WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The White House accused Republican Mitt Romney’s camp of blatant dishonesty Tuesday after he savaged President Barack Obama’s jobs record in a testy preview of a possible 2012 election showdown.The row erupted after the Romney camp’s first television advertisement ripped an Obama quote out of context, making it appear the president feared that talking about the crisis-riddled economy could doom his reelection hopes.Republican candidates meanwhile, just over a month before thei

NEW YORK (AP) ― Three months after losing musical and life partner Nick Ashford, Valerie Simpson acknowledges that she still has a hard time performing any of the classic songs they created together.“I get a big lump in my throat when I try to sing one of our songs right now,” she said.She will get a little help next week as Usher is set to sing from the Ashford & Simpson catalog for what promises to be a poignant moment in the usually upbeat Grammy nominations prime-time special. It will be par

NEW YORK (AFP) ― The influential U.S. jazz drummer and composer, Paul Motian, died Tuesday at the age of 80 in New York, a close friend said.“Paul did pass away early this morning,” Carole d’Inverno, a painter, told AFP. Jazz producer Hans Wendl said Motian had died from complications from Myelodisplastic Syndrome, a bone disorder.In the latter half of his career Motian became a band leader, playing with saxophonist Joe Lovano, guitarist Bill Frisell and pianist Masabumi Kikuchi among others, an

LONDON (AFP) ― Freddie Mercury died 20 years ago on Thursday but his star has only burned brighter in the two decades since, with Queen and their larger-than-life frontman as popular as ever.The British rockers, marking their 40th anniversary this year, are among the world’s biggest-selling artists ever ― with most of their sales coming in the 20 years since Mercury died.Queen’s guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor are busier than ever and Mercury’s songs such as “Bohemian Rhapsody” and

NEW YORK (AP) ― The best validation for the nostalgia of “The Artist” is the film itself.A silent movie in tribute to silent movies, “The Artist” puts its money where its mouth is, so to speak. Or not to, rather.Michel Hazanavicius’ black-and-white, near-wordless film is a loving, irresistibly charming ode to a long-ago movie era that not only summons the dormant conventions of silent moviemaking, but makes them dance again.The film opens with old-style titles and the first bursts of Ludovic Bou

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Oscar-winning Hollywood mega-star Angelina Jolie says she’s lucky to have survived her younger days when she dabbled in “dangerous” things, but says there’s a part of her that is still a “bad girl.”“I went through heavier, darker times and I survived them. I didn’t die young,” the 36-year-old actress told CBS in an interview to be broadcast on Sunday.“So I am very lucky. There are other artists and people that didn’t survive certain things ... people can imagine that I did the

MIAMI ― Baby boomer women might not want to wear their daughters’ jeans and men may refuse to don muscle shirts, but the generation that brought us tie-dye still wants to remain fashionable and hip well into middle age.How to monetize that desire is both a marketer’s conundrum and dream.“Even with mature figures, boomers want to have fashionable options,” says Roseanne Morrison, fashion director for The Doneger Group, an industry consultant. “That doesn’t stop just because you hit a certain age.

DOHA (Yonhap News) ― South Korean Ryu Seung-min and North Korean Kim Hyok-bong teamed up to capture the men’s doubles table tennis title here at the inaugural Peace and Sport Cup tournament.The inter-Korean duo downed the pairing of Fan Yiyong of the U.S. and Grigory Vlassov of Russia in the final, 11-9, 11-3, 11-4.At the exhibition table tennis event, co-organized by the International Table Tennis Federation and Peace and Sport Foundation, players from 10 nations that have been historically at

Leaders from taekwondo governing bodies have come together calling for united support to maintain the sport’s global status. “We’re now working together to secure taekwondo’s berth in the Olympics,” said Park Sun-kyu, vice minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism.Park sat down with taekwondo officials, including World Taekwondo Federation President Choue Chung-won, in Seoul on Wednesday to discuss ways of making the Korean martial art a “core” Olympic sport.Also joining at the table were Bae Jhon