Sony's upgraded portable video game machine PlayStation Vita is going on sale in Japan on Dec. 17 with 26-game software going on sale on the same date, but it's still not available overseas until next year.

The competition in portable gaming is almost certain to intensify in Japan, ahead of the rest of the world, during the year-end shopping season.

Amy Winehouse's family has launched a youth charity in her name to mark what would have been the singer's 28th birthday.

Winehouse, who had long fought drug and alcohol problems, was found dead at her London home on July 23. Her family says toxicology reports indicated there was alcohol in her bloodstream but it was unclear whether this had contributed to her death.

Lebanon may be known more for its civil strife than its fledgling movie industry, but Nadine Labaki hopes to change all that.

The director-actress is out to transform the way the world sees her native country.

A man is suing the White Castle chain, claiming the booths in one of its hamburger restaurants are too small.

Martin Kessman says in the federal lawsuit filed last week that he was embarrassed in 2009 when he tried squeezing his 6-foot (1.83-meter), 290-pound (132-kilogram) frame into the seating at a White Castle in New York state. He says he slammed his knee into a metal post under the table and was in pain.

Actor David Walliams has battled diarrhea, polluted waters and strong tides to complete a 140 mile (225 kilometers) charity swim along the River Thames.

Walliams, best known for his role in the television comedy show "Little Britain," raised more than one million pounds ($1.58 million) for the charity Sport Relief with his grueling, eight-day challenge.

Iran's state television has banned programs featuring provocative love stories or shirtless men in an apparent bow to hard-line Muslim clerics complaining about such scenes in foreign movies, Iranian newspapers reported Tuesday.

Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iranian TV and movie productions have avoided scenes showing the close mixing of the genders, which is discouraged in Iran. Iranian actresses in domestic productions also appear in Islamic dress that covers them from head to toe.

President Dilma Rousseff says Brazil will have access to high-speed internet via the latest generation of cell phones before the country hosts the 2014 World Cup.

Brazil's president says 4G cell phones will be available in time to watch the matches.

Bionic ear maker Cochlear has been forced to begin a global recall of the world's thinnest hearing implants after some stopped working.

The Sydney-based company, which dominates the world's bionic ear market, said Monday it was mystified as to why some of its award-winning Nucleus CI500 devices were suddenly shutting down.

Japan says it has a record 47,756 people aged 100 or older — most of them women.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said Tuesday that the total was up 3,307 from a year ago — and four times more than Japan had a dozen years ago.

Nintendo is readying an array of video games for the holidays in an aggressive attempt at catch-up for lost time from the sales delay of the 3DS portable machine last year.

Nintendo Co., which makes the Wii home console and Super Mario and Pokemon games, showed some of the gaming titles featuring glasses-free three-dimensional technology at a packed Tokyo event hall Tuesday.