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Billing himself America's first "Pacific president", Barack Obama Saturday said the United States did not seek to "contain" China and promised a full US role in charting Asia's future. Duration: 00:48.

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It was two years in the making, two years when designers were forbidden from showing their work even to their colleagues. Now, Avatar, the videogame based on James Cameron's new 3D animation film, is about to hit the streets. Ubisoft releases its new game on December 1. 

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Syria's President Bashar al-Assad said Friday that he had no "Israeli partner" ready to push forward the Middle East peace process, rebuffing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's offer of talks.

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With its harsh and frozen landscape, the Svalbard archipelago, the last outpost before the North Pole, is a surprising haven for people from all walks of life, some as far away as Thailand and Iran. Although it officially belongs to Norway, Svalbard has a special status which means that anyone can go there without a visa. Duration: 02:21.

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If it's not the fatty foods it's the lack of exercise -- or probably both. More and more Arabs living in the wealthy Gulf states are suffering lifestyle diseases, especially obesity and diabetes. Official figures show that 70 percent of adults and 12 percent of children in the United Arab Emirates are overweight and that 20 percent of the population have diabetes -- the second highest rate in the world after the small South-Pacific island-nation of Nauru.

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US President Barack Obama said Friday that America's alliance with Japan was a "foundation" of peace and prosperity in Asia, speaking on the first stop of his regional tour. Duration: 00:43.

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In Gaza, the ancient art of bee venom therapy is still practised -- used to treat complaints as varied as arthritis and bad coughs. But even the bees have suffered as a result of the short-lived war with Israel last winter -- much of the land they used to scout for pollen has been bombed, giving them no choice but for fly across the border.

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Truffles have long been a gastronomic object of desire. But the white truffles found in the Piedmont region of northwest Italy are the most sought after species by far. During the four month season, thousands of hunters go in search of the edible fungi, which can fetch staggering sums at auction.

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Diabetes affects more than 24 million Americans and is linked to killing more than 200,000 of them each year. The illness is increasingly considered an epidemic, its rise associated with chronic obesity and blamed on the sedentary lifestyle and high-fat and -sugar diet pervasive in American culture.

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Former French interior minister Charles Pasqua, sentenced to one year in jail for his involvement in the illegal arms sale of weapons to Angola, alleged on Thursday that former French president Jacques Chirac and other senior government officials were aware of the deal and did nothing to stop it.

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The world's first memorial outside the United States to the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks has been inaugurated Thursday near Jerusalem. Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert led the opening ceremony.

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14 tons of cigarettes, nearly 4,000 hi-fi and electrical goods and medical supplies, that’s the non-exhaustive list of what the French customs seized in the port of Le Havre, Normandy, over the last two months alone – all fakes made in China destined for the African market.

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Barack Obama embarked Thursday on his first tour of Asia as US president, bound for Japan before later stops in Singapore, China and South Korea on a week-long trip.

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Peru threatens to surpass Colombia as the world's largest producer of coca, the main ingredient in cocaine. But former coca farmers in one region of the country are switching away from the illegal activity, and growing Fair Trade cocoa instead. 

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Special artists are giving the Hong Kong art world a run for its money with an original range of clay dolls. Some sell for three times the asking price at auctions.

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Obamao, a caricature superimposing US president Barack Obama into red-star revolutionary clothes made famous by Chairman Mao, is a hit in Beijing with the image printed on bags and T-shirts.

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Tens of thousands of Palestinians gathered in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Wednesday to honour their iconic leader Yasser Arafat but there were no ceremonies in the Gaza Strip where Hamas banned people from marking the fifth anniversary of Arafat's death.

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Successful author Marguerite Abouet returns to her hometown Abidjan to open a library. The Paris-based writer of the "Aya de Yopougon" comic books hopes to boost literacy in the Ivory Coast.

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Baghdad's Al-Zawraa zoo is enjoying a baby boom particularly among its big cats. Recently, Siberian tigers gave birth to twins and Bengal tigers have also produced a cub. Swelling numbers among its residents is also reflected in the expanding number of visitors. It's a rebirth for a zoo which was in dire straits back in the dark days of 2003.

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Recession? What recession? A big-money art auction in New York Wednesday saw collectors shelling out a total of more than 130 million dollars for the chance to own works including a previously unshown Andy Warhol self-portrait. The same artist's "200 One Dollar Bills" was sold for 43.8 million dollars, suggesting that serious money is starting to return to the international art market.

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Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held talks Wednesday in Paris with French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Iran and the crisis in the Middle East peace process.

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Skin whitening products are all the rage in many African nations for women seeking a paler complexion. Even though many of these cosmetics contain toxic products, they also find a market in France. A new campaign is now seeking to educate consumers about the dangers of skin bleaching.

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Mimi Chakarova, an American photojournalist, spent the night at a women's shelter for rape victims in Baghdad to try and show a different angle on Iraq. Her work is part of 'Iraqi Voices,' an exhibition at Washington's FotoWeek festival, which runs until Saturday.

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The demise of North American newspapers has fatally wounded many Canadian lumber companies. One factory in Alberta illustrates the industry's hardships, as it has laid off hundreds of people, and finally closed its doors for good. Duration: 01:51

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Tensions between Venezuela and Colombia continue to mount as Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has urged his countrymen to "defend the homeland." This call for arms comes as Colombia signs a new military agreement with the US. On the frontline is San Antonio del Tachira in Venezuela. Duration: 01:48

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Sesame Street's iconic characters have set up stage on the US military base at Vicenza in northern Italy, as part of a pan-European tour. For the cast and crew, it's an occasion to bring comfort to the children who grow up far from home. Duration: 01:33

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The world-famous muppets of "Sesame Street," America's longest running children's TV show, celebrated their 40th anniversary Wednesday with a special guest: Michelle Obama. 

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Bicycle Polo, invented in Ireland in the 19th century and substituting bikes for horses, is enjoying a renaissance with teams sprouting up all over the world. In one Paris suburb, enthusiasts meet weekly to train for the European Championships.

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In Rio de Janeiro, the physically disabled get a chance to do something that might seem out of reach for many: surf lessons, courtesy of three friends who started a nonprofit that uses the ¿adaptsurf¿ method to get handicapped men and women out on the waves. 

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Lebanon's new unity government will be united in name only because of unresolved deep divisions between rival parties, especially on the issue of Hezbollah's arsenal of weapons, analysts say. The new government was formed late on Monday by Prime Minister Saad Hariri following more than four months of tough negotiations with the Hezbollah-led opposition.

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Art works of Iranian filmmaker and photographer Abbas Kiarostami as well as by sculptor Parviz Tanavoli have gone on display at a joint exhibition in Dubai.

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Palestinians tore down a chunk of Israel's West Bank separation barrier on Monday in a protest staged to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the day the Berlin Wall came down. A truck was used to pull down the wall, to the cheers of an estimated 150 Palestinian activists and foreign supporters near the Qalandia refugee camp just outside Ramallah. Duration: 00:44

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Bangkok's so-called "bodysnatchers" race through traffic at breakneck speed. The volunteers collect victims of accidents and take them to hospitals -- for a fee. Duration: 02:02

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One of the first victims of global warming has almost disappeared. By next year, experts say the Chacaltaya glacier in Bolivia will have completely melted. Overlooking La Paz, Chacaltaya was once the highest ski slopes in the world, sitting at 5300 meters above sea level. According to experts, most tropical glaciers in the Andes are doomed as the earth's average temperature rises. In Boliva, many worry what will happen when one of the city's major water sources is gone.

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On a Russian-built helicopter above the fertile Helmand valley in southern Afghanistan, a US Air Force adviser tests the knowledge of an Afghan pilot. "Do you remember how to change to manual frequency?" asked Captain Tyler Rennell. An interpreter translated the conversation taking place in the cockpit of the Mi-17 taking a dozen Afghan soldiers between Kandahar and Helmand.

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel joined former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev Monday on the bridge where many East Germans had their first taste of freedom, as tens of thousands toasted the Berlin Wall's fall 20 years ago.

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Shiite rebels in northern Yemen caught between a deadly government onslaught and air raids from across the border on Monday alleged Saudi warplanes were using phosphorus bombs against them. A Saudi government adviser rejected the claim, saying what the rebels saw was merely flares. According to a provisional Saudi toll, three soldiers and four other Saudis have now been killed in the fighting that began on November 4.

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World leaders past and present on Monday gathered for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, with 100,000 people expected at celebrations to toast a free and united Europe. Chancellor Angela Merkel is hosting British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French and Russian presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Dmitry Medvedev and representatives from across the European Union as well as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the Brandenburg Gate, the symbol of German unity. Duration: 01:07

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Fifteen years after bloodshed drove them out of southeast Turkey, some 12,000 Kurdish refugees still languish in the Makhmour camp in northern Iraq. They dream of returning home, but say they will not move unless Ankara grants extensive political and cultural rights to Kurds. Duration: 02:33

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As the world marks the fall of the Berlin Wall on Monday, sections of that infamous barrier are on display in Bordeaux, in the south of France. Shortly after the wall was first breached in November 1989, artists on the eastern side wanted to take up their paint brushes and unleash their pent up emotions on the wall. And they did so with the help of a French businessman. Duration: 01:39