Genius or clown? Paris show weighs Dali legacy
Twirling his waxed moustache, Salvador Dali's larger-than-life figure was beamed into millions of homes in the 1960s, his televised antics bringing huge fame, but burning his bridges with the art world.
Vandals steal ancient rock carvings in California
Vandals have stolen at least four ancient rock carvings, apparently using cement-cutting circular saws to slice them out of a valuable archeological site in California.
Water tensions overflow in ex-Soviet Central Asia
The ex-Soviet states of Central Asia are engaged in an increasingly bitter standoff over water resources, adding another element of instability to the volatile region neighbouring Afghanistan.
50 years since Solzhenitsyn Gulag story shocked USSR
The Soviet Union 50 years ago allowed publication of Alexander Solzhenitsyn's landmark account of life in the Stalin prison camps "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich", shocking readers by revealing a hitherto hidden horror.
Painting tied to Manhattan Project to be auctioned
A 74-year-old painting depicting the Canadian mine that produced uranium for the world's first atomic bomb will go under the hammer in Toronto on November 22, set to fetch up to Can$300,000.
Obama wins re-election, makes history again
US President Barack Obama swept to re-election Tuesday, creating history again by defying the undertow of a slow economic recovery and high unemployment to beat Republican foe Mitt Romney.
Myanmar minorities fight to save mother tongue
For half a century a single precious copy of a textbook kept the language of Myanmar's Shan people alive for students, forced to learn in the shadows under a repressive junta.
Merkel to open Berlin Holocaust memorial for Roma
German Chancellor Angela Merkel will inaugurate a memorial to murdered Roma and Sinti victims of the Nazis on Wednesday, as Europe's largest minority grapples with ongoing discrimination.
Ex-US presidential candidate McGovern dies at 90
Former US senator George McGovern, a liberal icon who vowed to end the Vietnam War but lost a landslide presidential election to Richard Nixon in 1972, died early Sunday at the age of 90.
Bodyguard-free, ex ETA target enjoys new life
For 11 years, town councillor Joseba Markaida lived with a bodyguard, for fear of Basque separatists who hurled petrol bombs at his home and poisoned his dog.
Brazil eyeing public service quotas for blacks
President Dilma Rousseff wants to introduce public service quotas for black Brazilians as a way to repay a historic debt for centuries of slavery and discrimination.
Cambodia's ex-king Norodom Sihanouk dies in Beijing
Cambodia's former king Norodom Sihanouk, whose life mirrored the turbulent history of his nation where he remained a revered figure, died in Beijing on Monday at the age of 89.
Bones under car park hold key to England's Richard III
Archaeologists and one hopeful relative are anxiously waiting to see if a skeleton dug up from a hole in a car park in the English city of Leicester is the remains of the much-maligned King Richard III.
Tim Burton recalls dark childhood in 'Frankenweenie'
Black and white, old-fashioned stop-motion animation but in 3D: cinema's past and future combine in Tim Burton's "Frankenweenie," which the Gothic filmmaker says was inspired by his childhood.
Last will and testament of Alfred Nobel, prize creator
Swedish inventor and scholar Alfred Nobel (1833-1896), who made a vast fortune from his invention of dynamite in 1866, ordered the creation of the Nobel Prizes in his will.
Madoff scam went back further than thought: US
Bernard Madoff's multi-billion dollar Wall Street fraud started in the early 1970s, at least two decades earlier than previously thought.
Blair could have prevented Iraq war: Annan
Former British prime minister Tony Blair was the only person capable of turning George Bush against the 2003 Iraq invasion, ex-United Nations chief Kofi Annan claimed.
World's smallest state, Vatican holds one-of-a-kind trial
The trial of Pope Benedict XVI's former butler and a Vatican computer technician for leaking secret papers starting on Saturday has no precedent since the Holy See became a sovereign state in 1929.
Revealed: Secrets of the Squid from Hell
Biologists on Wednesday said they had unlocked secrets about the vampire squid, a mysterious creature that feeds on the decaying dead in the unlit depths.
National icon keeps campaign guessing ahead of Ghana polls
The military shooting range along a windswept beach appears desolate and unassuming, but it is home to a controversial piece of history for Ghana and its former president Jerry Rawlings.
