Abbas Kiarostami has found inspiration far from home. --- The Iranian director's films are routinely banned in his home country, whose Islamist government has arrested or barred several younger filmmakers from working.

World Monitor

Energetic performances and heart-felt tributes took center stage at the Billboard Music Awards on Sunday, as Adele, LMFAO, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry and Taylor Swift came away top awards.

Bee Gees singer Robin Gibb, who with brothers Barry and Maurice helped define the disco era with their falsetto harmonies and funky beats on smash hits such as "Stayin' Alive" and "Jive Talkin'," has died after a long fight with cancer. He was 62.

Jackie Chan is landing his last punch as an action star, but says he is stepping into retirement having made one of the most important films of his career. 

A former president whose single term ended with the deepest economic crisis in the modern history of the Dominican Republic is seeking redemption Sunday as he faces an old rival in what is expected to be a close election to lead the Caribbean's top tourist destination.

The United Nations has been urging participants at this weekend's NATO summit to provide ``predictable, massive, long-term support'' for Afghanistan's security forces to promote stability and ensure that the country is never again a base for international terrorism, the U.N. envoy to Afghanistan said Friday.

Renewed efforts to take the heat out of the dangerously escalating Iran nuclear crisis face a stern test this week with two crunch meetings, first in Tehran on Monday and then in Baghdad two days later.

By all accounts, economic issues will determine whether President Barack Obama wins a second term or is ousted in favor of Republican challenger Mitt Romney. But voters, especially the independents who will decide the outcome of the November election, still haven't heard the cruel specifics of how either candidate plans to fix the still wobbly U.S. economy.

The appointment of Fleur Pellerin as France's first South Korean-born minister has prompted soul-searching over social values in the country of her birth where she was adopted at the age of six months.

East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta prepared for a handover of power to his successor late Saturday ahead of celebrations to mark the country's first decade of independence from Indonesia.

Mary Kennedy, the estranged wife of Robert F Kennedy Jr, died from asphyxiation by hanging, a coroner's report said, according to The New York Times Thursday.

Algeria overturned the Arab Spring's revolutionary narrative with elections that bolstered the longtime ruling party and dashed Islamists' hopes of gaining power. The vote did something else, too: It burnished Algeria's democratic image with Western allies who rely on it to fight terrorism and supply natural gas.

Jane Fonda gave the 65th Annual Cannes Film Festival one of its best looks on Thursday in a stretch, form-fitting, two-tone gown by Stella McCartney.

World Monitor

A black smoke covered Cairo's Tahrir Square. Around a dozen protesters who had been holding a weeks-long sit-in demanding an end to military rule had come to the conclusion their gathering was useless. So over the weekend, they splashed gas on their tents and banners, burned them to ashes and left.

Insiders and early Facebook investors are taking advantage of increasing investor demand and selling more of their stock in the company's initial public offering, the company said Wednesday.

Marie de Medici wore it at her coronation as Queen Consort of Henry IV in France in 1610, and now the Beau Sancy diamond is a lavish accessory owned by an anonymous bidder who paid $9.7 million for it at Sotheby's auction.

Francois Hollande was sworn in as president of France on Tuesday with a solemn vow to find a new growth-led strategy to end the crippling debt crisis threatening to unravel the eurozone.