The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved a first-of-its-kind diabetes drug from Johnson & Johnson that uses a new method to lower blood sugar — flushing it out in patients' urine.

The agency cleared J&J's Invokana tablets for adults with Type 2 diabetes. The once-a-day medication works by blocking the kidneys from reabsorbing sugar, which occurs at higher levels in patients with diabetes than in healthy patients. Regulators highlighted the drug as the first in a new class of medications that could help address the growing U.S. diabetes epidemic.

It's back.

The virtual reality headset, the gizmo that was supposed to seamlessly transport wearers to three-dimensional virtual worlds, has made a remarkable return at this year's Game Developers Conference, an annual gathering of video game makers in San Francisco.

Protests by the unemployed in southern Algeria are raising the specter of rising unrest in the country's sensitive oil regions, and are increasingly attracting the attention of al-Qaida.

Algeria's vast, sparsely populated Sahara only holds 10 percent of the country's population but it is home to this North African country's enormous oil and gas reserves — the basis of the entire economy and the source of the government's power. Those who live there claim they aren't benefiting from that wealth, and can't get jobs with the oil companies.

Pope Francis reached out in friendship to "so many Muslim brothers and sisters" during a Good Friday procession dedicated to the suffering of Christians from terrorism, war and religious fanaticism in the Middle East.

The new pontiff, who has rankled traditionalists by rejecting many trappings of his office, mostly stuck to the traditional script during the nighttime Way of the Cross procession at Rome's Colosseum, one of the most dramatic rituals of Holy Week.

Marilyn Monroe's letter of despair to mentor Lee Strasberg, and Dwight D. Eisenhower's heartfelt missives to his wife during World War II are among hundreds of historical documents being offered in an online auction. Also included is a draft letter from John Lennon to Linda and Paul McCartney around the time of the breakup of the Beatles.

Monroe's handwritten, undated letter to the famed acting teacher is expected to fetch $30,000 to $50,000 in the May 30 sale.

Internet search leader Google is taking another step beyond information retrieval into grocery delivery.

The new service, called Google Shopping Express, will initially provide same-day delivery of food and other products bought online by a small group of consumers in San Francisco and suburbs located south of the city.

French President Francois Hollande has backed off a push to arm Syrian rebels amid turmoil within Syria's opposition and concerns the weapons could fall into extremist hands.

France has been pressuring European Union partners to lift an arms embargo against Syria to be able to provide the rebels with firepower against President Bashar Assad's military.

European scientists are criticizing a decision by Italy's government to allow a handful of children to be treated in public hospitals with an experimental stem cell therapy.

The adult stem cell treatment was halted in May by the Italian Pharmacological Agency. But the government last week overruled the regulator after parents went to court to demand that the therapy be continued. The health ministry, citing ethical and compassionate concerns, said the therapy shouldn't be interrupted since it hadn't shown any "grave collateral effects" in the children, some of whom are terminally ill.

Maria Sharapova keeps drawing a different opponent in the Key Biscayne final, and has yet to find one she can beat.

Now she'll give it a try against Serena Williams.

Before any money changed hands, the Lebanese players were given detailed instructions on how to rig football matches. Once they'd carried out the fix, they went to a Beirut hotel to collect their reward — payments ranging from $8,000 to $12,000 per match.

The discovery last month that 24 players — including six involved in World Cup qualifying matches — had been implicated in cheating has shocked Lebanon, an Arab country of 4 million where football has helped unite the deeply divided population still recovering from 15 years of sectarian war that left the place in ruins when it ended in 1990.