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US President Barack Obama has voiced his support for gay rights and pledged to rid the US military ban on openly gay and lesbian soldiers. The "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, introduced in 1993, ended the practice of asking recruits about their sexual orientation. More than 12,000 service members have been discharged under the policy, including David Hall, a former Air Force officer. Duration: 01:49

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Ushuaia is the southernmost city on Earth, just at the edge of the Antarctic. But even in this fridgid climate, global warming is taking a huge toll on glaciers that not only support a tourist industry but also provide drinking water for the city. Duration: 02:02

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A 315-million-euro satellite that will gauge the impact of climate change on the movement of water across land, air and sea was hoisted into space early Monday. The Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) probe will shed new light on how water circulates around Earth's oceans. Duration: 01:21

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With the World Cup coming to South Africa next year, the whole continent is being swept by football fever like never before. But away from the glare of international attention, many clubs in southern Africa are still struggling with financial and logistical problems. One football coach in neighbouring Botswana gave AFPTV a tour of the daily hopes and tribulations for a typical middle-division club. Duration: 01:58

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Unarmed military interpreters in remote southwest Afghanistan work alongside US Marines on the frontline. For many, hope of a passport to the US makes the dangerous job worthwhile. Duration: 01:55

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The New York marathon may grab the limelight but that's not putting off long-distance runners in South Africa who are embarking on a marathon of their own -- through Johannesburg's impoverished Soweto township. Duration: 01:59

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Pink swimming costumes and gold cocktail dresses were the order of the day at Miss International Queen 2009 in Thailand. Transsexual contestants from across the globe locked stilettos in the battle to be fairest of them all. Duration: 01:56

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VIDEO:  The Pakistani army says it has recovered the passport of a suspected member of the terror cell that planned the September 11, 2001 attacks during its South Waziristan offensive.

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Noisy crowds, long queues, and traffic jams plunged McDonald's restaurants in Iceland into a state of siege Saturday, as the chain served its final burgers on the island. Icelanders flooded the three branches of the US fast-food restaurant in Reykjavik several hours before the outlets shut for the last time, forced to close after the island's economic collapse caused running costs to soar. Duration: 00:53

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Israel has some 200,000 immigrant workers. But recently some have suggested that the children of these workers should not have the right to stay in Israel - even if they were born in the country. It's a move drawing criticism from human rights groups. Duration: 01:55

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Banking that coal power plants will come under legal and financial pressure to reduce emissions as part of efforts to reduce global warming, French firm Alstom on Friday unveiled the world's largest carbon capture facility at a coal plant. It's a technology backers hope will fuel a new multi-billion dollar industry and keep the coal industry alive. Duration: 02:07

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Coffins in Ghana can be an art form. Craftsmen produce fantasy coffins, catering for every sort of customer from fishermen and farmers to pilots and photographers. Tailor-made coffins reflect the trade of their clients. The aim: to pay tribute to the character of the dearly departed. Duration: 02:14.

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EU leaders on Friday agreed that developing nations will need 100 billion euros per year by 2020 to tackle climate change, but failed to put a figure to Europe's own contribution amid sharp east-west differences. A natural sound version of an AFPTV voiced report. Duration: 01:40

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Former French president Jacques Chirac is to be tried on allegations that he gave 21 political allies false contracts as ghost workers in Paris city hall. Duration: 01:20.

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The cafe has been a quintessential part of French life for centuries. It's where writers like existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre held court. But times are changing and this tradition is losing ground as discontent brews among its once loyal customers. Duration: 01:55.

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Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was swept to power largely on an anti-crime platform. In November the government will give the greenlight to a controversial crime-fighting measure --- legalising citizen patrols of neighborhoods. The law is triggering heated debate. Duration: 01:39.

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President Barack Obama stood vigil to the homecoming of US war dead from Afghanistan Thursday as he debates ordering thousands of more troops into the battle zone.

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A tuberculosis epidemic is overwhelming health clinics across Swaziland. It's fuelled by the high rate of HIV amongst the population. But the government and NGOs are fighting back.

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The live fish facing death in the glass tanks in Hong Kong's famous seafood restaurants tell a strange tale of a looming global tragedy. At the heart of their story is the bizarre fact that there are more fine fish swimming in the tiny tanks than there are in the surrounding sea.

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A UN torture expert expelled from Zimbabwe says he fears the country's unity government could fall apart, as regional leaders tried to mediate an end to the latest crisis. Manfred Nowak was detained late Wednesday on his arrival in Harare, where he was set to begin an eight-day investigation into alleged human rights abuses and arrests of activists opposed to long-ruling President Robert Mugabe. Images and soundbites.

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The olive harvest has begun in earnest in the West Bank village of Qaryut. The harvest usually takes three weeks but the Israeli army is allowing pickers access to the fields for just two days, as the groves are situated very close to a Jewish settlement. Duration: 00:54

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Emmaus, France's biggest NGO fighting poverty across the world, is 60 this year. The organisation was founded by Catholic priest Abbe Pierre who was a thorn in the side of French politicians, relentlessly lobbying for the poor, and becoming France's most popular personality. Duration: 02:31

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As world leaders gear up for a crucial change conference in Copenhagen, one Englishman is doing his best to spread the word about fuel efficiency. Adventurer and eco-campaigner Andy Pag is travelling round the world in an old school bus, powered by nothing but used chip fat. Duration: 01:59

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A car bomb has torn through a packed market in Pakistan killing 92 people and trapping casualties under pulverised shops, in one of Pakistan's deadliest attacks. The explosion brought down buildings in the northwestern city of Peshawar just hours after US Secretary Hillary Clinton arrived in Pakistan to bolster the two countries' troubled alliance against Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants.

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Taliban suicide gunmen stormed a UN guesthouse in Kabul on Wednesday, killing nine people in an attack the Islamist militia said signalled a bloody countdown to new Afghan elections next week. Duration: 01:31

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NASA launched Wednesday the world's tallest rocket, the Ares I-X, on a two-minute test flight. The rocket launched at 11:30 am (1530 GMT) after a series of delays due to poor weather conditions.

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The head of the UN's mission in Afghanistan said a Taliban suicide attack on Wednesday on a Kabul guesthouse would not deter the UN from fulfilling its work in Afghanistan. Duration: 00:54

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Kabul's five-star Serena Hotel came under rocket attack on Wednesday, but there were no casualties. The attack came as Taliban suicide gunmen stormed a UN guesthouse in Kabul killing nine people. Duration: 0:42

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Diners are flocking to a popular restaurant in Italy -- but the eatery is inside a high-security prison and the waiters are criminals. Once a month, about 100 people sample fine cuisine in Volterra jail in Tuscany. Under the watchful eye of professional chefs from outside, the inmates prepare and serve gourmet dishes. Profits from the venture go to charity. Duration: 01:26

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Decriminalizing prostitution for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa could help stop the spread of HIV and AIDS. That's the claim made by a leading HIV research unit, but religious groups are against the proposals. Duration: 02:04

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The number of United Nations staff killed in an attack on a Kabul guesthouse on Wednesday has risen to five, a UN spokesman in the Afghan capital said. Duration: 00:55

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They call William Kamkwamba "the boy who harnessed the wind." At 14, after dropping out of school, the African boy in a rural Malawi village taught himself how electricity works, and built a windmill from scraps and pieces of a bicycle. AFPTV talks to him in Washington as he tours around the US to promote his recently published biography.

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A French court slapped prison terms and stiff fines on Tuesday on the main players in a network that smuggled arms to Angola and included an ex-minister and the son of late president Francois Mitterrand.

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French judges fined the Church of Scientology almost a million dollars on Tuesday for defrauding vulnerable followers but stopped short of banning the group from operating in France. Scientology's Celebrity Centre and its bookshop in Paris, the two branches of its French operations, were ordered to pay 600,000 euros (900,000 dollars) in fines for preying financially on its followers in the 1990s. Alain Rosenberg, the movement's director, was handed a two-year suspended jail sentence and fined 30,000 euros o

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US military officials say that lack of training and equipment are hampering efforts to transfer responsibility for Afghanistan's domestic security to local forces. Widespread drug use, tribal divisions, corruption and a high drop-out rate are also slowing attempts to create a credible force able to protect the public from Taliban insurgents and tackle general crime. Duration: 01:53

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Amnesty International has accused Israel of denying Palestinians adequate access to water while allowing Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank almost unlimited supplies. Israel's brief military offensive on the Gaza Strip at the start of the year damaged water reservoirs, wells, sewage networks and pumping stations. Duration: 02:09

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A French hospital has suspended a Rwandan doctor after discovering Eugene Rwamucyo was on an Interpol wanted list in connection with Rwanda's 1994 genocide. Rwamucyo speaks to AFPTV about the suspension and Interpol's request to interview him.

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A Moroccan court on Monday sentenced the editor of the daily Al Jarida Al Oula, Ali Anouzla, to one year's suspended jail term for having published "falsehoods" about the health of King Mohammed VI. The trial has reignited the debate about freedom of the press in Morocco.

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The life story of a woman who adopted 46 children and had 4 of her own, has been made into a movie that will be screened at the United Nations at the end of this year. Flordelis, a 48-year-old woman who herself grew up in the favelas, is a savior to children abandoned in some of Rio’s poorest neighborhoods. Duration: 01:37

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A FIFA-backed football project in Johannesburg is helping to educate hundreds of children in one of its poorest neighbourhoods. 'Football for Hope' teaches youngsters important health messages and will culminate in its own World Cup with teams from deprived areas coming to compete from all over the globe. Duration: 02:21