David Beckham, who starred for Manchester United, Real Madrid, and England's national team before heading to the United States and Paris, is retiring at age 38. The news was confirmed Thursday by England's Football Association. He appeared for England in 115 games.

S&P says Berkshire Hathaway has an "excellent business profile," but that its dividend income is too dependent on the insurance companies it owns. The move is not expected to have much, if any, effect on Buffett's company.

Rutgers University welcomes the arrival of new athletic director Julie Hermann as the beginning of a new era, weeks after turmoil engulfed its athletics department. The school's basketball coach was fired last month after videos showed that he verbally and physically abused players during practice.

CBS News and CNN say they've been told by sources familiar with what was found that investigators believe marathon bombings suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev wrote on an interior wall of the boat where he was found hiding. He allegedly said the attack was in retaliation for the Afghan and Iraq wars.

The good news: Inflation remains in check. The bad news: Jobless claims are up, and housing starts are down.

Sheikh Abdul Latif Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh said anyone using social media sites — and especially Twitter — "has lost this world and his afterlife." Many Saudis have turned to social media sites for news and to discuss issues they might otherwise not be able to bring up.

A man opened fire Sunday on a parade in New Orleans. Nineteen people were injured. After the release of surveillance video and an appeal for help from the public, police brought the suspect into custody early Thursday.

Also: Afaa Michael Weaver on being a black poet abroad; ebook sales jumped 44 percent last year; Cormac McCarthy's beach body.

A suicide bomber in a car reportedly blew up himself and the vehicle as a NATO convoy passed by. Afghans who were nearby by, as well as some people in the convoy, were killed. Dozens of others were injured. The militant group Hizb-i-Islami has taken responsibility for the attack.

A series of twisters roared through North Texas on Wednesday night. In Granbury, about 35 miles from Fort Worth, neighborhoods were devastated. The search continues for victims.

Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand is introducing legislation with other lawmakers Thursday that would change the way the military prosecutes sexual assault cases. It's the latest high-publicity move for a senator who was almost unknown four years ago when she was appointed to fill Hillary Clinton's seat.

A Muslim militant group, Hizb-e-Islami, claimed responsibility for the early morning attack. The powerful explosion rattled buildings on the other side of Kabul and sent a pillar of white smoke into the sky in the city's east.

The news that scientists have successfully cloned a human embryo seems almost certain to rekindle a political fight that has raged, on and off, since the creation of Dolly the sheep. It's a fight that has, over the past decade and a half, produced a lot of heat and light and not a lot of policy.

Scientists have discovered water that was sealed in Canadian bedrock for nearly half of Earth's history. It may contain the descendants of ancient microbes. The discovery could give scientists new insights into early life on Earth and inform the search for life on other planets.

Scientists have discovered water that was sealed in Canadian bedrock for nearly half of Earth's history. It may contain the descendants of ancient microbes. The discovery could give scientists new insights into early life on Earth and inform the search for life on other planets.

U.S. reconstruction teams have spent a decade building roads, bridges and other pieces of infrastructure that are badly needed in Afghanistan. But now the international effort is winding down, and it's not clear how much the Afghans will be able to do on their own.

U.S. reconstruction teams have spent a decade building roads, bridges and other pieces of infrastructure that are badly needed in Afghanistan. But now the international effort is winding down, and it's not clear how much the Afghans will be able to do on their own.

The ceiling of a Cambodian factory that makes Asics sneakers collapsed on workers early Thursday, killing two people and injuring seven. It's the latest accident to spotlight lax safety conditions in the global garment industry.

The House Agriculture Committee on Wednesday approved a sweeping farm bill that would trim the $80 billion-a-year food stamp program. The panel rebuffed Democratic efforts to keep the program whole, as debate on the farm bill turned into a theological discourse on helping the poor.

The suspect in a Mother's Day parade shooting that left 19 people wounded in New Orleans was taken into custody Wednesday night, police said. Akein Scott, 19, was arrested in the Little Woods section of eastern New Orleans, police department spokeswoman Remi Braden said.