China's airlines and airports continue to have the worst flight delays in the world, according to a travel industry monitor.

A survey of flight times last month showed that Beijing's airport had the lowest proportion of flights leaving on time among 35 leading airports at just 18.3 percent, FlightStat Inc. reported on its website.

Thai police say they have rescued about 90 famished cats that they believed had been headed to Vietnam. They declined to say what fate they had rescued the felines from, but cats are considered a delicacy in their intended destination.

Police Col. Sakchai Sadmaroeng said Thursday his men stopped a pickup truck at a checkpoint Thursday and found six plastic cages full of cats in northeastern Nakhon Phanom province. The driver was arrested and faces charges including animal cruelty and illegal transportation of animals.

When Ali Farhat was summoned to the immigration department in the United Arab Emirates, the 33-year-old Lebanese restaurant worker knew he would have to pack up his family and leave fast.

Like many Shiite Muslims working in the oil-rich Gulf state, Farhat says he popped up on the country's deportation radar merely because of his sect, which its Sunni rulers associate with Hizbullah.

A Greek charter plane made an emergency landing at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport on Thursday after the pilot had sent out a distress signal, an airport official told Agence France Presse.

"The airport was placed on a state of alert after receiving a distress message about a technical problem but the aircraft landed without incident," the official said.

Our solar system has a tail, just like comets. Now the U.S. space agency can prove it.

Scientists revealed images Wednesday showing the tail emanating from the bullet-shaped region of space under the grip of the sun, including the solar system and beyond. The region is known as the heliosphere, and the tail is called the heliotail.

Japan's nuclear regulator says radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima power plant is probably leaking into the Pacific Ocean, a problem long suspected by experts but denied by the plant's operator.

Officials from the Nuclear Regulation Authority said a leak is "strongly suspected" and urged plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. to determine where the water may be leaking from and assess the environmental and other risks, including the impact on the food chain. The watchdog said Wednesday it would form a panel of experts to look into ways to contain the problem.

Country music star Randy Travis is out of surgery but remains in critical condition after suffering a stroke while at a Texas hospital, the singer's publicist said late Wednesday.

Kirt Webster, the publicist, said the 54-year-old Travis suffered the stroke Wednesday night while he was being treated for congestive heart failure because of a viral illness. Travis underwent surgery to relieve pressure on his brain. He remained in critical condition.

As Formula One expands its reach into the United States, there's still a missing ingredient that could keep some fans away from the crowd — an American driver on the grid.

There hasn't been an American in Formula One since 2007 when Scott Speed drove for Toro Rosso. But the pressure is building for an American to make the jump now that the United States successfully hosted the U.S. Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, last year and is set to hold second grand prix in New Jersey as soon as 2014.

Ferrari's president has insisted Felipe Massa has "our total confidence" despite the Brazilian driver's recent struggles which have included crashes in several recent races.

On a visit this week to the company's headquarters Massa met with Ferrari president Luca Di Montezemolo, who told him he was encouraged by his strong starts in the past two races and was hopeful "he will soon secure the results that will show his talent in full."

Kobe Bryant is working hard to get back on the court and not wasting any time thinking about Dwight Howard.

Bryant on Wednesday said his surgically repaired Achilles' tendon is "progressing faster than anybody expected," though he won't start shooting again until next month.