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Governments around the globe launched a multi-pronged attack on the finance crisis Monday, with markets enjoying record one-day rises as Europe approved more than a trillion dollars in loans.

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Forty young couples from across China recently married in their home country confirmed their union all at the same time in the romantic setting of the French Loire valley.

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Stock markets, which had largely failed to rally after the US government announced a 700-billion-dollar bank bailout plan last month, rose strongly after European governments launched a multi-pronged attack on the finance crisis.

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The heads of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund on Sunday assured developing countris that their needs would not be forgotten in efforts to tackle the financial crisis. But many fear funding for development will be drastically cut.

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Hong Kong share prices jumped 10.3 percent on Monday, rebounding from their worst weekly decline in a decade after worldwide measures to ease the global financial crisis.

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Barack Obama on Saturday thanked Republican John McCain for trying to stop supporters hurling abuse at the Democratic nominee at his rallies, but mocked his foe's economic crisis plans. Obama's comments, during a four-in-a-day blitz of mini-rallies in Philadelphia, came after McCain was forced to intervene to ease seething anger partly whipped up by his campaign advertisements and tactics.

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French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Friday Russia had fulfilled its obligation to withdraw from buffer zones around Georgia's rebel regions, as planned by the EU-brokered ceasefire, adding that "a long road" still laid ahead.

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IBM on Friday opened online doors to a virtual version of the famed Forbidden City in China that served for centuries as an exclusive realm for the nation's emperors. The US technology colossus spent more than three years working with Chinese officials and the Palace Museum to construct an interactive, animated replica of the 178-acre (720,000 square-meter) walled fortress in the Dongcheng District of Beijing.

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Global stock markets went into freefall Friday as pressure mounted for decisive action from world leaders to contain the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Stock exchanges from Tokyo to London suffered more staggering losses -- adding to the turmoil for finance ministers from the Group of Seven richest nations to discuss in Washington.

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Forty young couples from China recently married in their home country have confirmed their union in a joint ceremony in the romantic French town of Tours.

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Nuclear power is a sticking point in the debate over energy security in the US. Uranium mines and mills have begun re-opening to provide access to a key resource needed for nuclear power generation. But many worry about pollution and sickness that accompanied the last Uranium boom in the Southwest.

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It's all in the family. Snake hunting. For generations the Mawjouds have been plying their dangerous trade in a town near Cairo. The job allows local labs to manufacture antidotes to snake venom and save hundreds of lives.

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India's thriving domestic market has so far managed to buffer the economy from the global financial crisis, but analysts warn the good times may not last.

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Peace mediator Martti Ahtisaari has been awarded the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize. The former Finnish president oversaw the end of a three-decade conflict between the Indonesian government and Free Aceh Movement rebels and played a key role in bringing an end to hostilitiesin Kosovo.

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A Buddhist temple in Thailand offers patrons the opportunity to die symbolically in a specially-made coffin, and to rise up reborn, free from their worries.

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Cubans are cleaning up their hurricane-ravaged island and rebuilding homes and businesses with the help of some Latin American neighbors.

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European share prices wilted Thursday as a mid-day rally on stepped up government support for banks ran out of steam just before the close of trade.

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French author Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio, whose vast world travels form the poetic and descriptive backdrop for his body of work, won the 2008 Nobel Literature Prize on Thursday. Le Clezio denied that French culture is in decline.

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A new artistic space is opening in Paris this weekend in a bid to give a boost to a neglected area of the city. It¿s neither a museum nor a gallery but billed as an original concept where the public can browse the workshops of the resident artists.

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An emergency package of interest rate cuts has brought some stability to panic-stricken markets but the consensus is that more financial institutions risk going under.

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About a third of the new models presented at the Paris motor show are "clean cars" that function, at least partially, with electricity. Images of the motor show.

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A US military investigation has concluded that at least 33 civilians, including a dozen children, were killed in an air strike August 22 in western Afghanistan.

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The handwritten lyrics to one of singer Jacques Brel's most melancholic songs, "Amsterdam", has fetched more than 108,000 euros (148,000 dollars) at a Paris auction. Also sold was the guitar the singer used at the beginning of his career.

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Western markets aren't the only ones to feel the crunch of the global financial crisis -- Middle Eastern stock exchanges have been hit hard, starting with Egypt and Saudi Arabia. While countries like Kuwait or Lebanon are relatively spared, investors in the region are starting to lose confidence.

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The global financial turmoil continues to rock markets. Governments are scrambling to find a solution to the chaos, but so far nothing seems to stick. A round-up of what's being done to try to tackle the world's worst financial crisis in decades.

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A day after violent clashes in Bangkok anti-government protestors warn they will continue their demonstrations and occupation of government house.

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Monaco will soon be getting bigger. Whether the sea extension planned by the principality takes the form of a cape or of a peninsula remains to be decided. And price could be as important a factor as quality.

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Hong Kong investors demand the repayment of investmetns linked to failed US bank Lehman Brothers. Many of them are retired, and have lost their life savings.

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With Kenya's energy supply capacity dangerously close to its limit, the country is embracing geothermal energy - a green alternative to fossil fuel and which is allow the East African nation to preserve its rich environmental heritage.

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Jabbing his finger and spitting out "that one" instead of naming Barack Obama, John McCain showed an angry side at Tuesday's presidential debate but analysts said it may be too little, too late for the Republican.

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Anti-government protests left at least one dead and hundreds injured as months of political turmoil boiled over, with troops deployed across Bangkok to quell the demonstrations.

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A major Paris exhibition, opening Wednesday, explores the influence that great masters such as Manet, Delacroix, Renoir, Velasquez, Titian and van Gogh had on the work of Picasso.

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The European Union battled Tuesday to protect people's savings by more than doubling deposit guarantees to at least 50,000 euros, taking joint action against the global financial firestorm for the first time.

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The Natural History Museum in Toulouse is putting skeletons in motion, offering an innovative new look at the mammal world.

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Poland, a traditional and renowned vodka producer, is now turning to wine-making following a change in its law facilitating the move.

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For ten years, the Cerro Paranal observatory in the Atacama desert at the north end of Chile has been gazing up at the stars. This European observatory boasts the most advanced technology: four telescopes with 8-meter diameters that are collectively known as the VLT, or "Very Large Telescope." In 2009 they will inaugurate their newest telescope, the Vista.

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A second round of bailouts for Fortis and Hypo Real Estate bank highlights the fragility of Europe's financial institutions in the face of a US-bred international financial crisis.

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Thirty years ago this week, the legendary Belgian singer Jacques Brel died from lung cancer. But for much of the world, he is still one of the biggest names in music, an inspiration for artists as diverse as Frank Sinatra, David Bowie and Marc Almond.

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Half of the world¿s mammals are declining in population and many are at risk of extinction. That¿s according to the ¿Red List¿, the world¿s most respected scientific listing of endangered species which was unveiled on Monday at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)¿s World Conservation Congress in Barcelona.