Los Angeles residents are bracing for "carmageddon", the severe traffic jams that could result from the closure of a busy stretch of highway.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he will return to Cuba on Saturday for further cancer treatment, after having a tumour removed.

Pop star Jennifer Lopez and singer Marc Anthony are divorcing after seven years of marriage, in what they call "an amicable conclusion".

The US space agency says its Dawn spacecraft should shortly go into orbit around the asteroid Vesta, between Mars and Jupiter, to begin a year-long study of the 530km-wide rock.

Seven prisoners are killed and 59 others escape after a riot at a jail in the Mexican town of Nuevo Laredo near the US border, officials say.

China asks US President Barack Obama to cancel a planned Saturday private meeting with exiled Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama.

The UK is to give £52.25m ($84m) in emergency aid to help millions of drought victims in the Horn of Africa, the government announces.

Japan's Ohi nuclear reactor is to go offline temporarily after developing a fault, putting further strain on the country's electricity supplies.