PRESIDENTIAL RACE

DES MOINES, Iowa — Republican presidential candidates strain to take advantage of a rare opportunity to step out of front-runner Donald Trump's shadow in a debate — a policy-heavy contest that offered a glimpse of what the party contest might have been without the unpredictable businessman. 

ZIKA VIRUS-WOMEN

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — Maria Erlinda Guzman desperately wants a baby, and has been undergoing fertility treatments at El Salvador's largest women's hospital. But now, she fears her dream of motherhood may be dashed by Zika. 

ZIKA VIRUS-BRAZIL

RECIFE, Brazil — At the epicenter of Brazil's Zika outbreak, authorities strain to control the mosquitoes that spread the virus while families struggle with birth defects that may be linked to the disease. Mosquitoes have long been an inescapable part of the lives of one slum. 

UNITED STATES-NKOREA-LAUNCH

WASHINGTON — North Korea may be preparing to launch a rocket or missile, according to a U.S. defense official and expert analysis of commercial satellite imagery. 

COLOMBIA-SANTOS-WHITE HOUSE

BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, ahead of a key White House visit, said he wants the U.S. to suspend drug warrants against guerrilla commanders and remove the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia from a list of terrorist groups to help cinch a peace deal with Latin America's oldest leftist insurgency. 

HAITI-PEACEFUL PROTEST

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Several thousand people held a peaceful march in Haiti's crowded capital calling for elections to be held soon to resolve a political crisis threatening the stability of the perennially volatile nation.