WORLD

US Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS) on Thursday said it has got Congressional-mandated cap of 65,000 H1-B visa applications, which is the most sought after by Indian professionals, for the current fiscal.

Egypt appears to have blocked all access to internet in the midst of anti-government demonstrations. US-based Web site Renesys said it has observed virtually simultaneous withdrawal of all routes to Egyptian networks in the Internet's global routing table, just after mid night, local time.

Despite the blockade imposed on internet and mobile communication, photos, videos of and responses to the Egypt unrest flood social media sites like Flickr, YouTube and Twitter.

South Africa's Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe said on Friday that hospitalized former president Nelson Mandela's health was improving and that there was no need to panic over his health, rubbishing speculation that the legendary leader was nearing his end.

A new study forecasts that Muslim population globally will increase 1.5 percent annually over the next two decades, growing at twice the rate of non-Muslims.

Escalating tensions and persistent protests have now prompted the government of Egypt to completely block all access to internet as well as SMS services.

China will carefully open up its yuan to more trading based on market needs and plans to double its level of imports in five years, its commerce minister said on Thursday, as the country liberalizes its economy, now the world's second largest.

Sarah Palin has blasted President Obama’s State of the Union address in a lengthy diatribe of Facebook that some analysts believe is an attempt by the former governor of Alaska to establish herself as a Republican candidate for the White House in 2012.

The Obama administration believes that one policy area ripe for bipartisan cooperation and accomplishment is the reauthorization, and improvement, of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, commonly known as No Child Left Behind.

The ongoing anti-government protests on the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian cities represent the biggest public demonstration in the country since the famous ‘bread riots’ which occurred exactly 34 years ago.

Tunisia’s Foreign Minister Kamel Morjane has resigned from the embattled country's new interim government, according to state TV, in the wake of street demonstrations who demand the removal of any ally of former President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali from the new regime.

Jamie Dimon, the chief executive officer of JP Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) defended the banking industry during a question-and-answer session with the media at a symposium at the world economic forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Mohamed El Baradei, a Noble laureate and considered an alternative leader to President Hosni Mubarak's regime even before the protests began in January, has returned to Egypt to join the massive anti-Mubarak protests.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of Indonesia, set out his vision for “sustainable and balanced” growth in the 21st Century, at Davos world economic forum.

Lebanon's former premier Saad al-Hariri and his political allies will not join the government of his successor, Hezbollah-backed Najib Mikati, sources close to Hariri said on Thursday.

Israeli settlers shot dead a Palestinian in a confrontation in the West Bank on Thursday, Palestinian witnesses said.

Islamist rebels from the North Caucasus were behind a deadly bomb attack on Russia's busiest airport, the head of the mainly-Muslim province of Ingushetia said on Thursday.

Global powers seeking to ensure Iran does not develop nuclear weapons are still hoping for a response from Tehran to a fuel swap proposal seen as a step towards ending the persistent standoff, Russia said on Thursday.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi faced more pressure to resign on Thursday after magistrates issued new documents with fresh details of erotic parties, some with under-age girls, and of his gifts to participants.

Bill Clinton appears at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Defence lawyers for former Liberian President Charles Taylor, on trial for war crimes, won the right to use leaked U.S. cables as evidence to challenge the Sierra Leone war crimes court's independence and impartiality.

Thousands of Yemenis took to the streets of Sanaa Thursday to demand a change of government, inspired by the unrest that has ousted Tunisia's leader and spread to Egypt this week.

A car bomb exploded at a funeral wake in a Shi'ite area of Iraq's capital on Thursday, killing at least 35 people, wounding dozens and triggering clashes between angry residents and police, health and security sources said.

Egyptian police fought protesters in two cities in eastern Egypt on Thursday and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei headed back to the country to join demonstrators trying to oust President Hosni Mubarak.

Kenya's central bank cut its benchmark lending rate on Thursday for the first time since July, in a surprise move seen as a bid to curb rising Treasury bill and bond yields.

African economic growth is heading back to pre-crisis growth levels, propelled by strong demand for its resources and increased South-South investment, notably from China.

Grains exporter Canada and Morocco, among the region's top wheat importers, on Thursday announced the start of negotiations for a free trade agreement, Morocco's official media reported.

Nigeria's combined crude oil and condensate production is currently 2.4 million barrels per day (bpd) but output from Africa's largest crude exporter still remains within its OPEC quota, the state oil company says.

Former South African President Nelson Mandela was flown from Cape Town to Milipark Hospital early this week where apparently Routine tests were being conducted but a beeline of his relatives from grandchildren to great-grandchildren raised eye brows about the health of the 92-year-old anti-apartheid hero.