CNN-IBN video journalist Rajesh Bhardwaj was taken into preventive custody in Cairo on Thursday and his identity card and tapes burnt. Bhardwaj along with some other media personnel was reportedly taken into custody by the Egyptian Army but released after some time. Bhardwaj was shooting the anti-Hosni Mubarak protests at Tahrir Square in Cairo when the Army took him into custody.

However, Bhardwaj said after his release that those who took him into custody were not in army uniform.

"They asked me from where I was. When I replied that I was an Indian they took me near some Army tanks and asked for my identity card. My identity card was torn and burnt. My tapes were taken away and burnt them. They even took away my camera but returned it after removing the tapes from it. Those who burnt my identity card and tapes were not in army uniform," he said.

He also said that some Army personnel opened fire at anti-government protestors in Tahrir Square.

BBC reporter Rupert Wingfield-Hayes was arrested, handcuffed, blindfolded and interrogated. Wingfield-Hayes was arrested shortly after interviewing the advisor to Mubarak.

Passports of several journalists were also taken away by Egyptian authorities.

Indian Ambassador to Egypt, RS Swaminathan, told CNN-IBN that the Embassy had not been contacted so far by the Indian journalists present in Egypt. But he promised to get any Indian journalist under custody in Egypt released.

The Ministry of External Affairs has also decided to issue an advisory asking all Indian journalists to avoid troubled spots in Egypt. The Ministry also got in touch with the Egyptian government to get Bhardwaj released immediately after the news came out

Earlier, Army used tanks to separate supporters of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak from the anti-government protestors. The Army stepped in after fresh clashes erupted in Cairo ahead of a Friday deadline for Mubarak to quit.

The violence started again just a few hours after Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq apologised for earlier violence and promised to hold an investigation into the deadly clashes that left at least six people dead and several others injured.

Supporters of President Mubarak targeted anti-government protesters in Tahrir Square reportedly from assault rifles.

A 26-year-old woman worried about the state of her country wrote on Facebook: "People, I am going to Tahrir Square". The message was soon to snowball into a movement to oust Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

The Facebook appeal by Asmaa Mahfouz led to popular protests that saw tens of thousands congregating at Tahrir Square to demand an end to Mubarak's unbridled 30-year rule. Mubarak has said he is ready to step down at the end of his term in September, but has refused to quit immediately now.

Violent clashes during the protests have left six dead and over 800 injured.

Asmaa Mahfouz told Al-Mihwar TV (Egypt) that the first activity was on Facebook.

"Yes. I was angry that everybody was saying that we had to take action, but nobody was doing anything. So I wrote on Facebook: 'People, I am going to Tahrir Square today'. This was a week before January 25."

"I wrote that I was going to demand the...rights of my country. I wrote that I was 26 years old...," the Middle East Media Research Institute quoted her as saying in a report Thursday.

Referring to the uprising, Asmaa said: "Whenever we talked to the people and told them to express their views, they would say: 'Who can we talk to? We will be thrown in prison and tortured.' When they saw what happened in Tunisia, the people realized that there was an Arab people that revolted and demanded its rights."

"We began to tell people that we must take action, that we must revolt and demand our rights."

"...People began to set fire to themselves, one after the other, and the response of the officials was that these people were mentally ill. The people's blood began to boil."

She recounted: "The number of people setting fire to themselves gradually rose, and in response, people began to say, on the streets and in Facebook: 'How come nobody is doing anything? Why aren't you taking action? Everybody says that something must be done, but the streets are empty'."

Asmaa said she wrote on Facebook that whoever is worried about Egypt should accompany her to Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo.

The gutsy woman said she also wrote, "Anyone who is worried about me or thinks that I am mentally ill should come in order to protect me...If the police wants to burn me - fine, I will be at Tahrir Square in half an hour."

"There were lots of messages saying: Wait until January 25. I said: There is no reason to wait for the 25th. I went to Tahrir Square and raised a sign," she recounted.

"I began to shout at the top of my lungs in Tahrir Sqare: 'Egyptians, four people set themselves on fire out of humiliation and poverty. Egyptians, four people set fire to themselves because they were afraid of the security agencies, not of the fire. Four people set fire to themselves in order to tell you to awaken - we are setting ourselves on fire so that you will take action. Four people set themselves on fire in order to say to the regime: Wake up. We are fed up. We are setting ourselves on fire in order to convey a message'."

Then she began to talk about 30 years of corruption.

"People began to gather to listen, and filmed me with their cell phones. All of a sudden, I saw four vehicles of the Central Security Agency arriving, and the square was suddenly filled with hundreds of agents and officers...They tried to push us into the entrance of a building. People began to shout: 'Leave them alone, leave them alone'."

"When they got us into the building entrance, the officers began to say: We are as fed up as you, but why didn't you inform us of your demonstration? I said: What are you talking about? Four people set themselves on fire, and you are asking why we didn't announce the demonstrations?"

"You should be asking yourselves why they set themselves on fire. Because of the poverty and the corruption. One of them couldn't feed his daughter. Yet, you still continue this oppression. I am not going to remain silent. If you want to set me on fire - go ahead. I am not budging from Tahrir Square," Asmaa recounted.

That snowballed into the unrest which has rocked Egypt for the past 10 days.

 

An extremely strong earthquake which measured a 7.2 on the Richter scale rocked southwest Pakistan which is located just over thirty miles west of Dalbandin.

The initial area where the quake hit was very remote, so at first nobody thought that it would be so far-reaching, affecting thousands of miles of land in South Asia, spreading through a number of cities and causing untold damage.

Tremors lasted around 20 seconds and they were felt as far as Dubai as well as New Delhi, India’s capital city.

British troops also reported feeling the affects of the earthquake in Afghanistan where they are stationed, describing it as a “very noticeable” occurrence. One of the soldiers said on Twitter that it felt like they were on a ship that had hit choppy seas.

It is certainly not unusual to feel quakes in this area, as it happens quite often and in 2005 there were 80,000 people who were killed in the northwest part of Pakistan as well as in Kashmir, leaving three million people homeless and out on the streets as a result of the disaster.

Another very severe earthquake also rattled the city of Zehedan in 2003, claiming a number of lives and leaving many others injured.

The new parliament in Burma has convened for the first time since elections were held last November.

The poll was widely criticised by western governments and by democracy activists within Burma.

The first sitting of the bicameral national parliament brings into effect a new constitution and officially ends nearly 50 years of military rule.

But critics say the real power in Burma will still be in the hands of a few key generals.

A quarter of seats in parliament are reserved for serving members of the armed forces.

In Burma's remote jungle capital, Naypyitaw, newly-elected politicians and their newly-appointed military equivalents opened their session in a newly-built parliament at 0855 (0225 GMT), a time chosen for its auspiciousness.

The vast majority of the seats are occupied by members of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) which is backed by the current military government.

The USDP won almost 77% of the vote in November's election. Critics say this thumping majority was achieved partly through intimidation and fraud, and partly because the pro-democracy party led by Aung San Sui Kyi decided to boycott.

Although there are some independent politicians in parliament, the USDP's dominance, backed by the military caucus, appears to tilt it in favour of the status quo.

One of the first duties of the new parliament is to form an electoral college to nominate candidates for president and vice president.

Only then will it become clear who will hold the reigns of power in the new-look Burma.

As demonstrations enter their seventh day, there are already plans for a "protest of the millions" march on Tuesday.

On Sunday, most of the crowd in Cairo's Tahrir (Liberation) Square were unfazed by low-flying visits from air force jets and a helicopter.

"Change is coming" promised the leading Egyptian opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei when he addressed the crowds.

Thousands rallied in Alexandria and there were also sizeable demonstrations in Mansoura, Damanhour and Suez.

Police were noticeable by their absence so the protests were not marked by the sort of clashes which have left at least 100 people dead since rallies began on Tuesday.

But with continued reports of looting, the Interior Minister Habib al-Adly announced on Sunday that police would be back on the streets to restore order.

Economic impact

The unrest is having an impact on the Egyptian economy, beyond the closure of shops and businesses and the call for a general strike.

On Monday, New Zealand joined a growing list of countries warning their nationals not to travel to Egypt if they can avoid it and the US, Japan and China are among states preparing to evacuate their citizens.

Tourism is a vital sector in the Egyptian economy, accounting for about 5 to 6% of GDP.

Meanwhile, Japanese car maker Nissan has announced that it is halting production at its Egypt plant for a week, and it has urged non-Egyptian employees to leave the country.

Global markets are also likely to react. The Nikkei fell in early trading in Tokyo as the Egyptian unrest prompted investors to shun riskier assets.

'Orderly transition'

International pressure is growing for some kind of resolution.

In the strongest language yet, both US President Barack Obama and his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton talked about the need for an "orderly transition" to a democratic future for Egypt.

The White House says US President Barack Obama made a number of calls about the situation over the weekend to foreign leaders including Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and British Prime Minister David Cameron.

The protests in Egypt are top of the agenda of a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday.

China, meanwhile, has called for a return to order.

"Egypt is a friend of China's, and we hope social stability and order will return to Egypt as soon as possible," a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said on Sunday.

The unrest in Egypt follows the uprising in Tunisia which ousted President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali two weeks ago after 23 years in power.