North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been granted the title of marshal, state media reported Wednesday, cementing his status as the authoritarian nation's top military official as he makes key changes to the million-man force.

The decision to award Kim, who already serves as supreme commander of the Korean People's Army, was made Tuesday by the nation's top military, government and political officials, state media said in a special bulletin.

Forget videos of cute kittens or good deals on iPads. For the past few months, Google has been quietly turning its search capabilities to something far more challenging: criminals.

Drug cartels, money launderers and human traffickers run their sophisticated operations online — and Google Ideas, Google Inc.'s think tank, is working with the Council on Foreign Relations and other organizations to look for ways to use technology to disrupt international crime.

Amid a deadly war in an impoverished nation, the promise of a new professional football league is offering a glimmer of hope in Afghanistan.

Thousands of young Afghans have signed up to participate in a reality television program called "Maidan e Sabz," or "Green Field," to earn a chance to play on one of eight professional football teams being created in their homeland.

A U.S. man who learned how to use a parachute as a Navy pilot during World War II has finally made his first jump — at age 90.

Lester Slate jumped Sunday and was guided to the ground by a tandem jumper. He was accompanied by another skydiver trailing a U.S. flag.

A new study has found that YouTube is emerging as a major platform for news, one to which viewers increasingly turn for eyewitness videos in times of major events and natural disasters.

The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism on Monday released its examination of 15 months of the most popular news videos on the Google Inc.-owned site. It found that while viewership for TV news still easily outpaces those consuming news on YouTube, the video-sharing site is a growing digital environment where professional journalism mingles with citizen content.

China's official news agency has blasted U.S. lawmakers for complaining that the uniforms American athletes will wear at the London Olympics were manufactured in China.

The Xinhua News Agency on Monday called the American outcry over the made-in-China Olympic blazers "hypocritical" and "irresponsible."

On a day of sabotage in the Pyrenees, Bradley Wiggins had luck on his side as he avoided the chaos and negotiated another trouble-free stage of the Tour de France while his Sky team protected his yellow jersey.

At least 30 riders were disrupted by tire punctures at the top of the final climb after tacks and small nails were tossed on the road. Tour officials asked police to investigate.

U.S. semiconductor maker Nvidia Corp. says up to 400,000 users of its forums have had their encrypted passwords compromised in attacks dating back to early July.

It's the latest in a stream of data thefts which has hit major Internet companies over the past few weeks. Search provider Yahoo, networking sites LinkedIn and FormSpring, and dating site eHarmony have all recently reported breaches which collectively compromised the online credentials of millions of users.

Diana Rigg was crowned a queen at Comic-Con — and she wasn't even there.

The 73-year-old actress and several others were revealed Friday as joining the cast of HBO's "Game of Thrones" for the fantasy series' upcoming third season. The former star of "The Avengers" will play Olenna Tyrell, also known as the Queen of Thorns.

Syrian troops and pro-regime militias stormed and torched a southern town on Saturday, reports said, as U.N. observers visited a central village where a mass killing has provoked harsh global condemnation.

Hundreds of soldiers backed by helicopter gunships attacked Khirbet Ghazaleh in the province of Daraa -- the cradle of a 16-month uprising -- amid heavy gunfire, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.