Breaking News: Mubarak likely to step Down

There are reports coming from all news sources that Mubarak is “likely to cede power” sometime tonight.

President Hosni Mubarak will meet the demands of protesters, military and ruling party officials, the Associated Press reported Thursday, in the strongest indication yet that Egypt’s longtime president may be about to give up power.

The military’s supreme council was meeting Thursday, without Mubarak, its commander in chief, and announced on state TV its “support of the legitimate demands of the people,” AP said.

CIA director Leon Panetta, testifying on Capitol Hill Thursday, told the House Intelligence Committee”there is a strong likelihood that Mubarak will step down this evening.”

Most reports indicate that he will turn power over to new VP Omar Suleiman and the Egyptian military.

There is a strong likelihood that embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will step down Thursday night, CIA Director Leon Panetta told the U.S. Congress.

Mubarak has agreed to yield power to his vice president, a senior U.S. official told CNN, citing contacts within the Egyptian government.

This official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information, said that given the mixed signals sent throughout the crisis that “we need to see it happen.”

But the source said the information came from reliable and ranking officials in the Mubarak regime. Asked when the transfer of power might take place, the official said: “We are told soon is the plan.”

The secretary-general of Egypt’s ruling party confirmed Thursday that a transition was underway and he expected Mubarak to address the nation soon.

This happened as a general strike by all levels of Egyptians began. There’s some indication that protests may not end

Thursday’s sudden developments came as thousands of Egyptians again took to the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian towns and cities, calling for President Mubarak to step down.

Doctors, bus drivers, lawyers and textile workers were on strike in Cairo on Thursday, with unions reporting walkouts and protests across the country.

The BBC’s Jon Leyne, in Cairo’s Tahrir (Liberation) Square, the focal point of the anti-Mubarak protests, reports that the protesters there are starting to celebrate after hearing news of Mr Mubarak’s possible departure.

But Egyptian Information Minister Anas el-Fekky told Reuters news agency: “The president is still in power and he is not stepping down. The president is not stepping down and everything you heard in the media is a rumour.”