Egyptians have woken to a new dawn after 30 years of rule under Hosni Mubarak.As the Muslim call to prayer reverberated across Cairo on Saturday, the sound of horns honking in jubilation grew louder after a night when millions celebrated the fall of the former president, who has handed over power to the armed forces.

Fireworks lit the skies of Cairo and protesters shed tears of joy in Egypt as they celebrated the end of President Hosni Mubarak’s 30 years of power.Mr Mubarak stepped down as leader on Friday, after 18 days of widespread anti-government demonstrations.

Hundreds of thousands of pro-democracy protesters are expected to march on the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian cities on Friday, in what could become the largest – and some fear the most violent – protests thus far.

Thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators have poured into Cairo’s Tahrir (Liberation) Square as protests against Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, entered their 15th day despite a slew of concessions announced by the government.

Police in The Netherland’s Gelderland region can continue to hand out halal lunches to workers who don’t want to eat pork products, home affairs minister Piet Hein Donner said on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON: Taliban extremists condemned an Afghan inmate’s death at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp as a “clear indicator” of US human rights violations and “brutal behavior,” US-based monitors said Saturday.

Anti-government protests in troubled Egypt have entered its 13th consecutive day as Cairo’s Liberation Square remains flooded with demonstrators who call on President Hosni Mubarak to immediately step down.

Heavy gunfire is being heard in Cairo’s Tahrir (Liberation) Square as pro-democracy demonstrators continue to defy curfew in the Egyptian capital.Ambulances were seen heading to the area on Thursday morning and at least two fatalities were reported.

Protesters are trickling in to Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the planned starting point of a “march of a million”, on the eighth day of an uprising that has claimed at least 125 lives in clashes between demonstrators and police.

WASHINGTON – The world’s Muslim population will grow twice as fast as the non-Muslim population in the next 20 years, when Muslims are expected to make up more than a quarter of the global population, a study published Thursday predicts.