Tobacco companies will be forced to remove their logos from cigarette packs in New Zealand – when a challenge to a similar move in Australia is resolved.

Daniel Ortega was sworn in for his third five-year term as president of Nicaragua, shrugging off opposition complaints his re-election was illegal and vowing to govern with moderation.

Nato is helping Libyan rebels hunting Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, Britain's Defence Secretary Liam Fox said today.

A reward of over €1m is on offer for anyone able to capture Colonel Muammar Gaddafi dead or alive as it emerged today that the SAS was leading the hunt for the Libyan despot.

An adviser to Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega said that his government would consider giving asylum to Libya's Muammar Gaddafi if he asked for it, but acknowledged it would be difficult to arrange.

Israel today dropped plans to prosecute dozens of pro-Palestinian activists involved in the Gaza blockade incident, opting instead to deport them all immediately.

Venezuela’s president Hugo Chavez said today his country has recognised the independence of the Georgian separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev hailed his country’s victory in its war with Georgia a year ago, saying it showed the nation’s strength and boosted its role in the world.

Ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya was kept from landing at the country's main airport today because the runway was blocked by military vehicles and groups of soldiers, some of them clashing with a crowd of thousands outside.

Ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya, travelling aboard a Venezuelan plane, was prevented from landing at the country's main airport today as soldiers are blocked the runway with several military vehicles.

President Barack Obama offered a spirit of co-operation to America’s hemispheric neighbours at a summit, listening to complaints about past US meddling and even reaching out to Venezuela’s left-wing leader.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said the US is “taking bread” away from the poor by holding back aid.

President Hugo Chavez won a referendum to eliminate term limits and vowed to remain in power for at least another decade to complete his socialist revolution.

Nicaragua lambasted the US government and the head of the Organisation of American States, accusing both of trying to destabilise President Daniel Ortega’s government by criticising local elections.

Russian troops have started dismantling positions in the so-called security zones inside Georgia that they have occupied since the war in August, Georgian and EU officials said.

Only Russia and the “states” of South Ossetia and Abkhazia will decide how many troops Moscow can keep on their soil, prime minister Vladimir Putin has said.

RUSSIA’S military announced plans yesterday to station about 7,600 troops in Georgia’s separatist regions, a sharp increase on the numbers deployed before Moscow sent in troops last month.

Nicaragua today became the first country other than Russia to recognise the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

THE images from Georgia are depressingly familiar — a man grips his dead relative in grief, a woman’s face is streaked with blood.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega says Central American countries need to draw a plan to confront a regional food crisis as a group.

South American presidents reached an uneasy compromise to resolve a dangerous crisis triggered by Colombia’s military raid in Ecuador, stepping back from a week of insults, troop movements and talk of war.

A summit of Latin American leaders aimed at cooling Colombia’s growing border crisis turned into an angry showdown today, with the president of Colombia accusing his Ecuadorian counterpart of having been financed by Colombian rebels.

Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega says he is breaking off relations with Colombia over the country’s raid on a guerrilla base in Ecuador.

AS the World Bank meets in Dublin this week we, as Irish global justice organisations, would like to highlight our deep concerns about the often devastating impact of the bank’s practices on the lives of poor people throughout the world.

US, Honduran and Nicaraguan soldiers searched remote jungle beaches and the open sea for survivors and bodies after Hurricane Felix claimed at least 98 lives, many of them Miskito Indians who died fleeing the Category 5 storm.

Hurricane Henriette today threatened Mexico’s mainland on a track for the south-western US, while the weakening remains of mighty Hurricane Felix, far to the south, caused flooding, landslides and at least 9 deaths in Central America.

Felix slammed into Central America’s remote Miskito coastline and Henriette slammed into resorts on the tip of Baja California as a record-setting hurricane season got even wilder with twin storms making landfall on the same day.

Cuban leader Fidel Castro is in charge again after undergoing intestinal surgery, according to friend and ally Hugo Chavez.

Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega, a former Marxist revolutionary who fought US-backed insurgents in the 1980s, has won presidential elections in Nicaragua.

DANIEL Ortega, a former Marxist revolutionary and US Cold War enemy, headed toward a dramatic return to power in Nicaragua’s presidential election, early results showed yesterday.

Nicaragua’s Congress has voted to approve a bill banning all abortions, including those that could save a mother’s life.

Bolstered by booming oil profits, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been on a military spending spree, raising fears that one of Washington’s fiercest foes in Latin America is threatening the region’s military balance.

SUNDERLAND striker Dwight Yorke is facing a club-versus-country dilemma as manager Roy Keane attempts to protect him.

Alfredo Stroessner, the canny anti-communist general who ruled Paraguay with a blend of force, guile and patronage for 35 years before his ousting in 1989, died in exile today. He was 93.

FORMER US Marine Corps officer Bill Hurley regards opponents of torture as ‘America-haters’ (Irish Examiner letters, June 13).

The Government is to double its support for fair-trade and ethical development initiatives in Central America, it emerged today.

HURRICANE Beta pounded Nicaragua’s east coast with heavy rains and powerful winds last night as thousands sought protection in boarded-up homes or government shelters.

YOUR columnist Rónán Mullen’s criticism of Amnesty International (Irish Examiner, June 22) revealed an absurd political misconception that should come as no surprise by now to anyone with a clear insight as to what is happening in Iraq.

The World Bank and the World Wildlife Fund announced a five-year programme yesterday to reduce the destruction of forests by 10% annually in an attempt to combat the alarming disappearance of the world’s trees.

NICARAGUA’S National Police have declared an alert because of the “possible presence” of two suspected members of the al-Qaida terrorist network in Central America.

Proposals for a Muslim force for Iraq moved forward today with the news that Pakistan had talked to Saudi officials and Yemen and Bahrain had offered some military help.

An American soldier who said he left his unit in Iraq in protest at an “oil-driven” war has been sentenced to a year in jail and a bad conduct discharge for desertion.

2006 World Cup qualifiers draw:

The United States suspended all assistance to Nicaragua’s judiciary yesterday, a day after the Supreme Court warned America to stay out of its business, the US Embassy in Managua announced in a written statement.