Automakers are thinking small — in size, not ambition.

After years marked by environmental concerns, then the economic downturn and now European austerity measures, car manufacturers have honed their products to cater for cost-conscious buyers.

A microchip manufacturer controlled by the Abu Dhabi government says it has reached an agreement to acquire a minority stake held by former owner Advanced Micro Devices.

The chip company, Milpitas, Calif.-based GlobalFoundries, said Monday that it would acquire AMD's share but retain the producer as a key customer.

The whirr of saws and buzz of drills flood buildings better accustomed to the speeches of world leaders as the United Nations' iconic headquarters in New York gets a makeover. Gone are the pneumatic tubes and the toxic asbestos.

And blast-proof panes are replacing the original windows — addressing terrorism concerns in a post-9/11 world.

Martin Sheen commanded the stage with his impassioned portrayal of an attorney arguing for gay-marriage rights; Jane Lynch inspired instant response as a vehement same-sex marriage opponent; Brad Pitt dazzled as a judge.

It was all part of the star-studded West Coast premiere of "8," a play about the 2010 federal court fight against Proposition 8, the gay-marriage ban that California voters approved in 2008.

A bomb exploded Monday near the offices of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, lightly injuring one person, officials and media said.

The device, which was in a small plastic bottle, went off at around 07:30 GMT, 20 meters from the building in the central Kizilay district, one and a half hour before a cabinet meeting to be headed by Erdogan.

Homes and buildings collapsed in the Congolese capital after an arms depot exploded Sunday, killing at least 206 people and entombing countless others in crushed structures including inside two churches that buckled while parishioners were celebrating Mass, officials and witnesses said.

The shock waves shattered windows in a three-mile (five-kilometer) radius surrounding the barracks storing the munitions, including across the river that separates Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo, from Kinshasa, the capital of the larger Central African nation of Congo. Government spokesman Bienvenu Okyemi blamed a short-circuit for the fire that set off the successive blasts.

Just years ago, winter was a dead season for the Kotelnica Mountain, quiet under a quilt of snow.

Today Kotelnica vibrates with activity from countless ski fans who flock to the new resort, one of Poland's most trendy.

There's new evidence that exposure to exhaust from diesel engines increases the risk of lung cancer.

Diesel exhaust has long been classified as a probable carcinogen. But the 20-year study from the National Cancer Institute took a closer look by tracking more than 12,000 workers in certain kinds of mines — facilities that mined for potash, lime and other nonmetals. They breathed varying levels of exhaust from diesel-powered equipment, levels higher than the general population encounters.

General Motors Co. is suspending production of its Chevrolet Volt electric car for five weeks amid disappointing sales.

A GM spokesman said Friday that the company will shut down production of the Volt from March 19 until April 23, idling 1,300 workers at the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant.

The buzz at Paris' ready-to-wear shows on Friday wasn't just about the clothes.

Bill Gaytten, former designer John Galliano's temporary replacement, was again at the helm of Christian Dior's fashion collection, directing a demure, play-it-safe show that channeled the powerhouse's bread-and-butter New Look-inspired gowns with cinched 1950s waists.