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A North Korean aircraft, which may be a fighter jet, has crashed in China near the country's shared border, say Chinese and South Korean reports. It is believed the pilot, who was killed, may have been trying to defect to Russia, according to unnamed intelligence sources cited by Yonhap. The crash happened on Tuesday afternoon in Fushun county, Liaoning province. Defections are common but an attempt by plane is highly unusual and would be a source of embarrassment for Pyongyang. China has a repatriation agreement with North Korea, which could explain why the pilot may have been trying to reach Russia, the report added. North Korea has a military airbase in Sinuiju, near the border with China. China's state media confirmed an unidentified small plane had crashed and that it may belong to North Korea. An investigation into the cause of the crash was under way, Xinhua reported. Soviet-era jet Photographs of the wreckage reportedly taken by a local resident and posted on the intern

MANCHESTER - Ageless stars Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs received most of the plaudits after Manchester United kicked off their 2010/11 Barclays Premier League campaign with an impressive 3-0 win over Newcastle United here on Monday (yesterday morning, Singapore time). Indeed, Scholes, 35, provided a masterclass, pulling the strings from midfield as he led the Newcastle engine room personnel on a merry chase, having a hand in all three goals. He teed up Giggs expertly for the Welshman to round off the scoring, and Sir Alex Ferguson would have been well-satisfied with his team's start to the new season, especially after champions Chelsea put West Bromwich Albion to the sword on Sunday in a 6-0 drubbing. The only dampener for the Old Trafford faithful would have been another average display by Wayne Rooney. While it does look as if the United striker has rediscovered his hunger, after his abysmal performance for England at the World Cup - his game was still peppered with poor first

The deadly suicide bombing outside an Iraqi army recruiting centre in Baghdad will not derail Iraq's transition to democracy, the White House says. At least 59 people, most of them young men lining up to enlist, were killed and more than 100 injured. The withdrawal of thousands of US troops from Iraq would not be halted either, US officials said. Another eight people were killed later when a fuel truck was bombed in Baghdad, the Associated Press reports. Another 44 were wounded in that attack, in which a bomb attached to a truck loaded with kerosene exploded in a Shia neighbourhood of north-eastern Baghdad. The earlier attack was the bloodiest in Iraq for months and comes as the US prepares to end combat operations there by the end of August. It also comes a day after the bloc that won the most seats in March's parliamentary election suspended talks on forming a coalition government. "There obviously are still people who want to derail the advances that the Iraqi people ha

The Mercedes GP team has confirmed that it has released Nick Heidfeld from his contract in order for the German to become Pirelli's official test driver. Heidfeld was the team's reserve driver for this season, but will start driving for Pirelli at the start of today's test at the Mugello circuit, where the German will be at the wheel of a 2009 Toyota F1 car. "We can confirm that the team is pleased to allow Nick Heidfeld the opportunity to join Pirelli and contribute to their development work for the company's imminent return to Formula 1," said Mercedes GP boss Ross Brawn. "Nick is an extremely experienced driver and we are confident that his racing knowledge and technical feedback will prove extremely useful to Pirelli and therefore of benefit to the sport as a whole. "Nick has been a real asset to Mercedes GP Petronas since joining our team this year and we are pleased to see his career progressing." Heidfeld was left without a racing seat fo

Harry Redknapp has tried to take the pressure off his Tottenham side ahead of their Champions League debut. Spurs take on Swiss side Young Boys in Berne in Tuesday's play-off first leg. And asked what failure to reach the group stage would mean, the Spurs boss said: "What can it mean? What are we going to do - commit suicide? "Listening to everybody, we'll end up hanging ourselves. All you can ever do is your best. If we play at our best, we've got a great chance." Tottenham made it into the Champions League play-offs for the first time in their history after finishing fourth in the Premier League last season, and they will be guaranteed at least £10m if they progress to the group stage. "Nobody expected us to get here in the first place last year," said Redknapp. "We suddenly went from where we were to finishing fourth in the Premier League. "People's expectations get very high but I don't think about not qualifying. "It'

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court ruled on Monday that same-sex couples could not marry in California while the court considers the constitutionality of the state's ban on gay marriage. But the panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals set an aggressive schedule for the case, with briefings in the fall and a hearing the week of Dec. 6. California's ban on same-sex marriage, known as Proposition 8, passed in November 2008, setting off emotional reactions among both opponents and supporters of the ban. Liberals questioned how trend-setting California could fall in line with roughly 40 other states that ban same-sex unions, while social conservatives boasted that their cause had national backing. U.S. District Court Chief Judge Vaughn Walker ruled earlier this month that the ban was unconstitutional. Last week he said gay marriages could resume while higher courts considered the matter. But the brief ruling by the three-judge appellate panel reverses

Reading and Leeds Festival have denied that headliners Guns N' Roses have pulled out of this month's event. It was after singer Axl Rose's Twitter account was hacked with the message: "all upcoming Guns N' Roses dates are officially cancelled". Festival bosses confirmed that the Reading and Leeds performances and an October arena tour will go ahead. The misleading tweet, posted late on Sunday night also urged fans to return their tickets. However, in a statement Festival Republic told Newsbeat: "(We) are informed by GN'R management that Guns N' Roses have NOT cancelled their performances at Reading & Leeds and that Axl Rose's Twitter account was hacked into and all claims of dates being cancelled are unfounded." That means that the rockers' recently announced UK arena tour - their first in four years - will still go ahead. The band are lined up to play London, Birmingham and Manchester in October, as well as other shows across Eur

LOS ANGELES — Sylvester Stallone has proven that he's not quite expendable yet at the box office. Stallone and his pumped-up pals lifted Lionsgate's 1980s-style action romp "The Expendables" to a No. 1 debut with $35 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. While the macho "Expendables" lured male audiences, Julia Roberts delivered a crowd-pleaser for women with Sony's "Eat Pray Love," which opened at No. 2 with $23.7 million. The previous weekend's top movie, Sony's cop comedy "The Other Guys," slipped to third place with $18 million, raising its 10-day total to $70.5 million. The Warner Bros. blockbuster "Inception" was fourth with $11.4 million, lifting its total to $248.6 million. Opening in fifth place with $10.5 million was Universal's graphic-novel adaptation "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," starring Michael Cera as a slacker caught up in duels to the death with his new girlfriend's seven

An off-road truck plowed into a crowd and scattered "bodies everywhere" moments after sailing off a jump at a California race Saturday, killing eight people and leaving 12 injured, authorities and witnesses said. The crash came shortly after the start of the 8 p.m. PT race called the California 200, said San Bernardino County sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Bachman. Bachman said eight people died and 12 were injured, several of them seriously. Seven ambulances and 10 emergency aircraft responded to the scene. Most of the injured were airlifted from the area to Loma Linda University Medical Center or St. Mary's Medical Center. "There was dust everywhere, people screaming, people running," David Conklin, a photographer covering the event for off-road magazines, told The Associated Press. Crash followed jump Conklin said the Prerunner truck was among the first 20 off the line in the race, and had just gone over a jump known as "the rock pile" about three

A judge has awarded a US exhibition company $110m for salvaging artefacts from the wreck of the RMS Titanic. The US federal judge ruled that RMS Titanic Inc, which displays the artefacts in museums across the world, is entitled to their full market value. The court will decide whether to grant the company ownership of the objects or sell them and give it the proceeds. The ship sank on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York in April 1912, killing more than 1,500 people. RMS Titanic Inc, a subsidiary of Premier Exhibitions Inc, has undertaken seven expeditions to the wreck site 2.5 miles (4km) below the north Atlantic, and has retrieved more than 5,500 artefacts. The Belfast-built ship sank about 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, two hours after hitting an iceberg. It was discovered in 1985 by an expedition led by Dr Robert Ballard. A US court granted the company salvage rights to the vessel in 1994 but explicitly stated it did not grant ownership of the wreck or t