Activist Chen Guangcheng, in his first major US public appearance, says democratic change in China is slow but irreversible.

Colombia's Farc rebels release French journalist Romeo Langlois, who was abducted during an ambush last month.

A Syrian official inquiry into the Houla massacre blames the atrocities on rebels trying to provoke international intervention.

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi asks for help to meet the country's needs, in her first international speech outside of Burma.

The Pacific island nation of Samoa is to pardon 35 prisoners to mark the 50th anniversary of its independence from New Zealand.

A British woman being held in Bali over a £1.6m cocaine haul has been taken to hospital after complaining of illness.

The head of a banned upper caste private army is killed by unknown gunmen in the northern Indian state of Bihar, police say.

Venezuela brings in a new law banning the commercial sale of guns and ammunition, in an attempt to control worsening crime rates.