A U.S. astronaut departing this week for the International Space Station said Monday that the bulk of the scientific benefits from the orbiting laboratory will be seen over the coming decade, amid questions on whether the estimated $100 billion spent in last 12 years is worth the effort.

"The first ten years were really intensive in the construction side of it, bringing all the pieces together and really getting the science enabled," said NASA astronaut Kevin Ford, who will blast off on a Soyuz craft from the Russian-leased Baikonur spacer center in Kazakhstan on Tuesday together with Russian colleagues Oleg Novitsky and Yevgeny Tarelkin.

She dreamed a dream, and it came true. But what happened next for Susan Boyle?

The middle-aged church volunteer from a small town in Scotland became an instant global celebrity in 2009 with her heart-stopping rendition of the "Les Miserables" number "I Dreamed a Dream" on a TV talent show.

Jane Lynch and John Leguizamo are joining a lineup that includes Jimmy Kimmel and Kristin Chenoweth to honor Ellen DeGeneres with the nation's top humor prize in Washington.

The Kennedy Center is awarding DeGeneres the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Monday night. The show will be broadcast Oct. 30 on PBS stations.

Testimony is set to begin in a defamation suit by Britney Spears' ex-manager against her parents.

Lawyers for Sam Lutfi declined to say whether he would be the first witness at Monday's trial in Los Angeles.

National Geographic Society has chronicled scientific expeditions, explorations, archaeology, wildlife and world cultures for more than 100 years, amassing a collection of 11.5 million photos and original illustrations.

A small selection of that massive archive — 240 pieces spanning from the late 1800s to the present — will be sold at Christie's in December at an auction expected to bring about $3 million, the first time any of the institution's collection has been sold.

The Penn Museum is unwrapping the mystery of mummy conservation, giving the public an unusual close-up of researchers' efforts to preserve relics from ancient Egypt.

Human and animal mummies, as well as an intricately inscribed coffin, are among the items undergoing treatment and repair at the Philadelphia institution's newly installed Artifact Lab.

ABC and Tom Hanks are apologizing after the actor let slip a swear word during a live appearance on "Good Morning America."

Hanks telegraphed his "f-bomb" during an interview Friday. Anchor Elizabeth Vargas had asked him to speak in his character's British accent in the movie "Cloud Atlas." Hanks said that it was "mostly swear words," but Vargas told him to go ahead anyway.

Human rights groups in Greece are accusing the government of subjecting asylum seekers to a "degrading and illegal" application process that aims to discourage them from formally requesting state protection.

Fourteen local rights groups said Friday that refugees from war zones, including Syria, and other repressive regimes are effectively unable to file for asylum because Greece's main processing center in Athens accepts as few as 20 applications each week. They issued a 50-page report criticizing the process that they are sending to the European Union.

Former England goalkeeper Chris Kirkland was punched to the ground by a pitch invader amid violent scenes in a second-tier League Championship match between Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds on Friday, bringing further shame at the end of a difficult week for English football.

Kirkland had just conceded a 77th-minute equalizer as Leeds came back to draw 1-1 in the Yorkshire derby at Hillsborough when a man ran onto the pitch from the Leeds supporters' end and struck the 31-year-old keeper in the face. Kirkland received treatment before continuing the match.

Jake Finkbonner was so close to death after flesh-eating bacteria infected him through a cut on his lip that his parents had last rites performed and were discussing donating the 5-year-old's tiny organs.

Jake's 2006 cure from the infection was deemed medically inexplicable by the Vatican, the "miracle" needed to propel a 17th century Native American, Kateri Tekakwitha, on to sainthood. Kateri will be canonized on Sunday along with six other people, the first Native American to receive the honor.