Twenty years ago, a retired Malian portrait photographer called Seydou Keita sat at home in Bamako, quietly tinkering with his motorbike, when a Paris art dealer came knocking on his door.

Today, a decade after his death, Keita is perhaps Africa's most revered photographer, and his stylish studio snaps are a highlight of this year's Paris Photo fair, which opened Thursday with a focus on the continent.

Luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover, owned by India's Tata Motors, has announced plans to create more than 1,000 jobs at a plant near Birmingham, in a boost for Britain's struggling economy.

"The company has announced plans to recruit more than 1,000 members of staff at its advanced manufacturing plant in Solihull," JLR said in a statement Thursday.

Skyrim unleashes its magic on videogame lovers, opening a boundless world of medieval adventure complete with death-dealing dragons, Nordic gods, and foreboding prophecy.

The hotly-anticipated new installment in the popular Elder Scrollsseries is being hailed by critics as a standout game amid an army of must-play titles launching for the year-end holiday season.

Apple's new iPhone 4S made glitzy and chaotic debuts in three new Asian markets on Friday, with customers and profiteers queuing for up to a week to get their hands on the popular gadget.

Thousands of people thronged Apple's new harbor side store in the southern Chinese city of Hong Kong as staff cheered and clapped, while midnight launches in South Korea and New Zealand featured celebrities and sports stars.

Oscars veteran Billy Crystal stepped in Thursday to host this year's Academy Awards show, after actor Eddie Murphy pulled out following a row over a producer's anti-gay comments.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hailed Crystal -- who has hosted the top Hollywood awards eight times before -- as an "Oscar icon" who would be "back where he belongs" on stage at the February 26 show.

At least 33 people were killed in violence in Syria on Friday, most of them in the restive city of Homs, as Human Rights Watch accused the regime of crimes against humanity.

The Local Coordination Committees said that 33 people were killed at the hands of security forces during Friday’s demonstrations.

The Southeast Asian Games officially open on Friday in Indonesia, where beleaguered organizers have admitted to battling a slew of problems including corruption, unfinished venues and poor ticket sales.

Eleven nations will contest sports from athletics and swimming to sepak takraw -- a cross between football and volleyball -- in the biennial Games held in the Indonesian capital Jakarta and Palembang in South Sumatra.

World oil prices shot higher on Thursday as traders weighed rising tensions in the Middle East and a slight easing of worries over Europe.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for December, gained $2.04 to $97.78, while Brent North Sea crude for delivery in December added $1.40 cents to $113.71 a barrel in London.

Facebook will agree to independent privacy audits for 20 years under a proposed settlement with US regulators over changes to its privacy settings, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

The newspaper, quoting people familiar with the situation, said the proposed settlement is awaiting final approval from the commissioners of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Libya's former Prime Minister Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi has applied for U.N. political refugee status to try to prevent his extradition from Tunisia, one of his lawyers said Friday.

"If the HCR (the UN High Commissioner for Refugees) grants Mr. Mahmoudi refugee status it will no longer be possible to extradite him," said the lawyer, Taufik Wanas.