President Obama appoints Richard Cordray to head a new US consumer protection agency while Congress is in recess after Republicans blocked the move.

A German man charged in Los Angeles over a series of arson attacks is also wanted in connection with a fire in his home country, prosecutors say.

The leader of a notorious 1990s Mexican drug cartel pleads guilty to racketeering and money-laundering charges in a US court after being extradited.

Greek prime minister Lucas Papademos says Greece may default on its debts in March unless unions accept further cuts to salaries.

At least 26 people have been killed in recent attacks by Rwandan FDLR rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the Congolese army says.

The last editor of the News of the World, Colin Myler, will become the top editor of a New York tabloid competing with the Murdoch-owned New York Post.

Floods and landslides caused by heavy rain in south-eastern Brazil kill at least six people and force thousands from their homes.

A political row breaks out in Chile as it emerges that school textbooks will no longer refer to Gen Pinochet's 1973-1990 rule as a dictatorship.