WASHINGTON, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - The last surviving American soldier of World War I, 107-year-old Frank Buckles, has been named an officer of the French Legion of Honor, and paid tribute to all the 'real heros.'

Buckles, who was an ambulance driver, arrived in France at the age of 16 in 1917, even though the legal age to join up was 21.

ATHENS, Oct 3, 2008 (AFP) - Greek divers have identified the wreck of a French ship requisitioned during World War I and sunk by a German submarine in 1916, the Ta Nea newspaper reported on Friday.

LONDON, August 30, 2008 (AFP) - A 109-year-old woman believed to be the last surviving female veteran of World War I has died, Britain's Ministry of Defence said.

Gladys Powers, who lied about her age to join the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps when she was 15, died in British Columbia, Canada, on August 14, although the ministry only announced her death on Friday.

The remains of an Australian World War I soldier have been unearthed at a battle site in Belgium, ...

LONDON, July 31, 2008 (AFP) - British and Australian troops from World War I, whose remains were found in a mass grave in France, are to be reburied individually, both governments said in a joint statement Thursday.

LONDON, July 28, 2008 (AFP) - The wreck of a sunken World War I German submarine has been moved to deeper waters from its final resting place in the English Channel due to the risk it posed to larger vessels, salvors said.

LILLE, July 23, 2008 (AFP) - A French couple were given a four-month suspended prison sentence and made to pay one euro in damages to the Canadian state for making a porn video at a World War I memorial, officials said Wednesday.

LILLE, July 23, 2008 (AFP) - A French couple were given a four-month suspended sentence and made to pay one euro in damages to the Canadian state for making a porn video at a World War I memorial, officials said Wednesday.

ATHENS, July 5, 2008 (AFP) - Divers have found the wreck of a French cargo ship torpedoed off Greece by a German U-boat during World War I, reports said Saturday.

The 6,200-tonne Parana had been requisitioned by the French government to ship troops and stores to the Salonika front, where French and British forces were fighting the German and Bulgarian army.

ATHENS, July 5, 2008 (AFP) - Divers have found the wreck of a French cargo ship torpedoed off Greece by a German U-boat during World War I, reports said Saturday.

The 6,200-tonne Parana had been requisitioned by the French government to ship troops and stores to the Salonika front, where French and British forces were fighting the German and Bulgarian army.

LILLE, June 9, 2008 (AFP) - Archaeologists have found a military badge proving that Australian World War I soldiers are among the troops buried in a suspected mass grave in northern France, the Australian army said Monday.

On the edge of a wood near the northern French village of Fromelles, archaeologists are seeking to uncover a suspected mass grave of hundreds of Australian and British troops from World War I.

Human remains found at a World War I battlefield in France will likely reveal a mass grave of hundreds of lost allied soldiers, Australian officials said Wednesday.

Defence Personnel Minister Warren Snowdon said archaeologists working on the site on the outskirts of Fromelles in northern France had unearthed a human arm and hand.

BERLIN, May 27, 2008 (AFP) - The last surviving World War I veteran from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire died just short of his 108th birthday in southern Germany on Tuesday, officials in the town where he lived said.

OTTAWA, May 9, 2008 (AFP) - Canada's last known surviving veteran of World War I will soon reclaim his Canadian citizenship after living for more than half a century in the United States, officials said Friday.

ISTANBUL, April 25, 2008 (AFP) - Thousands of Australians and New Zealanders gathered in northwestern Turkey early Friday to honour the memory of soldiers killed in the 1915 Gallipoli battle, one of the bloodiest in World War I, Anatolia news agency reported.

VILLERS-BRETONNEUX, France, April 25, 2008 (AFP) - Some 5,000 people, most of them Australian, attended a dawn ceremony in a northern French village Friday to honour their war dead and mark the 90th anniversary of a bloody World War I battle.

SYDNEY, April 25, 2008 (AFP) - Hundreds of thousands of Australians and New Zealanders honoured their war dead Friday at dawn services across the two nations and at battlefields around the globe where their soldiers have fallen.

LILLE, France, April 24, 2008 (AFP) - Thousands of Australians are expected to join a dawn ceremony in a northern French village on Friday to honour their war dead and mark the 90th anniversary of a bloody World War I battle.

ABLAIN-SAINT-NAZAIRE, France, April 24, 2008 (AFP) - President Nicolas Sarkozy Thursday vowed to step up the fight against Islamophobia following the desecration of 148 Muslim graves at France's biggest war cemetery this month.

OTTAWA, April 19, 2008 (AFP) - Canada on Saturday paid tribute to its last surviving veteran of World War I, John Babcock, 107, who enlisted at age 15 but never fought on the frontlines.

Babcock joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force and arrived in Britain a few months later, when he was transferred to the Boys Brigade. The war ended before he turned 18.

LILLE, France, April 8, 2008 (AFP) - Four youths have been arrested in connection with the desecration of 148 Muslim graves at France's biggest war cemetery, an official said on Tuesday.

ABLAIN SAINT NAZAIRE, France, April 7, 2008 (AFP) - Muslims and members of other faiths gathered Monday to condemn the desecration of 148 Muslim graves at France's biggest war cemetery.

BERLIN, April 6, 2008 (AFP) - A new German blockbuster has resurrected the legend of the Red Baron, marking the first time since the Nazi era that the country has cast one of its military figures as a screen hero.

VERDUN, France, April 4, 2008 (AFP) - Mayor Jean Lavigne presides over a ghost community near here inhabited only by memories of the nightmare 92 years ago when nine French villages were buried in a hail of artillery fire.

PARIS, March 12, 2008 (AFP) - Following the death of the Turkish war veteran Yazup Satar, a total of eight men who served in their countries' armed forces during World War I are known to be still alive around the world.

The list, in order of seniority:

ANKARA, April 3, 2008 (AFP) - Turkey's last surviving World War I veteran, who fought the British at Basra more than 90 years ago, has died aged 110, press reports said Thursday.

Yakup Satar, father of six and grandfather of some 50 grandchildren, died late Wednesday surrounded by his family in the town of Eskisehir, northwest of Ankara.

ANKARA, April 3, 2008 (AFP) - Turkey's last surviving World War I veteran died aged 110 at his home after a string of illnesses, press reports said Thursday.

Yakup Satar, a father of six who had about 50 grandchildren, died late Wednesday surrounded by his family in the town of Eskisehir, 200 kilometres (120 miles) northwest of Ankara.

PARIS, March 17, 2008 (AFP) - President Nicolas Sarkozy led a national ceremony in Paris on Monday in honour of the last French veteran of World War I, Lazare Ponticelli, who died last week aged 110.

PARIS, March 17, 2008 (AFP) - President Nicolas Sarkozy was to lead ceremonies Monday in honour of the last French veteran of World War I, Lazare Ponticelli, who died last week aged 110.

Ponticelli, the last of more than eight million men who fought under French colours in the 1914-18 war that tore Europe apart, died last Wednesday at his home in a Paris suburb.

PARIS, March 12, 2008 (AFP) - Following the death of the Italian-French war veteran Lazare Ponticelli, a total of nine men who served in their countries' armed forces during World War I are known to be still alive around the world.

The list, in order of seniority:

PARIS, March 12, 2008 (AFP) - Timeline of World War I, which ended with an armistice on November 11, 1918:

PARIS, March 12, 2008 (AFP) - World War I is widely commemorated on November 11, the day it ended in 1918. Key information:

- Casualties: Around 37 million killed, injured or missing, of whom at least 8.5 million military dead.

PARIS, March 12, 2008 (AFP) - The last surviving French veteran of World War I, Italian-born foreign legionnaire Lazare Ponticelli, has died at the age of 110, President Nicolas Sarkozy announced Wednesday.

'Today, I express the nation's deep emotion and infinite sadness,' Sarkozt said, in a statement released by the Elysee Palace.

WASHINGTON, March 6, 2008 (AFP) - A 107-year old man who went to war in Europe at age 16 was honored at a Pentagon ceremony Thursday as one of the last living American veterans of World War I.

With two medals hanging from his blue blazer, Frank Buckles also was wheeled into the Oval Office to meet with President George W. Bush.

LILLE, France, Feb 14, 2008 (AFP) - Dog tags belonging to a New Zealand Maori soldier from World War I and found in northern France two years ago were handed over Thursday to the Wellington's culture minister, officials said.

ARRAS, France, Jan 28, 2008 (AFP) - A French couple who posed for nude photographs in the trenches of a Canadian World War I memorial were fined 150 euros (220 dollars) and handed a suspended one-month jail sentence on Monday.

BERLIN, Jan 25, 2008 (AFP) - Germany's last surviving World War I veteran, Erich Kaestner, died earlier this month at the age of 107, the German press reported on Friday.

Kaestner, who served in the German army for four months in 1918 when he was 18 years old, died in a retirement home in Cologne in western Germany on January 1, Der Spiegel magazine reported.