CULTURE AND SPORT

The bitter memory of last year's Champions League is driving Sir Alex Ferguson as Manchester United launch their latest quest for European silverware against Rangers.

Well-known guitarist Pierre Laniau will be performing for two nights in Hanoi during late September.

Europe's economy will grow by a substantially faster than expected 1.7 percent across the core eurozone this year, according to new European Union forecasts.

Authorities have arrested one of Mexico's most wanted men, alleged drug trafficker Sergio Villarreal, who is said to work for the Beltran Leyva cartel.

Vietnam will be the top seed at the ASEAN Football Championship, or AFF-Suzuki Cup, which it is to co-host with Indonesia from December 1-29.

The mountains of used plastic bottles at a recycling station in Taipei will be turned into wigs and clothes that people will wear.

US director Sofia Coppola won the Golden Lion at the Venice film festival for "Somewhere", a father-daughter drama set in the lonely world of Hollywood moviemaking.

Preparations have begun for the annual Kate Festival of Cham people next month in Phan Thiet with processions, spirit rituals and lots of food, culture and fun.

Around 9,000 people demonstrated Saturday in the centre of Barcelona for the independence of the northeastern Catalonia region, media reported.

Australian PM Julia Gillard named former leader Kevin Rudd as her foreign minister, less than three months after she staged a sudden and ruthless coup against him.

North Korea  has proposed the resumption of a programme of reunions for families separated by the division of the Korean peninsula, state media said Saturday.

Politics threatened to overshadow a day of mourning Saturday for nearly 3,000 Sept. 11 victims amid a polarizing national debate over a planned mosque.

California firefighters searched grimly through smoldering ruins Friday after a huge gas pipeline blast triggered an inferno killing four people.

Up to 40,000 frontline police jobs could be axed if suggested government cuts of 25 percent go ahead, the Police Federation warned Friday.

Japan's economy expanded more than first thought in the April-June quarter, soothing fears that a fragile recovery could grind to a halt.

Professional golf in Vietnam will break new ground this year when it witnesses its first ever match play tournament at the Mercedes-Benz Masters Vietnam.

Many Asian students who walk into South Philadelphia High will be carrying something besides books.

A suicide car bomber hit the central market of Vladikavkaz, killing at least 17 and wounding more than 130 people.

Global economic recovery is slowing faster than expected and extra stimulus from governments may be needed, the OECD warned.