She is watched round the clock by photographers, chased at high speed and friends fear for her mental stability. After a year of erratic behavior in the glare of the press spotlight she both shuns and invites, pop star Britney Spears has some observers comparing the celebrity media frenzy surrounding her with what Britain's Princess Diana faced and some voice concern about her safety.
Four photographers were arrested for reckless driving after a late night car chase of pop star Spears on the outskirts of Los Angeles, police said on Thursday. Los Angeles police spokeswoman Sara Faden said the four were among a group of paparazzi seen driving at high speed in the Mission Hills area of the city around 11:30pm on Wednesday on the trail of the troubled singer.
Young US actress Lindsay Lohan is to carry out part of her community service sentence imposed last year for drunk-driving in a morgue, court officials said Friday.
PHOTO: AP
Lohan, 21, was sentenced in August to one day in jail, 10 days of community service and given a three-year suspended sentence after twice being arrested and pleading guilty to driving over the limit.
During a hearing in a Beverly Hills court late Thursday, Lohan's lawyer Blair Berk revealed she would spend two days working in a morgue and two in a hospital emergency room.
Lohan, who starred in The Last Show, Mean Girls and Freaky Friday, was arrested July 24 in Santa Monica, California. She later checked into the exclusive Cirque Lodge Treatment Center in the state of Utah for a two-month detoxification program.
PHOTO: AP
"It was a sobering experience," Lohan told OK! magazine in October in her first interview after leaving the center.
Across the globe, a popular Malaysian rock singer has been banned from appearing on television entertainment programs for three months after he sparked an uproar by baring his chest during a live TV concert, reports said yesterday.
Faizal Tahir - one of Malaysia's most exuberant stage performers - stripped off his jacket, undershirt and belt and flung them into the audience at a Jan. 13 concert in Kuala Lumpur. The moves revealed a bright red Superman logo painted on his chest.
PHOTO: AP
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission slammed Faizal's premeditated stunt as "insensitive'' to viewers and Malaysian culture, the New Straits Times said.
"It is a serious offense in a live entertainment program,'' the commission was quoted as saying in a statement.
Malaysia's government has strict guidelines for entertainers, who must cover up from chest to knee onstage. Jumping, hugging, kissing and throwing objects at the audience are prohibited.
Comic actor Eddie Murphy and his new wife Tracey Edmonds have split up just two weeks after their romantic wedding in French Polynesia, People magazine reported on Wednesday. The star of Shrek and Dreamgirls and Edmonds, a film producer, exchanged their vows on a private island off Bora Bora on Jan. 1.
Allan Melvin, a character actor known for appearances in such TV staples as The Phil Silvers Show, All in the Family and The Brady Bunch, has died, the Los Angeles Times reported on Saturday. Melvin succumbed to cancer on Thursday at his home in Los Angeles, the paper said, quoting his wife, Amalia. He was 84.
Suzanne Pleshette, the beautiful, husky-voiced film and Broadway theater star best known for her role as Bob Newhart's sardonic wife on television's long-running The Bob Newhart Show, has died, said her attorney Robert Finkelstein. She was 70.
Pleshette, who underwent chemotherapy for lung cancer in 2006, died of respiratory failure yesterday evening at her Los Angeles home, said attorney and family friend Robert Finkelstein. She was 70.
"The Bob Newhart Show, a hit throughout its six-year run, starred comedian Newhart as a Chicago psychiatrist surrounded by eccentric patients. Pleshette provided the voice of reason.
Jan 13 to Jan 19 Yang Jen-huang (楊仁煌) recalls being slapped by his father when he asked about their Sakizaya heritage, telling him to never mention it otherwise they’ll be killed. “Only then did I start learning about the Karewan Incident,” he tells Mayaw Kilang in “The social culture and ethnic identification of the Sakizaya” (撒奇萊雅族的社會文化與民族認定). “Many of our elders are reluctant to call themselves Sakizaya, and are accustomed to living in Amis (Pangcah) society. Therefore, it’s up to the younger generation to push for official recognition, because there’s still a taboo with the older people.” Although the Sakizaya became Taiwan’s 13th
Earlier this month, a Hong Kong ship, Shunxin-39, was identified as the ship that had cut telecom cables on the seabed north of Keelung. The ship, owned out of Hong Kong and variously described as registered in Cameroon (as Shunxin-39) and Tanzania (as Xinshun-39), was originally People’s Republic of China (PRC)-flagged, but changed registries in 2024, according to Maritime Executive magazine. The Financial Times published tracking data for the ship showing it crossing a number of undersea cables off northern Taiwan over the course of several days. The intent was clear. Shunxin-39, which according to the Taiwan Coast Guard was crewed
China’s military launched a record number of warplane incursions around Taiwan last year as it builds its ability to launch full-scale invasion, something a former chief of Taiwan’s armed forces said Beijing could be capable of within a decade. Analysts said China’s relentless harassment had taken a toll on Taiwan’s resources, but had failed to convince them to capitulate, largely because the threat of invasion was still an empty one, for now. Xi Jinping’s (習近平) determination to annex Taiwan under what the president terms “reunification” is no secret. He has publicly and stridently promised to bring it under Communist party (CCP) control,
One way people in Taiwan can control how they are represented is through their choice of name. Culturally, it is not uncommon for people to choose their own names and change their identification cards and passports to reflect the change, though only recently was the right to use Indigenous names written using letters allowed. Reasons for changing a person’s name can vary widely, from wanting to sound more literary, to changing a poor choice made by their parents or, as 331 people did in March of 2021, to get free sushi by legally changing their name to include the two characters
RSS