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.

A Silicon Valley software executive put fake bar codes on Lego sets at various Target stores, bought the toys at a steep discount, then sold them online for thousands of dollars, authorities said.

Thomas Langenbach, 47, appeared in court Tuesday on four felony counts of burglary that could net him up to five years in prison if convicted. He did not enter a plea.

A Channel Islands auction house says it's selling a vial that allegedly contains blood residue from Ronald Reagan — a move denounced Tuesday by the late U.S. president's family and his foundation.

The vial being auctioned online was used by the laboratory that tested Reagan's blood when he was treated at George Washington University hospital after a 1981 assassination attempt in Washington, the PFCAuctions house said.

Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, warned on Wednesday that the conflict in Syria could spread to Lebanon and “end very badly.”

Speaking in a televised news conference, Lavrov said that there is "a tangible threat" of the Syrian uprising spilling over to Lebanon which "could end very badly."