Some 160 Somali religious scholars issue a fatwa denouncing al-Shabab, saying the militant group has no place in Islam.

China's premier says the country's economy is at a "crucial" stage, as he pledges to improve the investment climate for foreign companies.

A Canadian national is arrested in Bogota trying to board a flight to Toronto with a phony pregnant belly filled with cocaine, Colombian police say.

Malian troops clash with separatist Tuareg rebels in the first fighting since the two sides signed a peace accord in June.

Mexican teachers clash with the police, as their latest protest against education reforms brings traffic in Mexico City to a standstill.

Tina Brown, the ex-editor of Vanity Fair, the New Yorker and Talk magazines, is leaving The Daily Beast, the online news site she founded in 2008.

Sexual assaults reported to the US Navy increased 50% this year, in part because victims are more comfortable informing authorities, officials say.

Russian President Vladimir Putin makes a personal appeal to the American people over the Syrian crisis, hours before key talks in Geneva on Damascus's chemical weapons.