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

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

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

Leaders from Asia and Europe on Saturday called for new rules and stronger regulation of the global monetary and financial system at the close of a two-day summit in Beijing as China assumed a new leadership role in the crisis. ...more

October 26, 2008

Sister Emmanuelle, a nun who lived for years among scavengers in Cairo's slums and who has been compared to Mother Teresa for her fight to defend the rights of the poor, died Monday at age 99. ...more

October 21, 2008