Paintings, furniture, memorabilia and costumes owned by Barbra Streisand will be auctioned on October 17 and 18 by an auction house in West Hollywood, California. The items include costumes worn onstage, in concert and on television by the award-winning singer and actress. All the proceeds will benefit Streisand's foundation, which has donated millions of dollars to charity over the past 23 years. CNN entertainment reporter Kareen Wynter talked to Streisand about the auction and other things. This is an edited ...

An activist exiled from Myanmar called for the government to release pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and urged the U.S. to continue sanctions against it. Thaung Htun, Myanmar's government-in-exile's unofficial representative to the United Nations, on Wednesday told CNN's Christiane Amanpour that "it is not the right time even to think about lifting sanctions." He wants the United States to continue to pressure Myanmar's military regime with economic sanctions as it pursues talks with the south Asian nation, also ...

A Saudi court on Wednesday sentenced a man who caused uproar by bragging about his sex life on television to five years in prison and 1,000 lashes, according to Ministry of Information officials. Mazen Abdul Jawad, a 32-year-old airline employee and divorced father of four, spoke openly about his sexual escapades, his love of sex and losing his virginity at age 14. He made the comments on Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation, which aired the interview a few months ago. Saudi authorities ...

German police on Wednesday conducted a "city-wide search" in Berlin, targeting "potentially violent Islamic extremists," a police spokeswoman told CNN.

Arturo Fidelino couldn't sleep. The telecommunications executive, who lives in Manila, the Philippines, with his wife and teenage daughter, spent Friday "observing and awaiting" Typhoon Parma, which threatened to bring more destruction to a country already reeling from last weekend's killer storm. "We had a traumatic experience when we had Ketsana," which was a tropical storm when it slammed the Philippines last weekend and later strengthened into a typhoon. Ketsana was blamed for 246 deaths. "We don't want that to ...

The announcement that Chicago, Illinois, will not host the 2016 Olympic Games took the hopeful wind out of many in the Windy City. But for almost half of the city's dwellers, the International Olympic Committee's decision was winning news. A spokeswoman for No Games Chicago, a grass-roots organization opposed to hosting the Olympics, said she was "relieved" by the vote Friday in Copenhagen, Denmark. Chicago's Olympic fever, spotty as it was, broke abruptly when the city was the ...

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, will host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee announced Friday. It is the first time South America will host an Olympics event. The city has budgeted $14.4 billion to the effort, the largest amount of any of the four finalists, according to IOC figures. The final vote was down to Rio and Madrid, Spain. In earlier voting, Chicago, Illinois, and then Tokyo, Japan, were eliminated from contention. After the cities made their presentations ...

An Army vet helping other veterans struggling with addiction, a drummer providing free music education to New Orleans students and a bartender providing clean water to communities worldwide are among the Top 10 CNN Heroes of 2009. Roy Foster's Stand Down House has provided life-changing services to nearly 900 veterans since 2000. Derrick Tabb's Roots of Music program is giving more than 100 young people an alternative to New Orleans streets. And Doc Hendley's nonprofit Wine to Water has ...

A magnitude 8.0 earthquake struck the Pacific near American Samoa, triggering towering tsunami waves that gushed over the island and leaving at least 22 people dead. American Samoa Gov. Togiola Tulafono, speaking from Hawaii, said Tuesday's quake ranked "right up there with some of the worst" disasters on the island. He said about 50 people had been treated for injuries so far but he expected that number to rise. The quake hit the small cluster of South Pacific islands early ...

At least 23 people died when part of a church collapsed in eastern Nepal, police said Wednesday. American Samoa Gov. Togiola Tulafono, speaking from Hawaii, said Tuesday's quake ranked "right up there with some of the worst" disasters on the island. He said about 50 people had been treated for injuries so far but he expected that number to rise. The quake hit the small cluster of South Pacific islands early Tuesday morning. By evening, Laumoli, standing outside the LBJ ...