Czech schoolboy maps his life from disabled to designer

CERNOSICE, Czech Republic - The toy cars, double-deckers, stuffed toys and pillows on his bed are meticulously ordered into neat rows, but Matej Hosek still inspects his room with a frown, looking for shortcomings.

On the trail of the 'African Mona Lisa'

ILE-IFE, Nigeria - She's been described as "the African Mona Lisa", the subject of a long-lost series of three paintings by the artist considered the father of Nigerian modernism.

Goats and veggies crop up in urban Tokyo

TOKYO - On what feels like a lazy afternoon, 12 goats and two cows chew on hay as five piglets oink and 20 chickens cluck in the background.

Stores make push in scan and go tech in US

NEW YORK - Shoppers at self-checkout lanes scanning all their groceries after they're done shopping? Old school. More stores are letting customer tally their choices with a phone app or store device as they roam the aisles.

Syrian ceasefire urged as rebel enclave bombarded

DAMASCUS - Airstrikes continued on Thursday on the last rebel enclave near Syria's capital as the United Nations Security Council considered a resolution demanding a 30-day humanitarian ceasefire across the Middle East country.

ROK hails DPRK Olympics move as helpful to talks

SEOUL - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea's dispatch of a high-ranking delegation to the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics in the Republic of Korea will help maintain the "dialogue mood" in talks over the Korean Peninsula, Seoul's unification ministry said on Friday.

Trump backs raising age for buying rifles

WASHINGTON - The United States should keep assault rifles out of the hands of anyone under 21, President Donald Trump says, defying his loyal supporters in the National Rifle Association amid the public reckoning over gun violence. He also pushed hard for arming security guards and many teachers in US schools.

EU leaders to discuss post-Brexit budget hole

BRUSSELS - EU leaders minus Britain were scheduled to debate for the first time on Friday how to fill a Brexit-sized hole in the bloc's budget and how to choose a successor to European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker.

IN BRIEF (Page 8)

Thumb theft 'unlikely to stop art exchanges'

Experts on Chinese art in the United States don't believe that the theft of a thumb from a 2,000-year-old Terracotta Warrior statue on loan to a Philadelphia museum will stop similar exchanges of artifacts from China in the future.

Neanderthals' arty side revealed

LONDON - The world's oldest known cave paintings were made by Neanderthals, not modern humans, suggesting our extinct cousins were far from being uncultured brutes.

'Fattest man' eyeing a lighter, brighter future

GUADALAJARA, Mexico-The folds of flesh on Juan Pedro Franco's back sway heavily as he cranks the pedals of a modified bicycle with his arms, exercising to boost his already jaw-dropping weightloss total of 250 kilograms.