Karim Benzema hit back at criticism of his perceived lack of work rate, saying he does run enough and insisting that when he starts scoring again the goals will flow.

Tipped as a future great when he started his club career with Lyon in prodigious fashion, Benzema is going through his worst spell for France — without a goal in 15 matches — and has been out of sorts for Real Madrid this season.

Three years ago, French researchers declared that a centuries-old mummified head was that of the beloved King Henri IV. But now a new study says, "Non!"

The original conclusion was based largely on facial reconstruction techniques and signs the skull had injuries similar to those suffered by the monarch. The new study looked at DNA instead.

A NASA spacecraft bound for Jupiter will swing by Earth on Wednesday to get the boost it needs to arrive at the giant gas planet in 2016.

Using Earth as a gravitational slingshot is a common trick since there isn't a rocket that's powerful enough to catapult a spacecraft directly to the outer solar system.

The 64-year-old woman who swam from Cuba to Florida is attempting to swim in a pool in midtown Manhattan for 48 straight hours to benefit victims of Superstorm Sandy.

Wearing a pink swim cap, Diana Nyad dove into the 40-yard (36.6-meter) pool set up in Herald Square and began doing laps shortly before 9 a.m. Tuesday. Her aim is to raise money for people still struggling a year after Sandy.

The calculations are simple for Sebastien Vettel as he chases victory in the Japanese Grand Prix to secure a fourth straight Formula One championship.

If Vettel wins at Suzuka on Sunday, and his nearest rival Fernando Alonso finishes worse than eighth, the German driver will join his compatriot Michael Schumacher and Argentine Juan-Manuel Fangio as the only men to win four consecutive titles. And if he does it in Japan, where he has won three of the last four GP races, he'll be the youngest in the exclusive list to achieve four straight titles.

Olympic champion Sally Pearson and her coach Sharon Hannan have ended a 14-year working relationship that produced gold medals for the Australian hurdler at the 2011 world championships and 2012 London Games.

Under Hannan's guidance, Pearson also recovered from two serious hamstring injuries to win a silver medal at the 2013 world titles in Moscow.

Andre Drummond had 17 points and nine rebounds to lead the Detroit Pistons to a 91-69 exhibition victory Tuesday over Maccabi Haifa, the reigning Israeli Basketball Super League champions.

David Cubillan scored 20 points for Maccabi.

Last year, as Syrian refugees were pouring in, signs started going up in Lebanese towns and villages imposing nighttime curfews and warning the newcomers to stay away. Some referred just to "foreign workers," others directly cited "Syrians."

The signs have since come down amid a campaign by human rights activists who rallied in Beirut this summer and hung a banner from a bridge in the capital saying: "Excuse us for the behavior of those who are racist among us."

Superstition holds it's good luck to cross a newborn's palm with silver to wish the child riches and health, but Britain's baby Prince George is getting something more: A whole new set of coins in his honor.

Britain's Royal Mint said the 5 pound coin (with a face value of $8) will carry the image of the child's great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth II on the front and cherubs and lilies on the back.

Sunderland has hired Gus Poyet to fill the managerial void left by Paolo Di Canio's firing.

Poyet, a former Uruguay midfielder, has been out of work since being fired by English second-tier team Brighton in June.