The World Health Organization has declared that the Zika international public health emergency is now over, but its spokesman said the infection which is been linked to brain defects in babies remains endemic in about 75 countries.
The US president-elect Donald Trump has agreed to pay 25 million dollars to settle lawsuits which alleged he defrauded thousands of students at his failed property investment school Trump University. New York's attorney general said the agreement marked a stunning reversal by Mr. Trump.
The Obama administration has blocked new drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic Ocean as part of a five-year plan. Environmental groups have welcomed the decision, but politicians and energy industry groups in Alaska, who argued that offshore drilling would be good for the local economy, are reported to be furious.
A federal jury in the United States has found two nephews of the Venezuelan first lady Cilia Flores guilty of drug trafficking. The men were arrested a year ago in Haiti by undercover American agencies and put in the plaint in New York where they were charged with conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the US. They pleaded not guilty.
There has been a big protest in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires to demand anew law to fight worsening poverty. The government says that they can't afford to increase welfare payments and create jobs using public funds.
Brazilian prosecutors leading the country’s biggest ever corruption investigation have returned 60 million dollars to the state oil company PetroBras. The corruption scheme is estimated to have cost PetroBras more than one billion dollars.
The manager of the English premier league football club Cristal Palace has said the timing of the Africa Cup of Nations in January is disruptive to the English football season. Alan Pardew manager said the clubs now had to consider whether African players would be joining the tournament before signing them.
