US carmaker Ford becomes the latest foreign company to announce plans to enter the Burmese market, after investment sanctions are suspended.

Amanda Knox - who is facing a retrial over the killing of Briton Meredith Kercher in 2007 - goes on US TV to publicly proclaim her innocence.

Egypt's new freedoms open the way for satirists and salafists

Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands has made a farewell national address on the eve of her abdication and investiture of her son, Prince Willem-Alexander.

Alibaba, China's biggest e-commerce group, buys an 18% stake in Weibo, China's Twitter-like service, as it looks to tap into the social media sector.

Bangladesh defends its decision to turn down foreign help in a rescue operation after the collapse of a building that killed at least 382 people.

Peruvian authorities say they will press charges against the owners of the hot air balloon that crashed on Sunday, because it was not properly licensed.

Bridget Kendall asks if Russia has become a "rogue state" since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Mexican authorities investigate allegations that an official's daughter used her influence to close a restaurant, amid outrage on social media.

Michael Jackson's mother's lawyer says his concert promoter failed to vet the doctor convicted of causing his death, as a wrongful death trial opens.

How Spain's lack of jobs is blighting lives

Fears grow for abducted Laos aid worker

Free tuition to help poor students crack tough exams

The BBC's North America editor Mark Mardell visits the Mid-West to find out if the United States is in terminal decline.

Extra medical staff arrive at Guantanamo Bay in an attempt to cope with a spreading hunger strike by prisoners at the US detention facility.

Ballerina Margot Fonteyn and the failed Panama coup

How football has become a game of numbers and real-time data

US basketball player Jason Collins comes out as gay, the first active male athlete in a major American professional sport to do so.

Chris Froome insists he will lead Team Sky's Tour de France charge this summer despite team-mate Bradley Wiggins claiming he wants to defend his title.

Anger at the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory has triggered further violent protests in Dhaka.