World News: Egyptian activists gear up for Tunisia-inspired protest

Egyptians planned to mark a holiday honouring the police with protests today, spreading the word through Twitter and Facebook, where 80,000 Egyptians have posted support.

Inspired by the popular revolt in Tunisia, organisers have dubbed the protests planned for Cairo and Alexandria "the day of revolution against torture, poverty, corruption and unemployment."

The first ramifications of the Tunisia uprising surfaced last week in Egypt when several people set themselves on fire or tried to do so outside parliament and the prime minister's office.

They sought to copy a young Tunisian vegetable vendor whose self-immolation helped spark the protests that forced Tunisia's authoritarian president to flee the country.

Nearly half of Egypt's 80 million people live under or just above the poverty line set by the United Nations at $2 a day. Poor quality education, health care and high unemployment have left large numbers of Egyptians deprived of basic needs.

The government has played down self-immolation attempts, with Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif saying those who committed the act were driven by "personal issues."

Mugabe slams surgery reports

Zimbabwe's 86-year-old president Robert Mugabe describes reports that he recently underwent surgery in Malaysia as "naked lies crafted by the Western-manipulated media", state radio reported.

International reports said he had been operated on for an inflamed prostate gland.

China dismisses plane claims

An official Chinese newspaper today dismissed a report that the country used technology taken from a downed US airplane in its own stealth fighter programme.

Chinese officials this month staged the first-known test flight of the J-20 prototype stealth fighter that could one day challenge American air superiority.

It caught many defence analysts by surprise, seeming to indicate that China was acquiring cutting-edge technology more rapidly than previously thought.

Dog hanged for eating Bible

Authorities charged a US woman with animal cruelty, saying she hanged her nephew's pit bull from a tree with an electrical cord and burned its body because the dog chewed on her Bible.

Animal control officers said that 65-year-old Miriam Smith told them she killed the pet because it was a "devil dog".

Arizona suspect denies charges

The suspect in the shooting of Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has pleaded not guilty in court.

Two weeks after the attack outside an Arizona grocery store, 22-year-old Jared Loughner did not speak but grinned as eight US Marshalls kept watch in the Phoenix court.

Police arrest teenagers in terror raids

Indonesia: Police have arrested six suspected terrorists, including four teenagers, during a series of raids.

Ansyaad Mbai, who heads Indonesia's anti-terrorism agency, says explosive weapons were seized in the raids.

Mexico: Gunmen spraying automatic weapons killed seven people at a park that had been built as an anti-violence measure in the besieged border city of Ciudad Juarez.