and swiftly approved by an Islamist-dominated assembly.

MURSI STANDS HIS GROUND

Facing the gravest crisis of his six-month-old tenure, the Islamist president has shown no sign of buckling under pressure, confident that the Muslim Brotherhood and its Islamist allies can win the referendum and a parliamentary election to follow.

Many Egyptians yearn for an end to political upheaval that has scared off investors and tourists, damaging the economy.

Ahmed Kamel, spokesman for the Congress Party led by former Arab League chief Amr Moussa, said Mursi should meet opposition demands, not call for an Islamist counter-demonstration.

Some protesters have already gone beyond opposition calls for Mursi to scrap his decree, defer the referendum and set up a "representative committee" to revise the draft constitution, instead demanding the president's overthrow.

"The demands of the street are moving faster than those of the politicians," said Elijah Zarwan, a fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations. "Now is the time for the Egyptian liberals to negotiate without conditions."

COURT PROTEST

Dozens of pro-Mursi demonstrators, watched by equal numbers of police, waved flags outside the Supreme Constitutional Court, whose rulings have complicated the Islamists' rise to power.

"You are not a political agency," read one banner held by the demonstrators, addressing a court that in June ordered the dissolution of the Islamist-led lower house of parliament.

Mursi issued his decree temporarily putting his actions above the law to forestall any court ruling to dissolve the upper house or the assembly that wrote the constitution.

State institutions, with the partial exception of the judiciary, have mostly fallen in behind Mursi.

The army, the power behind all previous Egyptian presidents in the republic's six-decade history, has gone back to barracks, having apparently lost its appetite to intervene in politics.

In a bold move, Mursi sacked Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the Mubarak-era army commander and defense minister, in August and removed the sweeping powers that the military council which took over after Mubarak's fall had grabbed two months earlier.

The liberals, leftists, Christians, ex-Mubarak followers and others opposed to Mursi, elected in a close result against a secular rival, have yet to generate a mass movement or a grassroots political base to challenge the Brotherhood.

Protesters have scrawled "leave" over Mursi's palace walls, but the president has made clear he is not going anywhere.

"The crisis we have suffered for two weeks is on its way to an end, and very soon, God willing," Saad al-Katatni, head of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, told Reuters.

Investors have seized on hopes that Egypt's turbulent transition, which has buffeted the economy for two years, may soon head for calmer waters, sending stocks 1.6 per cent higher after a 3.5 percent rally on Tuesday.

The most populous Arab nation has turned to the IMF for a $4.8 billion loan to help it out of a crisis that has depleted its foreign currency reserves.

The government said on Wednesday the process was on track and Egypt's request would go to the IMF board as expected.

(Additional reporting by Tom Perry and Yasmine Saleh; Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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Myanmar's Union Minister Soe Thane calls on PM Lee

SINGAPORE: Singapore and Myanmar have affirmed warm relations when Myanmar's Union Minister in the President's Office U Soe Thane called on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Wednesday.

During the meeting, Mr Soe Thane, who is also chairman of the Myanmar Investment Commission, expressed appreciation for Singapore's consistent support for Myanmar's reforms and developments.

The two men also had a substantial discussion on Myanmar's political and economic developments.

Mr Soe Thane is in Singapore on a study visit jointly organised by the Singapore Cooperation Programme and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.

- CNA/lp

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Mulayam spoke against FDI, but was absent during vote, Sushma Swaraj says

NEW DELHI: In a dig at Mulayam Singh Yadav, BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said that while the Samajwadi Party chief during the parliament debate spoke against allowing FDI in multi-brand retail, his presence in the Lok Sabha during voting would have ensured the economic move is defeated.

In her speech concluding the debate in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj said: "Mulayam Singh had appealed to Sonia Gandhi (Congress chief) to withdraw FDI in retail. And he told her: 'If Mahatma Gandhi, Ram Manohar Lohia and Jai Prakash Narayan were here, FDI would not have come'."

"But I want to say that if Mulayam Singh had been here (in the house), then FDI would not have come," said the BJP leader, referring to the decision of the Samajwadi Party, which has 22 MPs, to walk out of the Lok Sabha ahead of the debate.

The party supports the ruling United Progressive Alliance and had assured it not to cause any "trouble" though it is against FDI in retail.

Taking a dig at Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati's decision also to walk out of the Lok Sabha ahead of the vote, Sushma Swaraj wondered if the CBI was closer to the party's interest or FDI.

Sushma Swaraj said all parties, barring the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Rashtriya Lok Dal, were united against allowing FDI in multi-brand retail.

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