Syria's embattled leader, Bashar Assad, appears to be losing one of his last bastions of reliable support: the Druze Arab community in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

In the snow-covered villages of this strategic highland, Druze are quietly breaking a long-standing code of silence and — for the first time since Israel captured the Golan from Syria in 1967 — holding protests against the Syrian government for its brutal crackdown on opponents. Anti-Syria graffiti has sprouted up, and hundreds of people have joined a Golan-linked Facebook group critical of Assad.

The vice president is hitting the road — to what the White House wrote as "Road Island," mistakenly spelled R-O-A-D instead of R-H-O-D-E.

A release outlining Joe Biden's plans for the week showed him traveling to Providence in misspelled "Road Island" on Thursday for a campaign event. The vice president is scheduled to visit Boston and Manchester, N.H., on the same day. No misspellings there.

Malaysia has banned a nearly 30-year-old sex education book written by a British author following complaints by Muslim activists that it is obscene.

The Home Ministry said Wednesday that Peter Mayle's "Where Did I Come From?" contains "elements that undermine societal morals and public interests."

The prime minister's top spokesman has resigned six months into the job, Israeli media reported Wednesday, injecting new turmoil into Benjamin Netanyahu's troubled bureau shortly before an important White House visit.

Israeli newspapers, TV and radio stations reported that Yoaz Hendel quit after Netanyahu criticized the way he handled suspicions against the prime minister's chief of staff Natan Eshel, who was forced out this week over a sexual harassment scandal.

Sony is intensifying its push in handheld gaming with a gadget aimed at hardcore players looking for something with a bit more punch than "Angry Birds," ''Words With Friends" and other smartphone pastimes.

The PlayStation Vita, already available in Japan, debuts in the U.S. and Europe on Wednesday. A basic, Wi-Fi version will retail at $250, while one that can access 3G cellular networks will go for $300 plus monthly service fees from AT&T.

Russia's top search engine Yandex has teamed up with Twitter to allow the Russian firm to show the full feed of all public Twitter posts.

New York-listed Yandex said in a statement Tuesday that the deal will give it full access to all tweets except for private ones.

English speakers got their moment in the Carnival sun on Monday as a wild, Beatles-themed street party let them shake it up, baby, with a samba swing to "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da."

"Sargento Pimenta," Portuguese for "Sergeant Pepper," is one of more than 400 raucous street parties that spring up throughout Rio de Janeiro during Carnival season. Hundreds of thousands of people turn out for the largest of the "blocos," packed, sweaty open-air dance parties where the crowd sings along to a repetitive medley of Carnival songs — usually in Portuguese, of course.

Sarah Burton, creative director of the Alexander McQueen fashion house, tried Monday to create an enchanted forest in the center of London for the debut offering of the McQ line, aimed at younger, less affluent buyers.

The catwalk was covered with fallen leaves, and a realistic forest was created at one end of the hall at the Old Sorting Office in central London.

Chris Brown and Rihanna are back together, musically speaking.

Two songs featuring the singers hit the Internet on Monday. Brown sings on the remix of Rihanna's sexually charged song "Birthday Cake," and she's on the remix of his upbeat tune "Turn Up the Music."

Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki has moved into the top 20 on the NBA career scoring list.

Nowitzki moved into 20th on the list Monday with seven points in the first quarter in a game against Boston.