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The most anticipated film of the summer had its big Hollywood premiere at Mann's Chinese Theatre on Tuesday, and fans carrying both English and Japanese-language signs stood patiently behind barricades, waiting (some since 6am) to catch a glimpse of their favorite actors. Photographers crowded each other for shots of Marion Cotillard and Ellen Page. Security guards positioned themselves on either side of Leonardo DiCaprio as he walked along the street to greet his fans and sign autographs. One of the earlier stars to arrive, Ken Watanabe gamely waved at the fans, inciting cheers as he walked down with his wife Kaho Minami. But the most diligent man on the black-and-red carpet was indeed Dileep Rao, who took his time getting to the entrance of the theater, graciously speaking to each and every member of the press that requested an interview.

China Daily - BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhaunet) -- Looking good trumps health concerns as cosmetic lenses attract the eyes of the trendy, Todd Balazovic and Wang Wen report

Korean singer Park Jae-beom, former leader of popular boy band 2PM, has signed with U.S. online media company Digital Media Wire (DMW) to manage his career.

DMW announced on its official website (www.dmwmedia.com) Friday (U.S. time) that its CEO and entertainment lawyer Ned Sherman will be "representing artist Jay Park with respect to his global entertainment career."

"We are thrilled to be working with Jay," said Mr. Sherman in the post. "He is incredibly talented and has the work ethic, talent, charisma and fan support to have a big career on a global level."

He went onto say that it is "rare that you come across an artist like Jay. He really loves and cares about his fans and it shows. We are working on a number of big projects which we will be announcing soon.”

By Blogger Orvillelloyddouglas

Yu-Na Kim of South Korea earned her gold medal. Her free skate was excellent, flawless, and wonderful. Kim is the Olympic champion, and the judges got that result right. However, some critics on the Internet are suggesting that the judges are racists and they did not want an Asian female sweep of the Olympic medals in figure skating. I agree with this cogent assessment. Since Joannie Rochette is a white Canadian woman, the judges made sure a white female slipped into third place to prevent an Asian sweep.

Korean actress Jun Ji-hyun is set to appear alongside Chinese movie star Zhang Ziyi in a new film by Wayne Wang, according to her agency Sidus HQ on Wednesday.

The film, titled "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan", will be based on the 2005 novel of the same title by Chinese-American writer Lisa See.

Set in 19th century China, the film chronicles the lives of two women -- Lily and Snow Flower -- and their intimate lifelong friendship. Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi is set to play the main character Snow Flower while Jun's role in the film has not been decided as of yet.

Wanye Wang, a Chinese-American filmmaker, has directed several notable movies such as "The Joy Luck Club" (1993), "Maid in Manhattan" (2002) and "Smoke (1995)", for which he won the Silver Bear award at Berlin International Film Festival.

Ever felt a little uncomfortable or weird when you see these types of pictures circulating in Hollywood? it seems rather too frequent that these western  celebrities have sudden decided to show off their new Asian babies.

Although we could never quite put the finger on it but if you were suspicious enough then perhaps your instincts could be enough to show that you care. The answer is YES it;s likely something is 'fishy' going on.

There is a possibility that these kids should not have been placed in their hands to begin with.

From a westerners perspective they are starting the "Happy Family with the odd Asian baby trend" or the stereotypical " I-Know-whats-good-for -Asian-people". While they parade around showing of their Asian babies these celebrities could just as well be quite ignorant. Sure at a glance some would say 'Oh they look so nice together' but in reality these kids were probably possessed through adoption exploits and scandals.

SFGATE - A group of community leaders and journalists did something seemingly unusual last week - they started a newspaper, the Nichi Bei Weekly.

But while its introduction comes as economic pressures are forcing publications to scale down or close, it also comes at a time when the audience for ethnic media is bigger than ever.

According to a study earlier this year by New America Media, a San Francisco group that represents 2,000 ethnic news organizations around the country, readership in this sector increased by 16 percent over the last four years.

Still, it won't be easy. Despite an increasing readership, the ethnic press hasn't escaped the same downturn in advertising that has hurt mainstream publications.

The fledgling Weekly, in fact, was born out of the demise of the Nichi Bei Times, Northern California's oldest Japanese American paper.

Xinhuanet - The Liberal Democrats, Japan's ruling party, conceded a crushing defeat on August 31 as voters overwhelmingly cast their ballots in favor of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). And Prime Minister Taro Aso, leader of the LDP, said he was to resign as Party leader after the election defeat.

This election outcome has given a full proof of Japan's prevailing mainstream public opinions. The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has ruled Japan for more than half a century since it was formed in 1955, and so the Chinese government has been acquainted with its policies toward China. The Chinese side, nevertheless, is not so familiar with the China policies of the DPJ as well as their impact on Sino-Japanese relations.

Of course, the DPJ would surely treasure the political power it had longed for many years and eventually succeeded to win, implement its election promise in developing economy and improving the people's livelihood, so as to enhance and consolidate the basis of its power.

ChosunNews - It was a memorable day for a Korean New Zealander Melissa Lee. In the general election that day, Lee became the first Korean immigrant to get into parliament on the ruling National Party list.

"I had never been as happy as that day except when I gave birth to my baby," Lee, in Seoul to attend the 2009 Future Leaders Conference hosted by the Overseas Koreans Foundation, recalled Monday. "It was the day when my old dream came true. In elementary school in Korea, I always wrote down 'president' when we had to fill in surveys asking what our future dreams are."

She moved to Malaysia with her family when as a fifth grader, and to Australia when in her first year of high school for better prospects for university. After she graduated from university in 1988, she relocated to New Zealand with her family.

ROTTERDAM - South Korea's Ki-Chun Wang retained his -73kg title at the world judo championships on Thursday while Japan's Misato Nakamura clinched the women's -52kg crown.

Olympic Games silver medallist Wang was the favourite going into the tournament having won the Paris and Moscow Grand Slam titles this season and claimed his victory over North Korea's Kim Choi Su.

"Once you are fighting, the nationality of your rival is of no importance," said Wang of an opponent who has now won North Korea's third world medal after 10 years of failure.

Wang, just 20, had lost to Elnur Mammadli in the Olympic final last year, but the Azerbaijan judoka was missing from the tournament which cleared the way for the Korean star who had also been first in Tokyo and in the World University Games in 2009.

Wang, who two years ago became the second youngest-ever world champion, reached the semi-final by defeating Sezer Huysuz of Turkey.