Vietnamese propaganda officials admit deploying people to engage in online discussions supporting the Communist Party's policies.

Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan calls on French President Francois Hollande to explain why he previously met one of the Kurdish activists shot dead in Paris.

The wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise ship in Italy will be removed by September at the latest, officials say on the eve of the disaster's first anniversary.

Two British cruise liners will not dock in Argentina because of continuing tensions over the Falklands, P&O confirms.

Former Czech prime minister Milos Zeman is set to face foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg in a run-off in the Czech Republic's presidential election.

The US state of Florida is set to begin a competitive Burmese python hunt, in an attempt to rid the Everglades wetlands of the invasive species.

A fire at a building housing workers in the Bahraini capital Manama kills 13 people, officials say.

Supporters of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez showing their support for the cancer-stricken leader on the day he was due to be inaugurated for another term.