World star Rain (real name Jung Ji-hoon) has been listed in the Year in Review 2007 of the Encyclopedia Britannica Online. He is only the third Korean figure to be included in the biographies section of the Britannica. The other two are poet Ko Un and President Lee Myung-bak. However, Rain is the first Korean entertainer to be mentioned in the annual review.

Britannica Online described Rain as a pan-Asian superstar, who topped Time Magazine’s online poll as the most influential person in the world in 2007, although the article did not fail to mention that Rain’s status was undoubtedly the result of his fans’ dedication. The world-renowned encyclopedia also compared him to American idol star Justin Timberlake and introduced Rain’s past works in music, TV and film.

Top Korean singer Rain met his match during his visit to Los Angeles for the promotion of his movie, ``Speed Racer.'' The 25-year-old singer appeared on top comedian Stephen Colbert's show ``The Colbert Report.''

Many Korean fans are familiar with the 43-year-old host who once imitated Rain on one of his shows. In 2007, Rain topped the ``Time 100 Poll,'' the Time magazine's online poll of the 100 most influential people of the year, with Stephen Colbert tailing him as runner up. Colbert mentioned his defeat by the Korean pop sensation and imitated a scene from Rain's music videos as well as singing a Korean song.

This time, it was Oprah Winfrey's turn to be charmed by the Philippines' Charice Pempengco. With her Ellen DeGeneres appearance still lingering in the memory of her countrymen, young singing sensation Charice pulled off another stellar feat when she graced the highly-popular U.S. talk show Oprah, hosted by Oprah Winfrey.

Charice shared with The Buzz yesterday, May 4, that the influential American host and media mogul deliberately skipped watching her rehearsal because she wanted to be surprised during the actual taping.

Xu Jinglei, who began her career as an actress, now has many career titles; chief editor of the online magazine "Kai La," blogger boasting the number one reader base on Sina.com.cn and rising director with three films in the can.

The star, who was invited to shoot a series of photos for the fashion magazine OFFICIEL, defines herself as a business woman with an independent spirit.

Xu Jinglei on cover of OFFICIEL

Of all of talent agency Johnny's Jimusho's everlasting army of boy bands, Arashi has the guys who seem set on doing the dirty work. Kazunari Ninomiya appeared in Clint Eastwood's Letters from Iwo Jima as a convincing army grunt, was the voice of the packrat-like Kuro in 2006's Tekkon Kinkreet, and last year played the piss-poor Taro in the TV drama series Yamada Taro Monogatari. Masaki Aiba doesn't appear in nearly as much, but he handles wild animals and their precious bodily fluids every week on Shimura Doubutsuen (Shimura's Zoo). And now Jun Matsumoto -- aka Matsujun -- is joining the fracas, having been just cast as one of two filthy peasants in Shinji Higuchi's remake of the Akira Kurosawa classic, Hidden Fortress. Is Arashi signaling the end of the squeaky-clean romantic roles Johnny's boys normally traffic in?

Matsumoto has had an extensive career in Johnny's, joining in 1996 without having to audition and debuting just three years later with the now hugely popular pop group Arashi. While the group began its climb as the forefront of a new Johnny's generation of pop idols, Matsumoto himself began honing his career as an actor, starring in the TV drama Kindaichi Shonen no Jikenbo as boy detective Hajime Kindaichi, which would lead to his award-winning co-starring roles in the hit TV series' Gokusen and Hana Yori Dango. His most recent television triumph was winning the award for Best Actor at the 53rd Japanese Television Drama Academy Awards for last year's cooking drama Bambino!, where Matsumoto played a confident young cook from Kyushu who learns the hard knocks of the professional culinary world after working as a training chef in Roppongi.

Morning Musume and L`Arc en Ciel, two of Japan`s hottest pop groups, will soon be in Seoul to perform.

L`Arc en Ciel, one of the most-loved Japanese rock bands in the world, will play at the Seoul Olympic Gymnastic Stadium in southeastern Seoul on May 17. Formed in 1991, the quartet of Tetsu (bass guitar), Hyde (vocal), Ken (guitar) and Yukihiro (drum) has been at the heart of J-pop`s popularity overseas from the beginning, selling more than 25 million albums worldwide.

Hollywood star of Chinese origin Jackie Chan has tacitly admitted in his official website that he did not know how to pronounce the names of Indian film stars. “There were so many famous faces (from) Indian cinema. But I did not know how to pronounce their names,” Chan wrote.

Chan had described Tamil Nadu film industry great Kamal Hassan as a “singer” and ignored questions about Bollywood thespian Amitabh Bachchan in television interviews during his Indian sojourn.

The long-anticipated marriage of Hong Kong actors Carina Lau and Tony Leung will take place later this year.

Lau, 43, revealed the news on Saturday during a commercial appearance in the northeast Chinese city of Shenyang. The Taiwan media reported the pair would officially announce the wedding date during the red carpet show of the 61st Cannes Film Festival next month.

An infant milk powder manufacturer in Chinese mainland plans to invite Lucas Tse, son of Cecilia Cheung and Nicholas Tse, to advertise for its brand, offering seven-digit payment, reported by Chongqing Morning Post on Saturday.

According to the report, the breakout of the sex scandal was detrimental to Cecilia's public image; her show business has been badly affected. The manufacturer of the infant milk powder says they are attracted by Lucas's cute appearance after seeing his picture. His father Nicholas Tse has also been invited to be in the advertisement.

Filipina singing sensation Charice Pempengco decided to scrap her last name off and just use "Charice" in her future works and appearances as reported in tonight's edition of TV Patrol World. The change was thought off for easier recall and as Charice's mother had mentioned to eliminate the wrong pronunciation of her last name.

Charice's career has skyrocketed these past months and fans will be seeing her on The Oprah Winfrey Show this May 12th. Her album will be released internationally in the coming weeks, as well. Her latest single "I Have Nothing" was recently released.

Chinese actress Xu Jinglei was awarded the honorary title of "China Environmental Ambassador" at an awarding ceremony cosponsored by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the United Nations Development Program on World Earth Day, April 22.

Xu Jinglei is one among the ten people that were given this honor. The media hails the ten ambassadors as doing the best in raising awareness for environmental protection.