AFP Features

SANTA BARBARA, California (AFP) - Every night at dusk in this wealthy California coastal town, Barbara Harvey puts down food for her golden retrievers, Phoebe and Ranger, and watches as they go for their evening walk.

ABOARD THE ARCTIC SUNRISE (AFP) - The Teseo, an Italian tug loaded with 10 tonnes of live bluefin tuna, welcomes Greenpeace activists on board with no hesitation.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - For the longest time, big has been beautiful in America, at least in terms of cars. But as petrol prices bite into American pocketbooks, US motorists are ending their love affair with the "Yank tank", and many are considering the ultimate step in downsizing: losing two wheels and riding a scooter.

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran has banned sports and movie stars from appearing in commercial advertisements on the grounds that celebrities should not promote consumerism, the government newspaper Iran reported on Tuesday.

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia on Tuesday marked a Day of Family, Love and Fidelity intended as a rival to Valentine's Day, with church services and prizes for married couples taking precedence over lustful confessions.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Four former US generals have joined a growing call to end a policy barring homosexuals from openly serving in the military, after a study showed it was out of step with the times and harming the armed forces.

PARIS (AFP) - Paris city council on Tuesday moved to scrap a 30-year-old ban on high-rise buildings inside the city walls, a decision that could spell a revolution for the capital's skyline.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - It's mind over machine: a US high-tech company has created a headset allowing computer game lovers to use their thoughts to move mountains and make objects disappear on screen.

JINGDONG, China (AFP) - Sporting skimpy outfits and glistening smiles, the Chinese women dancing here could be cheerleaders for any US sports team. Only the colourful fans and "nunchakus" chain sticks give them away.

MINSK (AFP) - Inconspicuous in this Soviet-built capital, a few disheveled memorial stones testify to a once rich Jewish culture that activists fear now risks extinction.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Are you a wing nut pretexting as a netroots advocate on webinars and thought you could blend in anonymously?

NAIROBI (AFP) - A new law banning smoking in public places and regulating the sale of tobacco products in Kenya is due to take effect nationwide within hours, an official said Monday.

CAIRO (AFP) - Soad Ahmed Hassan paces anxiously outside the school where her daughter is sitting Egypt's end of year exams. So far the test has driven two pupils to suicide and sparked a wave of corruption claims.

DATE, Japan (AFP) - Protesters from punk rockers to indigenous activists camped out Monday near the secluded resort where the world's top leaders are gathering, stunning farmers but getting no closer to the meeting.

MORONI (AFP) - The Comoros has in recent weeks launched a crackdown on "loose morals", prompting concern among women and intellectuals that the tiny Indian Ocean archipelago was poised to become a Sharia state.

CHUR, Switzerland (AFP) - At the end of their days, most people end up six feet under or up in flames, others get frozen or mummified.

BRATISLAVA (AFP) - Priests and actors have been recruited to get the euro message across in Slovakia as the country's preparations for eurozone membership get ready to move up a gear when the koruna's conversion rate is fixed by European finance ministers on Tuesday.

PAMPLONA, Spain (AFP) - A young man died after falling from a wall Sunday during the first day of the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, Spain's most famous bull-running festival, police and local officials said.

BEIJING (AFP) - As the waves of tourists converge on Beijing over the next month for the Olympics, they will look up to see a stunning new skyline that China's leaders hope will showcase the nation as a modern world power.