It was apt that David Beckham's England debut was in a World Cup qualifier - against Moldova in 1996 - given the huge part the tournament has played in his career... more
Xstrata posts an 11 per cent rise in annual output of coal, its most profitable product, while 2009 mined copper production fell by five per cent... more
Friends of an 'exceptional' British charity worker paralysed in a diving accident in Colombia have raised more than £30,000 to airlift him home - but still need another £60,000... more
Colombia says it will appeal to the UN Security Council and the Organisation of American States after Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez ordered his army to prepare for war in order to assure peace... more
The former leader of one of Colombia's biggest drug cartels, who was once ranked alongside Osama bin Laden on the FBI's 10 most-wanted list, has been sentenced to 45 years in jail in the US... more
Paraguay became the 11th nation to make it into the World Cup finals thanks to a convincing 1-0 win over Argentina, whose qualification hopes took a further blow... more
Reckon you can salsa? Jane Cornwell did, before she tried to cut it on the dance floors of Cali, where being a salsero is a way out of the ghetto... more
Oil and gas explorer Emerald Energy's profits leaped sixfold last year as revenues almost doubled despite the oil price's sharp decline since July... more
There should be a word — do the Germans have one? I bet the Germans have one — to describe the emotion of just having missed delivery of a fridge... more
Football: Brazil have called up the Manchester City trio of Robinho, Jo and Elano for next month's World Cup qualifying games against Venezuela and Colombia... more
A British TV director was accused of causing the deaths of four members of an isolated Amazonian tribe by unwittingly introducing the flu virus into their remote village... more
With a cry of "Arriba London!", a flurry of hair and the first of many thrusts of the hardest working hips in showbusiness, Shakira set about bringing some real Latin fire to town.... more
Sofia Coppola's boyfriend is lead singer and they won the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album this year. Now, Phoenix tell Nosheen Iqbal, they are set to conquer London
Move over, Mahiki. Nightclub entrepreneurs Charlie Gilkes and Duncan Stirling are soon to launch a new Eighties-inspired club in Chelsea, in honour of Lady Thatcher