Two bank robbers pulled off a daring escape from downtown Chicago's high-rise jail Tuesday by apparently scaling down about 20 stories using a makeshift rope tied to the bars in a cell window.

Police helicopters and canine units swarmed the area, but not until more than three hours after Joseph "Jose" Banks and Kenneth Conley went unaccounted for during a 5 a.m. headcount, U.S. Marshal's Service spokeswoman Belkis Cantor said.

Ukrainian health officials say 37 people have died from the severe cold spell that hit the country this month.

Temperatures have dropped as low as minus-17 C (2 F).

Israeli authorities say they have put 5,000 fragments of the ancient Dead Sea scrolls online in a partnership with Google.

The digital library launched on Tuesday, with important texts like the Book of Deuteronomy, which includes the Ten Commandments, and a portion of the first chapter of the Book of Genesis, dated to the first century B.C.

The U.S. State Department said it will keep tabs on a Facebook page purportedly created by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that includes both positive and derogatory remarks from followers.

Iranian officials had no immediate comment, but the page's contents and style — including an informal photo of Khamenei riding in a car — raise serious questions about its authenticity.

Lionel Messi agreed on a new contract with Barcelona on Tuesday through 2018.

Messi, the three-time world player of the year, has 90 goals in 2012, surpassing Gerd Mueller's 40-year-old milestone of 85 in a calendar year.

A painting by the 80-year-old Spanish artist who became famous for her botched restoration of a Christ fresco in a small-town church has fetched €1,080 ($1,421) on eBay.

The closing price Tuesday for Celia Gimenez's oil painting "Las Bodegas de Borja" ("Borja's Wine Cellar") more than tripled its starting price after 52 bids.

Jeremy Lin won again at Madison Square Garden, and for the first time this season, the New York Knicks didn't.

Lin had 22 points and eight assists in his return to New York, leading the Houston Rockets to a 109-96 victory Monday that ended the Knicks' 10-game home winning streak to open the season.

Santi Cazorla scored a hat trick Monday as Arsenal emphatically bounced back from its recent disappointments with a 5-2 win at last-place Reading in the Premier League.

Coming off an embarrassing loss on penalties at fourth-tier Bradford in the League Cup last week, Arsenal was back to its best for the first hour at the Madejski Stadium, attacking at will and taking a 4-0 lead when Cazorla netted his third in the 60th minute.

A growing majority of Americans think global warming is occurring, that it will become a serious problem and that the U.S. government should do something about it, a new Associated Press-GfK poll finds.

Even most people who say they don't trust scientists on the environment say temperatures are rising.

The Sexiest Man Alive will soon be a sexy dad.

Actor Channing Tatum and his wife Jenna Dewan-Tatum are expecting their first child in 2013, their reps confirm.