Reuters - Tokyo's Nikkei average rose 0.82 percent on Thursday after gains in U.S. stocks and as investors bought real estate firms such as Mitsui Fudosan Co. Ltd. ahead of a government land price survey due later in the day.

AP - Sharon Stone, who returns as the seductive Catherine Tramell in "Basic Instinct 2," says she has no problem doing a nude scene — if it's right for the role.

Reuters - Former Universal Pictures chairman Stacey Snider might be sprung from her contract with the studio sooner rather than later and could assume her new post as co-chairman and CEO of DreamWorks in a couple of weeks.

AP - Protesters, celebrities and fishermen were gearing up for Canada's hotly debated seal hunt, set to get under way later this week in the gulf off the Atlantic Ocean.

AP - Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun remembers it vividly.

AP - Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun remembers it vividly.

AP - Israel on Tuesday reopened the Gaza Strip's main cargo crossing to alleviate a food shortage in the area, Palestinian officials said.

AFP - In a bid to take a lead in the battle for dominance in next-generation DVD players, Toshiba Corp will start selling the world's first HD DVD player in Japan later this month, a report says.

AP - The scientist who stunned the medical world with claims he created the first cloned human embryos and extracted stem cells from them — research later found to have been faked — was fired Monday by South Korea's most prestigious university.

AFP - The discredited UN Human Rights Commission, due to be replaced later this year, adjourned its final annual meeting for another week.

Reuters - A key gauge of U.S. economic activity fell 0.2 percent in February, the New York-based Conference Board said on Monday in a report that suggested the economy may begin slowing later in the year.

AFP - The discredited UN Human Rights Commission, due to be replaced later this year, adjourned its last ever annual meeting for another week.

AFP - Prime Minister Tony Blair awoke to another editorial-page appeal to stand down sooner rather than later, as a flap over financing for his Labour Party refused to go away.

AP - Following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Washington and its allies feared militants could inflict global economic devastation with a high seas assault in the Malacca Strait in Southeast Asia — one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

AFP - The Guardian, voice of the middle-class liberals, added its voice to calls for Prime Minister Tony Blair to step down sooner rather than later, amid a scandal over financing for his Labour Party.

Reuters - Crew on board the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday took a short flight in their Soyuz craft to free up a docking bay for their replacements arriving later this month, Russian mission control said.

Match report to follow later.

AP - Iraq's former interim prime minister said the increasing attacks across his country can only be described as a civil war, and that the United States and Europe could be touched by spreading violence, according to an interview aired Sunday.

AP - Sean Avery, the NHL leader in penalty minutes, played the entire game carrying a pink stick. Nobody gave him a hard time about it for obvious reasons. Besides, it was for a noble cause. Avery scored the tying goal early in the third period and Michael Cammalleri got the go-ahead goal less than 4 minutes later on a power play, helping the Los Angeles Kings beat the St. Louis Blues 3-1 on Saturday night.

Reuters - Leaving Iraq now would be like handing postwar Germany back to the Nazis, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in a column published on Sunday, the third anniversary of the start of the Iraq war.