Argentina's ex-President Carlos Menem is sentenced to seven years in prison for illegally selling weapons to Ecuador and Croatia in the 1990s.

Syrian forces under President Bashar al-Assad have used chemical weapons "on a small scale" against the opposition rebels, the White House says.

Nicaragua's Congress votes in favour of a Chinese plan to built a waterway between the Caribbean and the Pacific, to rival the Panama Canal.

The newest aircraft from European planemaker Airbus, the A350, is due to take off from Toulouse on its maiden flight later.

Protests against bus and underground fare rises turn violent again in Sao Paulo, where many shops were vandalised on Tuesday.

Two people are killed by a wildfire raging north of the US city of Colorado Springs, described as the state's worst blaze on record.

Iranians begin casting their ballots in the country's presidential elections to choose a successor to incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

A ferry carrying about 60 people sinks in the central Philippines near Burias Island, leading to at least one death, the coastguard says.