A teardrop of salt, a whisper of saffron, a drizzle of lobster: luxury in small doses was the keynote at a giant food industry fair outside Paris this week.

Out with mustard cubes and marshmallow fluff: simplicity and taste were the common thread among the 19 products to receive a special innovation prize, whittled from a shortlist of about 400 at this year's SIAL fair.

Women are closing the gender gap with men in health and education but struggle to get top jobs and salaries, data from a study of 135 countries showed on Wednesday.

"Gaps in senior positions, wages and leadership levels still persist," even in countries that promote equality in education and have a high level of economic integration among women, the World Economic Forum (WEF) said in its annual Global Gender Gap Report.

Once the refuge of pious Tibetan monks and a few hippie travelers, Dharamshala in the Himalayan foothills is today a crowded and chaotic town where long-term residents fear for its future.

More correctly known as McLeod Ganj, it suffers from the same traffic jams, wail of car horns, construction work and stinking piles of rubbish that afflict India's largest cities.

Like many other Londoners who make a living showing tourists around the city, Viv is telling a group of visitors how Waterloo Bridge was largely rebuilt by women after World War II.

But Viv, 56, is no ordinary tour guide. She is homeless -- and the stairs under the bridge, which boasts majestic views of the Houses of Parliament and St Paul's Cathedral, were once her home.

Praying with a Koran on his knees in a mud-strewn camp, Rohin Mullah is one of thousands of Muslims uprooted by sectarian bloodshed in Myanmar. But the former monk's story is far from normal.

Born a Buddhist, he fell in love with a girl on the other side of the religious divide -- a member of the Rohingya minority group shunned by Myanmar society at large.

Global miner Rio Tinto said Monday there was unprecedented demand for its rare pink and blue diamonds at its annual sale, with India and Japan among the keen buyers.

The 2012 Argyle Pink Diamonds Tender, seen as the world's most exclusive diamond sale, featured 56 single pink diamonds, including two red stones, and 19 blue diamonds from the company's Australian mine.

National Geographic Society has chronicled scientific expeditions, explorations, archaeology, wildlife and world cultures for more than 100 years, amassing a collection of 11.5 million photos and original illustrations.

A small selection of that massive archive — 240 pieces spanning from the late 1800s to the present — will be sold at Christie's in December at an auction expected to bring about $3 million, the first time any of the institution's collection has been sold.

The Penn Museum is unwrapping the mystery of mummy conservation, giving the public an unusual close-up of researchers' efforts to preserve relics from ancient Egypt.

Human and animal mummies, as well as an intricately inscribed coffin, are among the items undergoing treatment and repair at the Philadelphia institution's newly installed Artifact Lab.

For conservative Muslim-majority Bangladesh, it is a forgotten and often shocking part of history: a time when aristocrats would openly flaunt male teenage singers whom they took as lovers.

Homosexuality remains illegal in Bangladesh, but the practice of rich Muslim landlords in rural areas publicly living with adolescent "Ghetu" males each monsoon season was widely accepted 150 years ago.

World War II veterans and delegates from former foes gathered Saturday in the Egyptian town of El-Alamein to mark 70 years since the decisive battle that sealed the Allied victory in North Africa.

Many on wheelchairs or using walking sticks, the veterans -- most now in their 90s -- wandered the cemeteries where their comrades were buried, handkerchiefs in hand as emotions welled.