Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro calls a plan to restrict the number of basic food items people can buy in the western state of Zulia "insane".

Officials from North and South Korea are holding their first government-level talks in more than two years to ease recent tensions.

Former President Nelson Mandela spends a second night in hospital in Pretoria where he is being treated for a lung infection.

Thousands of naked cyclists ride through the streets of Mexico City to mark the World Naked Bike Ride event.

A court in China sentences the brother-in-law of jailed Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo to 11 years in prison on fraud charges.

French President Francois Hollande declares that the eurozone debt crisis, which has gripped the region for the past four years, is over.

Controversial Indian politician Narendra Modi is chosen to lead the main opposition party's campaign for elections due next year.

A Lebanese man apparently protesting against Hezbollah's role in the Syria conflict is shot dead outside the Iranian embassy in Beirut, reports say.