Syrian rebels capture a number of positions on the country's borders with Turkey and Iraq as the army concentrates on the battle for Damascus.

Eight months after indigenous leader Nisio Gomes was shot in Brazil, police arrest 18 people in connection with his murder.

A Matisse painting stolen from a Venezuelan museum around 10 years ago may have been recovered in a police operation in Miami, it is reported.

US service personnel will for the first time be allowed to wear uniform at a gay pride march, after last year's ending of a ban on openly gay people in the military.

Senior US Republicans strongly condemn former presidential candidate Michele Bachmann for attacks on a longtime aide to Hillary Clinton, Huma Abedin.

Guatemala's president says the murder on Wednesday of the director of a high-security jail was ordered by a gang from within the prison.

Spanish protesters clash with riot police in Madrid at the end of a day of largely peaceful nationwide rallies against austerity measures.

A court in Beijing has rejected an appeal by Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei against a $2.4m (£1.5m) tax fine, his lawyer says.