Actor Brad Pitt has filed legal papers in Los Angeles to adopt the children of actress Angelina Jolie, news media ssreported on Friday, adding that this might be a step leading to the couple's marrying. Life and Style magazine said Pitt, 41, has filed to become the legal adopted father of Jolie's two children, Maddox, 4, and Zahara, 10 months. They will go by the last name of Jolie-Pitt when the legal steps are completed, the magazine said, quoting a representative for Pitt.
Oscar-winning US movie star Gwyneth Paltrow is pregnant with her second child, the Web site of US celebrity television show Entertainment Tonight reported Friday.
The 33-year-old star of such films as Shakespeare in Love and Sliding Doors and her British rocker husband Chris Martin of the group ColdPlay are already proud parents of a 19-month-old girl named Apple.
Paltrow's publicist, Steven Huvane, would not confirm or deny the report that the actress was pregnant
Entertainment Tonight did not give any source for the news that the blond star and her 28-year-old husband were expecting a new arrival.
The pair, who met in 2002 and were married secretly in the California town Santa Barbara in December 2003, live in London.
The actress, who also starred as Estella in a movie version of Great Expectations and as US poet and novelist Sylvia Plath in Sylvia, won the best actress for 1998's Shakespeare in Love.
Alias star Jennifer Garner has given birth to her first child, a daughter, with actor-husband Ben Affleck, US Weekly magazine reported on Thursday. A publicist for Garner, 33, could not immediately be reached for comment. Affleck's representative declined comment on the report.
Movie icon Tom Cruise was Friday at the centre of a fresh medical row as experts expressed concern over his purchase of a sonogram machine to perform at-home scans on expectant fiancee Katie Holmes.
Cruise told US television interviewer Barbara Walters last month that he had bought an ultrasound machine to peek at the foetus of his unborn baby with the Batman Begins actress who he has been dating since April.
But medical experts were Friday warning that it is dangerous for untrained Cruise and Holmes to be operating a complex piece of medical equipment such as an ultrasound machine at home.
Both the The Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography (SDMS) is up in arms at the Mission Impossible and Top Gun star's admission that he bought the machine that can cost anywhere between US$15,000 and US$200,000.
"The Society is concerned about the safety of Cruise's decision to purchase a medical device and perform a medical diagnostic procedure without appropriate training," the SDMS said in a statement.
"Diagnostic medical sonographers complete educational programs and take national certifi-cation examinations to ensure they can perform sonograms safely and in a manner that obtains accurate results, it added.
Rap moguls Irving and Christopher Lorenzo were found not guilty last week of laundering cash for a New York drug lord after two days of deliberations by a federal jury. The brothers, who called themselves Irv and Chris Gotti after the notorious Gambino crime family, broke into tears as the verdict was read in US District Court in Brooklyn and hugged family members after a successful defense contending the charges were based on guilt by association.
Playboy model-turned-TV personality Anna Nicole Smith turned up drunk and too scantily clad to a Live 8 concert, damaging the reputation of the international charity benefit, a lawsuit filed against a company affiliated with the actress claims. The suit was filed on Thursday in Los Angeles federal court and alleges that Smith "damaged Live 8's reputation and goodwill in the entertainment industry by her unbecoming and erratic behavior."
The Vatican on Friday defended its decision to exclude Brazilian singer Daniela Mercury from its Christmas concert, saying she had threatened to promote the use of condoms to fight AIDS during the show. "The Vatican decided to exclude Daniela Mercury from the cast not because of her convictions about contraceptives even if they are not in agreement those of the Catholic Church," said Father Giuseppe Bellucci, a priest who organized the show.
He has led civil rights marches, scolded the nation's leaders and even run for president, but the Reverend Al Sharpton now wants to do something completely different -- star in his own television sitcom. Sharpton, in an interview on Friday, confirmed a report in Daily Variety that he would soon be filming a pilot for a family show called Al in the Family that would revolve around his larger-than-life personality.
Nothing like the spectacular, dramatic unraveling of a political party in Taiwan has unfolded before as has hit the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) over recent weeks. The meltdown of the New Power Party (NPP) and the self-implosion of the New Party (NP) were nothing compared to the drama playing out now involving the TPP. This ongoing saga is so interesting, this is the fifth straight column on the subject. To catch up on this train wreck of a story up to Aug. 20, search for “Donovan’s Deep Dives Ko Wen-je” in a search engine. ANN KAO SENTENCED TO PRISON YET AGAIN,
When the Dutch began interacting with the indigenous people of Taiwan, they found that their hunters classified deer hide quality for trade using the Portuguese terms for “head,” “belly,” and “foot.” The Portuguese must have stopped here more than once to trade, but those visits have all been lost to history. They already had a colony on Macao, and did not need Taiwan to gain access to southern China or to the trade corridor that connected Japan with Manila. They were, however, the last to look at Taiwan that way. The geostrategic relationship between Taiwan and the Philippines was established
Sept. 9 to Sept. 15 The upgrading of sugarcane processing equipment at Ciaozaitou Sugar Factory (橋仔頭) in 1904 had an unintended but long-lasting impact on Taiwan’s transportation and rural development. The newly imported press machine more than doubled production, leading to an expansion of the factory’s fields beyond what its original handcarts and oxcarts could handle. In 1905, factory manager Tejiro Yamamoto headed to Hawaii to observe how sugarcane transportation was handled there. They had trouble finding something suitable for Taiwan until they discovered a 762mm-gauge “miniature” railroad at a small refinery in the island of Maui. On
When Sara (names in this story are changed to protect the sources’ identities) takes her daughter April out anywhere in Taiwan, she’s frequently asked the same question: “Is your husband Taiwanese?” Sara is white, and April has unmistakably Asian features. “My wife is Taiwanese,” she replies. If asked, she may then clarify that April is her biological child, Taiwanese by blood, and has two moms. This often creates more confusion, but it is a difficult reality for Sara, her wife Dana and April. While Dana has adopted April, the child does not have Taiwanese (Republic of China) nationality despite both of her