Brazil champion Fluminense hired coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo on Tuesday to try to put the team back on track after five straight losses in the Brazilian league.

The signing of the former Brazil and Real Madrid coach was announced a day after Abel Braga was fired following a 2-0 loss to Gremio, a result that left the team in the relegation zone with only nine points from as many matches.

Indian Grand Prix organizers say the removal of the race from next year's Formula One calendar is part of a switch in schedule and not because of teams' unhappiness with the country's taxation regulations.

The third edition of the Indian Grand Prix is scheduled for Oct. 27 at the Buddha International Circuit near New Delhi but organizers have been told there will be no race in 2014 as part of an expected switch to being an early-season race in March 2015.

Blasts echo in the distance as two longtime friends and neighbors sit along a narrow street in old Damascus chatting about Syria, when one of them calls the civil war raging in their home country a "crisis."

"It is called a revolution!" the other shouts. "If you are one of those who believe in a foreign conspiracy, then move away from here," roars the man, whose son has been detained by regime forces for nine months for taking part in pro-democracy protests.

An entire province in the Philippines has been plunged into darkness after the national power grid operator cut off supply because of accumulated debt of $93 million.

The blackout that started Tuesday surprised residents of Albay province in the central Philippines, which is home to 1.2 million people.

Two married actors from the CW series "The Vampire Diaries" are splitting up.

Paul Wesley, who plays vampire Stefan Salvatore, is ending his marriage to Torrey DeVitto after two years of marriage. They have no children.

Crisis-weary Zimbabweans flocked to vote Wednesday in a crunch election marked by accusations of rigging by President Robert Mugabe's allies to extend his 33-year rule.

Counting was due to begin shortly after polls began closing in the knife-edge race between Mugabe and his longtime political rival Morgan Tsvangirai.

An original manuscript of a poem written by Edgar Allan Poe has sold for $300,000 at an auction in Massachusetts.

The Standard Times of New Bedford reports that the handwritten poem with Poe's signature was purchased Saturday in Marion, about 50 miles south of Boston, by a collector who was given 10 days to verify its authenticity.

German prosecutors filed tax evasion charges against Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness on Tuesday.

Hoeness reported himself to authorities earlier this year over a previously undeclared Swiss bank account. News of the case against Hoeness, long one of the most prominent figures in German football, emerged in April.

Poland's first face transplant patient was discharged from the hospital Tuesday, speaking with some effort at a press conference just 11 weeks after the extensive surgery that saved his life.

The 33-year-old man said he owes his doctor "everything" following a skin-and-bone transplant on May 15, three weeks after losing his nose, upper jaw and cheeks in an accident at the brick factory where he worked. Doctors say it was the world's fastest time frame for such an operation.

BMW AG is showing off the production model of its new i3 electric compact that uses carbon-fiber materials to keep the weight down and improve driving performance.

CEO Norbert Reithofer stressed at a New York unveiling that the car was designed as an electric from the ground up. The i3 is "born electric," he said.