Oz tribal welcome for William
SYDNEY Britain’s Prince William was on Tuesday welcomed to Australia by an Aboriginal elder daubed in body paint and bearing smoldering gum leaves, on his first visit since he came here as a baby 27 years ago.
Up to 2,000 cheering fans in a poor inner-city Aboriginal neighborhood in Sydney greeted the prince, 27, who last visited the country in the arms of his late mother, Princess Diana, when he was just nine months old in 1983.
Indigenous leaders, wearing red loincloths — one clutching a boomerang, another a didgeridoo and a third wearing a possum skin — treated the second-in-line to the throne to a traditional “smoking ceremony” to welcome him to the continent.
“We’re over the moon that he’s come to this part of the city to spend time with us,” said Aboriginal Australian Lewis Kelly who went to Sydney’s run-down Redfern area to see the visiting royal.
Brit Award snub for Boyle
LONDON: Women are dominating the nominations for Britain’s leading music awards — the Brits — but Internet sensation Susan Boyle was snubbed on the shortlist.
Quirky chanteuses Florence and the Machine, Pixie Lott, Lily Allen and Lady GaGa all have three nominations. Other British contenders include boy band JLS, Leona Lewis, Bat for Lashes, Paolo Nuttini and Dizzee Rascal.
Nominees in the international categories include Bruce Springsteen, Eminem, Jay-Z, Michael Buble and Shakira. Robbie Williams will receive an award for outstanding contribution to music at the Feb. 16 ceremony in London.
The awards are the British equivalent of the Grammys. Most winners are selected by a vote of over 1,000 industry members.
Obama musical in Germany
FRANKFURT: A musical version of Barack Obama’s rise to the White House has opened in Frankfurt, with the “president” thrilling audiences with a rousing chorus of “Yes We Can” in a country still charmed by his message of hope.
“I’m fascinated by Obama,” spectator Cornelia Hirschfeld, 55, told AFP half-way through “Hope — The Obama Musical Story.” Obama underscored his trademark theme with a chorus of “Yes We Can” and sang a lover’s duet with his wife Michelle in a show producers hope to take one day to the United States.
“I’m so proud to represent President Barack Obama, proud to be an American,” lead actor Jimmie Wilson said afterwards. “It’s an honor, I can’t say much more than that.” Wilson told AFP the qualities he admired most in Obama were his eloquence, strength and vision, adding that it was amazing how “he moved a world.”
Kate Moss engaged?
LONDON: Supermodel Kate Moss has received a diamond engagement ring from boyfriend Jamie Hince for her 36th birthday.
Hince jetted out to the West Indies island of Mustique last week to celebrate his lover’s birthday on Saturday with a group of friends and surprised Moss at the bash by asking for her hand in marriage, reports femalefirst.co.uk.
“Kate was stunned, Jamie had carefully picked a ring and chose her birthday to propose. It was extremely emotional,” said a source.
“Kate and Jamie are in a very good place, they already live together and this is the next step to settling down for good,” added the source. Moss, who has never been married before, has a daughter, Lila Grace, with ex-partner Jefferson Hack.
Will Leno return to 11:30?
LOS ANGELES: Jay Leno turned serious on his show to discuss the late-night chaos at NBC, telling viewers that he’d been doubtful about launching a prime-time show but was prevented by NBC from going to another network instead.
Leno, in explaining events from his standpoint, also said Monday that he had told NBC he’d return to the “Tonight” slot only after Conan O’Brien rejected the network’s plan to put both men on in late night.
NBC continued negotiations Monday on an exit deal with O’Brien that would clear the way for Leno to reclaim the 11:35 p.m. EST slot occupied by “Tonight,” which he hosted for 17 years before turning it over to O’Brien last spring.
The network is ending its prime-time experiment, “The Jay Leno Show,” because of low ratings and affiliate station complaints.
When NBC told him they wanted to end his new show, Leno told viewers Monday, he asked to be released from his contract.
Sexiest man title a joke: Depp
MOKRA GORA, Serbia: Emir Kusturica is trying to stop Hollywood tainting his Kuestendorf arts festival, but the renowned director underestimated the star power of Johnny Depp.
Kusturica, winner of two awards at the Cannes film festival, said he wants the festival, now in its third year, to be devoted only to “movies, music and life,” far from the “blockbusters that pollute the spirit.” But the journalists following Depp around the event deep in the Serbian mountains, a five hour drive from Belgrade, wanted to know about his reputation as a sex symbol and his thoughts on US President Barack Obama.
Depp could not escape having to comment on the “The Sexiest Man Alive” title bestowed on him last year by US magazine People. “That should be someone else, that confuses me beyond recognition. I don’t know how to react,” Depp said. “I really thought it was a joke.”
Salman ‘a committed person’
NEW DELHI: Salman Khan has often been in the news for his relationships and break-ups but the superstar says he is very particular about his commitments — whether personal or professional. “I’m a very committed person. If it (a personal or official relationship) breaks, it’s always the other person who breaks it and not me. I don’t interfere that much because it matters a lot to me,” Salman, who is currently dating actress Katrina Kaif, told reporters Tuesday at the FICCI Auditorium here.
“It goes on the same way from my side. When I commit (to someone or doing something), I stick to it,” said the 44-year-old, who is said to have dated Aishwarya Rai, Sangeeta Bijlani and Somy Ali in the past. The star was in the capital to promote his upcoming film “Veer,” which releases Friday.
The epic, which has been written by Salman himself, has been produced by Vijay Galani and Sunil A. Lulla. It also marks the big screen debut of Zarine Khan in the female lead. Mithun Chakraborty, Sohail Khan and Jackie Shroff also play pivotal roles in the movie.
— Compiled from agencies
