Elton John is canceling three Las Vegas performances on doctors' orders after being hospitalized with a respiratory infection.

Officials with Caesars Entertainment say the Thursday, Saturday and Sunday performances of "The Million Dollar Piano" are being cancelled.

As one diplomatic effort after another fails to end more than a year of brutal violence in Syria, the Obama administration is preparing a plan that would essentially give U.S. nods of approval to arms transfers from Arab nations to some Syrian opposition fighters.

The effort, U.S. officials told The Associated Press, would vet members of the Free Syrian Army and other groups to determine whether they are suitable recipients of munitions to fight the Assad government and to ensure that weapons don't wind up in the hands of al-Qaida-linked terrorists or Hizbullah that could target Israel.

The race for the 2020 Olympics will come down to a contest between Madrid, Tokyo, and Istanbul after the IOC trimmed the field Wednesday, once again rejecting Doha's bid to take the games to tiny Qatar.

Doha and Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, were eliminated as the International Olympic Committee settled on a shortlist of three finalists. Both cities also failed to make the cut for the 2016 Games.

When Sebastian Vettel headed to the Monaco Grand Prix last season, all the talk was of how quickly the Red Bull driver would wrap up the Formula One championship.

It could not be more different this year, with the two-time defending champion tied with two-time former champion Fernando Alonso of Spain and seven drivers within 20 points of each other in one of the most wide-open seasons for years.

The Brazilian government insisted Wednesday it's not worried with the pace of preparations for the 2014 World Cup even though it announced that only five percent of all the planned projects have been completed.

With about two years left before the World Cup, the government said 41 percent of the infrastructure work across the country has yet to start, and 15 percent of those projects are still in the planning stages.

Kanye West showed off his short film and his celebrity girlfriend in Cannes.

The rapper walked hand in hand with Kim Kardashian at the launch of "Cruel Summer" on Wednesday night.

Phillip Phillips, a bluesy Georgia guitar man, was crowned the new "American Idol" on Wednesday after defeating teenager Jessica Sanchez in record viewer voting. He was the fifth male "Idol" winner in a row.

Phillips, 21, a pawn shop worker from Leesburg, Ga., looked stunned when host Ryan Seacrest announced his name, then wordlessly accepted a hug from Sanchez and congratulations from his fellow finalists.

Google has completed its $12.5 billion purchase of device maker Motorola Mobility in a deal that poses new challenges for the Internet's most powerful company as it tries to shape the future of mobile computing.

The deal closed Tuesday, nine months after Google Inc. made a surprise announcement that it wanted to expand into the hardware business with the most expensive and riskiest acquisition in its 14-year history. The purchase pushes Google deeper into the cellphone business, a market it entered four years ago with the debut of its Android software, now the chief challenger to Apple Inc.'s iPhones.

Regulators are examining whether Morgan Stanley, the investment bank that shepherded Facebook through its highly publicized stock offering last week, selectively informed clients of an analyst's negative report about the company before the stock started trading.

Rick Ketchum, the head of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the self-policing body for the securities industry, said Tuesday that the question is "a matter of regulatory concern" for his organization and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Opening a new, entrepreneurial era in spaceflight, a ship built by a billionaire businessman sped toward the International Space Station with a load of groceries and other supplies after a spectacular middle-of-the-night blastoff.

The launch of the Falcon 9 rocket and its unmanned Dragon capsule marked the first time a commercial spacecraft has been sent to the orbiting outpost.