World news: 'Don't panic' says deputy PM as Mandela stays in hospital

Anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela has spent a second night in a Johannesburg hospital, but the South African government said there is no need to panic.

Deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe offered no specifics on why Mr Mandela was taken to the hospital on Wednesday, but said he was undergoing specialised tests. Mr Motlanthe referred to Mr Mandela's history of respiratory problems - he contracted TB during his 27 years in prison.

Mr Motlanthe notes "mounting concern" among the public about Mandela's health, but said: "Medically, there is no need to panic."

He was scheduled to brief reporters on Mr Mandela's health again later today.

Allende death to be probed

Chilean judicial officials have vowed to investigate the death of President Salvador Allende for the first time, 37 years after the socialist leader was found shot through the head with a machine gun during an attack on the presidential palace.

Mayor seeks to use tweets

The mayor of a Californian city wants to brighten the streets by broadcasting recorded bird songs.

Mayor R Rex Parris believes inhabitants ofLancaster in the Mojave Desert will benefit from exposure to tweets of the ornithological kind.

Flood damage to cost $1bn

Flood waters that have swamped huge parts of Australia will cost the nation one billion Australian dollars (990 million US dollars) in agricultural losses and billions more in lost coal exports, the nation's treasurer said today.

The damage figures were the first official estimates of the financial fallout from the floods, and come a day after the government unveiled a proposal to institute a temporary tax to help pay for the disaster.

About 30 minutes past midnight this morning in Egypt, the internet went dead.

Egypt pulls plug on internet

Almost simultaneously, the handful of companies that pipe the internet into and out of Egypt went dark as protesters were gearing up for a fresh round of demonstrations calling for the end of President Hosni Mubarak's rule

Indonesia: A crowded ferry caught fire early today, killing at least 11 people and sending panicking passengers jumping into the sea, officials said.

Nearly 200 people were injured, some critically, on the Java to Sumatra ferry.

Mexico: The police chief and all 38 police officers of a north-eastern town have quit following a series of drug cartel attacks, including the decapitation of two of their colleagues.