When the tiny desert nation ofQatar was chosen to host the latest round of United Nations climate change negotiations, environmentalists were stunned.

Talks were already in trouble, and now the high-level discussions were moving to a member of OPEC that had shown little interest in climate change and appointed a former oil minister to lead the negotiations, which start Monday. The country's economic boom, driven by vast oil and gas reserves, has led to free electricity for citizens and an abundance of gas-guzzling SUVs in the capital, Doha. It has also made Qatar the world's highest per capita carbon dioxide emitter.

A postcard mailed nearly 70 years ago has finally arrived at the former upstate New York home of the couple who sent it.

The postcard was sent July 4, 1943, from Rockford, Illinois, to sisters Pauline and Theresa Leisenring in Elmira.

A Russian court on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit that sought millions of dollars in damages from Madonna for allegedly traumatizing minors by speaking up for gay rights during a concert in St. Petersburg.

The ruling came after a one-day hearing that bordered on the farcical. During it, plaintiffs claimed that Madonna's so-called "propaganda of perversion" would negatively affect Russia's birthrate and erode the nation's defense capability by depriving the country of future soldiers. At one point, the judge threatened to expel journalists from the courtroom if they laughed too much.

Halle Berry's ex-boyfriend Gabriel Aubry was arrested for investigation of battery Thursday after he and the Oscar-winning actress's current boyfriend got into a fight at her Hollywood Hills home, police said.

Aubry, 37, was booked for investigation of a battery, a misdemeanor, and released on $20,000 bail, according to online jail records. He's scheduled to appear in court Dec. 13.

FIFA has denied Didier Drogba's request for special permission to leave Shanghai Shenhua on loan ahead of the official transfer period, ending speculation he could join former club Chelsea immediately.

FIFA said it informed Drogba he won't be exempted from international transfer rules while under contract with the Chinese Super League club, whose season ended this month.

American troops are celebrating Thanksgiving Day with food and football at a U.S.-led coalition base in the Afghan capital.

Huge hunks of beef greeted the estimated 2,500 diners on Thursday as soldiers lined up at the base in Kabul. Red-white-and-blue decorations filled the room while brochures about combat stress served as table centerpieces.

A football match between Muslim imams and Catholic priests has helped raise funds for a new kindergarten in Bosnia.

More than 4,000 people paid 1 euro ($1.30) to watch the game in the central town of Zenica on Wednesday night, cheering "Bosnia, Bosnia" and celebrating whoever scored.

Mammograms have done surprisingly little to catch deadly breast cancers before they spread, a big U.S. study finds. At the same time, more than a million women have been treated for cancers that never would have threatened their lives, researchers estimate.

Up to one-third of breast cancers, or 50,000 to 70,000 cases a year, don't need treatment, the study suggests.

How does "It's a SpongeBob Christmas!" squeeze even more fun out of our porous little hero and the Bikini Bottom gang? By turning the animated characters three-dimensional for their holiday special.

In a tribute to classic fare such as "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," the "SpongeBob SquarePants" crew has been re-imagined as puppets and put through their comedy paces for stop-motion photography.

Japanese skaters Mao Asada and Daisuke Takahashi will be aiming to secure berths in the Grand Prix final at this weekend's NHK Trophy, the sixth and final event of the International Skating Union's GP series.

Asada, who won the Cup of China two weeks ago, can wrap up a place in the GP final in Sochi next month with a podium finish here.