The world's largest cruise company, Carnival Corp, says it has received approval from the US government to offer trips to Cuba from Miami.

A ticker-tape parade through Lower Manhattan will honour the USA's World Cup-winning women's team on Friday, says New York's mayor.

US President Barack Obama meets Vietnam's Communist Party leader at the White House, the first such meeting since relations were normalised 20 years ago.

A former Guatemalan general, Efrain Rios Montt, who ruled the country briefly in the eighties has been found mentally incapable of standing trial for genocide.

Chilean lawmakers in the lower house approve a bill allowing the growth of marijuana for personal use.

The International Monetary Fund warns the US Federal Reserve against raising interest rates this year.

The FBI makes a public appeal to help identify more than 240 victims of a man who used the internet to extort pornographic images from teenage girls.

Mainland Chinese shares continued to slide on Wednesday, falling more than 8% on opening.