AFP - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said last week's military coup in Thailand was "a U turn" and urged coup leaders to get the Southeast Asian state back on the right path "very, very quickly."

Reuters - Mona Lisa, the mysterious woman immortalized in Leonardo da Vinci's 16th century masterpiece, had just given birth to her second son when she sat for the painting, a French art expert said on Tuesday.

AP - Muslim detainees at Guantanamo Bay entered Ramadan with traditional sweets, dates and honey — but without a military chaplain to lead them in prayer during Islam's holy month.

AP - Egypt has demanded that Hamas immediately release a captured Israeli soldier to avoid a worsening crisis in the violence-battered Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials and Arab diplomats said Tuesday.