The second typhoon in a week battered the rain-soaked northern Philippines on Saturday, adding misery to thousands of people, some of whom still perched on rooftops while several other Asian nations also reeled from flooding.

Typhoon Nalgae slammed ashore midmorning Saturday south of northeastern Palanan Bay in Isabela province with winds of 100 miles (160 kilometers) per hour and dangerous gusts of 121 mph (195 kph).

Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera" will celebrate its 25th anniversary this weekend with a lavish birthday party that will certainly involve someone swinging from a chandelier.

Producers will broadcast on Sunday a live performance of the show from London's 5,500-seat Royal Albert Hall to movie houses in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, Canada, Japan and Australia. The live performance — one of three shows at the hall — will be followed by rebroadcasts to cinemas on Oct. 5, 6 and 11.

Paintings, writings and the iconic blue sweater of the audacious assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian are going up for auction, his attorney and close friend said Friday.

Lawyer Mayer Morganroth said the late pathologist's artwork and items will be sold in late October at the New York Institute of Technology.

Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle Fire tablet uses Google Inc.'s software but bypasses Google's project to extend its clout in Internet search and advertising into tablets and phones, an analyst said Friday.

Amazon revealed its tablet Wednesday, and said it will go on sale Nov. 15 for $199. It's based on Google Inc.'s Android operating system, used by most tablets that are trying to compete with Apple Inc.'s iPad.

West Ham says it has signed Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia on a one-month emergency loan to replace the injured Robert Green.

The east London club, which is fourth in the second-tier League Championship, secured the services of the Spanish player after learning Green will be sidelined for six weeks with a knee injury.

Roger Daltrey, lead singer of The Who, says there aren't many contemporary singers who could "lead" a band, and he partially blames shows like "American Idol" for it.

"A lot of the new people they choose on shows like 'American Idol' and things like that — I don't ever hear lead singers," he said. "They always seem to choose to pick people that are great singers, fabulous singers, but they've never got the voice that makes a great lead singer."

A Brazilian government agency says it wants a TV ad starring a lingerie-clad Gisele Bundchen to be taken off the air because it is sexist.

The Women's Rights Secretariat says in a Thursday statement that it has asked the National Advertising Council to suspend the ad.

The new artistic director of the Salzburg Festival has unusual plans — he wants most operas performed there to be new productions.

Alexander Pereira says revivals will be the exception at the famed festival under his leadership.

Over the past seven years, the developers at Starbreeze Studios have created video games based on a film franchise ("The Chronicles of Riddick") and a comic series ("The Darkness").

For the latest entry in its first-person shooter catalog, the independent Swedish gamemaker is turning to an unexpected source of inspiration: another video game.

Two weeks after Egypt's uprising swept aside Hosni Mubarak, the presidents of Iran and Syria stood side by side in Damascus in a blunt message to the Arab Spring: The Syrian regime can count on its allies in Tehran.

Seven months later — and after at least 2,700 deaths in Syria — Iran is tweaking its big brother role for Syrian President Bashar Assad. The Iranian leaders are now urging him to consider talks with protesters or risk heading down a path with few escape routes.