The man whose research team discovered the Titanic shipwreck is now leading a mission to investigate major faults and underwater volcanoes in the northern and eastern Caribbean to collect information that could help manage natural disasters.

Robert Ballard is overseeing 31 scientists who will set out Friday using remotely operated vehicles to explore the Septentrional and other faults and underwater formations around Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the eastern Caribbean islands of Dominica and Montserrat.

Braving perilous river rapids in Suriname's rainforest, international scientists found six frogs and 11 fish that are among 60 creatures that may be new species, a tropical ecologist with a U.S.-based conservation group said Thursday.

Trond Larsen, with the nonprofit research and advocacy organization Conservation International, said in a phone interview that the team catalogued creatures and studied freshwater resources during a three-week expedition in pristine forest of southeast Suriname near the border with Brazil.

Kobe Bryant is heading to Germany to have a medical procedure unrelated to the torn Achilles tendon he sustained in April.

The Los Angeles Lakers said on Thursday that Bryant is expected to return early next week.

Tottenham overcame cold conditions to maintain its billing as the Europa League's top contender thanks to a confident victory on Thursday, when a goalkeeping gaffe sparked Valencia to its first win.

Tottenham, the English Premier League club which has spent heavily this offseason and sold Gareth Bale, wasn't the only team to make it two-for-two in wins: Genk, Fiorentina, Eintracht Frankfurt, Rubin Kazan, Sevilla, Swansea, Salzburg, and Ludogorets Razgrad are also perfect.

Formula One teams say next year's weight rules for cars could push taller and heavier drivers out of the sport, but the chances of it being revised are unlikely because that would require consensus within the notoriously divided group.

The combined weight limit for car and driver will be raised from 642 kilograms to 690 next year, but the 2014 cars — which require radical changes to accommodate V6 turbo engines — are likely to be more than 50 kilograms heavier than existing models so, in effect, the allowance for drivers will fall.

World Cup-winning All Blacks flanker Jerome Kaino is returning to New Zealand rugby after a two-year playing stint in Japan.

The 30-year-old Kaino, a veteran of 48 tests, left New Zealand immediately after the 2011 World Cup final and after playing all but 90 seconds of New Zealand's six matches at the world tournament.

Steven Spielberg and George Clooney go way back in show business. In fact, it was Spielberg who gave Clooney his big break on the TV show "ER," the actor recalls.

But the two Hollywood heavyweights came together Thursday evening for a different reason: Spielberg was honoring Clooney for his humanitarian work around the globe, especially in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Along busy Hamra street in west Beirut, Syrians fleeing their country's civil war have opened up scores of shops that compete with older ones run by Lebanese already hurting because of a sharp drop in tourism.

Many Lebanese businesses compensate by hiring Syrians who will work for very little salary, and Lebanese workers grumble that their bosses can now ignore their demands.

The State Department says all non-emergency workers who were ordered out of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut last month are being allowed to return to their jobs.

The department told all non-essential U.S. personnel to leave Lebanon on Sept. 6 because of fears that an American-led strike on neighboring Syria would unleash more bloodshed in the already fragile nation.

A volley of shots rang out outside the U.S. Capitol building on Thursday, sending lawmakers and tourists scattering for cover and triggering a massive security operation.

Police said one officer was hurt in a vehicle crash during the incident. An Agence France Presse photographer saw at least one person receiving emergency medical assistance on the north side of the complex.