Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer caught in an undercover sting by US agents posing as Colombian guerrillas seeking weapons, was sentenced to 25 years in prison by a US judge in New York.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos was released from a hospital today and said he was "totally cured" after successful surgery for prostate cancer that had not spread beyond the gland.
Colombian government and leftist rebel negotiators agreed to meet in Cuba in mid-November to start what are likely to be thorny peace talks aimed at patching together an end to half a century of conflict, both sides said.
Colombia's leftist guerrillas killed five oil contractors working for the state-run petroleum company Ecopetrol, hurting the country's image as a prime destination for oil and mining investment.
Colombia's largest rebel group has blown up a section of the 220,000-barrel-per-day-capacity Cano Limon-Covenas oil pipeline, Ecopetrol and the army said, in the latest in a series of attacks on oil infrastructure.
Colombia's FARC rebel leader said the group would join peace talks with the government "without hatred or arrogance" in its first response to President Juan Manuel Santos' announcement of imminent negotiations.