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CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's military said Saturday that devices it claimed it invented to detect and cure AIDS and hepatitis C need six more months of testing.

The army had earlier promised to reveal the technology to the public this coming Monday after making what experts dismissed as an outlandish claim last February.

At a news conference then, the head of the army's Engineering Agency said the military had produced an "astonishing, miraculous scientific invention" that could detect AIDS, hepatitis and other viruses without taking blood samples and also purify the blood of those suffering from the diseases.

The claim caused uproar among scientists and the public, with many pointing out that it had not been properly verified. It was also lampooned in a famous satirical program that has now been taken off the air.

The claim hit a sensitive nerve in Egypt, where Hepatitis C is an epidemic. Some studies estimate that up to 10 percent of 86 million Egyptians have it, making it the country with the highest prevalence in the world.

In a press conference held in a military hospital in Cairo Saturday, a military doctor said the devices needed further tests before they could be released to the public.

"Scientific integrity mandates that I delay the start of the public release until the experimentation period is over, to allow for a follow up with patients already using it," Egypt's state news agency MENA quoted Maj. Gen. Gamal el-Serafy, director of the Armed Forces Medical Department, as saying.

El-Serafy said doctors had already started testing one of the machines, the so-called "Complete Cure Device," on 80 Hepatitis C patients who were also being treated with medication.

Saturday's news conference notably dropped any mention of the devices as a cure for AIDS, only referring to hepatitis.

The original claim in February raised concerns that the military's offer of seemingly inconceivable future devices would draw Egypt back into a pattern of broken promises by successive rulers who would frequently announce grand initiatives that failed to meet expectations.

Generals working on the project and pro-military media adopted a defensive stance over the matter, insisting that the invention would be released to the public and that any criticism of it was part of a foreign plot to rob Egypt of a major scientific victory.

El-Serafy said the armed forces will set up a medical center to treat the viruses in the Suez Canal province of Ismailiya to carry out the tests and declare results.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil's government says a hacker breached the Twitter account of the nation's federal police and posted false word that there was a bomb threat in the World Cup stadium where Brazil took on Chile.

The hacked message was posted about an hour before kickoff Saturday and said that there "was a confirmed bomb threat" in the stadium in the city of Belo Horizonte, and that "an evacuation is not being ruled out."

The office of the Brazilian presidency said on its own Twitter account about an hour later that the message was false. The fake message was removed.

Brazil's government websites and those related to the World Cup have been targeted by hackers in recent weeks. But nobody immediately took credit for this incident.

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SUBDUED SAO PAULO

SAO PAULO (AP) — Sao Paulo's typically raucous Avenida Paulista was particularly subdued Saturday morning.

"I'm very nervous," said Munuel Freitas, a 21-year-old Brazilian quietly standing outside a major shopping center adorned with a giant flag of Brazil. "Chile is not an easy team. It is going to be difficult."

All along the thoroughfare there were equally jittery Brazilians preparing to watch their country's first World Cup knockout game. As kickoff time approached, the streets emptied as rabid fans flocked to bars, restaurants — and mostly the sanctuary of their own homes. Aside from the Elvis impersonator belting out drawled hits in a Brazilian-themed jumpsuit, all was quiet as pedestrians seemed to be consumed by their own thoughts.

"I want them to win, of course, but I don't trust our team," said Daniela Arce, 38, wearing the almost mandatory yellow Brazil team jersey. "They think they are all stars, and we think we are the greatest, and we have to win because we are home. But most of the World Cups we did not win."

She likened the political atmosphere around the games to that at the 1970 tournament, when a Brazil title lifted the spirit of a country in the middle of a military dictatorship. Should Brazil lose, many fear that the wide scale protests that accompanied the heavily criticized preparations will resume.

— By Aron Heller — www.twitter.com/aronhellerap

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BRACING FOR PROTESTS

BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil (AP) — Banks and car dealerships near the Mineirao Stadium in Belo Horizonte had their windows boarded up in fear of protests before Brazil's match against Chile in the second round of the World Cup on Saturday.

Owners took the precautionary measure because several demonstrations against the billions of dollars spent on the World Cup were scheduled for the morning of the match in the southeastern city. Some banks near downtown, where protests have happened in the past, also had their facades boarded up overnight.

Belo Horizonte was home to some of the most violent protests during last year's Confederations Cup, the World Cup warm-up tournament in Brazil. Demonstrators trying to get near the stadium clashed with police, who had to use tear gas and rubber bullets to contain the several thousand protesters. Many banks and car dealerships in the area were destroyed.

— By Tales Azzoni — www.twitter.com/tazzoni

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Associated Press reporters will be filing dispatches about happenings in and around Brazil during the 2014 World Cup. Follow AP journalists covering the World Cup on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Sports/world-cup-2014

Coming Monday

MOSCOW (AP) — The Interfax news agency is reporting that pro-Russian insurgents have released four European observers who they have held captive for weeks.

The news agency quoted the press service of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic as saying that the four observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have been freed and are en route to the eastern city of Donetsk.

The rebels released another group of the OSCE observers earlier this week.