(BBC) The use of a new vessel to capture oil at the Deepwater Horizon spill site in the Gulf of Mexico is delayed by tropical storm Alex.
(BBC) Hurricane Alex brings floods to north-east Mexico, paralysing the city of Monterrey, as it starts to weaken.
(BBC) US bail hearing gives glimpse of 'espionage'
President Obama presses for US immigration policy reform in his first major speech on the issue since taking office.
A 6.2 magnitude earthquake hits the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca but no major damage is reported.
Gunmen seriously injure the president of the assembly in the Colombian city of Medellin.
The war in Afghanistan has been "harder and slower" than expected, CIA director Leon Panetta concedes.
(BBC) Left-wing Latin American leaders meeting in Ecuador agree to promote indigenous rights, while Indians protest outside.
Mexico tells a US federal court that Arizona's new immigration law is unconstitutional and discriminatory against Mexican citizens.
Police in Jamaica arrest suspected drug lord Christopher "Dudus" Coke, wanted in the US, after a long manhunt.
Floods engulf two states in north-east Brazil, killing dozens and forcing at least 100,000 to flee their homes.
Government candidate Juan Manuel Santos wins convincingly in the final round of Colombia's presidential elections.
(BBC) An internal document reveals BP estimated 100,000 barrels of oil a day could, in theory, flow from the ruptured Gulf of Mexico well.
(BBC) Colombians vote in a run-off election to choose a new president, with Juan Manuel Santos a clear favourite.
(BBC) Indigenous Canadians attend a truth commission to tell of their suffering in boarding schools set up to assimilate them.
(BBC) The US announces additional measures against Iran, days after fresh UN sanctions, amid concerns over Iran's nuclear programme.
Bolivia struggles with a rise in cocaine production
US oil bosses are criticised by a Congressional panel in the wake of the BP spill, as Barack Obama prepares to address the nation.
(BBC) Oil industry assesses safety of deep offshore drilling
(BBC) US President Obama asks supporters to back a campaign for clean energy, as he visits areas affected by the BP oil spill.
A former Colombian army colonel is jailed for the forced disappearance of 11 people in Bogota 25 years ago.
(BBC) Mexico's long struggle to win 'war on drugs'
18 ways readers would have tackled the oil spill
(BBC) Children of Hispanic immigrants choose a US way of life
BP's latest bid to cap a ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico is now capturing more than half the estimated leak, it tells the BBC.
(BBC) BP's latest effort to stem the Gulf of Mexico oil spill captured 6,000 barrels in 24 hours, a US official says, raising hopes of success.
President Obama nominates Pentagon official Gen James Clapper as his new director of national intelligence.
A new cap placed by BP over a ruptured Gulf of Mexico well begins to funnel a small portion of leaking oil to the surface.
(BBC) Brazil arrests 70 people suspected of illegal deforestation in the Amazon, including environmental officials.
(BBC) A new study suggests the wealth gap between white and black people in the US increased fourfold in 23 years.
Rand Paul of the Tea Party is among the winners in US primaries seen as key indicators for November's mid-terms.
(BBC) The US Supreme Court bans life sentences with no parole for young criminals who have not committed murder.
The US says the success of a move by BP to curb a leak in the Gulf of Mexico is "not clear" and the technique is "no solution".
(BBC) US senators unveil a long-awaited climate change bill, which includes divisive plans on offshore oil-drilling.
Congressional investigators say the device meant to halt an oil leak after the Gulf of Mexico rig blast was faulty.
(BBC) Police in Haiti fire tear gas as more than 1,000 protesters demand that President Rene Preval step down.
President Barack Obama nominates Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court, as Republicans pledge to review her experience.
(BBC) A senior EU official says Bolivia has the right to nationalise companies as long as they are offered compensation.
(BBC) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's Twitter account has more followers than any other in Venezuela, prompting him to hire 200 people to sift through the responses.
(BBC) Oil company BP scrambles to find a way to contain oil gushing from a blown-out well on the seafloor of the Gulf of Mexico.
(BBC) Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warns of "severe consequences" if a terror attack against the US were ever traced to Pakistan.
(BBC) A deadly blast on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico was caused by exploding methane gas, US media reports.
(BBC) A giant funnel is positioned above a blown-out oil well in the seabed in the Gulf of Mexico in an attempt to contain leaking oil.
(BBC) Oil slick spreads uncertainty in US coast communities
BP seals the smallest of the three leaks spilling oil into the Gulf of Mexico, as it prepares to cover the site with an iron box.
