Washington  - US President Barack Obama said Wednesday he hopes to keep between 7 and 9 million homeowners out of foreclosure, using 75 billion dollars to stabilize a housing crisis that is at the heart of the country's deepening recession.

Obama unveiled plans offering aid to homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages, to relax rules on mortgage refinancing and to help neighbourhoods raise property values by renovating already foreclosed properties.

Munich - US publisher Conde Nast said Wednesday it was closing down the German edition of its glossy magazine Vanity Fair.

The weekly, aimed at intellectual followers of fashion, will appear for the last time this week, a spokeswoman said in Munich.

The German edition began in February 2007 with a huge advertising campaign. The mix of political features and advice on style was initially unfamiliar to German readers, but was quickly accepted.

Mumbai, Feb 18 : US civil rights leader Martin Luther King III today pays homage to the victims of Mumbai terror attacks.

He observed silence for a minute as a token of respect for the victims.

"Mumbai is a great city and can overcome tragic circumstances which let us know that love and non-violence not only is the way but will survive eternally," he said.

Earlier, he said assaults like the Mumbai attacks were the fallout of what he termed as fundamentalist fanaticism.

"The terror carnage is an example of negative conflict and appealed to the world to take to a positive manner of tackling challenges of the 21st century," he added.

Seoul- The United States and South Korean military forces announced Wednesday plans for this year's annual exercises in March, coming amid rising tensions on the Korean peninsula.

The combined exercises "Key Resolve" for training commanders and the field manoeuvre "Foal Eagle" will take place March 9-20, the combined forces command CFC said.

In keeping with policy, communist North Korea was being informed of the military exercises, which the CFC stressed were exclusively "defense-oriented."

Mesa (Arizona, US), Feb. 18 : President Obama is likely to visit the training facility of the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday morning, though they know that he is a diehard Chicago White Sox fan.

"He's more than welcome. I'm a big fan of President Obama," said first baseman Derrek Lee, who contributed to Obama's campaign.

"I just signed a baseball for him, so maybe that will help," the Chicago Sun Times quoted him, as saying.

Washington, Feb 18 : Rapper Kanye West has revealed that he used to design sexy video games in his spare time at the age of 12.

The 31-year-old star used to spend nights creating quirky games with penises and ghost vaginas.

"I got into doing beats for the video games I used to try to make. My game was very sexual. The main character was, like, a giant penis. It was like Mario Brothers, but the ghosts were, like, vaginas," Contactmusic quoted him as telling Details magazine.