Paris Ritz to auction old furnishings, Hemingway-era bar stools

PARIS (Reuters) - The world famous Ritz hotel in Paris has decided to sell off more than 3,500 pieces of furniture and "objets d'art" that it no longer has a home for after a renovation.

Ruined Albanian churches could be tourist magnet if repaired: experts

LESHNICE, Albania (Reuters) - Many old Albanian Orthodox churches and the art they contain lie in ruins due to decades of neglect but they could attract tourists if they are repaired, according to...

Melania factor helps to boost Slovenian tourism

LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - The number of foreign tourists visiting Slovenia jumped almost 17 percent last year to 3.4 million, the statistics office said on Wednesday, the figure boosted by the fact that...

Wings of joy: Kabul's bird market brings comfort to war-weary Afghans

KABUL (Reuters) - For some Afghans weighed down by decades of war and struggle, a little comfort and distraction can be found in the company of birds.

Beirut guide gives walking tours of city's history and his own

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Tour guide Ronnie Chatah, 36, is once again doing what he loves after a four-year hiatus - telling the stories that have shaped Beirut's history from ancient to modern times.

Life's a beach: Cannes ships in sand for film festival

CANNES, France (Reuters) - Every year the French Riviera town of Cannes rolls out the red carpet to A-list celebrities at the world's most glamorous film festival. Now it wants to roll out a bigger...

Philippines to phase out its beloved cheap but rickety jeepneys

MANILA (Reuters) - Jeepneys, the flamboyant passenger trucks of the Philippines, are nearing the end of their reign as the "Kings of the Road", but they're not going down without a fight.

Covered on the catwalk: modest fashion struts its stuff in Paris

PARIS (Reuters) - Models in brightly colored pant suits and ankle-length dresses graced a Paris catwalk this week in what organizers said was the city's first show of modest fashion that highlights...

Ireland ends nearly century-old ban on alcohol sales on Good Friday

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland's parliament agreed on Thursday to end the state's prohibition of alcohol sales on the Christian holiday of Good Friday, saying society had changed significantly since the...

Oldest human remains outside Africa found in Israeli cave

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A partial jawbone bearing seven teeth unearthed in a cave in Israel represents what scientists are calling the oldest-known Homo sapiens remains outside Africa, showing that...

'Doomsday Clock' closest to midnight since Cold War over nuclear threat

(Reuters) - Scientists on Thursday moved ahead by half a minute the symbolic Doomsday Clock, saying the world was at its closest to annihilation since the height of the Cold War due to world leaders'...

Jean Paul Gaultier gets into swing of the 60s on Paris catwalk

PARIS (Reuters) - Psychedelic swirls, Beatles-style bobs in vibrant colors and plenty of swishing fringes filled Jean Paul Gaultier's runway on Wednesday, in a celebration of the 1960s designed in...

Eastern U.S. cougar declared extinct 80 years after last sighting

(Reuters) - Eastern cougars that once prowled North America from Michigan to South Carolina were officially declared extinct and removed from the U.S. endangered species list on Monday, eight decades...