The main US share index closes on Friday at a five-year high, buoyed by data showing the economy added more jobs than previously estimated at the end of 2012.

Space monkey, Hagel and Koch in 140 characters or fewer

A Canadian navy intelligence officer who sold military secrets to Russia makes an emotional apology to his family at a sentencing hearing.

New Orleans' Super Bowl venue is restored after Katrina

Photographer Stephen McLaren's explores New Orleans

Vancouver police investigate an apparently random stabbing attack inside an apartment building that left six people in hospital.

Police step up their presence near a bunker where an Alabama man is holding hostage a five-year-old boy he abducted apparently at random on Tuesday.

America's National Football League championship game, known globally as the Super Bowl, takes place this weekend in New Orleans.

World media pleased with new US secretary of state

Ed Koch, New York's colourful and controversial mayor from 1978 to 1989 during some of its darkest years, has died aged 88.

New York's outspoken former mayor Ed Koch remembered

Retired Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony, who is accused of mismanaging a child sex abuse crisis, is stripped of public duties by his successor.

Has Hillary’s journey ended, or is more to come?

Singer Beyonce has admitted miming during her rendition of the American national anthem at the inauguration of President Obama last month.

Scientists detail the smart bone and vascular structures that enable an owl to turn its head almost a full circle.

The BBC's Kim Ghattas looks back at Hillary Clinton's time in office as she stands down as US secretary of state.

Beyonce has admitted that she mimed to a backing track at President Barack Obama's inauguration, but says she will sing live at this weekend's Superbowl event.

Departing US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warns that Iran and Russia are fuelling the conflict in Syria, as tensions rise over an alleged Israeli strike.

Japan is relaxing restrictions on US-imported beef imposed almost a decade ago after the discovery of "mad cow disease" in America.

A 14-year-old is taken to hospital after being shot in the back of the neck outside a school in the city of Atlanta, Georgia, say police.