An embarrassed French minister has apologized to the head chef at the Elysee Palace after she was caught on camera describing the food at a China-France state dinner as "revolting".

Trade Minister Nicole Bricq was caught out after saying the meal served to Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the state banquet on Wednesday night was not up to scratch, unaware that microphones were picking up her comments.

U.S. President Barack Obama took time out during his trip to Rome for a half-hour private guided tour of the Colosseum, saying he was amazed by the size of the ancient Roman amphitheater.

The Colosseum and the Roman Forum were entirely closed to the public during the visit in which Obama was accompanied by red-headed Barbara Nazzaro, technical director of the Colosseum.

A group of farmers have brought to life the "Transformers" films, toys and TV series and built giant robots out of old car parts, in rural China.

The original toys, which were a huge hit with children in the 1980s, could be turned from cars into robots and back again. Their popularity spawned a hit television show, and more recently, the movie franchise.

Political and economic sanctions may not have dissuaded Russia from annexing Crimea, but a group of Ukrainian women have called for a different kind of embargo: no sex for Russian men.

"Don't give it to a Russian," is the name of the campaign, which aims to throw cold water on Moscow's appetite for Ukrainian territory and draw attention to its actions in Crimea.

Four men involved in a daring nighttime skydiving stunt from the top of New York's One World Trade Center have been arrested and charged, police said Tuesday.

A video of the September 11 jump, posted at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nz7sxt9xeJE, has had hundreds of thousands of hits.

A woman who, as a newborn, was abandoned in the bathroom of a Pennsylvania fast-food restaurant said she has found her birth mother just three weeks after launching a search that garnered worldwide attention, and as her mother prepared to look for her.

Katheryn Deprill, 27, said Tuesday she felt "pure joy" when she met her biological mother for the first time Monday at an attorney's office. And, after she learned the sad details of her conception and abandonment, she said she understood why her mom did what she did.

Brazil tax rules are more difficult to hack through than the Amazon jungle, so what better way to highlight the mess than to put them in print? All 41,266 pages.

The result: a book that weighs as much as an African elephant and is taller than a grown man. Enough reading to cure the most difficult case of insomnia.

Do you own a shaggy sheep? Ireland needs ewes.

The Irish require at least 6,000 sheep as hosts of this year's Golden Shears World Championships. But they're more than 1,000 short with just weeks to go before an event dubbed "the Olympics of sheep shearing."

A more than 15-year old laptop doesn't go for much on eBay -- unless it's the one Bill Clinton used to send the first ever U.S. presidential email.

The still-functional laptop -- with Clinton's cheerful exchange with Space Shuttle astronaut John Glenn in November 1998 still on the hard drive -- is the featured item in an online sale by Massachusetts-based RR Auction.

File picture taken on March 25, 2010 shows Klepetan (R), a male stork who proved distance is no obstacle to true love as he flew thousands of kilometers to meet his handicapped mate living in …more

Two lovebird storks celebrated their 12th anniversary on Monday as the male made his annual journey of thousands of miles to join his handicapped female in Croatia.