The US is enduring the widest drought since 1956, according to new data released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The most senior Syrian politician to defect to the opposition tells the BBC that the regime will "not hesitate" to use chemical weapons if it is cornered.

North Korea has appointed Hyon Yong-Chol as its new military chief, the country's official news agency says.

Lax controls at HSBC, Europe's largest bank, allowed money laundering for almost a decade, a US Senate investigation says.

More than a million Brazilian evangelical Christians join a "March for Jesus" in Sao Paulo.

Mexican police search for a gang that attacked a Christian youth camp outside Mexico City, beating, robbing and raping some campers.

The World Trade Organisation rules that China discriminates against foreign credit-card and debit-card providers.

Twenty-eight workers trapped underground in a New Zealand gold mine are rescued seven hours after a truck engine caught fire.