Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez goes back to Cuba for the latest round of radiotherapy for cancer.

Foreign ministers from more than 70 Western and Arab countries are due to meet in Istanbul to step up pressure on the Syrian regime.

Mali's coup leader confirms Tuareg-led rebels have taken control of the town of Gao, which has the largest military base in the north.

Four crew members, including two Britons, are hurt when a large wave crashes onto their vessel in the Pacific Ocean during a round-the-world yacht race.

Tuareg separatist rebels in Mali say they have surrounded the historic town of Timbuktu, and eyewitnesses in the town say they have heard shots.

An Italian banker wanted in Rome to serve a jail term for mafia links is arrested in Thailand after almost three decades on the run, authorities say.

Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi wins a landmark by-election, her party claims, as the country's tentative political reforms are put to the test.

A cruise ship with 1,000 people on board that was disabled by a fire off the Philippines arrives in Malaysia after repairs.