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British rocker PAUL WELLER turned down the chance to be made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) by QUEEN ELIZABETH II in her New Year Honours list.
The 48-year-old received a letter offering him the prestigious accolade but rejected it, following the lead of veteran rocker DAVID BOWIE, who also snubbed the honour in the past.
Weller’s spokeswoman confirms, "Paul was surprised and flattered, but it wasn’t really for him."

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LATEST: Pop superstar MICHAEL JACKSON has amicably settled a dispute with the bosses of a Los Angeles drugstore who claimed the singer was behind on his pill bills.
The owners of famous Beverly Hills outlet Mickey Fine Pharmacy sued Jackson on Wednesday (10JAN07) for reneging on an oral bill-paying agreement, insisting he owed over $100,000 (£51,300) from prescriptions dating back to 2005.
However, Jackson’s spokeswoman RAYMONE K BAIN maintains, "(Mickey) Fine Pharmacy has been paid." Bain added the lawsuit related to the administration of Jackson’s finances.
She also noted the singer has filed a lawsuit against his former business managers.

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Singer-turned-AMERICAN IDOL judge PAULA ABDUL called off all her interviews yesterday (12JAN07) after clips of an earlier TV appearance appeared to show her drunk.
The video - in which Abdul slurs and bizarrely gesticulates - emerged on online file sharing site YouTube on Thursday (11JAN07), prompting speculation alcohol or medication were to blame.
She subsequently abandoned media engagements scheduled for Friday.
However, Abdul’s spokesman JEFF BALLARD insists tiredness and a minor throat infection, not inebriation, were the causes of the cancellations and earlier odd behaviour.
He says, "She was exhausted. This was at the end of three days of press (interviews and appearances), and she has had cameras following her around for a reality TV show too.
"She was sitting in a room with just a camera and a mic on, and the controllers dropped the sound twice, which is why she rolled her eyes.
"She never drinks. I have known Paula Abdul since she was 13, and I have never seen her drink ever in my life. And no, she is not on any kind of medication. She was a little tired." In 2005 Abdul revealed she suffers from a neurological disorder that causes chronic pain and requires a weekly injection of an anti-inflammatory drug.

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Grammy Award winner TONI BRAXTON is taking her former personal manager to court, claiming he owes her at least $10 million (£5.2 million) for deceptively convincing her to switch record labels.
Braxton filed suit in US District Court in Manhattan yesterday (12JAN07) accusing BARRY HANKERSON of profitting from her jump from Arista Records to his own label in 2003. She had been with the company since 1991.
The suit reads, "Hankerson actively sought to destroy Braxton’s relationship with Arista through underhanded ‘double-talk,’ telling Braxton that Arista was not interested in working with her anymore, while telling Arista that Braxton no longer wanted to record for Arista." Hankerson was employed by the singer in 1997. She claims she has since tried to fire Hankerson as her personal manager but he refused to relinquish control of her career or communicate with any of several other personal managers she hoped to employ.

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British actor JAMES PUREFOY has laughed off reports his manhood was digitally enhanced for a full frontal nude scene in gritty TV series ROME.
The VANITY FAIR star, who plays Roman leader MARK ANTONY in the epic drama, bared all for a bathing scene in the first series - where he was towelled down by a slave.
And he’s keen to point out that reports he asked a special effects technician to enlarge his penis are untrue - that dishonour belongs to one of his unnamed co-stars.
He says, "I won’t say whose it was, but there was a penis in the series that may have been slightly enhanced. But it wasn’t mine.
"Mine’s all mine… I can look at the episode and go, ‘Yep, that’s me.’"

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Acting great PETER O’TOOLE has to pick his fights carefully these days, because the 74-year-old still thinks he’s a hellraising brawler.
The Irish actor made a name for himself as a wildman in his youth when he used to party and fight alongside fellow rogues RICHARD HARRIS and RICHARD BURTON, and still gets the occasional urge to take on a brute.
He had to back out of one fight recently when he challenged a towering truck driver outside his niece’s school and admits the encounter was "immensely stupid".
He recalls, "He (trucker) said, ‘You stubborn old c**t,’ and I didn’t even think. I found myself out of my car, I had his door open and I had him by the throat.
"He was a big, hairy, 20-year-old, muscular thing… He started turning off the ignition. I thought, ‘Hello, hello.’ "(I started) moving away quietly… I got into my car and I drove away, shaking. He’d have broken me in half."

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SHARON STONE was so committed to playing a real-life murder victim’s mother in new movie ALPHA DOG she beat her co-star until his nose bled.
The actress plays a character based on the mother of murdered teen NICHOLAS MARKOWITZ, and felt she owed it to the woman and the memory of her tragic son to attack the character playing one of his attackers onscreen.
Stone and young co-star BEN FOSTER talked about the violent scene before it was filmed and both agreed the actress couldn’t pretend to hit him.
She says, "I was trying to figure out how to hit him, because you have to hit a person when you’re doing that kind of a scene. You can’t do those stunt hits because it doesn’t really work in a scene like that.
"I was trying to hit him without hurting him but Ben just wouldn’t let me because he knew the scene really required this kind of violence and this kind of aggression. It required me to really go for him.
"He forced me to aggress (sic) him and he forced me to hit him. He just kept pushing me and pushing me and I just lost it. He made me hit him until it broke my heart. It was so awful and his nose started to bleed."

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JENNIFER LOVE HEWITT has put her King Charles spaniel on antidepressant Prozac after discovering she suffers from anxiety attacks.
The dog-loving star started to worry about little CHARLI when she started behaving strangely, and took her to the vet.
She says, "She started doing this weird, like, intense licking thing, where she would, like, lick the air… and she’s got an anxiety disorder, so they put her on Prozac.
"Now, she’s as happy as can be."

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The disgraced beauty queen DONALD TRUMP sacked after saucy photos of her and pals appeared on the internet has landed a new job in Las Vegas.
Former Miss Nevada KATIE REES has been hired to host the opening night of outrageous showman JEFF BEACHER’s new MADHOUSE revue at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in March (31MAR07).
According to Beacher, who was recently voted Best Showman on The Las Vegas Strip by Rolling Stone magazine, Rees will find herself "in a familiar environment," surrounded by "half-naked girls, midgets and monkeys." Beacher’s once-monthly Madhouse has become a popular "playground" for Hollywood’s hippest party people - BRITNEY SPEARS, NICKY HILTON, JESSICA SIMPSON and LINDSAY LOHAN have all paid the revue a visit in recent months.
Rees was dethroned by Trump, the owner of the Miss USA pageant, after racy photographs of her and a host of female friends enjoying a night out in New York appeared in cyberspace.
As part of her Madhouse duties, Rees will host a fake female orgasm contest.
And it doesn’t look like Beacher’s show will be the naughty beauty queen’s last big payday - she’s also reportedly in negotiations to pose naked for Playboy magazine.

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Actress TARA REID has realised one of her greatest dreams after swimming with dolphins Down Under.
The AMERICAN PIE star got the chance to get up close and personal with porpoises GEMMA and NILA at Sydney, Australia’s Sea World earlier this week (ends12JAN07), and describes the experience as "one of the most magical moments of my life." She says, "Everyone has dreams of what they want to do (in life) and that’s one of the things I’ve always wanted to do… and never accomplished." Reid was in Australia as a guest of Aussie businessmen GERRY HARVEY and JOHN SINGLETON, who hoped the actress could add a little glamour to the Magic Millions racing carnival.
The actress took a 33-hour flight from a vacation in South America to spend time in Australia, and insists the marathon trip was worth it.
She explains, "I love Australia. The people are amazing." As WENN went to press, Reid was still choosing the outfit she’d dazzle race fans in at the Magic Millions meeting today (13JAN07).

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Movie star and humanitarian MIA FARROW is planning another trip to war-torn Sudan after risking her life there to take harrowing photographs of the victims of genocide last year (06).
The actress has visited the area with aid workers, who have since lost their lives in the conflict, three times, but she insists she can’t just turn her back on the desperate mothers who turned to her for help.
Farrow plans to put her acting career on hold so she can continue to study the genocide and do what she can to raise awareness of the atrocities she has witnessed at first hand.
She says, "I’ve gone and I’ve put my life on the line three times, going into Darfur and eastern Chad.
"I can’t turn away from this. I’ve studied all about the region pretty much four to six hours a day for the last three and a half years, so it isn’t like I’m just shooting off about something I know nothing about. It isn’t like my commitment is half-hearted.
"I may not be the best person to convey this message but I am keenly interested.
"The genocide in Darfur has gotten 50 minutes of air time (on the news). They have not allowed any international press there, so I’m going to the Central African Republic, which is on that Darfur border.
"I came back at Thanksgiving and I’m returning there again. We have to keep our priorities clear. My generation has gone complacent for all sorts of self-serving reasons. All the voices that were so outraged against the war once have gone rather silent now."

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Actress CLAIRE DANES isn’t wasting time when it comes to her love life - a month after splitting from BILLY CRUDUP she’s found a new man in British hunk HUGH DANCY.
Danes and ALMOST FAMOUS star Crudup split just before Christmas (06) after a three-year romance and now sources claim Danes has fallen for her EVENING co-star, Dancy.
And she doesn’t seem to care who knows about her new romance - Danes and Dancy were spotted strolling hand in hand through New York’s SoHo district on Thursday (11JAN07).
New York Daily News’ Gatecrasher column goes so far as to suggest Crudup, 38, dumped the 27-year-old actress after reports of her romantic interests in Dancy started circulating.

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Fans of XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS have given the beloved TV show’s star LUCY LAWLESS’ rock career a surprise boost after selling out one of her first concerts.
The New Zealand actress has been forced to add a second night at Los Angeles’ Roxy Theatre this weekend (14JAN07) after her Saturday night show sold out earlier this week (beg08JAN07).

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Organisers of Monday’s (15JAN07) Golden Globe Awards have readjusted the seating at the Beverly Hilton event - so former couple JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE and CAMERON DIAZ won’t be sitting together.
Globe bosses felt it would be prudent to change their seating plan so the split pair, who are both presenting at the glitzy ceremony, didn’t feel uncomfortable.
PHILIP BERK, the president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which oversees the Globes, says, "We checked with one of their publicists to make sure it was OK and we haven’t heard anything otherwise, so they will be sitting separately."

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R&B star MACY GRAY found herself in trouble with the authorities in Barbados after swearing during a show there on Wednesday (10JAN07).
The raspy-voiced I TRY singer was reportedly almost arrested for uttering "motherf**ker" onstage at the Barbados Jazz Festival, because public profanity is against the law there.
After realising her mistake, the foul-mouthed singer apologised to police chiefs and was allowed to leave the island with a stern warning.

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Former VAN HALEN star SAMMY HAGAR fears the group’s newly announced induction to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame could be a big problem if he and his warring bandmates can’t decide what to perform.
The WHY CAN’T THIS BE LOVE singer replaced DAVID LEE ROTH in the rock group, and insists both frontmen should get the chance to perform - even though they’ve both fallen out with band leader EDDIE VAN HALEN.
But he fears that Van Halen will pull the plug and opt not to perform at all.
He says, "The talk amongst us so far has been that we’re probably not going to play, because of the awkward situation.
"We’re not like mortal enemies or anything (but) there’s just some weird quirks.
"Van Halen has always been unpredictable, anything can happen. If we get to play two songs, I’ll be happy to sing one, and have Dave do the other one. I think that would be perfect.
"If there’s only one song, well, then that could be kinda interesting." Hall of Fame bosses will be hoping to avoid a repeat of last year’s (06) induction controversies - punk icons the SEX PISTOLS refused to show up and the original members of BLONDIE bickered with singer DEBORAH HARRY over the chance to perform with her at the event.

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MICHAEL JACKSON is being sued by the bosses of a Los Angeles pharmacy, who claim the pop superstar is behind on his pill bills.
The owners of famous Beverly Hills drugstore Mickey Fine Pharmacy claim they had an oral bill-paying agreement with Jackson, but the King of Pop still owes them over $100,000 (£51,300).
The pharmacists allege Jackson paid his last bill almost two years ago (05), and now they want him to pay up in full.
According to documents filed in Los Angeles and obtained by website TMZ.com, the pharmacy made "repeated requests for payment." The drugstore owners are asking for the $101,926 (£52,270) they claim they are owed, plus court costs.

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