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Colombian ex-hostage Ingrid Betancourt broke down in tears at a concert she staged in Paris Sunday as part of a day of rallies in Europe and Latin America seeking the release of captives still held by rebels in the Colombian jungle.

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All summer, the Guggenheim Museum in New York hosts the first major US retrospective of French-american artist Louise Bourgeois, now aged 96.

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After a flurry of tourist activity in Iraq's relatively stable Kurdish north, it's now business as usual in the region as security clamp-downs and continuing violence force potential visitors to look further afield.

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The Oscars are eight months away and the film hasn't even been released, but Heath Ledger's performance in his last film is already generating talk of a rare posthumous Academy Award.

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Cuban hopes for widespread economic changes have been spoiled by President Raul Castro's first speech to the country's National Assembly during which he called on the people to work harder on the land.

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In a last-ditch effort to tackle pollution ahead of the Summer Olympics, Chinese authorities are taking half of Beijing's 3.3 million cars off the road by enforcing strict traffic regulations based on number plates.

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The rugged Willys Jeep has been given a new lease of life by a small factory in Manila reproducing the iconic World War II vehicle for a growing international market nostalgic for the past.

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South Africa's first black president Nelson Mandela celebrated his 90th birthday after spending almost a third of his life in prison. He spent 18 years on Robben Island, which is now a tourist hot spot

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Samir Kantar, Lebanon's longest serving prisoner released by Israel as part of a swap deal, said on Thursday he had no regrets over the killings for which he was convicted. He received a hero's homecoming.

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In this Olympic year, a lesser-known international sporting event is taking place in China's equivalent of Silicon Valley: Robocup2008, a competition pitting the world's best robots against each other in a game of soccer.

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The stark sight of two black coffins sparked anguish and tears among relatives of two missing Israeli soldiers on Wednesday -- the first evidence they had that the pair were dead. The two coffins were brought across the Israeli-Lebanese border. Images from AFPTV.

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Will the historic Polish shipyards, the birthplace of Lech Walesa's Solidarity movement have to shut down? The European Commission granted Poland on Wednesday almost two months to work out new plans to salvage the shipyards after Prime Minister Donald Tusk pressed for more time.

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Hezbollah has handed over two black coffins believed to contain the remains of the Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev captured two years ago. Israeli army experts began to identify the apparent remains of two abducted soldiers handed over by Hezbollah on Wednesday as part of a prisoner swap.

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Lebanon is preparing a triumphant welcome for its fighters who are set to return home in a prisoner swap with Israel after years behind bars. Early Wednesday, four of the Lebanese prisoners, including Samir Kantar, who received multiple jail terms for a 1979 commando raid, was prepared for release by Israeli soldiers.

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An ice sculptures gallery has opened its doors in one of Moscow¿s parks. The exhibition of sculptures portrays heroes of Russian fairy tales and will be open all year round.

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Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme has handed in his resignation, unable to broker a power-sharing agreement that has split the country in two. Leterme had set himself the deadline of July 15 to reconcile the parties from Flanders and Wallonia.

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A German prosecutor is in France to investigate a World War II massacre in a probe that could lead to war crimes prosecutions. On the day Paris was liberated, August 25, 1944, German forces killed 124 residents in Maille and left the town in ruins.

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Tennis legend Martina Navratilova may have retired from the professional game over 18 month's ago, but she's making a comeback - this time in the art world. The former world number 1 has created hundreds of paintings by whacking paint-covered balls onto a canvas.

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The world's biggest economy lost jobs for a sixth straight month in June as US employers shed 62,000 nonfarm jobs amid a lingering slowdown.

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An upsurge in killings, kidnappings and attacks on the strategic NATO re-supply route between Pakistan and Afghanistan over the past year has left at least 100 truck drivers dead.

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Music diplomacy is back in the spotlight and its champions have never been so young: The Pyongyang Children¿s Art Group, with members as young as seven, is on its first visit to Hong Kong.

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China is hosting a football tournament with a difference. Some of the world's most advanced robots will be competing in the Robo Cup. A look behind the scenes at the French company who's robot is expected to be the star performer.

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President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday awarded the Legion of Honour, France's highest distinction, to Colombian former hostage Ingrid Betancourt, nearly two weeks after she was rescued from rebel captivity. At an Elysee palace garden party, Sarkozy presented her with the insignia.

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Making the Olympic team for US track and field athletes is a simple process yet a brutal one: every four years, a few weeks before the Games, show up at a single event and finish in the top three, and you¿re in.

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France celebrated Bastille Day on Monday under a cloud of controversy as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad joined dozens of leaders to watch the traditional military parade on the Champs Elysees.

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France celebrated Bastille Day on Monday under a cloud of controversy as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad joined dozens of leaders to watch the traditional military parade on the Champs Elysees. Among his critics were Reporters without Borders. Some activists from this press freedom group conducted a protest, which was quickly snuffed out by police officers.

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More than 40 leaders meeting in Paris on Sunday launched a new Union for the Mediterranean, aimed at boosting ties across the region, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said.

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Bronislaw Geremek, who died Sunday in a car accident aged 76, was an icon of the Solidarity movement and one of the main architects of Poland's transition to democracy.

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French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Arab states had made a "gesture of peace" by attending a summit Sunday in Paris for the launch of a new Union for the Mediterranean. Leaders from some 40 countries are attending a summit where the union.

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The environmental group, Greenpeace, stages a protest at the Eiffel Tower in Paris on Sunday. The group climbed the monument and put up a banner protesting French President, Nicholas Sarkozy's nuclear policy.

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Twin joy for Hollywoood couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Jolie has given birth to a boy and a girl, at a maternity clinic on the French Riviera, the hospital said on Sunday.

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Hollywoood star Angelina Jolie has given birth to healthy twins, a boy and a girl, at a maternity clinic on the French Riviera, the hospital said on Sunday.Partner and fellow A-lister Brad Pitt, 44, was by her side for the births, by caesarean operation, of Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline at a clinic in Nice, reports said.

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Britain, Germany and the United States welcomed a decision by Lebanon and Syria to open diplomatic relations, but Washington urged Damascus to end its "destabilizing tactics" in the region.

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Leaders from some 40 countries --- rich and poor, foes and friends -- meet in Paris on Sunday to launch the Union for the Mediterranean, a flagship project of French President Nicolas Sarkozy. But the new forum for cooperation is already facing opposition from Libyan President Moamer Kadhafi who is boycotting the summit while Turkey and Germany have deep misgivings.

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France's first lady Carla Bruni comes under the spotlight on Friday as her much-hyped new album hits record stores across Europe.

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Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday announced he has received support from Baghdad and Iraqi Kurdish leaders to fight rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) guerrillas inside Iraq.

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It was an art that captured the imagination of millions of Indian cinema lovers. Dramatic hand-made Bollywood posters advertising films across the nation. But the digital age has put an end to the industry.

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Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would take part in the launch of a Mediterranean union in Paris on Sunday, despite Turkish reservations about the French initiative.

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They're seven, six of whom are part of the French military team of parachuting -- together they were the first ones ever to land of the Place de la Concorde in Paris on Thursday, as part of the rehearsals ahead of the Bastille Day celebrations on July 14. Images of the jump rehearsal.