A French court was set to hear the case of a 28-year-old man who avoided rape charges after having sex with an 11-year-old after prosecutors judged that the intercourse was consensual.

It is a marriage made in Heaven for cute-obsessed Japan: this Valentine's Day, lovers can present the object of their affection with a world first -- naturally bright pink chocolate.

In a small medieval Slovak town, couples are getting ready on Valentine's Day to make a "deposit" about their romance in a place dedicated to love stories.

France will return three paintings by the Flemish master Joachim Patinir Monday to the descendants of a Jewish family who were forced to sell them as they fled the Nazis.

A veiled Saudi woman and an unrelated man jig and twirl on a busy street, stirring a furious debate about the waning influence of the once-feared religious police, notorious for enforcing sex segregation.

A spate of unprecedented protests against Iran's mandatory headscarves for women have been tiny in number, but have still reignited a debate that has preoccupied the Islamic republic since its founding.

The mayor of Baghdad wants to revive her war-torn city, fix its decrepit infrastructure and twin it with Paris -- another female-led metropolis.
Thikra Alwash, a 60-year-old civil engineer and only woman mayor of a Middle East capital, faces a mountainous task.

The 68th Berlinale, Europe's first major film festival of the year, opens February 15 with 24 new movies from around the world screening in the main showcase.

This month's Berlin film festival, Europe's first major cinema showcase in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein revelations, will shine a light on sexual misconduct in the industry, its director said Tuesday.

A German police union on Monday called for the "complete decriminalization" of marijuana use in the country, saying current policy was neither "intelligent nor productive" for society.
