Pau Gasol has been diagnosed with a torn plantar fascia in his right foot, indefinitely sidelining the Spaniard at a key point in the Los Angeles Lakers' belated rally to get in playoff position.

Gasol felt a pop in his foot Tuesday late in the Lakers' 92-83 victory over the Brooklyn Nets. An MRI scan Wednesday in Boston revealed the injury.

Nigeria closed in on its first title in nearly two decades by easily advancing to the final of the African Cup of Nations on Wednesday, setting up a matchup with a surprising Burkina Faso team looking to lift the trophy for the first time.

Nigeria cruised to a 4-1 victory over Mali in Durban to reach the final for the first time in more than a decade, while Burkina Faso needed extra time and a penalty shootout to get past favorite Ghana in Nelspruit.

British researchers have unveiled a futuristic Antarctic research base that can move, sliding across the frozen surface to beat the shifting ice and pounding snow that doomed its predecessors.

The British Antarctic Survey said Wednesday that the Halley VI Research Station is the sixth facility to occupy the site on the Brunt Ice Shelf — a floating sheet of ice about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the edge of the South Atlantic.

Researchers have discovered the first U.S. cases of whooping cough caused by a germ that may be resistant to the vaccine.

Health officials are looking into whether cases like the dozen found in Philadelphia might be one reason America just had its worst year for whooping cough in six decades. The new bug was previously reported in Japan, France and Finland.

Disney won over more fans on Wall Street with its latest quarterly performance, despite a slight drop in its earnings.

The downturn announced Tuesday was less pronounced than the modest dip analysts anticipated as Walt Disney Co. digested higher programming costs at its ESPN television network and dealt with a less appealing line-up of home video releases in its movie studio. Higher expenses for distributing box-office hits such as "Lincoln" and "''Wreck-It-Ralph" also created a drag during the holiday-season quarter.

Chris Brown is set to return to court Wednesday to face a prosecutor who is asking a judge to revoke the singer's probation because investigators say they could not find credible evidence he completed his community labor sentence for the 2009 beating of Rihanna.

A motion filed Tuesday raises for the first time in Brown's felony assault case several incidents that prosecutors say demonstrate Brown has continuing anger management issues.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told relatives of victims of last year's attack on Israeli tourists in Bulgaria that those responsible for the killings "will pay the price."

Netanyahu's office said Wednesday in a statement that the head of Israel's counterterrorism bureau told the victims' families in his name that "Israel will do everything so that those responsible for the crime will pay the price."

Seen by some as emblematic of the Mediterranean landscape and cuisine, the olive tree in fact has its domesticated roots in Kurdish regions, said a study Wednesday that seeks to settle an age-old debate.

Harvesting of wild olive trees called oleasters has been documented from the Near East (the area around ancient Palestine and Jordan) to Spain since the Neolithic or New Stone Age that started about 10,000 BC.

Now that he finally has a competitive match under his belt after seven months on the sidelines, Rafael Nadal wants to stop talking about his injured left knee.

Nadal, whose knee problem has lingered despite on-going therapy, marked his return to the tour with a doubles victory Tuesday alongside Juan Monaco at a little-known clay court tournament in Chile.

Lindsey Vonn will head home for surgery next week in Colorado after tearing ligaments in her right knee and breaking a bone in her lower leg in a crash at the world ski championships.

U.S. Ski Team physician William Sterett was with Vonn on the snow after the crash on Tuesday, then at a local hospital where she was airlifted to.