U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday opened his 2012 re-election campaign with a website announcement and e-mails and text messages to supporters. "This campaign is just kicking off," a short announcement said on www.barackobama.com. "We're opening up offices, unpacking boxes and starting a conversation with supporters like you to help shape our path to victory.

Parts of the wreckage of an Air France plane found in the Atlantic at the weekend contain the bodies of some of the passengers who died when the aircraft crashed off Brazil in 2009, the French government said on Monday. Air France flight 447, an Airbus 330-203 plane, plunged into the ocean en route from

A delegation from the France- Cyprus inter-parliamentary friendship group of the French Senate arrives Sunday in Cyprus for a visit at the invitation of Cyprus House of Representatives. The delegation comprises President of the Inter inter-parliamentary friendship group Marc Massion and two Vice-Presidents, Senators Jean-Patrick Courtois and Simon Sutour, accompanied by Executive Secretary of the

Apple's iPad 2 shortage has spread to the afterlife as Chinese families in Malaysia rush to buy paper replicas of the popular new gadget to burn for their dead as part of a centuries-old rite. During the Qingming festival, also known as the tomb sweeping festival, Chinese communities in Asia honour their ancestors by burning

The yen will keep weakening in the next few months, possibly falling beyond 90 yen to the dollar, Japan's former currency czar Eisuke Sakakibara said on Monday, while a former senior Bank of Japan official also forecast the yen's decline. The two former officials weighed into an intensifying debate in financial markets whether the yen

Japan's Nikkei stock average nudged higher on Monday but struggled to extend gains as uncertainty over Japan's economic outlook and a prolonged nuclear safety crisis curbed enthusiasm on a weaker yen and a rise in U.S. shares after strong payrolls data. The Nikkei peaked at a session high of 9,808.60, lifted by blue-chip exporters, but

President Barack Obama is no longer the outsider candidate who fueled his bid for the White House in 2008 with a flood of small donations from new and young voters inspired by his message of hope and change. As a sitting president he has far greater authority and media access and his 2012 re-election campaign

The euro hit fresh 11-month highs against a broadly weaker yen on Monday and touched a five-month peak against the dollar with markets all but certain the European Central Bank will raise interest rates later this week. In contrast, the Bank of Japan is likely to downgrade its economic assessment at its meeting on Wednesday

Asian shares rose to their highest in nearly 3 years on Monday after strong U.S. jobs growth spurred optimism about the global economy, and the euro hit an 11-month peak against the yen amid expectations of a euro zone rate hike later this week. Data showing U.S. employment grew solidly for a second month in