It could be the muffled sound of singing in the shower or that sing-songy indecipherable voice from the Muppets' Swedish Chef.

Surprisingly, scientists said the audio they captured was a whale imitating people. In fact, the whale song sounded so eerily human that divers initially thought it was a human voice.

The Walt Disney Co. is defending its newest princess following a backlash over her Hispanic-influenced ethnicity.

A new character named Sofia will star in the TV movie "Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess" airing Nov. 18 on the Disney Channel and Disney Junior. Hispanic advocacy groups have questioned whether the fair-skinned, blue-eyed young princess is an accurate representation of the Hispanic population and wondered why Disney isn't doing more to promote its first princess with Hispanic-inspired roots.

The debt burden of the 17 countries that use the euro rose to 90 percent of the value of its economy at the end of the second quarter, in spite of efforts by many of the countries to cut back on their spending.

The rise reported Wednesday by Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, from the previous quarter's 88.2 percent provides further evidence that stalling economic growth is making it harder for eurozone countries to handle their debts.

Nintendo Co. trimmed its red ink for the fiscal first half to a 28 billion yen ($350 million) loss, but the Japanese game maker lowered its sales and profit forecasts for the full year ahead of the launch of its new Wii U home console.

Nintendo, which did not break down quarterly results, had reported a 70 billion yen loss for the April-September period last year.

Samsung Electronics Co. said Wednesday it expects 10 percent growth in PC sales by volume this year as it bets on new PCs that are hybrids of laptops and tablets to lift sluggish PC demand.

Samsung's PC team chief said the company hopes the ATIV series of laptops and tablets, which are powered by a new version of Microsoft's Windows operating system, would help lift its sales at a difficult time for the PC industry.

A Russian spacecraft surged into clear skies over the Central Asian steppe Tuesday, carrying a three-man crew on their way to the International Space Station.

The engines of the Soyuz TMA-06M sent a powerful roar across the tinder-dry countryside of southern Kazakhstan as scheduled in the afternoon to deliver NASA astronaut Kevin Ford and Russians Oleg Novitsky and Yevgeny Tarelkin to the orbiting laboratory.

In Facebook's second quarter as a publicly traded company, the world's largest social media site is juggling the challenge of growing its advertising revenue while maintaining the loyalty of more than 1 billion users.

Facebook is expected to report earnings of 11 cents per share on revenue of $1.23 billion after the market closes Tuesday, according to FactSet. The Menlo Park, Calif., company has not provided investors with any financial guidance.

An Austrian artist has installed a one-way mirror in a Vienna cafe that allows men to peek from their restroom into the ladies room.

Alexander Riegler told the daily Heute newspaper Monday that the mirror is an attempt to "stir people into a discussion of voyeurism and surveillance," in an era when almost everyone is being watched.

Britney Spears' former self-styled manager is set to take the stand in his lawsuit against the superstar's parents as he goes after a share of her millions in earnings.

Sam Lutfi was expected to testify when court resumes Tuesday in his acrimonious defamation suit against her parents.

Hollywood warmed up for its awards season with a love fest that recognized top actors and directors for films that haven't been released yet.

Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper, director David O. Russell and writer-director Quentin Tarantino were among the honorees Monday at the 16th annual Hollywood Film Awards, which bills itself as "the official launch of awards season." The event recognizes films that are likely positioned as awards contenders, such as Tarantino's anticipated "Django Unchained."