New Yorkers who turned to electronic cigarettes to keep smoking in restaurants, offices or even libraries are down to their last few puffs in such places.

The City Council's voted 43-8 Thursday to include e-cigarettes in the ban on smoking in public indoor places. Outgoing Mayor Michael Bloomberg is expected to sign the measure. The ban would then take effect in four months.

Ariad Pharmaceuticals has received approval to relaunch its leukemia drug Iclusig after addressing safety concerns raised by U.S. regulators in October.

Company shares jumped more than 20 percent.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was welcomed Saturday with Christmas songs sung by children who lost their homes as he toured a central Philippine city devastated by a super typhoon that killed more than 6,100 people last month.

Ban flew to Tacloban on central Leyte island after meeting President Benigno Aquino III and other officials in Manila to discuss recovery efforts.

Luis Suarez has signed a new long-term contract with Liverpool.

The 26-year-old Uruguayan joined the club in January 2011 and is the top scorer in the Premier League this season with 17 goals in 11 starts.

Harry Potter is coming to the stage.

J.K. Rowling says she is working on a play about the boy wizard's life before he attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Negotiators failed Friday to reach an agreement on whether Iran should be invited to Syria peace talks in Switzerland next month, but Tehran is not yet "off the list", global peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said.

"On Iran, we haven't agreed yet. It's no secret that we in the United Nations welcome the participation of Iran, but our partners in the United States are still not convinced that Iran's participation would be the right thing," Brahimi told reporters after talks with U.S. and Russian officials.

Finding a knockoff version of the fur you want under the Christmas tree would ordinarily be a disappointment.

Not this year.

San Antonio's Tiago Splitter tipped in a rebound with 2.1 seconds left to give the Spurs to a 104-102 victory over Golden State on Tuesday, taking a valuable win that came in the absence of their experienced star trio.

In the day's other game, Oklahoma City extended its winning streak to eight games with a 107-95 win over Chicago.

German sprinter Andre Greipel will start his ProTour cycling season at the Tour Down Under in January, hoping to add to his 14 stage victories in an Australian race that he has already won twice.

Tour director Mike Turtur said Friday that Greipel will ride for Belgian team Lotto Belisol. Greipel won the race in 2008 and 2010, and claimed three stage wins this year — including his 100th stage victory as a professional.

Brazilian authorities have detained 19 people for their alleged involvement in fan violence that marked the final round of the Brazilian league this month, with some of them likely to be charged with attempted murder.

Police in three states had arrest warrants for nearly 30 people in a joint operation being called "Red Card," with detentions made throughout the day on Thursday.