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Guns N'Roses Negotiating To Release Album

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:38:26 GMT

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NEW YORK (Billboard) - Guns N' Roses is "in negotiations" for the release of its decade-in-the-making album "Chinese Democracy," according to a post on the band's Web site (http://web.gunsnroses.com/).

The message did not elaborate on the discussions, or offer a release date for "Chinese Democracy," which was last on Interscope's release schedule in March 2007.

If the album sees the light of day, it will be the first release of new material since 1991's two "Use Your Illusion" albums. Singer Axl Rose has since parted ways with the lineup from that era.

In other GNR news, guitarist Robin Finck has left Guns N' Roses to return to Nine Inch Nails, and will tour with the latter act this summer.

"Robin's plans caught everyone in Guns, as well as our fans, a bit off-guard," the band said. "Neither we nor management, etc., know any more in this regard and we prefer not to speculate or offer opinions at this time."

Eastwood, Allen Showing Films At Cannes

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:02:09 GMT

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Clip Source: www.reuters.com

PARIS (Reuters) - Clint Eastwood and Woody Allen will be among high-profile U.S. directors at this year's Cannes film festival, where Hollywood will also be on show with the world premiere of the latest Indiana Jones adventure.

Unveiling the line-up for the 61st edition of the world's biggest film festival, which runs from May 14-25, organizers said there was a feeling that "a new cycle was beginning" after the widely hailed success of last year's event.

"It won't have escaped you that the selection process was long, complicated and quite difficult," Thierry Fremaux, the festival's head, told a news conference that was delayed from an originally scheduled date last week.

He said the presence of Steven Spielberg and the stars of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", which will premiere outside the main competition, would ensure "a magnificent red carpet".

House Approves $162B for Wars

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:12:38 GMT

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Clip Source: www.foxnews.com

WASHINGTON — A long-delayed Iraq war funding bill sailed through the House on Thursday, along with historic increases in college aid for returning troops and help for the unemployed and Midwestern flood victims.

Republican allies of President Bush provided the winning margin in a 268-155 vote to provide $162 billion to fund U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan well into next year.

Democrats opposed to the war, however, succeeded in using the Iraq funding bill as an engine to drive past White House resistance a sweeping revision to GI Bill college benefits and a 13-week extension of unemployment checks for those whose benefits have run out.

Lawmakers separately approved those domestic add-ons by a 416-12 vote, sending the combined bill to the Senate for a vote next week. The White House issued a statement supporting the legislation.

The measure also provides a quick $2.7 billion infusion of emergency flood relief for the Midwest

Russert's Wife: "I Had a Feeling"

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:26:21 GMT

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Clip Source: www.people.com

Leaving their hotel room in Italy ahead of his wife and son to go back to Washington, D.C., so he could tape that Sunday's Meet the Press, Tim Russert was grabbed by his wife, PEOPLE reports in its latest issue, on sale Friday.

"I said to him, 'I want to give you a hug; maybe I'll never see you again,' " says journalist Maureen Orth, 65, speaking publicly about her husband for the first time since his June 13 passing – the day after he left Italy. "I don't know why I said that to him. I just had a feeling."

Russert was under extra stress at the time of his death: covering this year's presidential election, flying to Buffalo to visit his widowed father, Tim Sr., 84, in an assisted living facility – which Orth calls "a huge psychological strain for him."

On the morning of the day he died, she recalled, Russert took a chunk of time off from work to go to his son's new apartment in D.C. and wait for the cable man. "He could have hired someone to do it, but that wasn't Tim."

Yanks Win 7th Straight Behind Joba

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:35:33 GMT

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Clip Source: sports.espn.go.com

New York Yankees' Joba Chamberlain delivers a pitch in the fifth inning against the San Diego Padres in a baseball game at Yankee Stadium in New York, Thursday, June 19, 2008. The Yankees won 2-1. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

NEW YORK (AP) -- Joe Girardi signaled to the bullpen before he reached the mound. He wasn't going to let Joba Chamberlain talk him out of it.

The Yankees manager would love for the converted reliever to get his first win as a starter, but not at the expense of throwing too many pitches. Chamberlain would have to settle for another no-decision and a career-high nine strikeouts in New York's 2-1 win Thursday to sweep the San Diego Padres.

"Your heart wants to do it," Girardi said, "but your head tells you that you need to make a change."

Chamberlain gave up one run on four hits in 5 2/3 innings in his fourth start. He also helped prevent a run with his catcher's skills, blocking home plate to make a tag.

Amy Winehouse Undergoes More Tests

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:20:54 GMT

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Clip Source: www.reuters.com

LONDON (Reuters) - British soul singer Amy Winehouse has undergone more tests after being taken to hospital four days ago, but hopes to perform as scheduled next week, her office said on Thursday.

"Amy has undergone more scans and tests today and we are awaiting the verdict of her doctors," a statement from her publicist said.

"At present, she still intends to perform at her two scheduled dates next week. However, the decision will be made entirely on the advice of her doctors and in her best interests."

She was rushed to a clinic by her father on Monday after fainting at home.

The 24-year-old singer and songwriter, who has publicly battled drug problems and whose personal life has attracted widespread media attention, is still at the private clinic.

Winehouse, who won five Grammy Awards in February and enjoyed commercial success with her album "Back to Black", put her touring commitments on hold last year amid reports she had been hospitalized for severe exhaustion.

Burger King Launches World's Most Expensive Burger

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:43:53 GMT

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Clip Source: www.foxnews.com

LONDON — It's known as the home of 'The Whopper' and Burger King is hoping its latest product really lives up to its reputation. The fast-food giant launched a $200 burger Wednesday — all in the name of charity.

Setting a new record, the world's most expensive burger is available at just one restaurant in West London, England, once a week — but it will eventually be available to order via a hotline.

The fine ingredients of what is called simply 'The Burger' include Wagyu beef, white truffles, Pata Negra ham slices, Cristal onion straws, Modena balsamic vinegar, lambs lettuce, pink Himalayan rock salt, organic white wine and shallot infused mayonnaise in an Iranian saffron and white truffle dusted bun.

Celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson told Sky News Online: "It sounds delicious. The ingredients are very good and high powered, but why are Burger King doing it?"

All the proceeds from The Burger sales will go to the Help A London Child charity,

Cyd Charisse Dead at 86

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 20:05:10 GMT

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Clip Source: www.reuters.com

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actress and dancer Cyd Charisse, the impossibly long-legged movie musical star who gained fame for her on-screen pairings with Hollywood dance greats Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, died on Tuesday at age 86.

Charisse, a sinuous, athletic performer once described by Astaire as "beautiful dynamite," died early in the morning of a heart attack at a Los Angeles-area hospital, according to her agent, Scott Stander.

Publicist Gene Schwam said she had only recently celebrated her 60th wedding anniversary with her second husband, singer Tony Martin, whom she married after a romance with millionaire Howard Hughes.

"What was special about Cyd was that she was always stylish and graceful, and when I saw her two weeks ago, she was still dressed beautifully and her hair was done properly," Schwam told Reuters. "She was such a loving and gracious woman throughout her life."

'Get Smart' Not Nearly Smart Enough

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 20:08:55 GMT

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Clip Source: www.reuters.com

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "Get Smart" the movie has precious little to do with "Get Smart" the iconic TV series from the 1960s -- but then again, the movie has precious little to do with screen comedy, either.

This is a slapdash effort whose producers threw money and stunts onscreen instead of the satirical gags and one-liners that made the old spy spoof so memorable.

It's hard to see how this lame puppy will gain any boxoffice traction other than by waving the banner of star Steve Carell opening weekend. His younger fans, who wouldn't know "Get Smart" from "I Spy," might laugh at the overblown action swirling around their poker-faced hero, but are more likely to advise friends to wait for the DVD.

Slipknot Names Fourth Album

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 20:11:04 GMT

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Clip Source: www.reuters.com

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Slipknot's fourth album has been christened "All Hope Is Gone" and will arrive August 26.

A first single and track list for the Roadrunner release have yet to be announced.

"We have made an album that will show the road behind, the road ahead, and where we are as men," group member Corey Taylor said in a statement. "I think it's the best thing I've ever made. And I challenge anyone to prove me wrong."

Taylor previously described the new album to Billboard as a "very dark" cross between "Vol. 3" and 2001's "Iowa." "It has so much power in it and yet there are so many great spots for melody," he said. "It's a controlled chaos that hits you right out of the gate."

Slipknot will co-headline this summer's 30-date Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem tour, which begins July 9 at the White River Amphitheatre in Auburn, Washington.

Titanic Life Jacket To Go On Sale in New York

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 20:12:42 GMT

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Clip Source: www.reuters.com

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An unused life jacket from the doomed Titanic ship will go under the hammer later this month in New York, Christie's auction house said on Wednesday.

The cork-filled life preserver -- still largely intact, but stained and torn in parts -- was thought to have been found by farmer John James Dunbar on the Halifax shoreline after the passenger ship sank off Newfoundland.

The liner sank during its maiden voyage from the British port of Southampton to New York in April, 1912 when it hit an iceberg, causing some 1,500 people to die.

Christie's, which estimated that the life preserver would sell for $60,000 to $80,000, sold another Titanic life jacket last year in London for $119,000.

Maritime specialist Gregg Dietrich said there was still huge public interest in Titanic memorabilia as the sinking of the ship, which had been billed as unsinkable, caused such a loss of life and was one of the first world-wide news events.

Woman Sat Dead In Front of TV For 42 Years

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:50:29 GMT

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Clip Source: www.dailyrecord.co.uk

THE remains of a woman have been found sitting in front of her TV - 42 years after she was reported missing.

Hedviga Golik, who was born in 1924, had apparently made herself a cup of tea before sitting in her favourite armchair in front of her black and white television.

Croatian police said she was last seen by neighbours in 1966, when she would have been 42 years old.

Her neighbours thought she had moved out of her flat in the capital, Zagreb.

But she was found by police and bailiffs who had broken in to help the authorities establish who owned the flat.

A police spokesman said: "So far, we have no idea how it is possible that someone officially reported missing so long ago was not found before in the same apartment she used to live in.

"When officers went there, they said it was like stepping into a place frozen in time.

"The cup she had been drinking tea from was still on a table next to the chair she had been sitting in

Teenager Drives Tractor To Buy Cigarettes

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:51:44 GMT

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Clip Source: www.lep.co.uk

A teenager who had run out of cigarettes took a £40,000 tractor for a spin to go and buy some.

Ryan Gorman, 18, who had been drinking and was banned from the road, drove six miles from a farm in Treales, near Kirkham, before police stopped him in Freckleton Street, Kirkham.

Gorman, of Aitken Court in Kirkham, pleaded guilty to taking a tractor without consent, driving with excess alcohol while disqualified without insurance and obstructing police.

He was sentenced to 14 weeks behind bars, to be served at Lancaster Farms Young Offenders' Institution, and banned from driving for three years by Blackpool magistrates.

Tiger to Have Knee Surgery

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:43:46 GMT

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Clip Source: www.reuters.com

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Tiger Woods will have reconstructive surgery on his left knee that will sideline him for the rest of the 2008 season, the world number one said on Wednesday.

The 32-year-old American nursed a painful knee all week before clinching his 14th major title at the U.S. Open on Monday, winning a 19-hole playoff against compatriot Rocco Mediate.

It was his first tournament in two months since having surgery on the knee two days after the U.S. Masters in mid-April.

Woods outlined that he would have reconstructive surgery on his anterior cruciate ligament. He also said he would require time off to rehabilitate a double stress fracture of his left tibia that was found last month.

The stress fractures were attributed to Woods's intense rehabilitation and preparation for the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego.

"I know much was made of my knee throughout the last week, and it was important to me that I disclose my condition publicly at an appropriate time,"

Photos Of Paris Under Nazis Kicks Up Storm

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:39:53 GMT

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Clip Source: www.reuters.com

PARIS (Reuters) - An exhibition of rare color photographs of occupied Paris in World War Two has sparked a controversy in France, with some politicians saying it paints too rosy a picture of life under the Nazis.

Paris deputy mayor Christophe Girard, who heads the city's culture department, has even suggested shutting down the show of work by French photographer Andre Zucca unless the organizers seek to counterbalance the cheery vision on display.

"It doesn't explain enough that this was Nazi propaganda, and this makes me vomit... As it stands, we're looking at revisionist history," Girard told Reuters on Monday.

Called "Parisians under the Occupation", the 270 color photos depict a wartime Paris with more emphasis on joy than the jackboot -- which Girard says is inappropriate for an occupation still painful in French collective memory.

"We plan to discuss the matter with historians and see if we can modify things to save the exhibition. But if we can't, I'd like to see it closed,"