Google announces plans to buy thermostat maker Nest Labs for $3.2bn (£2bn), continuing a string of recent acquisitions.

US Secretary of State John Kerry presents his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov with two Idaho potatoes as a gift during a meeting in Paris.

Mexico announces federal forces will take over security in western Michoacan state, engulfed by violence between vigilantes and a drugs cartel.

Pope Francis issues his strongest condemnation yet of abortion, calling it a "horrific" symptom of a "throwaway culture".

The US accuses China of failing to comply with a World Trade Organization directive requiring it to drop duties on hi-tech US steel imports.

A Chinese obstetrician is given a suspended death sentence for stealing newborn babies and selling them to child traffickers.

Security is tight in Egypt ahead of two days of voting in a referendum on a new constitution, which could pave the way for fresh elections.

Chinese police arrest eight people over an explosion at a village in Guizhou province that killed at least 15 people, state media report.