Three cannons explode on a deserted Cape Cod beach, unleashing a startling cloud of white smoke and sand. In tandem, projectiles erupt from the ground, flinging a net over a group of elusive shorebirds known as red knots.

A dozen wildlife researchers emerge from hiding and sprint to transfer the prized catch into holding boxes and then to a camp nearby. There, they collect feather samples as they measure, weigh and tag the robin-size birds, then fit their legs with tiny geolocators and release them.

It's the next best thing to parking that costs peanuts: parking that costs chestnuts.

A company that runs parking lots in the English cities of Leeds and Manchester is temporarily letting drivers pay with the dark brown seeds that fall from horse chestnut trees each autumn.

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh is interested in luring Fernando Alonso away from Ferrari and bringing him back to McLaren.

While Whitmarsh believes the current driver pairing of Jenson Button and Sergio Perez is likely to remain next season, neither has signed a contract for 2014, and Kimi Raikkonen's move to Ferrari has created speculation of Alonso being unsettled and considering a move.

Longtime Roma captain Francesco Totti has extended his contract for two more seasons, ensuring he will play until he's on the cusp of 40 and giving the club's fans a reason to rejoice two days before the city derby.

The deal is reportedly worth 3.2 million euros ($4.2 million) per season.

Britain's retail regulator says it has evidence that an underwear maker and three department stores colluded to inflate the price of a popular sports bra.

The Office of Fair Trading says it is investigating whether DB Apparel U.K. entered into anti-competitive agreements with retailers John Lewis, Debenhams and House of Fraser between 2008 and 2011 over the Shock Absorber bra.

The Obama administration is pressing ahead with tough requirements for new coal-fired power plants, moving to impose for the first time strict limits on the pollution blamed for global warming.

The proposal would help reshape where Americans get electricity, away from coal and toward cleaner sources of energy. It's a key step in President Barack Obama's plans to address climate change.

Milan is seeking to reclaim its fashion pre-eminence with a re-energized fashion week not only through strong messages from the runways but concrete acts of to enhance the city's prestige.

Fendi unveiled a new flagship store on via Montenapoleone, Kate Moss was on hand to launch a new retail concept for Stuart Weitzman and Costume National returned to Milan after a two-decade womenswear absence.

It's not often you can use the word "dry" to describe a Las Vegas landmark, but tourists hoping to cruise along the Venetian hotel-casino's indoor canals are finding them tapped out.

The waterways were emptied for repainting earlier this month for the first time since the casino opened in 1999. When they reopen in mid-October, the water will once again appear to sparkle below the hotel's trompe-l'oeil sky.

Three popular Norman Rockwell masterpieces that depict slices of American life are heading for the auction block.

"Saying Grace," ''The Gossips" and "Walking to Church" are among seven works by the Saturday Evening Post illustrator going on sale at Sotheby's Dec. 4.

Bottled water sales have skyrocketed while officials try to pin down the source of a deadly amoeba found in the water supply of St. Bernard Parish, and some people worry about washing their faces in the shower.

That's despite experts who say the only danger is to people who manage to get the microscopic organism way up their noses. Its only entry to the brain is through minute openings in a bone about level with the top of the eyeball, said Dr. Raoult Ratard, Louisiana's state epidemiologist.