After more than 20 years of bitter feuding, the principal founding members of Van Halen hugged each other on Monday during a news conference to announce a rebirth of one of America's premier rock bands.

Flamboyant singer David Lee Roth, 52, has returned to the fold for a 25-date North American arena trek that will kick off on September 27 in Charlotte, North Carolina. International dates and a new album are also in the planning stages.

Roth quit the band in 1985 for a disappointing solo career, and he spent the subsequent years sniping at his old bandmates and their replacement singer Sammy Hagar.

But as excited reporters cheered them on, the garrulous "Diamond Dave" embraced his old antagonist, guitarist Eddie Van Halen, during the gathering at the Four Seasons Hotel.

"My new brother," said Van Halen, also 52, as his 54-year-old brother, drummer Alex Van Halen looked on.

It is indeed a family affair, with Eddie's 16-year-old son, Wolfgang, replacing Michael Anthony on bass, to the chagrin of some fans hoping for a reunion of the classic lineup famed for such hits as "Runnin' With the Devil," "And the Cradle Will Rock" and "Panama."

Asked about Anthony's absence, Roth said: "This is not a reunion. This is a new band. ... Usually when a band comes back like us it's rockers with walkers, and this is everything but. Meet us in the future, not the past."

NEW ALBUM

Roth said Van Halen was "plotting and planning" a new album, his first with the band since 1983's blockbuster "1984."

"Saving the world is (U2 singer) Bono's job. We just want to save a hundred cities," Roth said. "Then we want to save Europe, then we want to save Japan, Australia and ... Hong Kong. Then we make an album. Lots of big dreams here, lots of ambition."

Added Eddie Van Halen: "We are a band and we're gonna continue."

The band has been on the rocks since 1996, when Hagar acrimoniously left. That year, Roth reunited with his old bandmates to record two songs for a hits album, and to present an award at the MTV Video Music Awards. He had assumed this would lead to a full-blown reunion, but later claimed he had been duped by Eddie Van Halen.

The band, instead, cast its lot with a new singer, Gary Cherone, the former vocalist with soft-rock band Extreme. His one album with the band, 1998's "Van Halen III" was a flop, and he left the following year.

The Van Halen soap opera entered a bizarre phase in 2002, when Roth and Hagar launched a co-headlining tour, despite Roth's description of his replacement as a "mediocre talent." Also that year, Eddie van Halen underwent cancer treatment, and the band was dropped by its longtime label, Warner Bros.

In 2004, Hagar and his old bandmates embarked on an unhappy reunion tour, with Anthony and Hagar claiming that Eddie Van Halen had alcohol problems. The guitarist, a recovering alcoholic, entered rehab earlier this year.

Observers are hoping for better things this time around.

"The real question is whether Eddie and Dave can peacefully co-exist," said Matt Blackett, associate editor at Guitar Player magazine. "For the sake of their die-hard fans let's hope so, because it was that pairing that created the band's most groundbreaking music. Eddie never played better than when he was with Dave.

Road construction put Detroit Pistons coach Flip Saunders on the 10th Avenue bridge Wednesday in Minneapolis.

The detour perhaps saved his life.

"I usually take the 35W bridge, but the ramp was closed," Saunders said Thursday from Minneapolis in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "My daughter was driving in a car right behind me when the bridge collapsed -- about 20 yards away from us. It sounded like a bomb when it dropped.

"I got out of my car and the first thing I heard was the kids screaming on the bus. I called 911. I didn't really know what else I could do," he said.

Saunders, a former Minnesota Timberwolves coach, was driving home after speaking at Tubby Smith's basketball camp at the University of Minnesota, where Saunders starred as a player.

"A day later, I'm still in a surreal state of mind," he said. "I can still see what happened. It's kind of like having flashbacks."

Divers checked submerged cars in the Mississippi River on Thursday for victims still trapped beneath the twisted steel and concrete slabs of a collapsed bridge.

"Our staff was in our office when we heard the news and we walked down to the bridge to see if there was anything we could do. ... We were told at the scene there was nothing we could help with and followed the authorities' request to clear the area," Smith said in a statement Thursday. "Obviously, our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families. Our program, athletic department and university will do whatever we can to help our community recover from this disaster."

The eight-lane Interstate 35W bridge, a major Minneapolis artery, was in the midst of repairs when the bridge buckled during the evening rush hour Wednesday. Dozens of cars plummeted more than 60 feet into the river, some falling on top of one another. A school bus sat on the angled concrete.

The official death count stood at four Thursday morning, but Police Chief Tim Dolan said more bodies were in the water.

The Foo Fighters have apparently penned a song making fun of My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco et al for their upcoming 'Echoes, Silence, Patience And Grace' album.

The track in question is 'Cheer Up Boys (Your Make-Up Is Running)'. Frontman Dave Grohl told MTV:

"I have a funny relationship with emo. I'm from Washington D.C., and in the mid-'80s, the hardcore scene changed from what it was - Bad Brains and Minor Threat and the Dead Kennedys and MDC - to a bunch of new bands like Rites of Spring and Embrace. Everyone started labelling it 'emo-core'. I'd never heard anything like it, and it was a really emotional experience. But in D.C., we all hated that 'emo-core' tag."

'Echoes, Silence, Patience And Grace' will be released on September 24 through Sony BMG.

A mystery gripping Japan over anonymous cash gifts has taken a new twist. For those who want the next batch of giveaways, the place to look is in their mailboxes -- or even right at their feet.

Residents of a Tokyo apartment building are baffled after a total of 1.81 million yen (15,210 dollars) was found in 18 mailboxes by Saturday, a police spokesman said.

"The money was in identical plain envelopes, which were unsealed and carried no names or messages," the spokesman told AFP.

But residents became "spooked" rather than pleased with the anonymous gifts -- and were too upright to pocket the money secretly.

"Some people initially suspected they were fake bills. When they realised the bills were real, they reported them to us," the spokesman said.

The predominantly middle-****apartment building in Tokyo is not alone. An envelope with one million yen was left in the mailbox of a 31-year-old woman in the western city of Kobe on Wednesday.

Police admit they have no idea who is leaving the cash -- whether a few people are behind the bizarre giveaways or if Japan is witnessing a craze of copycat benevolence.

Since June, dozens of city halls and other public buildings across the country have reported finding neatly packaged envelopes full of cash in men's restrooms.

The bathroom money has come with identical letters asking people to do good deeds -- leading to speculation that the benefactor may be a public servant trying to cheer up his profession or perhaps a member of a new-age religion.

Japanese cash dropoffs are not always so neat.

On Wednesday, bills worth 960,000 yen were inexplicably seen "falling" in front of a convenience store.

"We can just say the money came from the skies," a puzzled police official said. "There were other passers-by outside and customers in the store but the incident caused no confusion," he said.

"People thought it was too eerie to touch.

A man who contacted police saying his daughter had dropped the money had his claim rejected as groundless, the official said.

The largest single dropoff so far was in the ancient city of Kyoto on July 23, astonishing a 67-year-old woman who found an envelope containing 10 million yen of stacked bills in her mailbox.

But mystery money does not always reach police intact.

A woman walking on a bridge over Tokyo's Sumida River told officers that she saw bills falling at her feet from an elevated expressway above on July 6.

She believes 30 to 40 notes fell but police managed to collect only six notes worth 46,000 yen by the time they arrived.

"Some people were picking the money up on the bridge," the Tokyo Shimbun quoted the woman as saying.

No one can say if more people have collected money and not told police.

Media tallies suggest more than four million yen, including some found last year, has been found in the public restrooms.

Dutifully, police are holding most of the money in case the rightful owner eventually decides to reveal their identity.

Three masked robbers broke into the suburban Chicago home of New York Knicks center Eddy Curry on Saturday morning and held his family and an employee at gunpoint.

Deputy chief of police John Madden said the three offenders restrained Curry, his family and an employee with duct tape inside the Burr Ridge home.

Madden said police believe it was not a random incident.

No one was injured in the incident, and the robbers made off with cash and jewelry. The value was not disclosed.

System Of A Down frontman Serj Tankian will release his debut solo album, 'Elect The Dead', through his own Serjical Strike label / Warner Bros on October 22.

Recorded at Tankian's home studio during the latter half of 2006, 'Elect The Dead' is entirely self-recorded and self-produced apart from guest appearances by former Primus and Guns N' Roses drummer Bryan Mantia and System Of A Down's tub thumper John Dolmayan.

"I was writing more traditional type songs on my piano and acoustic guitar," says Tankian. "But low and behold, it ended up being a rock record. There is more instrumental depth - more pianos, acoustics and string arrangements. Stylistically it touches upon ****cal music and Spanish gypsy vibes while still remaining schizophrenic and dramatic within a single song".

"There are political songs, funny songs, love songs, songs about painful experiences, vanity, and the environment", he adds. "It has a deep melancholy that runs from the personal to the global, with a glimmer of hope in the solidarity of spirit".

'Elect The Dead' will be preceded by the digital download single, 'Unthinking Majority', on August 7 with an actual physical single, 'Empty Walls' on October 15.

Kerrang! have obtained the full tracklisting for HIM's upcoming new album 'Venus Doom'.

The full tracklisting for 'Venus Doom', which is released in the UK on September 17 through Warner Bros, is as follows:

01 'Venus Doom'
02 'Love In Cold Blood'
03 'Passion's Killing Floor'
04 'The Kiss Of Dawn'
05 'Sleepwalking Past Hope'
06 'Dead Lover's Lane
07 'Song Or Suicide'
08 'Bleed Well'
09 'Cyanide Sun'

Today, Electronic Arts announced the completion of its internal reorganization into four main labels, as well as its executive team which will be heading up each brand for the publisher. The restructuring move was designed to maximize the production of the company's games and help it drive growth for the four autonomous labels: Games, Casual Entertainment, The Sims and EA Sports. Frank Gibeau was announced as the President of the EA Games Label, Kathy Vrabeck will be the President of EA Casual Entertainment and Nancy Smith will be the President of The Sims. However, one of the surprises that was attached to today's announcement was that Peter Moore, the Corporate Vice President for Interactive Entertainment Business in Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices division, would be leaving his position as the leader of the Xbox 360 platform to take over as the President of the EA Sports brand.

As sports fans know, the EA Sports Brand is one of the strongest in the gaming industry, consistently producing titles like NBA Live, Tiger Woods PGA Tour, FIFA Soccer, Nascar and Madden NFL. Moore, who joined Microsoft in 2003 to oversee their gaming consoles, previously was the President and COO of SEGA of America, and helped launch the Dreamcast in 1999. However, apart from his experience in the gaming industry, Moore also has an extensive sports background, as both a Senior Vice President of marketing at Reebok International Ltd.and as the President of Patrick USA, the United States subsidiary of a French sportswear company.

A statement released by EA from Peter Moore stated the following, "The people at EA Sports have created one of the strongest brands in the entertainment industry and John Riccitiello is building an organization which will extend the company's leadership to new platforms and new audiences all over the world. I couldn't be more excited about joining EA and moving my family back to the San Francisco Bay Area."

Shortly after the news was announced, we spoke with John Riccitiello, the CEO of Electronic Arts, about this announcement and what it could possibly mean for the future of his company.

New version of Sony's portable will get television tuner add-on, additional colors, limited edition Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII bundle across the Pacific.

In Japan, SCE will release a TV tuner (PSP-S310), which users can attach to the new PSP via its USB port. The peripheral weighs at only 17 grams and is very portable, but is compatible only with the new PSP model. Also, since it's a 1seg digital TV tuner (ISDB-T broadcasting format), its use is limited to the Japan airwaves. The TV tuner will be released at the same time as the new PSP, and will retail for 6,980 yen (about $57), about the same as a low-end USB PC TV tuner.

It's not the first thing you think of when you think of bars, but the new drink of choice is also the oldest drink of choice.

Water is the latest trend when it comes to taste and a bit of marketing.

Glass, plastic, carbonated, non carbonated, high mineral content ... no, it's not a fancy drink or a fine wine. Diane Felicissimo is talking about the latest craze -- water.

It's a business making a splash. Americans spent more last year on bottled water than on iPods and movie tickets -- a whopping $15 billion.

Via Genova, a water bar in Chappaqua, N.Y. (home of Bill and Hillary Clinton), is cashing in on the craze, stocking water bottles that look more like collectors items.

"I have probably close to 80 different types of waters," owner Felicissimo said.

This luxury water comes from all over the world and contains magnesium, calcium and even potassium. One brand, "10 thousand B.C." is a top seller at $30 per bottle.

"They get it from British Columbia, Canada," Felicissimo said. "It's a three-day journey by yacht to get to their water source."

If you want some "Bling H2O," plan on paying an amazing $55 for less than a liter.