A new film that portrays Turkey's revered founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk as a lonely, hard-drinking man beset by doubts has whipped up emotions in a country still grappling with his legacy 70 years after his death.
Ataturk, a former soldier, founded modern Turkey as a secularist republic from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire. Portraits of him adorn the walls of government offices, schools, shops and living rooms across the sprawling nation, testament to a man who has achieved the status of a demi-god among most Turks.
Mustafa, a documentary that chronicles Ataturk's life from childhood to his death on November 10, 1938, presents an intimate and flawed Ataturk rarely seen before, angering hardline secularists who have called for a boycott and say the film is an enemy plot to humiliate "Turkishness".
"I wanted to show a more human Ataturk than the Ataturk they teach us about at school and in the military service," respected director Can Dundar said in an interview.
Ataturk died of cirrhosis of the liver in Istanbul, aged 58.
Dispute over Incan relics
Peru plans to sue Yale University to reclaim artifacts taken some 100 years ago from the ancient Incan capital of Machu Picchu, the country's top tourist spot, the government said yesterday.
Peru says Yale has more than 40,000 pieces, a precious mix of pottery, jewellery and bones taken by US explorer Hiram Bingham, a Yale alumnus, after he rediscovered the ancient city in 1911.
Peru's labour ministry said the government will pursue a legal case against the University to get the items returned.
"Yale University was dismayed by a report that Peru will sue the university to recover archaeological material legally excavated at Machu Picchu by Hiram Bingham III nearly one hundred years ago," the Ivy League school said in a statement.
Ferrari boss smashed TV after F1 finale
Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo smashed a television set after seeing McLaren's Lewis Hamilton snatch the Formula One world title from Felipe Massa in last weekend's season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix.
"I broke the television, I must tell the truth," Mr Montezemolo told a news conference at a Ferrari event in Mugello on Sunday. "When a television breaks it makes a terrible bang. My daughter in the other room was given an awful fright. Luckily we had another television so I was able to watch the podium ceremony, which I enjoyed."
Ferrari's Felipe Massa won his home grand prix and was poised for championship victory before Lewis Hamilton overtook a slowing Timo Glock on the final bend to finish in the fifth place he needed to clinch the title.
Carla Bruni glad to be French
French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy says she is glad not to be Italian any more after hearing Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi joke about US President-elect Barack Obama's "suntan".
Italian-born Ms Bruni-Sarkozy, a top model turned pop singer who wed French President Nicolas Sarkozy in February, became a French national and lost her Italian citizenship after her marriage.
In an interview with French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche, she criticised Mr Berlusconi for saying that Mr Obama, who will be the first black US President, was "handsome, young and also suntanned".
"When I hear Silvio Berlusconi making light of the event (Mr Obama's election) and joking about the fact that Obama is 'always tanned', it feels strange to me," Ms Bruni-Sarkozy was quoted as saying. "Some people will no doubt put it down to humour, but often I find that I am pleased to have become French," she said.
Hugo Chavez the singer
Venezuela's flamboyant President Hugo Chavez has made a show business appearance singing on a new compilation of revolutionary songs released by his United Socialist Party of Venezuela.
Mr Chavez, who is prone to belting out Venezuela folk songs during his frequent television appearances, sings an ode to a 19th century rebel leader on the album, released to coincide with the last weeks of campaign to elect governors and mayors.
The President's familiar growling baritone rolls over a traditional harp-led "joropo" backing in the song, which praises the exploits of Maisanta, a rebel fighter from whom Mr Chavez claims to be descended.
The album, called Battle Music and sporting a clenched fist on the cover, also features a rap track that samples a Chavez speech.