France is putting together a plan to allow divorces by mutual consent to proceed without a judge, simplifying a process that some critics say is already too easy.

Social Affairs Minister Dominique Bertinotti confirmed the plan on Friday, telling BFM-TV that "simplification is a good thing."

Authorities in Goa have decided to ban local people from entering the holiday state's casinos, which from March will only welcome tourists.

Goa's Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar announced the amendment to the state's gambling act, which will come into force on March 1, prohibiting locals from entering either onshore casinos or those on ships in Goan waters.

Former foes from World War I will come together in Sarajevo to mark the war's centenary in June, their rivalries long buried though the conflict is still a source of bitter division in the Balkans.

As schoolchildren are taught the world over, the assassination in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914 of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire, and his wife by a 19-year-old Serbian nationalist, was the trigger for the Great War.

A stone bridge dating back to the Ming dynasty has been discovered after water levels plunged at China's largest freshwater lake, a Beijing newspaper reported Friday.

The remains of the 2,930-meter-long bridge, made entirely of granite and dating back nearly 400 years, appeared at Poyang lake in the central province of Jiangxi, the Beijing News reported.

Unknown perpetrators daubed black swastikas on the front door of a Stockholm mosque overnight, police said Thursday.

The incident happened amid growing concern about racism in Sweden, a country otherwise enjoying a reputation for tranquility and tolerance.

Uganda President Yoweri Museveni will not rush to approve a controversial anti-gay draft law, widely criticized internationally but overwhelmingly backed by local political and religious leaders, his spokesman said Thursday.

Uganda's parliament adopted the bill on December 20. It will see repeat offenders jailed for life, sparking an international outcry as lawmakers hailed it as a victory against "evil.”

Malaysian Islamic authorities on Thursday seized hundreds of Bibles from a Christian group and detained two of their officers, one of them said, amid tensions over the use of "Allah.”

A court in October barred a Malaysian Catholic newspaper from using "Allah" to refer to the Christian God in its Malay-language edition -- a verdict welcomed by Muslim conservatives, but which sparked concern among Christians, a minority in the multi-faith country.

Letter writer Shakil Ahmed is a proud keeper of secrets.

For decades he penned the missives of Mumbai's illiterate workers, whether lovers pledging devotion to faraway sweethearts or prostitutes sending home money while concealing their trade.

Bestselling U.S. author Danielle Steel has been awarded France's highest honor, the government's official newsletter revealed Wednesday, one of hundreds of personalities to be given the Legion d'honneur on New Year's Day.

Steel joins other foreigners such as singers Bono and Bob Dylan or writer Philip Roth awarded the "Ordre National de la Legion d'honneur" in recognition of service to France or work that is deemed to uphold its ideals.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants women like Tomo Tamai to go back to work.

Tamai is eager to do so, nearly two years after her first child was born, but so far the 35-year-old former national government employee has only been able to find an internship.