Organizer: WC 2010 preparation on schedule

South Africa's organizing chief for the 2010 World Cup says preparation for the tournament is moving ahead on schedule.

Danny Jordaan says organizers expects some 450,000 foreign visitors to attend the tournament that kicks off June 14 next …

Greylord book offers chilling look at scandal

Filled with the blunt language of corruption, an advance copy ofBrocton Lockwood's new book about Greylord showed up on our desk,bringing with it memories of the scandal Lockwood helped to splashacross the front pages.

The book presents a chilling picture of justice in Chicago notso long ago: fat bundles of greenbacks slipped into the hands of hackjudges, grinning mobsters shuffling through bought trials, judgespaying "rent" for lucrative courtrooms.

All of this was dragged into the light with the help ofLockwood, a Downstate judge who, horrified at what he saw after beingtransferred to Chicago, cooperated with an FBI probe that ended upconvicting cellblocks …

Trying to save troops' lives with flying hospital

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan (AP) — A light rain fell on a runway in the early morning darkness as vans pulled up to what one officer calls the "Cadillac" of medical evacuation aircraft.

Dozens of service members began loading wounded comrades onto a huge C-17 military transport plane in a carefully choreographed process. As many as eight people carry a single patient, who often is connected to more than 100 pounds of advanced medical equipment.

The giant plane had been converted into a flying intensive care unit to evacuate the war zones' most seriously wounded for advanced care in Germany and the U.S. The wounded travel under the watchful eye of Air National Guard Critical …

Guy Ritchie hopes hard work pays off with 'Holmes'

All in all, Guy Ritchie has had a pretty good 2009. He had a blast making his big-budget thriller "Sherlock Holmes," stayed focused on his work _ and avoided coverage of the fallout from his split with Madonna.

"I haven't read the papers for so long now," said Ritchie. "I don't watch TV.

"Head down, arms swinging _ I've been like that for a couple of years now."

The British filmmaker and the queen of pop divorced in November 2008, eight years after they wed in a Scottish castle and became darlings of the tabloid press.

Fortunately, Ritchie, 41, had plenty to distract him from the inevitable media frenzy. …

Tom's US drive

Tractor Tom is being sent to the United States in an attempt tobreak into the pre-school toy market.

The Contender Entertainment Group (CEG) has appointed Hasbro to bethe master toy licensee for its pre-school property.

Hasbro …

Kim Bingham: background

Born and raised in Montreal, Kim began her career singing and writing with Me, Mom and Morgentaler in early 1988. After leaving the band in 1993 she hibernated in her apartment in Montreal and flirted briefly with a career in television before recording a series of 4-track demos in an effort to see what she was capable of on her own.

Late '94 found her in Vancouver where she formed Mudgirl and recorded First Book. The EP yielded three singles, …

Pandas evacuated from earthquake-hit area in China because of landslide threats

Pandas living in earthquake-hit southwest China are facing a food shortage and some have been evacuated to temporary shelters because of the continuing threat of landslides and other hazards, an official said Tuesday.

Only seven pandas of the original 63 are left in the Wolong Nature Reserve deep in the lush mountains of Sichuan province, close to the epicenter of last month's magnitude-7.9 temblor, said Zhang Hemin, the director of the Wolong Panda Breeding Center.

They are being fed only a fraction of their daily allowance of bamboo because the plants were either damaged or destroyed by the quake, he said. Their diet is being supplemented by milk and …