World News: Post-mortem show slammed

Executors of Michael Jackson's estate are demanding that the Discovery Channel cancel plans for a show purporting to re-enact Jackson's post-mortem.

John Branca and John McClain said the plans were in very bad taste and insensitive to the feelings of Jackson's family.

US hits back at Venezuela

The Obama administration revoked the visa of the Venezuelan ambassador to the United States in a tit-for-tat diplomatic response to Venezuela's rejection of the US choice to be the next envoy to the South American country.

President Hugo Chavez said he would not allow the US diplomat, Larry Palmer, to be ambassador because he made what Mr Chavez described as blatantly disrespectful remarks about Venezuela.

The cost of cleanliness will rise in Cuba after its cash-strapped, communist government announced that soap, toothpaste and detergent will be slashed from monthly ration books.

Cubans set to be cleaned out

Cuba's official Gazette said that from January 1, "personal cleanliness products" will be cut from the ration books.

Security forces kill drug lord

A brutal drug lord with a $2.5 million bounty on his head died during clashes with security forces in southern Colombia, said President Juan Manuel Santos.

Pedro Oliverio Guerrero, also know as The Knife, led the Popular Revolutionary Anti-Terrorist Army of Colombia.

Ivory Coast 'on the brink of genocide'

Ivory Coast's newly-appointed ambassador to the UN has warned that the country is "on the brink of genocide".

In a TV interview, Youssoufou Bamba said there had been large-scale violation of human rights as a result of the ongoing political unrest.

Laurent Gbagbo is refusing to step down despite his rival, Alassane Ouattara, being internationally accepted as the presidential election winner.

The UN has accused state media of inciting hatred against it.

Mr Gbagbo has said Mr Ouattara's victory in November was illegitimate. Both men have been sworn in as president.

Mr Bamba, who was appointed by Mr Ouattara, was formally welcomed at the UN's New York headquarters yesterday, solidifying UN support for Mr Ouattara. At a press conference, Mr Bamba said Mr Ouattara had been elected in a "free, fair, transparent, democratic election".Mr Bamba said Mr Ouattara's main concern now was the "massive violation of human rights" in the past few weeks.

He said 172 people had been killed "because they want to demonstrate, they want to speak out, and defend the will of the people".

Militants held over Prophet cartoon plot

Denmark: Five suspected Islamist militants have been arrested for planning a gun attack at the Copenhagen offices of a Danish newspaper that printed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in 2005, say police officers.

Burma: Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has called for assistance from the international community in order to help victims of Cyclone Giri that struck north-western Burma in October.