The first time I went jogging in Tehran, I nearly hyperventilated after four blocks, despite wearing the gauziest of head scarves and a decidedly immodest Nike capris. The fabric covering my ears and neck stoked my body temperature unbearably, and the pleasurable strain of running gave way to acute discomfort. "How am I going to stay fit here?" I wailed to my Iranian girlfriends, experts in the dilemma of balancing exercise with Islamic modesty codes. They offered me a ...

North American movie theaters served as the field of combat for two action figures from '60s TV: the Hasbro toy soldier G.I. Joe and the animated "French chef" Julia Child. The raw box-office count suggests an overwhelming victory for the would-be blockbuster. Behind the numbers, though, was evidence of a standoff, with each side able to claim victory. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra took in $56.2 million, according to ...

Britain's most celebrated fugitive -- "the last of the gentlemen crooks," as he liked to describe himself -- was born Ronald Arthur Biggs in Lambeth, south London, on August 8, 1929. The youngest of five children, his criminal career began at the age of 15 when he was arrested for stealing pencils from a local shop. He joined the Royal Air Force in 1947, but was dishonourably discharged two years later after being convicted of breaking into a chemist's shop ...

One of the few smart things about G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra was the decision made by Paramount Pictures to refuse to screen the movie for the press. The studio's previous summer toy story, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, had earned a sheaf of pans, then took in more than $800 million in its first six weeks of release. Hoping lightning would strike twice, but without the annoying critical thunder, Paramount showed G.I. Joe, which it hopes ...

Ailing "Great Train Robber" Ronnie Biggs -- one of the most notorious British criminals of recent decades -- was due to be formally released from prison to his death bed Friday after being granted his freedom on compassionate grounds. Biggs, who is gravely ill with severe pneumonia, is already being treated at a hospital in Norwich, eastern England, where he was moved on Tuesday. Three prison staff assigned to Biggs' bedside will be withdrawn Friday following UK Justice Minister Jack ...

French researchers have identified a new human immunodeficiency virus, the first derived from gorillas, a report said Monday. The three previous HIV variants came from chimpanzees. The new findings indicate that gorillas, in addition to chimpanzees, are likely sources of HIV, the researchers concluded in a report published in the weekly Nature Medicine journal. The new virus, called RBF 168, was detected in a 62-year-old woman who moved to Paris from the western Africa nation of Cameroon, the report says. ...

Aircraft manufacturer Airbus is ready to fund a third search of the Atlantic Ocean if a second search, now under way, fails to find debris from last month's Air France crash, the company said Friday. Airbus is discussing a payment of between 12 to 20 million euros ($17-28 million) to help pay for a third search, but it is still too early to settle on a figure, company spokesman Stefan Schaffrath said. "We are ready to give a significant share, ...

Alberto Contador is on the verge of winning his second Tour de France in three years after finishing fourth to fellow-Spaniard Juan Manuel Garate in the arduous 20th and penultimate 167km stage to the top of Mont Ventoux. Contador came home alongside his rivals for overall victory as the stage turned into a tactical battle between the race leaders while the two remnants of an early 16-man breakaway group, Garate and Germany's Tony Martin, battled it out for the glory ...

Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong has announced that he will race for a new U.S.-based team next year. The legendary Texan cyclist will form a new franchise in partnership with American electronics retailer RadioShack. The 37-year-old made his cycling comeback this year with the Kazakhstani Astana team to raise awareness about cancer through his LiveStrong Foundation charity. His title hopes in this year's Tour faded further when he lost another 90 seconds to leader and teammate Alberto Contador ...

"In all Europe there is no street quite so lively, quite so cosmopolitan or quite so zany as Rome's Via Venetos" So began a 1959 TIME story trumpeting Café de Paris as the new must-see-and-be-seen spot on the then already famous leafy boulevard. Fifty years later, the sidewalk locale is as luxurious as ever , attracting both well-heeled Italians and tourists looking for a hint of the breezy, post-War sweet life celebrated in Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita, in which the café was a key ...