MANILA, Philippines – Still fresh from winning his fourth NBA title with the Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant will be heading for the Manila later this month as part of a six-city tour sponsored by Nike.

Bryant will make his first stop in the Philippines on July 21 and thereafter proceed to Singapore, Taipei (Taiwan), Hong Kong and Shanghai and Chengdu in China, according to a statement from Nike.

The Lakers star has toured Asia every summer since 2006 and last visited Manila in 2007. In 2008, he went on tour as part of the USA Basketball team leading up to the Beijing Olympics, where he and other NBA stars earned gold medals.

This year’s tour, according to Nike, offers Kobe a chance to check back in with the young players he met on previous tours and meet up and coming players.

“I’m looking forward to returning to Asia to see the progress the kids have made since my last visit,” said Bryant.

“I liked what I saw then and I’m planning to work the kids even harder to give them a better sense of the dedication and hard work it takes to be a champion.”

Nike is also this month the “Nike Dream Season”, which is part of Bryant’s signature shoe collection sold exclusively in Asia.

LONDON – Actor Rupert Grint, who plays Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter films, has contracted swine flu, his publicist said Saturday, three days before the latest Potter blockbuster premieres in London.

Grint took several days off filming the next movie in the series, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”, but is still expected to join co-stars on the red carpet for the launch of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” Tuesday.

“It has just been confirmed that Rupert Grint has taken a few days out of filming due to a mild bout of swine flu,” his publicist said in a statement.

“He has now recovered and is looking forward to joining his fellow cast members at the junket and premieres this week and will then return to filming directly afterwards.”

She added that filming was not disrupted by the 20-year-old’s absence.

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” opens in most of Europe on July 15 and in the United States and Japan two days later.

Four people have died in Britain of swine flu, the A(H1N1) virus, and the country has Europe’s highest number of reported cases with nearly 7,500.

The government warned this week that figure could rise to over 100,000 new cases a day by the end of August.