For anyone wondering if Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was planning on staying in power for as long as humanly possible, a statement made today during an official visit to Washginton, D.C. provided a clear answer: the 81 year-old said he plans to seek another term in office in two years.

Mister Mubarak met with U.S. President barack Obama at the White House to talk about a new peace plan between Israel and the Palestinians. In their post-meeting remarks, neither leader brought up democracy or human rights issues in Egypt. Both discussed peace plans and hope for a better future in the region. Barack Obama said he was "encouraged" that Israel had stopped granting construction permits for new settlements in the West Bank.

We'll go live to Cairo where Ben Wedeman for reaction to Mister Mubarak's Washington visit.

Also today, we'll take you to Afghanistan for the latest on a day of violence, only two days before presidential elections scheduled for Thursday. We'll also discuss U.S. and NATO plans to try to secure polling stations on the day. Will the elections go smoothly? Will expected electoral fraud discredit the results for ordinary Afghans?

Plus, we will bring you the latest on the Russian-crew that disappeared for several weeks aboard the "Arctic Sea" cargo ship. Turns out the crew lived through weeks of uetter terror at the hands of hijackers who demanded ransom money. Matthew Chance will bring us details from Moscow.

And there's a fascinating story Jim Clancy will tell us about at the International Desk. Israeli scientists can prove that DNA can be "manufactured." In other words, scientists were able to fabricate blood and saliva containing DNA samples from a person other than the donor. If this is indeed possible, then it could cause chaos in the criminal justice system, where so many convictions hinge on DNA evidence.

We'll aslo have the rest of the day's business and weather stories, as always.

See you on TV,

Hala

EDIT: The Egyptian embassy in the United States said shortly after Hosni Mubarak's comments at the White House that the Egyptian president's words had been mistranslated. they say he did not announce that he would run again in 2011 and that Mister Mubarak had not made his mind up.

Posted by: CNN Anchor, Hala Gorani
Filed under: Today At The I-Desk