David Stern is soon on his way to the Philippines and Taiwan. After that, it's off to Beijing and Shanghai.

His final months as commissioner are the NBA's boldest yet when it comes to playing internationally, and he thinks bringing the league around the globe will remain important long after he's left office in February.

Li Na kept alive local hopes of a first homegrown champion in the China Open when she reached the quarterfinals with a tough 7-5, 6-4 win over Sabine Lisicki of Germany on Wednesday.

Also, 2005 champion Rafael Nadal edged Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-4, 7-6 (3) to move into the third round.

When Steve Nash was a Canadian teenager moving down to California to accept his only university scholarship offer 21 years ago, he never could have imagined his remarkable NBA career would lead to the dubious honor he's getting this fall.

The Los Angeles Lakers' 39-year-old point guard is the oldest player in the NBA. And it isn't an achievement that's going on the mantel next to his two NBA Most Valuable Player trophies.

A Jamaican disciplinary panel gave three-time Olympic gold medalist Veronica Campbell-Brown a public warning Wednesday and cleared her to return to competition some five months after she returned a positive doping test on the Caribbean island.

Campbell-Brown, one of the cornerstones of Jamaica's recent sprinting success, returned a positive test for a banned diuretic at the Jamaica International Invitational meet in May. She was suspended from competition while the disciplinary committee reviewed the case and missed Jamaica's national championships to try and qualify for this summer's worlds in Moscow.

Formula One team Marussia has extended its contract with driver Jules Bianchi through the 2014 season.

Marussia announced Thursday, ahead of this weekend's Korean Grand Prix, that the Frenchman would be retained.

A suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into the compound of a rival militant commander in northwest Pakistan on Thursday, killing 15 people, a government official said.

The commander, Nabi Hanfi, was not present at the time of the attack, said Wajid Khan, a local government administrator. Hanfi has been battling the Pakistani Taliban in the Orakzai tribal area where the bombing occurred.

European regulators appeared to be nearing a settlement with Google in their probe over whether the Internet search-and-advertising giant is unfairly stifling competition.

Joaquin Almunia, the top antitrust official at the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, said there had been a "significant improvement" in the concessions Google was willing to make in order to avoid a fine. The Commission has been investigating Google since 2010 over complaints that it gives undue preference to its own services in search results and negotiates unfair advertising deals.

Amazon's new Kindle Fire HDX tablet resembles Google's Nexus 7 in many ways — from its light weight to its sharp display. Both tablets run a version of Google's Android operating system, and they even have the same starting price of $229.

The similarities end when you turn them on.

In an age when we're able to consume content so many different ways — and that's a good thing, mostly — let's declare right now that there's only one truly correct way to experience "Gravity," Alfonso Cuaron's thrilling new space film.

In a theater. On a huge screen. And in 3-D. Yes, even for all you 3-D naysayers — we hear you, but this is the movie you HAVE to see in 3-D.

Now that the dust (and ricin) have settled from Sunday's "Breaking Bad" finale, it's worth considering what makes a drama series' exit good or bad.

As much as fans may miss "Breaking Bad," they were able to bid farewell satisfied that it met its obligations at the end no less than it did every week from the first episode.