A freak volley sparked Russia's Marat Safin to a pulsating 7-6, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 victory over James Blake of the United States at the Australian Open on Sunday, giving the former world No. 1 a berth in the quarterfinals.

Russian soccer officials have said they are shocked after Yegor Titov, one of the country's most recognized and influential players, failed a drug test.

NASA's Opportunity rover landed on Mars, arriving on the Red Planet exactly three weeks after its identical twin set down.10

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney pulled no punches with reluctant European allies Saturday, telling them that they can only protect democracy in their countries by being ready to use force.

David Kay stepped down as leader of the U.S. hunt for banned weapons in Iraq on Friday and said he did not believe the country had any large stockpiles of chemical or biological weapons.

Signatures for Putin MOSCOW (AP) -- President Vladimir Putin's supporters Friday delivered 2.5 million signatures required for him to register as a candidate for re-election, while his potential rivals lagged behind. The lists of signatures in Putin's support, the first by any candidate to be delivered to the Central Elections Commission, were contained in 200 boxes, Interfax reported. Putin's support group said Thursday it had collected more than 7 million signatures to back the president's nomination. ""We continue to receive phone calls from citizens who are unhappy that those collecting signatures by-passed their houses. … They also want to sign the list,'' support group member Valery Goncharov said. However, one official in the Far East Primorye region said on condition of anonymity that the local administration was under pressure from Moscow to collect signatures and went to the military, customs, medical clinics and other workplaces to get them.

When he saw his son off to join the army in December, Mikhail Sorokin figured the boy was dressed appropriately for the relatively mild snowy weather in Moscow: jeans, track shoes, a light jacket.