Paula Abdul, an award-winning singer, dancer, choreographer and TV personality, can add a new title to her resume: religious pilgrim.

The former "American Idol" and "The X-Factor" judge is on her first trip to Israel, where she is connecting to her Jewish roots and planning on holding a belated Bat Mitzvah — the Jewish coming of age ceremony girls typically have at age 12 or 13.

Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness will go on trial in March on tax evasion charges.

Judges decided last week to admit the indictment against Hoeness and send the case to trial, the state court in Munich said Monday. Proceedings are scheduled to start March 10.

India is aiming to join the world's deep-space pioneers with a journey to Mars that it hopes will showcase its technological ability to explore the solar system while seeking solutions for everyday problems on Earth.

With a Tuesday launch planned for Mangalyaan, which means "Mars craft" in Hindi, India will attempt to become only the fourth country or group of countries to reach the Red Planet, after the Soviet Union, United States and Europe.

A small alligator found under an escalator at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport has left authorities puzzled.

A maintenance worker discovered the alligator, which is about a foot (30 centimeters) long, on Friday in Terminal 3, Chicago Police spokesman Jose Estrada said Sunday.

A boat carrying almost 70 Rohingya Muslim refugees fleeing sectarian tensions capsized Sunday off Myanmar's coast, police said, leaving dozens missing in treacherous seas.

The boat was believed to be taking the Rohingya from Myanmar's western state of Rakhine to Malaysia, where thousands of members of the Muslim minority have sought sanctuary since violent clashes with Buddhists erupted last year.

A man in the U.S. state of Ohio got into the Halloween spirit by crafting a clever marriage proposal for his girlfriend.

Zach Stoddard of Dayton used five carved pumpkins strategically placed on the side of a hill to pop the question to his girlfriend of three years, Lauren Brenneman. When the illuminated pumpkins were uncovered, they showed the words "Will You Marry Me?"

A deep sea oyster reef restoration being touted as the largest ever in the Gulf of Mexico began in an unlikely place: a quarry in landlocked Missouri.

That is where years of research, planning and precise engineering led Mark Dumesnil, an associate director of restoration for the Nature Conservancy in Texas, as he sought to restore what was once a nearly 500-acre oyster reef and is now no more than hard sand and shell remains, with not one oyster in sight.

This summer, out of the blue, playwright Glen Berger got a call from director Julie Taymor.

He assumed he was being butt-dialed.

Paul Pierce and Joe Johnson scored 19 points each as the Brooklyn Nets ended years of futility against the Miami Heat and sent the NBA champions to their first losing streak in 10 months with a 101-100 victory Friday.

Pierce and Johnson both hit two free throws in the final seconds as the Heat were trying to pull off a comeback. Instead, they fell to 1-2 and have dropped consecutive games for the first time since January 8 and 10.

U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said Friday that Lebanese top officials were “in favor of being invited” to a peace conference on Syria in Geneva later this month.

Following separate talks with President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati, Brahimi said: “The three leaders are in favor of being invited to it.”