Vietnamese police want to talk to Gary Glitter about reports the shamed British glam rocker was seen with girls as young as 15 at a villa he rented, a government spokesman said on Thursday. The communist southeast Asian nation's official Thanh Nien youth newspaper quoted neighbors in the southern resort town of Vung Tau as saying Glitter -- whose real name is Paul Francis Gadd -- had taken home several girls aged 15 or under.
A Belgian songwriter has won a court battle against pop star Madonna after accusing her of plagiarizing one of his songs for her 1998 hit single, Frozen, his lawyer said. Salvatore Acquaviva's lawyer said a court in the southern Belgian town of Mons had ordered the country's music stores to withdraw the record from their shelves within the next 15 days.
Meanwhile, in Britain many newspapers hailed the singer's brief return to the stage.
PHOTO: EPA
Madonna sang five songs, including four from her new album Confessions on a Dance Floor, at the Koko club in north London, the venue where she gave her first British performance in 1983.
The final song was Everybody, the song she performed that night.
"The promised brevity only made the show more desirable," the Evening Standard said.
PHOTO: AP
Fans queued outside overnight last Monday to be one of the 200 let in for free to join the 1,500 ticket winners and celebrities, including actress Gwyneth Paltrow, singer-turned-activist Bob Geldof, and the groups New Order and the Pet Shop Boys.
A panoply of top music stars are due to appear in a charity tribute to soul legend Stevie Wonder, according to reports.
The Dec. 10 Grammy Jam in Los Angeles will feature performances by Eric Benet, Herbie Hancock, Aaron Neville, guitarist Slash, George Benson, George Duke, Josh Groban, Raphael Saadiq, Hootie and the Blowfish, and Ray Parker Jr. among others.
PHOTO: REUTERS
All proceeds will benefit the Entertainment Industry Foundation's National Arts and Music Education Initiative.
Residents of San Francisco have bombarded city hall with complaints after a concert by the Rolling Stones was heard throughout the city, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
One complaint suggested that the volume was so loud because of the advanced age of the band members, led by singer Mick Jagger, 62.
"Just because they're too old to hear their music doesn't mean (it) has to be so loud," said resident Ted Weinstein.
Oscars organizers on Wednesday announced that veteran producer Gil Cates would captain the world's top movie awards for the 13th time next March.
Cates has produced more Oscar shows than anyone, with a dozen editions of the show -- which is telecast to up to a billion people across the globe -- to his credit since 1990.
Actress Jennifer Aniston has been named "Man of the Year" by GQ magazine, which lauded her poise, grace and good humor during her breakup with Brad Pitt.
In return for the honor Aniston posed naked on the cover of the upscale men's magazine, but gave a good example of her poise by managing to cover all her private parts.
The magazine named her reported boyfriend and co-star in the movie Breakup, Vince Vaughn, as her runner up, while rapper 50 Cent took third spot.
Pop icon Michael Jackson has arrived in Oman, amid reports the superstar intends to invest in a large tourism project in the Gulf Arab state, newspapers reported.
Jackson was seen on Tuesday at the VIP lounge at Muscat airport where "many passengers were surprised at being able to see Michael Jackson from such a close distance," said the al-Shabiba daily.
The paper said Jackson was on a private visit to Oman where unconfirmed reports said the star was planning to invest in a large tourism project.
Pope Benedict and Oscar winner Jon Voight attended a special screening on Thursday of a television mini-series in which Voight plays the late Pope John Paul.
Benedict watched the film attentively along with several thousand people in the Vatican's large audience hall and then delivered a brief address thanking the producers and cast.
"The affective and spiritual ties with John Paul, which became intense in the days of his agony and death, continues," the Pope said.
"It is a link that has not melted away because it is one that joins souls," said Benedict, who greeted and thanked the 66-year-old Voight personally.
Voight, who shot to fame 36 years ago as an aspiring gigolo in Midnight Cowboy, plays the late John Paul from the time of his election in 1978 until his death last April 2.
Last week Joseph Nye, the well-known China scholar, wrote on the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s website about how war over Taiwan might be averted. He noted that years ago he was on a team that met with then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), “whose previous ‘unofficial’ visit to the US had caused a crisis in which China fired missiles into the sea and the US deployed carriers off the coast of Taiwan.” Yes, that’s right, mighty Chen caused that crisis all by himself. Neither the US nor the People’s Republic of China (PRC) exercised any agency. Nye then nostalgically invoked the comical specter
April 15 to April 21 Yang Kui (楊逵) was horrified as he drove past trucks, oxcarts and trolleys loaded with coffins on his way to Tuntzechiao (屯子腳), which he heard had been completely destroyed. The friend he came to check on was safe, but most residents were suffering in the town hit the hardest by the 7.1-magnitude Hsinchu-Taichung Earthquake on April 21, 1935. It remains the deadliest in Taiwan’s recorded history, claiming around 3,300 lives and injuring nearly 12,000. The disaster completely flattened roughly 18,000 houses and damaged countless more. The social activist and
Over the course of former President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) 11-day trip to China that included a meeting with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping (習近平) a surprising number of people commented that the former president was now “irrelevant.” Upon reflection, it became apparent that these comments were coming from pro-Taiwan, pan-green supporters and they were expressing what they hoped was the case, rather than the reality. Ma’s ideology is so pro-China (read: deep blue) and controversial that many in his own Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hope he retires quickly, or at least refrains from speaking on some subjects. Regardless
Approaching her mid-30s, Xiong Yidan reckons that most of her friends are on to their second or even third babies. But Xiong has more than a dozen. There is Lucky, the street dog from Bangkok who jumped into a taxi with her and never left. There is Sophie and Ben, sibling geese, who honk from morning to night. Boop and Pan, both goats, are romantically involved. Dumpling the hedgehog enjoys a belly rub from time to time. The list goes on. Xiong nurtures her brood from her 8,000 square meter farm in Chiang Dao, a mountainous district in northern Thailand’s