Killings spiked by nearly 70% last year in the gang-plagued El Salvador, authorities said, resulting in a homicide rate that could make it the world’s most violent country.

A Jamaican-born Muslim cleric who was jailed in Britain for inciting murder and racial hatred will be allowed into the Caribbean island because he has committed no crimes there, the government said today.

A desperate message for help stuffed into a bottle helped save 88 South American refugees stranded at sea near Costa Rica, officials said today.