Beyonce has settled a lawsuit that said she didn't play fair in a deal for a video game structured around her.

Court records show the case was closed Friday after the Grammy Award-winning singer and Gate Five LLC agreed to drop it.

Wrinkled and skinny at first, the translucent, jellyfish-shaped balloons that Google released this week from a frozen field in the heart of New Zealand's South Island hardened into shiny pumpkins as they rose into the blue winter skies above Lake Tekapo, passing the first big test of a lofty goal to get the entire planet online.

It was the culmination of 18 months' work on what Google calls Project Loon, in recognition of how wacky the idea may sound. Developed in the secretive X lab that came up with a driverless car and web-surfing eyeglasses, the flimsy helium-filled inflatables beam the Internet down to earth as they sail past on the wind.

Parking is such a precious commodity in Boston that one woman was willing to pay $560,000 for two off-street spaces near her home.

Lisa Blumenthal won the spots in the city's Back Bay neighborhood during an on-site auction Thursday held in a steady rain by the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS had seized the spots from a man who owed back taxes.

Roger Federer blew past Mischa Zverev 6-0, 6-0 to reach the Gerry Weber Open semifinals on Friday, teaching a painful lesson to a player trying to serve and volley on grass.

Federer will play defending champion Tommy Haas, who beat him in last year's final. The German came from behind to beat Gael Monfils 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-3.

Manchester City has hired Manuel Pellegrini as the club's new manager to replace the fired Roberto Mancini.

The 59-year-old Chilean has been courted for months by City following impressive spells in Spain with Villarreal and Malaga.

The commander of the main Western-backed rebel group fighting in Syria said Friday he hoped that U.S. weapons will be in the hands of rebels in the near future, saying it will boost the morale of the fighters on the ground.

The comments by Gen. Salim Idris to Al-Arabiya TV followed a decision by President Barack Obama to authorize sending weapons to Syrian rebels, marking a deepening of U.S. involvement in Syria's two-year civil war.

Syrian troops and rebels fought the heaviest battles in months Friday Aleppo, Syria's largest city, a day after U.S. officials said Washington has authorized sending weapons to opposition fighters for the first time.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the clashes concentrated in the eastern rebel-held neighborhood of Sakhour, calling the fighting "the most violent in months." It said troops attacked the neighborhood from two directions but failed to advance, suffering casualties.

The head of Europe's bailout fund says the region should eventually aim to do without help from the International Monetary Fund.

Klaus Regling's comments in Friday's edition of Germany's daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung add to recent hints from other European policymakers that the bloc should aim to handle future emergencies on its own.

Something was clearly wrong with Tiger Woods in the opening round of the U.S. Open and it showed every time he had to deal with the treacherous high grass at Merion.

It therefore appeared merciful when play was halted for darkness Thursday evening with Woods at 2 over through 10 holes.

David Warner heaped more embarrassment on Australia's embattled cricket team ahead of the Ashes when the hot-headed batsman was suspended Thursday and fined for the second time in a month after punching England player Joe Root in the face in an alcohol-fueled late-night bar incident.

Warner escaped being sent home in disgrace from the tour of England and can return from his ban in time to play in the first Ashes test at Trent Bridge in Nottingham, starting July 10.