New York City Council votes to raise the minimum age for buying cigarettes from 18 to 21, a move the bill's sponsor says will save "many" lives.

The US Federal Reserve votes to keep interest rates at record lows and to continue with its $85bn (£53bn) a month bond-buying programme meant to stimulate the US economy.

The US criticises Germany's economic policies, saying that its export-led growth model is hurting the eurozone and the wider global economy.

Cirque du Soleil will be fined after an acrobat died during one of the company's live shows in Las Vegas in June, Nevada state officials say.

Rescue workers find the bodies of 87 people, some of whom appear to have been partly eaten by jackals, in the Sahara desert in Niger.

The pilot of a hot air balloon that crashed in New Zealand, killing 11, is likely to have smoked cannabis shortly before the flight, investigators say.

Three people die in fresh violence in Muzaffarnagar in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, which was hit by religious riots last month.

Security appears to have been increased in China's Xinjiang region, a day after police said they had detained five suspects over the Tiananmen crash.