The prestigious Berlin Philharmonic orchestra plans a major tour of Southeast Asia in November with its music director Simon Rattle, during which it will visit Taiwan, China, Japan and South Korea.
Rattle, the British conductor who took over as music director of the orchestra in 2002, told a news conference the tour would embrace Taipei, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul.
Rattle said the orchestra was also looking forward to returning to play in the Chinese capital Beijing, which it last visited in 1977 under the baton of Austrian conductor Herbert von Karajan.
In Berlin, the highlight of the season will be a performance of Richard Wagner's monumental tetraology Der Ring des Nibelungen, which the orchestra last played in the early 1970s, under Von Karajan.
Michael Jackson's ex-wife Debbie Rowe will be allowed to deliver potentially explosive testimony against the star at his child sex trial, the judge has ruled.
The key ruling came as prosecutors prepared to wrap up their nine-week case against the "King of Pop," opening the way for the defense to hit back at the charges against him.
"I will admit testimony in that case" from Rowe, Judge Rodney Melville said, adding that he would seek ways to limit the scope of her evidence after defense attorneys warned that it would open "a giant can of worms."
Prosecutor Ron Zonen said Rowe would tell jurors that Jackson asked her to make a video praising him in early 2003 and told her she would be allowed to visit her children if she did.
Zonen said Rowe's testimony would show how the Jackson camp "used children like pawns" to elicit enthusiastic positive statements about the beleaguered pop icon.
Extracts of Rowe's interview were played on a US television show that Jackson had made following the broadcast of a damaging British documentary in February 2003. The documentary sparked the child sex investigation against him.
Rowe, who met Jackson when she worked in his dermatologist's office, was married to the pop icon from 1996 to 1999 and bore him two children whom she agreed not to contact when she terminated her parental rights in 2001.
Also, on Monday, former Neverland security guard Kassim Abdool cried on the witness stand as he described alleged threats to his family after he testified in 1994 about earlier allegations of child abuse against Jackson.
"They threatened to kill me and my family," said the white-bearded witness, after swabbing his eyes with a tissue, describing a welter of phone calls to his home.
Jackson, 46, has denied 10 charges, including molestation, plying the cancer patient with alcohol to seduce him and plotting to kidnap the boy and his family in February and March of 2003.
British pop star Elton John intends to marry his long term partner David Furnish some time this year or next year, his publicist said Monday. The singer told the Mirror tabloid that he and Furnish wanted to hold a civil partnership ceremony in Windsor, near London, in mid-December, although publicist Gary Farrow said John had added it could take place some time next year.
The Interpreter, a political thriller set at the UN, took top honors at the North American box office over the weekend, beating two other new wide release films that made their way into the top 10 lineup. The PG13-rated film marks the return of director Sydney Pollack after a six-year hiatus. It drew US$22.8 million in ticket sales, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
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