Fireworks exploded over Sydney's famous bridge and the Eiffel Tower prepared for its own colored-light spectacle as the world celebrated a New Year that many hope will be more prosperous and peaceful than 2009. ...more

December 31, 2009

American screen icon Clint Eastwood was made a commander in France's prestigious Legion of Honor on Friday. ...more

November 14, 2009

President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown exuded optimism about a global deal to help pull the world out of recession on Wednesday, downplaying a rift with French President Nicolas Sarkozy ahead of the imminent Group of 20 leaders summit. ...more

April 1, 2009

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other EU leaders flatly rejected a new multibillion-dollar bailout for eastern Europe on Sunday, suggesting that additional aid be given to struggling nations on a case-by-case basis. ...more

March 2, 2009

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Israeli tanks and infantry pushed into Gaza after nightfall Saturday, launching a much anticipated ground offensive in a widening war on Gaza's Hamas rulers. ...more

January 3, 2009

Israel allowed several hundred Palestinians with foreign passports to flee Gaza on Friday, even as its warplanes bombed a mosque it said was used to store weapons and destroyed homes of more than a dozen Hamas operatives. ...more

January 3, 2009

President-elect Barack Obama has won another contest: He's been named Time magazine's "Person of the Year" for 2008. ...more

December 17, 2008

Vandals desecrated at least 500 tombs of Muslim soldiers in northern France on Monday - an act President Nicolas Sarkozy denounced as "repugnant racism." ...more

December 9, 2008

Inspired by Barack Obama, the French first lady and other leading figures say it's high time for France to stamp out racism and shake up a white political and social elite that smacks of colonial times. ...more

November 10, 2008

In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy has loudly proclaimed the need to increase regulation and oversight of financial markets, vowing last week to "refound the global financial system" as part of "an intellectual and moral revolution." ...more

October 27, 2008