Austrian authorities say they've arrested a man suspected of robbing a series of banks while wearing a Barack Obama mask.

Police say the 45-year-old German man is suspected of carrying out seven heists since 2008, the most recent on Thursday afternoon in the village of Fornach. He was taken into custody about 3 kilometers (2 miles) away a short time later after a police dog found a bag containing the mask, a weapon and the haul.

Fighters trying to install Ivory Coast's democratically elected president months after the disputed vote descended Thursday on the country's largest city, aiming to unseat the nation's entrenched ruler as gunfire broke out across Abidjan.

The regular army put up almost no resistance during an offensive that began Monday, allowing the forces backing internationally recognized leader Alassane Ouattara to take over about 80 percent of the country in a matter of days.

The time is right for China to move ahead on internationalizing its currency, French President Nicolas Sarkozy told finance mandarins Thursday at a brainstorming session for the Group of 20 leading economies on reforming the global monetary system.

Differences over exchange rate policies and other key issues were apparent at the meeting in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing, with Sarkozy urging that China's currency, the yuan, become an international reserve currency, while U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the yuan must trade more freely before that can happen.

Facebook on Tuesday removed a page calling on Palestinians to take up arms against Israel, following a high-profile Israeli appeal to the popular social-networking site.

The affair highlighted how Facebook is increasingly involved in charged political conflicts, balancing between protecting freedom of expression and defending against hate speech.

The Japanese nuclear crisis has reignited a debate in the U.S. over the government's role in distributing a cheap anti-cancer drug to people living around nuclear power plants.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission currently makes the drug, potassium iodide, available to states for distribution within a 10-mile radius of nuclear power plants. Some House members from both parties want that expanded to 20 miles. And the American Thyroid Association, whose mission is to promote thyroid health, wants to go further — urging that potassium iodide be made available within 200 miles of a nuclear plant.

World markets were lower Tuesday, following a late-day slide on Wall Street and more bad news from Japan as it raced to stop a radiation leak from a nuclear power plant damaged in an earthquake nearly three weeks ago.

Oil prices extended losses below $104 a barrel amid territorial gains by Libyan rebels seeking to topple Moammar Gadhafi and restart crude exports from the OPEC nation. The dollar was lower against the euro and little changed versus the yen.

Before becoming a bride eight times over, Elizabeth Taylor was a 17-year-old starlet scribbling letters to her first fiance, charting on pale pink stationery his progression from her one-and-only to the one who got away.

"I've never known this kind of love before — it's so perfect and complete — and mature," Taylor wrote to William Pawley on May 6, 1949. "I've never loved anyone in my life before one third as much as I love you — and I never will (well, as far as that goes — I'll never love anyone else — period)."

With the Nintendo 3DS, the Japanese video game company is betting that it can once again nudge mass entertainment in a new direction, just as it did nearly five years ago when it launched the Wii with its innovative motion-based controller.

This time, though, the competition from other devices is tougher.

Rappers Snoop Dogg, Warren G and The Game joined family, friends and about 1,000 fans of Nate Dogg to remember the hip-hop singer, who died this month of complications from multiple strokes.

The family of Nate Dogg — whose real name was Nathaniel Dwayne Hale — decided that the ceremony at the Queen Mary Dome would not be open to the public as they previously wanted, but they made 1,000 tickets and shuttles available to fans.

The Taliban claimed Sunday that it kidnapped 50 Afghan policemen in northeastern Afghanistan — part of the insurgents' murder and intimidation campaign against anyone affiliated with the U.S.-backed government.

Militants ambushed the policemen Saturday afternoon after being tipped off that they would be traveling in Kunar province, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in an emailed statement to reporters. The policemen from Nuristan province had just finished their training to join the Afghan National Police, he said.