President Michael D Higgins is today beginning the second part of his official visit to South America with a visit to the Colombian capital Bogota.

Two US hospitals have said they have developed a rapid test for the Zika virus, which can produce results within hours.

At least eight people have been killed and more than a million forced to evacuate their homes following a major earthquake in Chile.

A major earthquake has rattled Chile, killing at least five people and shaking the Earth so strongly the tremor was felt in places across South America.

Pope Francis has apologised for the sins, offences and crimes committed by the Catholic Church against indigenous peoples during the colonial-era conquest of the Americas.

Pope Francis has received a hero’s welcome in Ecuador’s biggest city as he celebrated the first public Mass of his South American tour, telling hundreds of thousands of faithful their families are the bedrock of society.

Pope Francis has left Rome for his first trip to Spanish-speaking South America, a ‘homecoming’ to a continent where he will champion the rights of the poor and of the planet.