Britney Spears and her security staff denied knowledge this week of the pellet-gun shooting of a photographer who was staking out a private baby shower for the singer in Malibu. Paparazzi photographer Brad Diaz said he was struck in the thigh by a pellet on Saturday outside the mansion where the pregnant star was visiting and enjoying a party thrown for her.
A new Rolling Stones' song titled Sweet Neo Con appears to take a swipe at so-called US neo-conservatives, many of whom are well known supporters of US President George W. Bush.
An excerpt from the song was published by Newsweek magazine this week, the magazine describes the Stones' hard-hitting lyrics as "political."
PHOTO: AFP
US Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are three well-known members of Bush's inner circle considered by political analysts to be leading lights of the neo-conservative movement.
"You call yourself a Christian, I call you a hypocrite/You call yourself a pat-riot, well I think you're full of shit," the song says, according to Newsweek.
Stones' frontman Sir Mick Jagger told Newsweek with a laugh, "It is direct."
PHOTO: REUTERS
Jagger also took a dig at fellow band member Keith Richards, who lives in the US.
"Keith said, `It's not really metaphorical.' I think he's a bit worried because he lives in the US," Jagger reportedly joked.
The song is being released on the Stones' new album, A Bigger Bang which is due out in early September.
Pop-rock group The Magic Numbers, riding high in the charts in Britain this summer, is boycotting Top of The Pops after a presenter remarked in rehearsals how beefy its members are.
The half-male, half-female quartet from west London were looking forward to performing their hit Love Me Like You on this week's edition of the venerable BBC TV chart show, the Guardiannewspaper reported Wedesday.
But they changed their minds after Top of the Pops host Richard Bacon said the band -- who have no interest in shedding their scruffy looks or body fat -- had been put in "a fat melting pot of talent" during rehearsals.
"Due to derogatory, unfunny remarks made during the guest presenter's introduction to our performance, we had to make a stand and leave," the band said in an uncharacteristic angry statement.
"It was an important day for us and should have been special. We didn't take this lightly, but we stand by it."
A spokesman for the BBC said Bacon never intended to suggest The Magic Numbers were overweight, and only used the word "fat" as "a figure of speech re-ferring to the band's status."
The Magic Numbers won over fans with their performance at the Glastonbury festival in June, when their debut album entered the charts at number seven, and this week they feature on the cover of the New Musical Express weekly.
A cartoon which was banned from the BBC for its depiction of the pope as an immature brat is set to cause new controversy after it was confirmed it will be released on DVD in Britain.
Popetown, which features the voices of comedienne Ruby Wax as the pontiff and model Jerry Hall as a fame-hungry nun, was commissioned for digital TV channel BBC Three, but deemed too offensive for broadcast last year.
The 10-part animation, commissioned in 2002 before the death of Pope John Paul II, also features corrupt cardinals, plotlines about bestiality and an elderly pope bouncing around the Vatican on a pogo stick.
Roman Catholic groups campaigned against the US$3.6 million show. They said attempts to belittle the spiritual leader of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church would be unacceptable to vast numbers of the viewing public in Britain, where 6 million people adhere to
Catholicism. Joseph Devine, the Bishop of Motherwell, southeast of Glasgow in Scotland, said, "Many Catholics view this as an irreverent, gratuitous and publicly funded attack on their faith."
"It is impossible to imagine a similar irreverent approach being taken to Islam or Judaism."
Rapper 50 Cent's autobiography is a modern-day version of living the American Dream -- get your start by selling crack cocaine, make your escape through hip-hop music, and once you've made it big, peddle sneakers.
His book "From Pieces to Weight: Once Upon A Time in Southside Queens hit the shelves on Tuesday, and fans were lining up at a New York record store for autographed copies from the 30-year-old whose 2003 debut album Get Rich or Die Tryin has sold more than 12 million copies.
That US assistance was a model for Taiwan’s spectacular development success was early recognized by policymakers and analysts. In a report to the US Congress for the fiscal year 1962, former President John F. Kennedy noted Taiwan’s “rapid economic growth,” was “producing a substantial net gain in living.” Kennedy had a stake in Taiwan’s achievements and the US’ official development assistance (ODA) in general: In September 1961, his entreaty to make the 1960s a “decade of development,” and an accompanying proposal for dedicated legislation to this end, had been formalized by congressional passage of the Foreign Assistance Act. Two
March 31 to April 6 On May 13, 1950, National Taiwan University Hospital otolaryngologist Su You-peng (蘇友鵬) was summoned to the director’s office. He thought someone had complained about him practicing the violin at night, but when he entered the room, he knew something was terribly wrong. He saw several burly men who appeared to be government secret agents, and three other resident doctors: internist Hsu Chiang (許強), dermatologist Hu Pao-chen (胡寶珍) and ophthalmologist Hu Hsin-lin (胡鑫麟). They were handcuffed, herded onto two jeeps and taken to the Secrecy Bureau (保密局) for questioning. Su was still in his doctor’s robes at
Last week the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said that the budget cuts voted for by the China-aligned parties in the legislature, are intended to force the DPP to hike electricity rates. The public would then blame it for the rate hike. It’s fairly clear that the first part of that is correct. Slashing the budget of state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) is a move intended to cause discontent with the DPP when electricity rates go up. Taipower’s debt, NT$422.9 billion (US$12.78 billion), is one of the numerous permanent crises created by the nation’s construction-industrial state and the developmentalist mentality it
Experts say that the devastating earthquake in Myanmar on Friday was likely the strongest to hit the country in decades, with disaster modeling suggesting thousands could be dead. Automatic assessments from the US Geological Survey (USGS) said the shallow 7.7-magnitude quake northwest of the central Myanmar city of Sagaing triggered a red alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. “High casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread,” it said, locating the epicentre near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay, home to more than a million people. Myanmar’s ruling junta said on Saturday morning that the number killed had
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