Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak huddled with his new government for the first time today, and the executive committee of his ruling party quit en masse, on day 12 of mass protests against his regime.

A joke once doing the rounds talked about a principal catching two teachers misbehaving on a bench on the school premises. So he sacked both the teachers. But then political pressure was brought on him and the two teachers were reinstated. Wanting to stamp his authority he said he would show who was boss and thundered at a PTA meeting, 'Remove the bench'.