A video footage of a man beaten and dragged naked by policemen in Cairo triggered an outrage in Egypt and prompted calls for Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim to resign.

Protesters threw stones and bottles at the Egyptian Prime Minister's motorcade on Saturday as he tried to enter Cairo's Tahrir Square after overnight clashes nearby and at the presidential palace, media reported.

A 6.6-magnitude quake hit off the Solomon Islands, Australian seismologists said, but there were no reports of damage and a tsunami threat was also ruled out.

Supporting the French military intervention in Mali, the US has said both security operations and political efforts need to go side-by-side to re-establish democracy in the trouble-torn West-African nation.

After banning smoking in public places, the Turkish government has gone one step further by clamping down on an ancient tradition -- the hookah, or water pipe.

The United Nations humanitarian chief was in Damascus for talks with Syrian officials about the nation's conflict, which has forced millions of people from their homes, destroyed the country's cities and created food and fuel shortages.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has recovered from a respiratory infection he contracted after undergoing cancer surgery in Cuba, a minister said.

At least 50 people were killed and 90 others wounded today in clashes at a prison in northwest Venezuela, a hospital director who was at the scene said.

Algeria's foreign minister has said his government is assessing the mistakes made in a hostage crisis at a Saharan gas plant in which many foreign workers were killed by Algerian military strikes.

African forces began moving towards Mali's centre, the French Foreign Minister said, as pressure grew on Malian troops over summary killings and rights abuses in a French-led assault on Al Qaeda-linked groups.