After a frustrating start to the season, Fernando Alonso retains high hopes of clawing back his 30-point gap on Formula One championship leader Sebastian Vettel starting at this week's Spanish Grand Prix.

The two-time world champion has drifted down to fourth place after four races. But the Spaniard feels that for the first time in years Ferrari has a car good enough to dictate the race to Red Bull, rather than waiting for opportunities and slip-ups from his main rival.

A team of smokejumpers parachuting into a fire in the mountains of Southern Oregon landed in an illegal marijuana garden being prepared for growing season.

The six smokejumpers found the site Monday evening, when there was a rash of lightning strikes.

The slippery blue clay may be gone, but the Madrid Open continues to produce surprises.

Second-ranked Roger Federer was ousted by Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 in Thursday's third round, leaving Rafael Nadal as the either the clear front-runner for the title or the next big name who should be wary of an upset.

Ronaldinho seems to be thriving again just at the right time.

The two-time world player of the year significantly increased his chances of making Brazil's squad for next month's Confederations Cup after a superb performance in the Copa Libertadores.

Muneera al-Shatti has loved playing basketball since she was a child but it wasn't until Thursday that she had chance to show off her skills at a public arena in Kuwait.

As part of a new initiative launching sports leagues for women, al-Shatti and her teammates from Salwa Al-Sabah club downed Qadsiya club 63-13 in a game that attracted several hundred men and female fans. The initiative to launch basketball, table tennis and athletic leagues for the first time in Kuwait illustrates how the landscape for women athletes is improving across the Persian Gulf where hard-liners have long opposed women playing sports.

As a theater and film producer, Bill Kenwright knows a story when he sees it.

In his other life, as chairman of English Premier League club Everton, he has experienced a pretty special one close up.

The Vatican's culture minister says Mexico's folk Death Saint is a blasphemous symbol that shouldn't be part of any religion.

Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi says worshiping such an icon is a degeneration of religion.

Authorities are investigating whether one of China's top film directors fathered seven children in violation of the country's strict family planning laws, state media and a local official said Thursday.

Reports circulated online this week that Zhang Yimou, director of "The Flowers of War" starring Christian Bale and also known as the architect of the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics, has seven children from his two marriages and from relationships with two other women.

When Michael Gore stands, it's a triumph of science and engineering. Eleven years ago, Gore was paralyzed from the waist down in a workplace accident, yet he rises from his wheelchair and walks across the room with help from a lightweight wearable robot.

The technology has many nicknames. Besides "wearable robot," the inventions also are called "electronic legs" or "powered exoskeletons." This version, called Indego, is among several competing products being used and tested in U.S. rehab hospitals that hold promise not only for people such as Gore with spinal injuries, but also those recovering from strokes or afflicted with multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy.

Colombian superstar Shakira is learning how to balance her demanding work schedule with being a new mom one day at a time.

"It's part of motherhood you know," she said of juggling personal and professional life. "You got to figure it out as you go."