Actor Mel Gibson, who turned a Latin script on the crucifixion of Christ into box office gold last year, is in Mexico to shoot his latest film: an action movie shot entirely in an ancient Mayan tongue. The star turned independent director was in the eastern state of Veracruz this week where he is to film Apocalypto, a thriller set in an ancient Mayan settlement and shot in the Yucatec dialect.
Also taking on a new project, actor Michael Caine has signed up to portray a master 19th century magician in the movie The Prestige with Hugh Jackman, according to Variety.
He will also feature in the science fiction movie The Children of Men about efforts to save mankind's last baby. That movie will be directed by Batman Begins director Christopher Nolan.
PHOTO: AP
Legal woes have been dogging several stars over the previous week. A judge on Friday refused to dismiss child pornography charges against Grammy Award-winning vocalist R Kelly, rejecting arguments that the period in which the offenses were supposed to have occurred was too vague. Judge Vincent Gaughan of the Cook County Criminal Court said the 14-count indictment against the 36-year-old entertainer would stand and "the evidence is sufficient for Kelly to prepare a defense."
Carl Morgan, a member of the So Solid Crew rap group, was jailed for life on Friday for shooting to death his love rival last year.
Carl Morgan, 24, was sentenced by the Old Bailey criminal court in London following his conviction last week for the murder of Colin Scarlett, who was shot outside his south London home on Nov. 6 last year.
PHOTO: AP
Judge Brian Barker ordered that Morgan should serve a minimum of 30 years before he can be considered for parole.
The shooting resulted from a trivial domestic love feud that spiralled within hours into an armed confrontation over perceived "disrespect", the court had heard.
And music producer Phil Spector has been hit with a legal setback after a judge ruled that his comments to police after his arrest can be used by prosecutors in his murder trial.
Spector has pleaded innocent to murdering B movie actress Lana Clarkson at his home in February 2003. But he allegedly told police immediately after his arrest, "I didn't mean to shoot her."
Spector's lawyer claimed the comments should be inadmissible as he was suffering from dependency on prescription drugs, according to reports.
Lawyers for singer Janet Jackson have launched a legal offensive in a bid to remove from the Internet a video showing their client sunbathing nude in her back garden, according to MSNB.com.
The video first surfaced last week, at the same time as rumors that she had secretly given birth to a daughter 18 years ago. The clip was shot through a hole in the fence through which the photographer spied the singer lounging in the nude in an outdoor enclosure.
American actress Brooke Shields, who battled publicly over post-partum depression with superstar Tom Cruise, is pregnant with her second child.
The former child star of the controversial movie Pretty Baby, Shields, 40, and her screenwriter husband Chris Henchy, 41, are expecting their new baby in the spring of next year, according to the US entertainment media.
The announcement came just three weeks after Cruise and his fiancee Katie Holmes announced they were expecting their first child together.
But neither star is likely to be keen on running into the other at their local obstetrician's office.
Earlier this year Shields and Cruise fought a very public battle through the US media over her use of anti-depressants to tackle a severe bout of post-natal depression following the birth of her daughter Rowan in 2003.
British model Kate Moss has left the exclusive rehabilitation facility she attended in Arizona after she was photographed snorting cocaine use, her modelling agency announced.
Moss left the US$4,000-a-night Meadows institute in Phoenix, Arizona earlier this week and is staying with friends in the US before returning to work.
"Kate is in excellent spirits and looking forward to getting back to work. She would like to thank everyone for their messages of support as they have played a major part in helping her," according to a statement from her Storm modelling agency.
Last week saw the appearance of another odious screed full of lies from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian (肖千), in the Financial Review, a major Australian paper. Xiao’s piece was presented without challenge or caveat. His “Seven truths on why Taiwan always will be China’s” presented a “greatest hits” of the litany of PRC falsehoods. This includes: Taiwan’s indigenous peoples were descended from the people of China 30,000 years ago; a “Chinese” imperial government administrated Taiwan in the 14th century; Koxinga, also known as Cheng Cheng-kung (鄭成功), “recovered” Taiwan for China; the Qing owned
In Taiwan’s politics the party chair is an extremely influential position. Typically this person is the presumed presidential candidate or serving president. In the last presidential election, two of the three candidates were also leaders of their party. Only one party chair race had been planned for this year, but with the Jan. 1 resignation by the currently indicted Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) two parties are now in play. If a challenger to acting Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) appears we will examine that race in more depth. Currently their election is set for Feb. 15. EXTREMELY
Jan. 20 to Jan. 26 Taipei was in a jubilant, patriotic mood on the morning of Jan. 25, 1954. Flags hung outside shops and residences, people chanted anti-communist slogans and rousing music blared from loudspeakers. The occasion was the arrival of about 14,000 Chinese prisoners from the Korean War, who had elected to head to Taiwan instead of being repatriated to China. The majority landed in Keelung over three days and were paraded through the capital to great fanfare. Air Force planes dropped colorful flyers, one of which read, “You’re back, you’re finally back. You finally overcame the evil communist bandits and
They increasingly own everything from access to space to how we get news on Earth and now outgoing President Joe Biden warns America’s new breed of Donald Trump-allied oligarchs could gobble up US democracy itself. Biden used his farewell speech to the nation to deliver a shockingly dark message: that a nation which has always revered its entrepreneurs may now be at their mercy. “An oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms,” Biden said. He named no names, but his targets were clear: men like Elon Musk
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