NowMyNews

Malaysia declared a state of emergency in two parts of the southern state of Johor on Sunday, as smoke from land-clearing fires in Indonesia pushed air pollution above the level considered hazardous. _0"> The illegal burning of forests and other land on Indonesia's Sumatra island, to the west of peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, to clear space for palm oil plantations is a chronic problem during the June-September dry season. The "haze" caused by fires in Riau province on Sumatra has also shrouded neighboring Singapore but air quality in the city state improved over the weekend after reaching hazardous levels. "Prime Minister Najib Razak has agreed to declare emergency status in Muar and Ledang with immediate effect," Malaysian Natural Resources and Environment Minister G. Palanivel said in a Facebook post. Palanivel said the air pollution index in the two districts had exceeded 750. A reading above 300 indicates that air pollution is hazardous.

Before President Barack Obama unveils a plan to lower carbon emissions from thousands of existing U.S. power plants, stakeholders on all sides of the issue have attempted to make their mark on the regulations. Electric utilities, environmental groups, large electricity consumers, and states have been working furiously behind the scenes for months to have a say in new rules that will be laid out by the Environmental Protection Agency.   Obama, in a video released by the White House on Saturday, confirmed that he will deliver a major speech on climate change on Tuesday. "I'll lay out my vision for where I believe we need to go - a national plan to reduce carbon pollution," Obama said. Administration officials have said the White House will use the Clean Air Act to tackle power plants, which account for nearly 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. This comes as no surprise to the companies and states that will have to either comply with or carry out the regulations.

The remains of Gene Roddenberry, the creator of sci-fi fantasy television series "Star Trek," will head for the final frontier next year. Scotty will be going along with him. _0"> Rodenberry's cremated remains, along with those of his wife, Majel, and actor James Doohan, who played starship engineer Scotty in the original 1960s "Star Trek" series, will be launched into deep space in November 2014 by the memorial spaceflight company Celestis.   They will be part of a cargo that will include other cremated remains, written messages and samples of DNA in capsules sent by the general public, Celestis said on Thursday. "What's very cool about this is that it's science fiction meeting reality," Celestis spokeswoman Pazia Schonfeld said. The messages and remains will be placed on a spacecraft called a solar sail, which is powered by sunlight and made to withstand high temperatures, and headed for orbit around the sun, Celestis said. The

Doctors at a Rome hospital battled for 40 minutes to try to save the life of James Gandolfini, best known for his Emmy-winning role as a mob boss in the TV series "The Sopranos," before pronouncing him dead, the emergency room chief said on Thursday. Gandolfini, 51, whose performance as Tony Soprano made him a household name and help usher in a new era of American television drama, was vacationing in Rome and had been scheduled to attend the closing of the Taormina Film Festival in Sicily on Saturday.   He was taken from his Rome hotel to the city's Umberto I hospital late on Wednesday, according to a hospital spokesperson. The actor's 13-year-old son, Michael, had found him collapsed in the bathroom of his Rome hotel room, Gandolfini's manager, Mark Armstrong, said in an email. "The resuscitation maneuvers, including heart massage, etc., continued for 40 minutes and then, seeing no electric activity from the heart, this was interrupted and we declared

In front of a screaming crowd of fans, singer and actress Jennifer Lopez was honored for her musical accomplishments on Thursday when she received the 2,500th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. _0"> Lopez, a New York City-native born to Puerto Rican parents, gave an emotional speech to the crowd gathered to see her receive the terrazzo and brass star along Hollywood Boulevard, saying she was overwhelmed.   "This all feels, I don't know, kind of surreal, but so real. It's awesome," Lopez said, fighting back tears as she received her star in front of the W Hotel in Hollywood. Lopez, 43, who began her career acting in the 1986 film "My Little Girl" and gained recognition for her portrayal of late singer Selena in the 1997 biopic "Selena," has built a multi-faceted career as an actress, singer, fashion designer and reality television judge on Fox's talent show "American Idol." Lopez has sold more than 70 million albums worl

French actor Gerard Depardieu was banned from driving for six months on Friday, after he was found to be three times over the alcohol limit when he fell from his scooter last year. _0"> The 64-year-old star of films such as Green Card and Cyrano de Bergerac was not in the Paris court to hear its decision to suspend his driving license and fine him 4,000 euros ($5,300). Drink-driving can be punishable by up to two years' jail.   The flamboyant actor, who owns a vineyard in the Loire valley, injured his elbow but nobody else when he fell from the scooter in the capital in mid-afternoon last November. With top roles in more than 100 movies, one of the country's best-known actors has made the headlines on many occasions for reasons other than his film career. The scooter fall came a few months after a car driver filed a suit against Depardieu for assault and battery following an altercation in Paris. The year before, Depardieu outraged passengers by urinating in the

South Korea has rejected preliminary casino licenses for two international bidders - a class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Caesars Entertainment Corp and Lippo Limited consortium, and Kazuo Okada's Universal Entertainment Corp - in a surprise move that could stall the government's casino development plans. _0"> The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism told Reuters on Friday that both requests for licenses were rejected. A ministry spokeswoman give no reason for the decision.   class="mandelbrot_refrag"> South Korea is one of several Asian countries considering building casino resorts to lure high-spending tourists after Singapore's success with two large properties that opened in 2010. Taiwan plans to allow class="mandelbrot_refrag"> casinos to set up shop on offshore islands and the Philippines is developing four large casino resorts. The Caesars-Lippo consortium and Universal had applied to build large integrated resort