The price of oil fell Wednesday, dragged down by expectations of rising crude inventories and a further cut in U.S. central bank stimulus.

Benchmark U.S. crude for March delivery was down 14 cents to $97.27 a barrel at 0510 GMT in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract surged 1.8 percent or $1.69 to close at $97.41 a barrel on Tuesday.

Arsenal's title push was slowed by a draw at Southampton, Liverpool humbled neighbor Everton and Robin van Persie made a goal-scoring return from injury for Manchester United on a lively night in the Premier League on Tuesday.

Arsenal clung on to a 2-2 draw at Southampton with 10 men after Mathieu Flamini was sent off in the 80th minute for a two-footed tackle.

Kobe Bryant is expected to miss the NBA All-Star game due to continued pain and swelling in his injured left knee.

The Los Angeles Lakers provided an injury update Tuesday, saying the superstar guard will be out for at least three more weeks before he is re-examined. Bryant was voted a starter in the All-Star game in New Orleans on February 16 — less than three weeks away.

From tablecloths to duvet covers, iPhone cases to wallpaper and startling calf-skin wall hangings, the ancient Japanese resist-dying technique of shibori has gone mainstream. Vera Wang, Ralph Lauren, Eileen Fisher, Levi's and innumerable fiber artists are breathing new life into the craft.

"The stillness and beauty of it really centers me," said Oriana DiNella, who recently launched her own Web-based shibori line, including linen tableware, pillows and throws — and large leather wall hangings — all made to order and hand-dyed in organic indigo.

Red Bull has unveiled the car it hopes Sebastian Vettel will steer to a fifth consecutive Formula One world championship, adapting to a major switch to six-cylinder engines.

Four-time defending world champion Vettel and new teammate Daniel Ricciardo pulled the tarp off the RB10 on Tuesday at the Jerez circuit, just before the start of preseason testing on Tuesday. They then posed for photos with team boss Christian Horner and chief designer Adrian Newey.

India's top competitor at the upcoming Winter Olympics in Sochi says not being able to compete under the national flag because of a political dispute will not harm his performance.

"In my heart and mind I'm competing for India," luge competitor Shiva Kesavan told The Associated Press in an email interview. "Every day I'm flooded with messages from Indians all over the world telling me they are supporting me. This is enough to push me forward."

Mohamed Salah, Chelsea's new signing from Basel, has been named best player of 2013 at the Swiss Football League awards.

The Egypt midfielder was also voted the fans' favorite player.

Documents leaked by former NSA contactor Edward Snowden suggest that spy agencies have a powerful ally in Angry Birds and a host of other apps installed on smartphones across the globe.

The documents, published Monday by The New York Times, the Guardian, and ProPublica, suggest that the mapping, gaming, and social networking apps which are a common feature of the world's estimated 1 billion smartphones can feed America's National Security Agency and Britain's GCHQ with huge amounts of personal data, including location information and details such as political affiliation or sexual orientation.

Google Glass is getting glasses.

Google is adding prescription frames and new styles of detachable sunglasses to its computerized, Internet-connected goggles known as Glass.

Quentin Tarantino sued the news and gossip website Gawker on Monday over a post that directed readers to a leaked copy of the Oscar-winning screenwriter's latest movie.

Tarantino's lawsuit accuses Gawker Media LLC of contributory copyright infringement for posting a link to the 146-page script for a planned film titled "The Hateful Eight" last week. A link to the script was posted on Gawker's Defamer blog and remained active Monday afternoon, despite demands from Tarantino's lawyers to take it down, the lawsuit states.