Bank stocks recovered their poise Friday and helped European stock markets push higher as investors assessed the impact of a short-selling ban on financial shares in four eurozone countries.

The advance in Europe follows big gains on Wall Street Thursday, which helped support most markets in Asia.

A dull-looking chart projected on the wall of a university office in Jerusalem displayed a revelation that would startle many readers of the Old Testament: the sacred text that people revered in the past was not the same one we study today.

An ancient version of one book has an extra phrase. Another appears to have been revised to retroactively insert a prophecy after the events happened.

The weak economy is hitting Americans where they spend a lot of their free time: at the TV set.

They're canceling or forgoing cable and satellite TV subscriptions in record numbers, according to an analysis by The Associated Press of the companies' quarterly earnings reports.

They savor pizza and burgers, no longer frighten children, and many of them can walk the streets without people knowing they have someone else's cheeks, nose, lips and skin. People who have had face transplants increasingly are going public, helping to transform an operation that six years ago was daredevil theory into one that is widely accepted.

At least 18 face transplants have been done around the world, starting with a French woman mauled by her dog in November 2005, said Dr. Maria Siemionow, at Cleveland Clinic. She did the first face transplant in the U.S. in December 2008.

Some top players have shown signs of rust at the Rogers Cup, and Roger Federer was the latest.

The third-ranked Swiss star was upset by 13th-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-1 in the third round Thursday night. Federer, who turned 30 on Monday, was playing for the first time since losing to Tsonga in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon.

Internet search leader Google Inc. is bringing a little more gamesmanship to its duel with Facebook.

Just like they have been doing for years on Facebook's website, Web surfers will now be able to play games with their friends and family on Google's blossoming social networking service.

Melanie Moore flew away with the grand prize on "So You Think You Can Dance."

Viewer votes awarded the pixie-haired 19-year-old college student the title of "America's Favorite Dancer" and the $250,000 prize.

An overcrowded prison in northeastern Brazil has added a new layer of security against escapes: two geese.

Sobral prison warden Wellington Picanco tells the G1 news website the geese make a lot of noise when they sense "strange movements."

Christina Aguilera is lending her voice to a Michael Jackson tribute concert planned for October in Wales.

Organizers of "Michael Forever — The Tribute Concert" announced Thursday that Aguilera would be joined by members of the Jackson family, Cee Lo Green, Leona Lewis and the band Alien Ant Farm, which is known for its cover of Jackson's song "Smooth Criminal."

Thousands of rangers and volunteers have climbed into treetop huts near reservoirs and watering holes in Sri Lanka to carry out the island nation's first full count of its dwindling wild elephant population.

The government says the three-day census through Saturday is aimed at devising a plan to protect the elephants. But several conservation groups have boycotted the count, accusing the government of using it as a "smoke screen" for capturing and domesticating the best young animals for use in temples, tourism and labor.