AUSTRALIA

China launched its first aircraft carrier for a maiden run on Wednesday, a step likely to boost patriotic pride at home and jitters abroad about Beijing's naval ambitions.

In another victory for Apple's legal team, courts in Germany ruled against rival Samsung Electronics, barring it from selling its competing tablet computer in most of the European Union.

Apple has done it again - after blocking rival Samsung from selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in Australia, the technology giant managed, Monday, to get a preliminary injunction (or temporary restraining order) from a German court that prevents Samsung from selling Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the whole of Europe (excluding the Netherlands).

More than two billion people in the world live without access to clean drinking water, and recent droughts in Africa have left 12 million people without water. To aid them, French eco-entrepreneur Georges Mougin plans to harvest icebergs across the world to solve the water shortage.

Former world number one Jelena Jankovic suffered a swift exit at the Rogers Cup Monday, falling 6-1 6-3 to Germany's Julia Goerges on a day where a pair of other top seeds fell.

In 1986, Moody?s and Standard & Poor?s cut Australia?s debt rating, prompting the Canberra government to impose strict budget cuts.

The United States is unlikely to get its AAA rating back any time soon, and if Washington fails to follow through on spending cuts, the nation faces an even further downgrade, two Standard & Poor's execs said Monday.

Big Boi, a 36-year-old hiphop singer, was arrested on Sunday for the illegal possession of drugs, including ecstasy, MDMA and Viagra, as well as unspecified drug paraphernalia.

Rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West's highly anticipated collaboration, "Watch the Throne," was released at midnight Monday on iTunes in standard and deluxe forms. The album hits stores on Aug. 12, a move that was reportedly criticized by independent retailers.

Study sheds light on obesity?s effect on libido, urinary tract problems.

Australian Nancy Wake, who as a spy became one of the Allies' most decorated servicewomen for her role in the French resistance during World War II, has died in London, officials said Monday. She was 98.

It may have started out as a time-travel mystery starring dinosaurs, but Fox television now appears to be repositioning its pricey new "Terra Nova" series as a family adventure.

Lucille Ball remembered on her 100th birthday which was celebrated with around 900 Lucille lookalikes gathering in her hometown.

More than 900 red-lipsticked, redheaded women -- and men -- gathered near a "Vitameatavegamin" sign in the hometown of "I Love Lucy" star Lucille Ball to mark her 100th birthday on Saturday with a world record for most Lucy look-alikes.

In the event Monday witnesses a massive sell-off of Treasuries, bond yields would surge.

?We have total confidence in the solidity of the American economy,? Baroin told French radio.

Perhaps the downgrade was not too much of a surprise.

For more than a century, mysterious crop circles have baffled scientists and farmers with its complex patterns and sophisticated shapes.

Gold jumped more than 1 percent and metals market plunged on Friday as investors sought safe havens and fled riskier assets on worries over slowing global economic growth.

Independent filmmaker Rick Mereki has created three minute-long films about the essence of travel, titled "MOVE," "EAT," "LEARN," that have gone viral on the Web.

A look at the upcoming Grand Slam tennis tournament.