When a woman's pickup stalled on a street in Santa Fe, New Mexico, local chef Jackson Ault stopped to lend a hand.

Ault and the driver both ended up with a surprise Thursday when Ault popped the hood and found a brown and yellow python slithering across the engine block.

The solar panels that Idaho inventor Scott Brusaw has built aren't meant for rooftops. They are meant for roads, driveways, parking lots, bike trails and, eventually, highways.

Brusaw, an electrical engineer, says the hexagon-shaped panels can withstand the wear and tear that comes from inclement weather and vehicles, big and small, to generate electricity.

Given that David Rees has written a book on how to sharpen a pencil, he seems the perfect choice to host a new National Geographic Channel series that elevates mundane activities into the subject of deep investigation.

So, for those inclined, Rees' "Going Deep" over the next two months will tell more than you ever thought you could know about digging a hole, tying a shoe, making ice cubes, shaking hands or throwing a paper airplane.

Bobby Brown is leaving a reunion tour with the group New Edition to focus on his health.

A spokeswoman for the R&B group said group members Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, Ronnie DeVoe, Johnny Gill and Ralph Tresvant wish the 45-year-old singer a speedy recovery. No other details were provided.

Robert Redford will play Dan Rather in a film about the former CBS anchor's disputed report about President George W. Bush's National Guard service.

The film, titled "Truth," will be adapted from the memoir "Truth And Duty: The Press, The President, And The Privilege Of Power" by former CBS producer Mary Mapes, said the production company, Mythology Entertainment. Cate Blanchett is signed on to play Mapes.

Beyonce and Jay Z will co-star in an HBO concert special, and Queen Latifah will play legendary blues singer Bessie Smith in a movie for the network.

The music special will feature the married couple on their "On the Run Tour" performing in Paris. It will tape Sept. 12 and 13 at the Stade de France, featuring the superstars performing more than 40 songs, the network announced. It will air in September.

A Japanese politician who was seen sobbing over dubious spending in a video that went viral resigned Friday.

The local legislative assembly accepted the resignation of Ryutaro Nonomura, but also decided to pursue criminal charges against him.

U.S. officials on Thursday turned over to the Mongolian government enough 80 million-year-old dinosaur skeletons to stock a museum, including two relics of a kind of dinosaur that a prosecutor said "memorably stampeded" in a Hollywood movie.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said the fossilized remains of more than 18 dinosaurs recovered by federal authorities were transferred after a ceremony attended by Mongolia's ambassador to the United Nations.

A fugitive treasure hunter's company has lost its bid to stop deep-sea explorers from bringing up gold and other artifacts from a ship that sank off the South Carolina coast in 1857 and has been the subject of legal fights for nearly 30 years.

In a ruling Wednesday, federal Judge Rebecca Beach Smith declared that an Ohio company, Recovery Limited Partnership, has the salvage rights to the ship, the SS Central America.

Real Madrid says former captain Fernando Hierro will replace Zinedine Zidane as assistant to coach Carlo Ancelotti.

Hierro returns to Madrid 11 years after surprisingly exiting alongside former coach Vicente del Bosque. The former defender made 601 appearances for Madrid, scoring 127 goals and winning the Champions League three times. He also earned 89 caps for Spain.