Medical and police authorities are launching a major international probe into the illegal trafficking in human organs for transplants, to help clamp down on the crime, one of the researchers said Thursday.

Frederike Ambagtsheer, of the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, said a three-year probe now aims to map out the trade and the involvement of criminals in the trafficking.

Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band and Kanye West will hit the stage at a Superstorm Sandy benefit concert next month in New York City.

Madison Square Garden announced Thursday that Billy Joel, The Who, Alicia Keys and Jon Bon Jovi will also perform at the Dec. 12 show, dubbed "12-12-12." More performers will be announced later.

Lionel Messi's mood should be better by now. Barcelona has a game on Saturday.

He's a proud Argentine, but his scoring disconnect with the national team sharply contrasts with his record-setting feats for the Spanish club. Criticism at home of his inability to score more for Argentina wasn't dampened after the team played out a 0-0 draw with Saudi Arabia midweek.

France's prime minister assured a German audience on Thursday that his country is committed to getting its debt under control, and said that is essential to preserving France's sovereignty.

Jean-Marc Ayrault's first visit in Germany since taking office in May comes as concerns grow that France's economy, the eurozone's second-largest, is weakening just as the government has to slash spending to reduce its deficit. France is Berlin's most important ally in fighting Europe's debt crisis.

Spain has passed a decree curbing evictions of lower income homeowners unable to pay their mortgage, a bid to ease a trend that has seen hundreds of thousands of people lose their homes because of the brutal economic crisis.

Thursday's decree stops evictions for two years of people who are unemployed or who earn less than €1,200 ($1,527) a month after tax. It also suspends evictions of the elderly or disabled residents.

Superstorm Sandy drove the number of people in the U.S. seeking unemployment benefits up to a seasonally adjusted 439,000 last week, the highest level in 18 months.

The Labor Department says applications increased by 78,000 because a large number of applications were filed in East Coast states damaged by the storm. People can claim unemployment benefits if their workplaces close and they don't get paid.

A California lawyer is suing Microsoft Corp., claiming the Surface tablet he bought doesn't have all the storage space the company advertised.

Andrew Sokolowski, a lawyer in Los Angeles, claims that he bought a Surface with 32 gigabytes of storage last week. But he quickly ran out of space after loading it with music and Microsoft Word documents.

One teenager made offensive comments about a murdered child on Twitter. Another young man wrote on Facebook that British soldiers should "go to hell." A third posted a picture of a burning paper poppy, symbol of remembrance of war dead.

All were arrested, two convicted, and one jailed — and they're not the only ones. In Britain, hundreds of people are prosecuted each year for posts, tweets, texts and emails deemed menacing, indecent, offensive or obscene, and the number is growing as our online lives expand.

Country music star Shania Twain arrived on horseback Wednesday for a two-year headline gig at Caesars Palace, parading up the Las Vegas Strip with a herd of 40 horses.

Promoters called the event a stampede, but hooves were kept to a steady, slow gait by nine wranglers who escorted Twain to a reception crowd of several hundred people in front of the famous Caesars fountains. Dozens more people watched from the sidewalk of the Flamingo resort across Las Vegas Boulevard.

Jon Bon Jovi's 19-year-old daughter was hospitalized and facing drug charges Wednesday after overdosing on heroin in a dorm at her college in upstate New York, authorities said.

Stephanie Bongiovi was found unresponsive by an ambulance crew sent to Hamilton College early Wednesday after a report that a female had apparently overdosed in Dunham Hall, the school's largest dorm.