AP - "Failure to Launch," a romantic comedy starring Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker, took off at theaters, debuting as the top weekend movie with $24.6 million.

AP - Markus Naslund scored the only shootout goal and lifted the Vancouver Canucks to a 5-4 comeback victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night.

AP - Markus Naslund and Anson Carter scored nine seconds apart in the second period to lead Vancouver to a 2-1 win over Calgary on Tuesday night and move the Canucks into a first-place tie with the Flames atop the Northwest Division.

AP - Few expected Angela Merkel to become so popular so fast when she became Germany's first female leader, taking over a country sunk in economic gloom after she barely won an election she was expected to sweep.

AP - The Austrians' drug tests were negative. The doping probe is just beginning.

Reuters - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) voted against a ban on Austria from future Olympics following the doping scandal to hit the team at the Turin Games, an Austrian Olympics executive said on Friday.

Reuters - Austria fears the International Olympic Committee (IOC) could ban it from future Olympics Games after a major doping scandal involving one of their coaches triggered a series of investigations.

AP - The scandal surrounding a disgraced Austrian ski coach deepened Tuesday as team officials said two Olympic athletes may have engaged in "illegal methods" and potentially damaging new details emerged about what was seized in a surprise raid on the team's living quarters.

AFP - Historic talks between senior Serbian and Kosovo Albanian officials on the future of the independence-seeking province failed to achieve a breakthrough but will resume in March, a United Nations official said.

AFP - Senior Serbian and Kosovo Albanian officials resumed delicate UN-mediated talks on the future of Kosovo, the last major unresolved question from the Balkan wars in the 1990s.

AP - Jasmila Zbanic's "Grbavica," a film examining how a single mother and her 12-year-old daughter struggle with the cruel aftermath of the Bosnian war, won the top prize at the Berlin film festival on Saturday.

AP - Natalie Portman says she fulfilled a long-standing ambition by shaving her head for the sci-fi thriller "V for Vendetta."

AP - Director Robert Altman says his big screen adaptation of "A Prairie Home Companion" wasn't intentionally political, but "reflects the truth of what's going on in ourselves."

AP - French screen idol Catherine Deneuve will come to a Bangkok film festival where she'll be honored for her contributions to cinema, organizers said Friday.

AP - Defending champion Croatia, Argentina, France, Russia and Belarus advanced to the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup on Saturday by winning doubles matches for unbeatable 3-0 leads.

AP - Defending champion Croatia, Argentina, France, Russia and Belarus advanced to the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup on Saturday by winning doubles matches for unbeatable 3-0 leads.

AP - Daniel Sedin and Markus Naslund scored power-play goals 3 minutes apart in the third period to end a late Columbus rally and give the Vancouver Canucks a 7-4 win over the Blue Jackets on Monday night.

AP - Vancouver Canucks captain Markus Naslund will miss the Olympics because of a lingering groin injury, dealing a blow to Sweden's chances for a gold medal.