Only half of African-American youths are confident of living to 35, said a study Wednesday that lays bare the toll of the racial divide in the United States.

The figure is even lower, at 38 percent, for Mexican-born youths living in the United States, said the study in the December issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.

France declared that the show must go on Monday, with the public urged to go back out to bars, concerts and restaurants in defiance of the terror attacks on Paris.

Culture minister Fleur Pellerin said musicians would "never stop putting on concerts" and claimed that in the face of "barbarism... culture is our biggest shield and our artists our best weapon."

Organizers of France's most celebrated charity wine auction said Sunday that 480,000 euros of the 11 million euros ($11.8 million) raised this year would go to charity, including to victims of the Paris attacks.

The Hospices de Beaune charitable hospital's 155th auction saw bids come in from around the world, enabling this year's event to surpass last year's total of eight million.

Ireland's new same-sex marriage law comes into force from Monday, six months after the country voted to allow gay unions in a historic referendum.

Existing same-sex marriages registered abroad will be immediately recognized in Ireland, while other couples can now submit their intention to marry.

They are not in the room rubbing shoulders with traditional wealthy buyers, instead choosing to remain in the shadows, making their multi-million bids by telephone.

Asian millionaires and billionaires have this week discretely stolen the show at a range of auctions, dishing out record sums for works of art and precious gemstones put on the block.

New York lit One World Trade Center, the tallest building in America, red, white and blue in solidarity with France after attackers killed at least 120 people in Paris.

It was a powerful symbol of U.S. friendship and support for the French, made from the tallest building in the United States, which was built on the site of the 9/11 attacks on New York.

They came from across the world to Ethiopia in search of their "promised land", but for many Rastafarians, struggling to win even basic rights, the dream never materialized.

"How did we survive so far? I wonder," said Reuben Kush, the grey-bearded president of the Ethiopian World Federation, a branch of Rastafarianism.

The final night of the autumn auction season in New York on Thursday had bids from buyers above estimates by auction house Christie's, but marked no sales records.

Paintings by Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Alfred Sisley and Rene Magritte, and sculptures by Edgar Degas and Auguste Rodin went under the hammer.

Turkish authorities have cancelled a festival celebrating the national drink raki because of complaints by Islamic groups, causing an uproar among secular Turks.

The annual "World Raki Festival" had been scheduled to take place on December 12 and 13 in Adana, a Mediterranean city famous for its Turkish kebab. 

An Apple manager has apologised to six teenagers of African descent after staff kicked them out of an Australian store citing concerns they "might steal something", with a video of the incident going viral on Facebook.

The video, recorded by one of the students from Maribyrnong College in the southern city of Melbourne, has been viewed almost 60,000 times after it was posted on Facebook on Tuesday with the caption "simply racism".