Dell is trying to reassure shareholders about its proposed $24.4 billion acquisition by a group led by its founder, saying it considered a number of strategic options before agreeing to the deal.

Dell Inc. laid out the advantages of the transaction in a regulatory filing Monday, three days after a major shareholder ridiculed the buyout as a rotten deal that undervalues the business.

North Korea said its nuclear test Tuesday was only a "first" step and warned of stronger action if it was faced with tougher sanctions as a result.

"The latest nuclear test was only the first action, with which we exercised as much self-restraint as possible," the foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the country's official news agency.

Arsenal has allowed much-maligned defender Andre Santos to join Brazilian team Gremio on loan for the rest of the season.

Santos has become third-choice left back at the Premier League club — behind Kieran Gibbs and recent signing Nacho Monreal — and has been heavily criticized by Arsenal fans for some poor displays this season.

Remember clapping? As in when a fashion designer puts on his runway finale and then takes a bow before an adoring crowd.

The fashion hordes these days are way too busy tweeting, Instagramming and taking video with their smartphones to put those busy hands together. But more often than not, so are the fashion houses.

More than 1 million Americans wind up back in the hospital only weeks after they left for reasons that could have been prevented — a revolving door that for years has seemed impossible to slow.

Now Medicare has begun punishing hospitals with hefty fines if they have too many readmissions, and a top official says signs of improvement are beginning to emerge.

San Antonio's Tony Parker put in another brilliant performance to compensate for the absence of his two sidekicks, helping the NBA-leading Spurs to a comfortable 111-86 win at the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday.

Two nights after their 11-game winning streak was ended, the Spurs got back on track quickly thanks to Parker, who fell one point short of his third straight 30-point game only because he was so good he could sit out the final minutes of the rout.

A loss in the final against little-known Argentine Horacio Zeballos was not the way Rafael Nadal wanted to end his comeback tournament after seven months off with an inflamed left knee.

Nadal had warned that it might take weeks — maybe several months — for him to reach his old form, which brought him 11 Grand Slam titles, and Sunday's performance proved that.

Mario Balotelli earned and converted a late penalty as AC Milan drew 1-1 at 10-man Cagliari in Serie A on Sunday.

The Italy striker stepped up to score his third goal in two games for Milan, following his move from Manchester City. Two of his goals have come from penalties, with Balotelli scoring the winner from the spot in stoppage time against Udinese.

A top European Central Bank official is pressing for an agreement soon on a rescue package for Cyprus — a prospect viewed with little enthusiasm in Germany.

ECB executive board member Joerg Asmussen was quoted Monday as telling Germany's Handelsblatt newspaper that he expects an aid program to be drawn up by the end of March.

As a player who relishes being center stage, Cristiano Ronaldo will be in his element this week when the Champions League resumes with a blockbuster last-16 match between Real Madrid and Manchester United.

United transformed Ronaldo from a prodigiously talented yet hit-and-miss winger to one of football's most devastating goalscorers in his six years in the Premier League.