Issues with 2.7.1 upgrade

1) After manually updating all files from 2.7.1 to the server, the dashboard says “You are using version 2.7.1”. This is fine, but i have a button which says “Update to 2.7.1” and also a header and footer prompting me to upgrade to 2.7.1. I checked the wp-includes/version.php file on the server and it says $wp_version = ‘2.7.1’; So, is the version also stored somewhere else as well? I did visit the http://<site>/wp-admin/upgrade.php, but it said no action required.

2) Earlier, while trying to run the automatic update via dashboard links/button, i got an error message saying:
Upgrade WordPress
Downloading update from http://wordpress.org/wordpress-2.7.1.zip
Download failed.: Failed to connect to wordpress.org IP number 1: Permission denied
Installation Failed

Any idea why this error might be occurring, so that i can fix it for future upgrades?

Thanks,
Amar