A former director of the Brazilian state-owned oil company Petrobras has been sentenced to 12 years in jail as part of a huge corruption probe.

Brazil says there is no risk to the Rio Olympics because of Zika, amid warnings a disease linked to the virus poses a global health emergency.

More people are moving from Australia to New Zealand than vice versa for the first time in 24 years, officials say.

Indigenous tribes, timber firms and environmental groups in western Canada hail a deal to protect one of the world's largest temperate rainforests.

A trial begins in Guatemala of two ex-military officers for human rights abuses against indigenous women during the country's long armed conflict.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz has won the Iowa Republican caucuses, the first vote of the US 2016 presidential election, but the Democratic race is a dead-heat.

National parliaments will get new powers to block "unwanted" EU law as part of the UK's renegotiations with Brussels, Downing Street sources say.

Syria peace talks are continuing into a second official day in Geneva, following a first meeting on Monday between the opposition and UN diplomats.