A federal judge has blocked key parts of Arizona’s strict immigration law, hours before it takes effect. The judge issued a temporary injunction against a requirement that police check the immigration status of criminal suspects they had stopped while enforcing other laws. Read the full story

Venezuela has broken off diplomatic relations with Colombia and ordered Colombian diplomats to leave the country by Sunday. President Hugo Chavez said he had “no choice” after Colombia accused Venezuela of being a haven for guerrillas – a charge he denies. Read the full story

President Hugo Chavez has ordered a review of Venezuela’s ties with the Vatican amid tensions between his government and the country’s bishops. Read the full story

CNN has sacked a veteran Middle East editor after she wrote on Twitter that she “respected” a late senior Lebanese cleric said to have inspired Hezbollah. Read the full story

US President Barack Obama has signed into law new sanctions against Iran intended to impede the development of its nuclear programme. The measures, which penalise foreign companies that trade with Iran, were overwhelmingly approved by US Congress last week. Read the full story

Iran’s state television aired what it said was footage of a missing nuclear scientist on Tuesday, the third video to emerge in weeks giving conflicting accounts of the fate of a man Tehran says was kidnapped by the CIA. Read the full story

U.S. authorities said on Monday they have broken up a spy ring that carried out deep-cover work in the United States to recruit political sources and gather information for the Russian government. Read the full story

Celebrated American director Oliver Stone has blasted the US media for playing the “Bush game” and fueling US paranoia towards the Middle East. Read the full story

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez described Israel on Saturday as a genocidal state that acted as an assassin for the United States, predicting the Middle East nation would one day be “put in its place. Read the full story

Joran van der Sloot has confessed to killing a 21-year-old female student in his Lima hotel room last week, police confirmed Tuesday to the Associated Press. Read the full story

Jamaica declared a state of emergency in two parishes of its capital Kingston on Sunday after shooting and firebomb attacks on police stations by suspected supporters of an alleged drug lord who faces extradition to the United States. Read the full story

President Barack Obama has directed the U.S. military to coordinate with South Korea to “ensure readiness” and deter future aggression from North Korea, the White House said on Monday. Read the full story

Scientists in the US have succeeded in developing the first synthetic living cell. The researchers constructed a bacterium’s “genetic software” and transplanted it into a host cell. Read the full story

Mexico’s president has told the US Congress that he is confident his country will win its fight against drug gangs with cooperation from the US. Read the full story

UAL Corp, parent of United Airlines, said it will buy Continental Airlines Inc for about $3.17 billion in stock, forming the world’s largest carrier and further shrinks the U.S. airline industry. Read the full story

Tens of thousands of people have joined protests in the US against a controversial anti-immigration law introduced in Arizona. Read the full story

Police found a car bomb in a parked sport utility vehicle Saturday evening in New York City’s Times Square, then evacuated buildings and cleared thousands of tourists from the landmark. Read the full story

Leftist Bolivian President Evo Morales said on Saturday he had nationalized four power companies, including a subsidiary of France’s GDF Suez, in his drive to tighten state control over the impoverished economy. Read the full story