Wall Street's stock markets fall sharply amid poor US consumer spending data, while a major credit agency puts Washington's rating on "negative watch".

Forces loyal to Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi launch a counter-offensive against rebels near the western town of Zlitan, killing at least seven.

Nearly seven tonnes of cocaine seized from a submarine-like craft near Honduras is unloaded by the US Coast Guard in Miami, Florida.

Mexican security forces search for nine people who disappeared while conducting pre-election opinion polls in the western state of Michoacan.

The number of people who have died in Ecuador after drinking adulterated liquor rises to 33.

Ten people have been arrested over a failed coup in Niger, but one key suspect is on the run, President Mahamadou Issoufou says.

Egypt's deposed President Hosni Mubarak is due in court on charges of ordering the killing of protesters - a charge that carries the death penalty.

A court in Guatemala sentences four ex-soldiers to 6,060 years in prison each for their role in the Dos Erres massacre in 1982.