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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

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Ailing European dairy farmers have been promised financial aid by the European Union for 2010 but, until then, some have found solutions of their own. In southwestern France, local milk producers have sealed a deal with a local supermarket that is paying a little more than usual. Duration: 01:50

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Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiaobao pledged 10 billion dollars in concessional loans to Africa on Sunday, at the start of a two-day Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. He also pledged to cancel debts of African countries to boost his country's role in the continent. Beijing has been pouring investments into oil and other raw materials on the resource-rich continent to fuel China's booming economy.

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Berlin-Hohenschönhausen was the prison used by the infamous Stasi, East Germany's secret police service. Though Mario Röllig spent a traumatic three months there after being caught trying to escape to the West, he still returns, in order to teach the youngest generations about life behind the Iron Curtain. Duration: 02:08.

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For the past 20 years Berlin is a city reunified. But another European capital, Nicosia, remains cut in two. UN troops oversee security on the so-called Green Line dividing the Greek Cypriot republic in the south from the Turkish-backed statelet to the north. Since a UN-backed reunification plan was scrapped in 2004, the island has remained in a state of limbo. Duration: 02:20

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The US House of Representatives approved the broadest overhaul of US health care in four decades late Saturday, handing President Barack Obama a hard-fought victory for his top domestic priority. The bill amounts to a 10-year, trillion-dollar plan to extend coverage to some 36 million Americans who lack it now. Duration: 0:42                       

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China's Communist Party has experienced tumultuous times over the past 60 years but has managed to maintain its grip on power throughout a massive famine, the Cultural Revolution, pro-democracy protests on Tiananmen Square and recent ethnic tensions. Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall -- and the ensuing demise of Communism throughout Europe -- the regime remains strong, buoyed, many say, by Beijing's impressive economic success. Originally filed on 103009.

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They're a throwback to a bygone era, but the Soviet statues in Lithuania's Gruto Park still draw a crowd. While for the younger generation, the huge busts of Lenin and Stalin are something of a novelty, for the older park visitors, they're a reminder of 45 years of Soviet occupation. Originally filed on 020709.

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The Ivory Coast's long-awaited presidential election is officially taking place on 29th November, but it's feared the poll will be delayed while the country's electoral commission sifts through almost two million potentially ineligible voters.

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The Swedish island of Gotland has discovered huge reserves of Burgundy truffles whose quality matches the best of what France has to offer. Swedish chefs already prefer the local variety, even though it's more expensive. AFP goes foraging for delicacies in the newfound truffle trove.

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During the momentous events in Berlin in 1989, they worked as news reporters for Russian media. Twenty years on AFPTV talks to two journalists who witnessed first-hand the fall of the Wall and the crumbling of the Soviet Union.

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Former French president Jacques Chirac's charity foundation gave its first award for the prevention of conflicts to two Nigerian preachers on Friday. The jury also gave a special prize to Park Jae-Kyu, South Korea's former unification minister.