Over the telephone, in jail and online, a new digital bounty is being harvested: the human voice.

Businesses and governments around the world increasingly are turning to voice biometrics, or voiceprints, to pay pensions, collect taxes, track criminals and replace passwords.

The World Health Organization called the Ebola outbreak "the most severe, acute health emergency seen in modern times" but also said Monday that economic disruptions can be curbed if people are adequately informed to prevent irrational moves to dodge infection.

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, citing World Bank figures, said 90 percent of economic costs of any outbreak "come from irrational and disorganized efforts of the public to avoid infection."

Thirty people died in a collision between three minibuses on Monday in Egypt's southern Aswan province, medical and security sources said.

Another 15 people were injured in the crash near Edfu, some 930 kilometers (575 miles) south of Cairo.

Four new films couldn't catch "Gone Girl" at theaters this weekend.

The Fox thriller starring Ben Affleck as a man whose wife goes missing is poised to top the box office for a second week with $26.8 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Chinese authorities are urging officials who have fled abroad to avoid corruption charges to turn themselves in before Dec. 1 in exchange for leniency or face stiffer punishment.

Corruption is rampant in China, and a large number of government officials and executives of state-owned companies have absconded overseas for safer havens of their ill-gained wealth because China lacks extradition treaties.

Barbie has long been an icon, just not a holy one.

A provocative art exhibit featuring Barbie fashion dolls as religious figures such as the Virgin Mary and her boyfriend Ken as a crucified Jesus Christ has been cancelled amid complaints and threats by angry believers, the artists behind the collection said Friday.

Italy remained perfect without Mario Balotelli. The Netherlands, meanwhile, still appears to be in a post-World Cup slump.

Giorgio Chiellini accounted for all three goals in Italy's 2-1 win over Azerbaijan in European Championship qualifying Friday and World Cup semifinalist Netherlands labored to a surprisingly hard-earned 3-1 victory over 10-man Kazakhstan.

Gay rights groups are cautiously cheering a shift in tone from the Catholic Church toward homosexuals, encouraged that Pope Francis' famous "Who am I to judge?" position has filtered down to bishops debating family issues at a Vatican meeting this week.

There is no discussion that church doctrine on homosexuality will change or that the Vatican will soon endorse gay marriage or even gay unions. It will not, as the Vatican's top canon lawyer made clear Thursday.

Archaeologists at the Petrified Forest National Park in the southwestern U.S. have discovered an ancient village that is unique for its size.

Park officials say 50 to 70 pit houses are organized in rings on about 66 acres (26 hectares). One village found last summer spanned about 14 acres (6 hectares).

The space shuttle Endeavour has been paired once again with a space lab and storage pod it used on some missions, as the countdown to its final exhibit continues at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

A crew on Thursday delicately positioned the 3,000-pound (1,360-kilogram) portable lab and pod inside the orbiter's huge cargo bay, the Los Angeles Times reported (http://lat.ms/1BZn1mL ). Workers also installed a replica robotic arm, airlock and docking system.