One of Napoleon's famous two-pointed hats was sold on Sunday to a South Korean collector for nearly 1.9 million euros ($2.2 million) at an auction outside Paris.

The black felted beaver fur "bicorne" hat is one of only 19 examples left of the unusual headwear sported by the French emperor, one of the country's best known historical figures.

Archaeology and war don't usually mix, yet that's been the case for years at Karkemish, an ancient city along the Turkey-Syria border where an excavation team announced its newest finds over the weekend just meters (yards) from Islamic State-controlled territory.

Karkemish, dating back more than 5,000 years, is close to the Syrian city of Jarablous, which now flies the black banner of the Islamic extremist group.

The founder of a project devoted to capturing stories of people's lives spoken in their own words has won a million-dollar TED Prize that comes with an unfettered wish.

Brooklyn-based nonprofit StoryCorps has recorded conversation-style chats with nearly 100,000 people in the United States.

Archaeology and war don't usually mix, yet that's been the case for years at Karkemish, an ancient city along the Turkey-Syria border where an excavation team announced its newest finds Saturday just meters (yards) from Islamic State-controlled territory.

Karkemish, dating back more than 5,000 years, is close to the Syrian city of Jarablous, which now flies the black banner of the Islamic extremist group.

India's right-wing Hindu nationalist government has ordered the country's civil service schools to replace the teaching of German with an Indian language such as Sanskrit in the "national interest", reports said Saturday.

The order has been given to the state-run Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (Central School Organization), which comprises 1,092 schools across India serving children of army officials and other government personnel, according to the Indian Express newspaper.

The jewel of the New York skyline, the pride of a whole nation, is back.

The opening of One World Trade Center, on the site of the Twin Towers that were destroyed on September 11, 2001, signals a long-awaited return to normal in the Big Apple.

One of Napoleon's famous two-pointed bicorne hats is due to go under the hammer on Sunday at an auction near Paris.

The black beaver felt hat is valued at between 300,000 and 400,000 euros ($375,000-$500,000), but could go for up to two million euros, according to Napoleon memorabilia watchers.

The Velvet Revolution that kicked off in Prague 25 years ago Monday was a seminal event in the collapse of communism. Try explaining that to children who have only known democracy.

That's the challenge tackled by two veterans of the uprising as the massive student protests faded ever further into the past. They wanted to capture the excitement of the rallies, the brutality of police beatings and the surreal repression of a nation that Vaclav Havel — later president — dubbed "Absurdistan."

Ruby Bridges was 6 years old in 1960 when she became the first black student to attend a previously all-white elementary school in New Orleans, one of the iconic moments in the U.S. civil rights movement. Today, the civil rights pioneer says America looks a lot like it did then: A nation with segregated schools and racial tension.

Friday marked the 54th anniversary of the day when she first walked up the steps to William Frantz Elementary School. Bridges was in New Orleans for the unveiling of a statue at the school, and a reunion with the white teacher who taught her and the sole-surviving U.S. marshal who walked her to school.

Red and green Shiite banners line the streets of Baghdad, portraits of religious figures and slain "martyrs" stare down from billboards, hymns blare from shops and cafes, and grim-faced militiamen prowl the streets in pickup trucks.

The holy month of Muharram has brought an unprecedented show of strength by Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority, underscoring its domination of the bitterly fractured capital and the vulnerability of the once-dominant Sunnis, while raising fears of a new round of sectarian cleansing by Shiite militias allied with the government.