TOKYO: The Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki said on Sunday that they were considering bidding for the 2020 Summer Olympics in tandem with a campaign to promote a nuclear-free world. The two cities, which were devastated in US atomic

MEXICO CITY - Mexico and the United States qualified for the 2010 World Cup with impressive triumphs on Saturday while Costa Rica and Honduras will carry their quest for South Africa to Wednesday's final matches. Conor Casey scored two goals

MADRID : Boyzone singer Stephen Gately, 33, died on Saturday while on holiday in Majorca off the coast of Spain, the Irish band with a string of hits in the 1990s said on its website. "Stephen tragically died yesterday whilst

BUSAN, South Korea : Josh Hartnett isn't having things all his own way at Asia's largest film festival. Every time the Hollywood star appears in public, the loudest screams are being directed at his co-star. Hartnett is here at the

SINGAPORE - No band and no back-up singers - just Elvis Costello with his guitar, singing to a sell-out audience at the Esplanade Concert Hall on October 5. The one-night gig was one of the several international acts performing at

WASHINGTON: Does Homer know? What will Bart think? Marge Simpson, Homer's wife and Bart's mother on the hit television show "The Simpsons", is the cover girl on the November issue of Playboy magazine. Playboy released a picture of the cover

TAIPEI : An estimated 8 million Taiwan dollars (S$346,000) in performance fees is being owed to Hong Kong star Aaron Kwok for his Guangzhou concert in January. Concert organiser Luo Jiahui, who was also an acquaintance of Kwok's, is alleged

WASHINGTON - Twitter went down on Thursday prompting devotees of the micro-blogging service to share how they coped without it. "I WAS FORCED TO TEXT MSG," lamented a user named "Misskette." "I found a life," tweeted "JeremyTaylor09." "I coped with

SINGAPORE : Relatively new smartphone player Acer has announced two phone series - the neoTouch and the beTouch - in line with this week's release of the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system (OS) for smartphones. The neoTouch has a 3.8-inch

BEIJING: Rafael Nadal fended off a tough challenge from James Blake to advance to the quarterfinals of the China Open on Thursday, as Serena Williams was knocked out of the WTA/ATP event in a third set tiebreak. Nadal, the top

TOKYO: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga overcame swirling on-court winds to beat his compatriot Richard Gasquet for a place in the quarter-finals at the Japan Open tennis tournament on Thursday. The 2008 Australian Open finalist and second seed displayed fine reflexes at the

SHANGHAI : Andy Murray on Thursday withdrew from next week's Shanghai Masters, saying he will need another several weeks of rest and rehabilitation on his injured wrist. In a letter to tournament officials, the 22-year-old Scot said that "rehabilitation has

BRUSSELS - Belgium's world number one Justine Henin is set to make her return from retirement in Brisbane, her coach Carlos Rodriguez said Wednesday. Henin is to choose between Brisbane, starting on January 3, and the WTA event in Auckland,

LONDON: Andrew Lloyd Webber launched the long-awaited sequel to his global hit "Phantom of the Opera" on Thursday, which will see the action transfer from Paris to a New York fairground. "Love Never Dies" was unveiled at Her Majesty's Theatre

BUSAN, South Korea : Organisers lay out the red carpet at Asia's biggest film festival later Thursday hoping the opening movie - a comedy about Korean political intrigue - will inject some light relief in a gloomy climate for global

LOS ANGELES - Oscar-winning actor Adrien Brody has signed to star in a big-budget reboot of the "Predator" science-fiction films, entertainment industry press reported Wednesday. Brody, 36, who scooped best actor honours at the 2003 Academy Awards for his role

BEIJING : Singer-actor Aaron Kwok’s on-off girlfriend, Chinese model Lynn Xiong, had reportedly engaged in self-harm after the Heavenly King dumped her for model Mango Wong. Sina.com reported that Xiong, who is filming the movie "Ip Man 2" in Shanghai,

TAIPEI : Hong Kong director Clara Law's "Like A Dream" leads nominations for this year's Golden Horse Film Awards, the "Oscars" of Chinese-language cinema, organisers announced Wednesday. "Like A Dream", produced in China, will be vying for honours in nine

PARIS: Hypertension plays a part in 2.3 million cardiovascular deaths in China each year, doctors reported on Tuesday, pointing a finger at high levels of salt in the Chinese diet. Health specialists led by Jiang He, a professor at the

British members of Parliament and their prospective challengers are thronging onto social-networking sites with all the enthusiasm and grace of dads getting down on the dance floor. Their aim: to capture the elusive — and largely uninterested — youth vote