Washington, October 25: Michael Jackson

London, Oct 25 : Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones has been tipped to play the role of Egyptian queen Cleopatra in a 30million-dollar, three-dimensional Hollywood musical.

A Variety magazine report describes the film, Cleo, as a “3-D live action rock ‘n’ roll musical”, the Independent reported.

It will be directed by Steven Soderbergh, and Aussie actor Hugh Jackman, who starred in X-Men, is in negotiations to play her Roman lover, Mark Antony.

The musical score for the film is being composed by rock band ‘Guided by Voices’, and its former bass player, James Greer, is said to have written the script.

Sydney - Over 140 Australian reserve soldiers will be deployed to the Solomon Islands to help maintain peace and stability, a Defence Department statement said Saturday.

"During the four-month deployment, the soldiers will carry out street patrols alongside the Australian Federal Police and in support of the RAMSI (Regional Assistance Mission Solomon Islands) participating police forces within Solomon Islands," Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said.

Kabul - Two foreign nationals and an Afghan guard were killed when gunmen opened fire on them in the centre of the capital Kabul on Saturday, police said.

"Two foreigners and one of their Afghan guards were killed by gunmen this morning," said Alishan Ahmadzai, a Kabul police official.

Another police officer at the scene said that the dead foreigners were a woman and a man, while two guards were wounded in the attack.

Taipei - Taiwan's right-wing opposition rallied thousands in Taipei Saturday to protest President Ma Ying-jeou's pro-China policies and the island's economic downturn.

The march, organized by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), criticized Ma's alleged selling out of Taiwan's interests to China and Taiwan's economic downturn.

Ma took office in May after his Chinese Nationalist Party swept back into power in the March 22 presidential elections, ending the DPP's 8-year rule.

London, Oct 25 : English business magnate Sir Richard Branson’s attempt at a transatlantic record may be in jeopardy after “massive seas and very strong gales” swept away a life raft, and ripped the main sail.

Branson, his children Holly, 26, Sam, 23, and Olympic hero Ben Ainslie had set sail from New York on October 22 in an attempt to set a record for the fastest crossing.

The billionaire spoke via satellite from his 99-foot yacht Virgin Money, and revealed that the storms hammering the Atlantic “may have been too much for the boat and we may have pushed it too hard”.