A research firm says U.S. retail sales of new video game hardware, software and accessories fell 25 percent in October.

The drop marks the 11th straight month of declining sales for physical game products. Many gamers are waiting for big holiday releases such as Activision Blizzard Inc.'s "Call of Duty: Black Ops II."

Students from Florida International University in Miami walked on water Thursday for a class assignment.

To do it, they wore aquatic shoes they designed and created.

San Francisco is preparing to become the first U.S. city to provide and cover the cost of sex reassignment surgeries for uninsured transgender residents.

The city's Health Commission voted Tuesday to create a comprehensive program for treating transgender people experiencing mental distress because of the mismatch between their bodies and their gender identities. San Francisco already provides transgender residents with hormones, counseling and routine health services, but has stopped short of offering surgical interventions, Public Health Director Barbara Garcia said Thursday after the vote was announced.

An experimental malaria vaccine once thought promising is turning out to be a disappointment, with a new study showing it is only about 30 percent effective at protecting infants from the killer disease.

That is a significant drop from a study last year done in slightly older children, which suggested the vaccine cut the malaria risk by about half — though that is still far below the protection provided from most vaccines. According to details released on Friday, the three-shot regimen reduced malaria cases by about 30 percent in infants aged 6 to 12 weeks, the target age for immunization.

Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant put in a strong fourth-quarter performance to guide the Thunder to a 97-91 victory at the Chicago Bulls on Thursday.

Durant scored 10 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter, sealing the win with an off-balance jumper off one foot with 35.1 seconds to play.

The annual United Nations charity match featuring former World Cup winners Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane will be played in Brazil.

The 2013 "Match Against Poverty" will take place in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre on December19 at Gremio's brand new arena.

Jack Wilshere is back in the England squad for the friendly next week against Sweden after being out of contention since last year because of various injuries.

The Arsenal midfielder was called up Thursday despite club manager Arsene Wenger urging caution about how the midfielder is used because he has only just returned to action.

On an indoor court, Roger Federer can win even when he's not playing his best.

He proved that again Thursday at the ATP finals, beating David Ferrer 6-4, 7-6 (5) and advancing to the semifinals with a group match to spare despite struggling to land his serve and scrambling to stay in the long rallies.

Inter Milan and Lyon were among the six teams to qualify for the Europa League's knockout stage on Thursday but defending champion Atletico Madrid was made to wait after its 16-match winning run in European competition was ended.

Liverpool's qualification hopes took a dive by losing 1-0 at wealthy Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala in Group A while Uruguay striker Edinson Cavani produced the best individual performance of the round, scoring all four of Napoli's goals in a 4-2 win over Dnipro to revive the Italian team's challenge in Group F.

He already has a billion followers.

Now, Pope Benedict XVI will join the Twitter-sphere, tweeting from a personal account along with the world's celebrities, leaders and ordinary folk.