Kolkota, Feb 22 : West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was on Sunday shown black flags by women activists of Bidhannagar Block Trinamool Congress when he was arriving at Salt Lake stadium here to lay the foundation stone of East-West Metro Railway.

The women activists started shouting "Go Back Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee" as soon as his convoy entered the stadium.

The activists alleged that the foundation laying programme was a mere gimmick to attract voters ahead of the parliamentary election.

New Delhi, Feb 22 : The Election Commission (EC) will conduct series of meetings before announcing dates for the Lok Sabha elections.

Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami and other two Election Commissioners Navin Chawla and S Y Quraishi will meet Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta to review the law and order situation across the country.

Besides, the three-member Commission will also hold discussion on the accessibility of Central paramilitary forces to avoid any kind of untoward incident during polls.

Dublin - Up to 120,000 people protested in the Irish capital Dublin on Saturday against the government's handling of the economy and the activities of the banks during the financial crisis.

The demonstration, one of the largest ever in the city, was called for by a number of Ireland's unions. State employees vented their anger over government cutback plans and the effect that the recession, which began late in 2008, is having on workers.

Johannesburg/Harare  - State media and party loyalists in Zimbabwe praised President Robert Mugabe as he turned 85 on Saturday, with a lavish party and banquet planned for next week.

Zimbabwe's defence ministry paid for an advertisement eulogizing Mugabe - who has been ostracized by the international community - saying: "Like a mighty crocodile, you have remained resilient, focused and resolute against all the odds ... "

The state-owned daily The Herald said: "We should never forget that 50 of the 85 years, comrade Mugabe has been in the trenches slaving so that you and I could live a life of dignity."

Washington, Feb. 21 : The White House may abandon plans to create the Office of Health Reform, a White House official has said.

President Barack Obama chose former Senator Tom Daschle as the first director of the office and his Secretary of Health and Human Services. With a double-barreled position, Daschle was expected to take Obama's health reform agenda forward.

Since tax problems forced Daschle to opt-out before he could take up his new position, observers wonder whether the Obama administration would keep an office that was custom-tailored for Daschle, or scrap it.

Washington, Feb 21 : Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has announced that he will decline stimulus money specifically targeted at expanding state unemployment insurance coverage, becoming the first state executive to officially refuse any part of the federal government's payout to states.

In a statement, Jindal, who is slated to give the Republican response to President Barack Obama's message to Congress on Tuesday, expressed concern that expanding unemployment insurance coverage would lead to increased unemployment insurance taxes later on, Politico. com reported.