Entertainment is a leisure activity consisting of an event and an audience that views the event and participates. This participation can be subtle, as in Theatres: Film, Opera or stageshows, or Orchestral symphony concerts wherein the applause due the performance or performing artists would be bad manners. In contrast, the sports entertainment industry feeds off audience participation— who can imagine the strange event attending a pro-wrestling bout, basketball or baseball game without cheering or booing the participants would experentially being happy.

The industry that provides entertainment is called the entertainment industry, and one distinction between what is meant by the term is the voluntary participation of the party being entertained, which may be passive (Opera) or active (Frantic shoot-em-up computer games) and the whole gamut of industry supported diversions in between (Baseball, Concerts, Football, Books, Television, film , striptease, and events like Karaoke).

Recreation, play, reading, and art appreciation may in some instances be confused with entertainment, but the difference is elementary—entertainments take two or more— even if one of the participants is a programmer for the obsolescent Amiga computer system who now happens to be deceased. Without the 'performance' of the artist and the participation of the viewer the event would and could not occur.

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BBC News | Asia-Pacific | World Edition

N Korea hails terror list removal
Sun, 12 Oct 2008 07:37:12 -0000
North Korea welcomes a US decision to remove it from a list of sponsors of terrorism and agrees to allow nuclear access.
China agrees land reform package
Sun, 12 Oct 2008 11:09:35 -0000
China's leaders approve a package of rural reforms that could shape economic policy over coming years.
Aceh guerrilla leader flies home
Sat, 11 Oct 2008 04:46:00 -0000
Former rebels flock to Banda Aceh to welcome home one of Indonesia's best-known guerrilla leaders, Hasan di Tiro.
Tainted China water sickens 450
Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:26:24 -0000
About 450 people fall ill in southern China after drinking water contaminated by a metal factory, state media report.
New Kim Jong-il images released
Sat, 11 Oct 2008 06:22:53 -0000
North Korea releases pictures of reclusive leader Kim Jong-il apparently looking well, despite reports he has been ill.
Ahtisaari wins Nobel Peace Prize
Fri, 10 Oct 2008 10:42:42 -0000
Martti Ahtisaari wins this year's Nobel Peace Prize for his mediation efforts, including in Indonesia's Aceh province.

NYT > Asia Pacific

North Korea Is Off Terror List After a Deal With the U.S.
Sun, 12 Oct 2008 04:23:53 -0000
Saying North Korea had agreed to adhere to nuclear concessions, the U.S. removed the country from a list of terrorism sponsors.
North Korean TV Shows Photos of Elusive Leader
Sun, 12 Oct 2008 05:37:58 -0000
More than a month after his absence from an important anniversary parade fueled theories that he had suffered a stroke, Kim Jong-il reportedly inspected a military unit.
Thai Prime Minister’s Supporters Rally as Antigovernment Protest Nears
Sat, 11 Oct 2008 22:09:20 -0000
Thousands of supporters of Thailand’s governing coalition gathered in a show of strength, two days before a planned protest by a group hoping to topple the elected government.

L.A. Times - Asia

Japanese businessman Kazuyoshi Miura is found dead in jail cell
Sun, 12 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700
He had just been extradited to Los Angeles to face conspiracy charges in the murder of his wife in 1981. His death is called an apparent suicide. Bringing a dramatic conclusion to a nearly three-decade-long international crime saga, a Japanese businessman accused of conspiring to have his wife murdered 27 years ago in Los Angeles hanged himself in his jail cell hours after returning to face charges, police said Saturday.
North Korea removed from U.S. terrorism list after nuclear agreement
Sun, 12 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700
Conservatives criticize the deal, under which North Korea will permit international inspectors to return, but gives access only to specific sites. Sen. John McCain also expresses reservations. The Bush administration Saturday removed North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism after Pyongyang agreed to allow inspectors access to declared nuclear sites, in a deal that drew quick criticism from conservatives.
North Korea releases Kim Jong Il's pictures
Sat, 11 Oct 2008 07:47:00 -0700
North Korea released pictures of its leader, Kim Jong Il, today for the first time in nearly two months, showing him looking generally well despite reports he recently underwent brain surgery.

UN News Centre - Asia Pacific

Head of UN agency promoting press freedom condemns murder of Thai journalist
Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500
The head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has deplored the murder of Thai journalist, while stressing that it is vital for the future of press freedom in the South-East Asian nation for the perpetrators of the attack to be brought to justice.
Relief efforts continue in quake-hit Kyrgyzstan, UN reports
Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500
United Nations humanitarian agencies are continuing their relief efforts in the mountains of southern Kyrgyzstan, where an earthquake on Sunday night killed more than 70 people and displaced hundreds of families, as they work to bring aid before the expected arrival of the first snowfalls of the season.
Myanmar: UN expert outlines steps for improving human rights
Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500
Improving the situation of human rights in Myanmar is still a challenging task, according to the independent United Nations expert on the issue, who has outlined a series of measures for the South-East Asian as it proceeds with its "road map to democracy" announced earlier this year.

Asia - Pacific - International Herald Tribune

Mourners mark 6th anniversary of Bali suicide attacks
Sun, 12 Oct 2008 18:04:24 -0000
Survivors, relatives and tourists remembered victims of the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings on their sixth anniversary Sunday.
United States and North Korea reach compromise
By CHOE SANG-HUN AND HELENE COOPER Sun, 12 Oct 2008 18:04:24 -0000
North Korea welcomed its removal Sunday from Washington's terrorism blacklist and said it would resume disabling its nuclear weapons facilities, allowing U.S. and United Nations monitors back in.
Afghan president reshuffles cabinet posts
By JOHN F. BURNS Sun, 12 Oct 2008 18:04:24 -0000
The changes are a response to demands for a crackdown on corruption coming from Western nations that sustain President Hamid Karzai's government with troops and billions of dollars in aid.
Rioters burn 6 to death in southern India
Sun, 12 Oct 2008 18:04:24 -0000
Rioters in southern India killed six members of a Muslim family by setting fire to their home after earlier clashes between Hindus and Muslims left four others dead and 15 injured in the same village, officials said Sunday.
More than 100 Taliban killed in Afghan clashes
Sun, 12 Oct 2008 18:04:24 -0000
Taliban militants launched a surprise attack on a southern Afghan town, sparking a battle that killed about 60 insurgents. A second clash in the same region killed another 40 militants.
A leftover city of day laborers in Japan faces grim future
By NORIMITSU ONISHI Sun, 12 Oct 2008 18:04:24 -0000
Little is being built in Japan's stagnant economy, and many of the men left in the Airin district of Osaka, on average just shy of 60 years old and with no family ties, are waiting to die.

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