Paraguayan politician Lino Oviedo, who was running for president in the upcoming elections, has died in a helicopter crash north of the capital.

Police are continuing their efforts to free a five-year-old boy who was taken hostage in Alabama.

Sri Lanka's navy rescues 138 Bangladeshi and Burmese nationals from a sinking fishing boat in a 20-hour operation.

Police use a Taser stun gun on a man armed with two knives who was "acting aggressively" outside Buckingham Palace.

The family of Sasha Marsden, the 16-year-old girl who was stabbed to death in a Blackpool alleyway, say her death has left a gap in their lives.

Two brothers will go head-to-head as coaches for the first time later, at the superbowl in New Orleans.

The company which supplied halal food found to contain traces of pork DNA to prisons is named as McColgan's Quality Foods Limited of Co Tyrone.

The distress call of a young dolphin is used to lure to safety a large pod of the animals in danger of being stranded off Western Australia.

The Icelandic government announces a unilateral lowering of its mackerel fishing quota for 2013 by 15%.

Special services are being held in Brazil in memory of the 237 people who died in a nightclub fire in the city of Santa Maria a week ago.

The Bolshoi Ballet's artistic director says he is "absolutely certain" he knows who is behind an acid attack that left him badly injured last month.

The Iraqi mobile phone operator Asiacell raises $1.3bn (£828m) on the Iraq stock market, doubling the value of the companies listed there.

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi says he will abolish an unpopular local property tax if he wins this month's elections.

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi says he will abolish an unpopular local property tax if he wins this month's elections.

UK soldiers in Afghanistan become the first to use miniature surveillance helicopters in frontline operations.

Spanish opposition leader Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba says PM Mariano Rajoy should resign, as his government is hit by corruption allegations.

Spanish opposition leader Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba says PM Mariano Rajoy should resign, as his government is hit by corruption allegations.

A Pakistani schoolgirl who was shot in the head by the Taliban is recovering after surgery in Birmingham.

Senior local Conservatives are urging the prime minister to delay any Parliamentary decision on gay marriage until after the next election.

Andrew Mitchell claims he was caught "between the pincers" of the police and the media in the "plebgate" row which led to him resigning from the cabinet.