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Japanese electronic and entertainment giant Sony Corp. will close its Indonesian audio-equipment plant in March and lay off all 1,000 workers, a company official said Tuesday. “The move is part of Sony’s overall effort to reorganize global production,” said Sony spokeswoman Ayako Hashimoto. The production at P.T. Sony Electronics Indonesia will be moved to Sony plants in Malaysia, Mexico, Japan, China and elsewhere, although details are still being worked out, she said. The Indonesian plant in Jakarta produced stereos and other audio equipment valued at about 15 billion yen ($123 million) a year. Since 1999, Sony has been restructuring its… Read more »

Concert tours to Southeast Asia have become the latest casualty of recent bomb blasts in Bali and the Philippines with veteran jazz guitarist George Benson and rock groups Red Hot Chili Peppers and Oasis canceling shows. “George Benson did cancel some dates that he had lined up for Indonesia,” promoter Nigel Peters said on Tuesday. “It’s obviously a direct relation to the Bali bombing. That’s the only reason this decision was taken.” A bomb attack at a nightclub on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali on October 12 killed more than 180 people, most of them Australian. Ten people were… Read more »

Pop star Lance Bass’ dreams of going into space have officially gone “pop!” The Russian Space Agency notified NASA on Monday that the ‘N Sync singer won’t fly to the international space station next month. Bass had hoped to rocket away from Kazakhstan on Oct. 28, boosted by corporate sponsors and a seven-part television documentary. But TV producers failed to raise the estimated $20 million fare, and Russian space officials last week kicked Bass off the upcoming crew. With the launch of the Soyuz rocket just seven weeks away, there’s not enough time to put anyone else on board. Russian… Read more »

‘N Sync singer Lance Bass was asked to leave Russia’s cosmonaut training program because his sponsors didn’t come up with the $20 million for a trip to the International Space Station, a Russian space official said Tuesday. Sergei Gorbunov, spokesman for the Russian Space Agency, said the Russians negotiated with Bass “in good faith,” but “his sponsors didn’t fulfill the conditions of the contract and we never received the money.” The U.S. pop star had been granted several deadline extensions after failing to get the money needed to secure his seat, Gorbunov said. He said the decision to end negotiations… Read more »

On September 5, Times Square will be a bit more crowded than usual. Bon Jovi, Enrique Iglesias and others will play a concert in the crossroads of Manhattan to celebrate the kickoff of the NFL season and the spirit of the city, the league announced Tuesday (July 30). Activities will begin at 3:30 p.m. with a 90-minute show featuring performances by Iglesias and DJ Skribble which will be broadcast on “TRL.” Bon Jovi, whose new album, Bounce, lands in stores October 8, will headline the afternoon. The “countdown to kickoff” event will end when a giant football is lowered into… Read more »

After months of hedging, the Russian Space Agency has finally decided that Lance Bass has the right stuff. The agency has asked the International Space Station Multilateral Coordination Board for permission to launch the ‘NSYNC singer as early as this fall, according to a letter sent to the nation-partners in the International Space Station. “It’s official, he’s their candidate,” confirmed NASA spokesperson Dwayne Brown on Tuesday (July 16). “We did indeed receive a letter nominating Lance Bass for the October flight.” Also on the Russians’ list for the prospective three-person crew are professional cosmonauts Sergei Zalyotin of Russia and Frank… Read more »

Malaysia, which practices strict censorship of sex and violence, has banned the video of a concert by Australian pop sensation Kylie Minogue, officials said on Friday. The Film Censorship Board gave no clear reasons for its decision against Minogue’s “Live in Sydney” video, which was banned along with 194 other video titles. Videos of top U.S. television serials such as “Ally McBeal ( news – Y! TV)” and “Friends” were also on the blacklist, although both shows are aired regularly on satellite channels. Board chairman Shaari Mohd Noor said the censors were only adhering to existing guidelines that prohibited distribution… Read more »

Yevgeny Svetlanov, a renowned conductor who specialized in works by Russian composers, has died at age 73, news reports said Saturday. Svetlanov died at his home Friday in Moscow, NTV television reported. President Vladimir Putin wrote in a message to Svetlanov’s wife, Nina, that the musician’s death was an “irreplacable loss for all of our culture.” Svetlanov was the chief conductor of the Bolshoi Theater from 1963 to 1965, when he was named artistic director and chief conductor of the Soviet State Symphony. He was named a People’s Artist of the Soviet Union in 1968 and was awarded the Lenin… Read more »

Just last month, the 22-year-old heartthrob announced his intention to take a ride on a Russian Soyuz capsule to the international Alpha station – following in the footsteps of California millionaire Dennis Tito, who became the first paying space passenger last April, and South African Internet tycoon Mark Shuttlesworth, who is due to fly next month. On Thursday, less than 24 hours after ‘NSync’s Dallas concert, Bass was on his way to Moscow for “an intensive weekend of medical examinations” at the Institute of Biomedical Problems, said Jeff Lenorovitz, a spokesman for Amsterdam-based MirCorp. Executives involved in negotiating the terms… Read more »

For those still scratching their heads over Lance Bass’ plans to become the youngest space traveler ever, you’re not alone. A spokesman for Russia’s space agency, Rosaviakosmos, said Thursday that they haven’t started any talks with Netherlands-based MirCorp about sending the ‘N Syncer into space. And while it’s entirely possible Bass could still realize his $25 million Rocket Man dream, the pop star’s announcement “is as if I said I had bought Australia,” Rosaviakosmos spokesman Sergei Gorbunov tells Reuters. “MirCorp has no right to sell these flights. They have no link to Rosaviakosmos, we have no contract linking us.” They… Read more »