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U.S. fans will pay tribute to late actor HEATH LEDGER next week at a public memorial service in Los Angeles.
Australia’s foreign minister Stephen Smith gave no details of the remembrance ceremony in California but confirmed a private service had been held in New York on Saturday (26Jan08), where members of Ledger’s family joined the actor’s ex-fiancee Michelle Williams and their daughter Matilda to pay their respects.
The casket then began its two-day journey to the actor’s hometown of Perth, Australia, where Ledger will be laid to rest at a family funeral next week.
The 28-year-old was found dead in his New York apartment on Tuesday (22Jan08). An autopsy carried out on Wednesday (23Jan08) failed to reveal how the actor died, although police believe his death is drug-related as sleeping pills were found by his bed.

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Singer SHERYL CROW has slammed the media for prying into one of the most devastating periods of her life - and the people who bought the tabloid reports for entertainment.
The 45-year-old was diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2006 just days after ending her three-year relationship with fellow cancer sufferer and cyclist Lance Armstrong.
And the star believes the events sparked an ever-present paparazzi frenzy that put a strain on her recovery.
She says, "Having 100 paparazzi outside my gate at all times because of the terrible things that were happening, it really spoke to me about who we are. "If this is what makes people want to buy magazines - someone at their absolute lowest - that is a very sad message. I found the whole experience was very difficult. I went from being linked with one of the most famous cancer survivors to then begin diagnosed with cancer."

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U.S. TV hosts OPRAH WINFREY and BARBARA WALTERS are embroiled in a multi-million-dollar bidding war for an exclusive interview with the parents of British missing child MADELEINE McCANN.
The talk show rivals have each offered Gerry and Kate McCann $2 million (£1 million) to open up about their four-year-old daughter’s disappearance while on a family holiday at a resort in Portugal last May (07).
The McCanns - who are still suspects in the case - insist the cash from the lucrative TV appearance would be put toward The Find Madeleine Appeal, which is said to have dwindled to $800,000 (£400,000) from the $2.4 million (£1.2 million) it had raised with donations from the public.
Clarence Mitchell, the couple’s spokesman, says, "We’ve been approached by representatives for both Oprah and Barbara. They want an exclusive interview with Kate and Gerry. We are discussing it but nothing has been agreed."

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A Chinese firm is using soccer star DAVID BECKHAM’s name to promote its brand of condoms - without his permission. The firm is claiming men who use the Beckham contraceptive - which has become the best-selling in China - will score in bed like the L.A. Galaxy star does on the pitch.
But fans in the country are calling for a ban on the condoms - because they don’t want to offend the British sportsman.
A fan explains, "We do not want Beckham to think the Chinese people are disrespecting him. We love him here." A spokesman for Beckham says, "It’s not an official brand."

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SCARLETT JOHANSSON was flattered when troops stationed in the Persian Gulf offered her their clothes as a gift during a visit to their camp last week (17-18Jan08).
The 23-year-old actress met over 3,500 men and women serving overseas during her stops at American bases in Kuwait as part of the United Service Organizations tour.
Servicemen gifted the Lost In Translation star with patches torn off their jackets and challenge coins from their military units - with one Marine even offering up a medal adorned with the image of Saint Christopher, the patron saint of travellers. She says, "Everybody that I met there was so incredibly friendly and polite and genuine and generous. They were so, so sweet. I mean, I was just amazed." One star-struck soldier gushed, "You’ve made my whole deployment!"

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Singer JOSS STONE has slammed the British media for regularly mocking her fake American accent - and insists she will not be upset if U.K. fans boycott her music.
The 20-year-old Brit - who has spent recent years working in the U.S. - was ridiculed by the tabloid press after she stepped to the stage at the 2007 Brit Awards and debuted a new hairstyle and American accent.
But while the soul star admits she was shocked by the public’s reaction, she maintains she doesn’t mind if her native Britain rejects her. She says, "At the end of the day, I don’t give a f**k if people have a problem with my accent. That’s all I can say about it. The words I say do not change.
"If the way that it sounds is skew-whiff and you don’t like it, don’t listen.
I’m not being a cruel person by sounding a different way.
"I made my album with a bunch of Americans. When people go to Australia for two weeks they come back sounding Australian - but the whole world doesn’t turn round and say, ‘Well, f**k you.’ Which is basically what England had done. "Obviously not everybody in England. But the big press people. They were just like, ‘You know what? We’ve decided we don’t like you anymore.’"

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Actors KATE WINSLET and LEONARDO DiCAPRIO’s embrace as the ill-fated TITANIC struck an iceberg has been voted the Best Movie Hug Ever.
The desperate clinch shared by the doomed lovers in the 1997 blockbuster narrowly beat the final hug shared by Baby and Johnny in 1987’s Dirty Dancing as well as Elliot’s tight grasp on the incubator holding his extra-terrestrial friend in the 1982 movie E.T.
Bridget Jones’ Diary was voted fourth place for Bridget and Mark Darcy’s squeeze in the snow, with ex-convicts Andy and Red’s hug in the final scene of The Shawshank Redemption rounding out the top five.

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Soccer star DAVID BECKHAM has denied reports he will collaborate with rapper SNOOP DOGG on a new song.
The L.A. Galaxy star was rumoured to be recording a song with the hip-hop star after Beckham appeared on Snoop Dogg’s reality TV show Father Hood.
But the British sportsman has denied he will be stepping into the studio with the Beautiful hitmaker.
A spokeman for Beckham tells gossip blog The Celebrity Truth, "No truth in that one."

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R&B star BEYONCE KNOWLES is set to play famed blues singer ETTA JAMES in new movie CADILLAC RECORDS.
The Dreamgirls actress will join Adrien Brody, Jeffrey Wright and Cedric the Entertainer in the 1950s-set film, reports AOL.com.
Actor Matt Dillon has been replaced by Oscar-winning Brody in the role of Leonard Chess, the founder of legendary blues label Chess Records, after scheduling conflicts forced him to pull out of the project.
Filming is due to take place later this year (08) in New Jersey and Mississippi.

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Veteran horror film actress DEBBIE ROCHON has agreed to give loyal fans a piece of herself - by offering them part of her brain.
The Chainsaw Cheerleaders star recently announced she was undergoing surgery to remove a brain tumour - and was shocked after fans asked to keep the cancerous growth.
She says, "At first, I thought it was a joke. But after dozens of requests, I decided to give them what they want. "I’ve gotten a lot of weird requests over the years, but this is by far the freakiest and darkest of them all."

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Spanish pop star ALEJANDRO SANZ has confirmed he’s romancing his former assistant two years after the pair started dating.
The couple was spotted at a string of events late last year (07) leading to speculation they were an item.
Neither commented about a romance, but now Sanz has confirmed "Everything’s going amazingly," while his ex-assistant Raquel Pereda revealed, "I’m his girlfriend," to pushy journalists who quizzed the couple during a date at the Smithsonian Latino Center in New York on Thursday (24Jan08).

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Smooth-voiced soul star JOHN LEGEND has signed on as the new face of liquor Baileys Irish Cream.
The singer jumped at the chance to lend his image and sound to the popular tipple because he loved the idea of fans enjoying a glass while listening to his music.
He says, "They (Baileys) really like who I am as an artist and what I represent. They want my fans to be Baileys customers and I feel like they treat my fans in a mature, respectful way." The drinks firm is currently sponsoring Legend’s Homeschool tour.

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KIRSTIE ALLEY has jumped to fellow Scientologist TOM CRUISE’s defence following criticism the movie star received for raving about the controversial religion in a promotional video.
Footage leaked online showed a high-energy Cruise talking about Scientology, calling the religion "a blast" and then saluting a portrait of church founder, sci-fi writer L. Ron Hubbard.
The video was never meant to be seen by the general public and Alley insists the criticism over Cruise’s comments prove why church elders were keen to use the footage for promotional purposes only.
She says, "Tom was using words meant for a Scientology audience. On the web, the video is take out of context.
"It’s like a rabbi addressing a Christian church, speaking in Hebrew. No one would understand him."

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Actress JAMIE PRESSLY has her sights set on becoming the next GOLDIE HAWN - by refusing to marry her fiance ERIC CUBICHE.
The My Name Is Earl star, who has an eight-month-old son with DJ Cubiche, is impressed by how Hawn and her partner-of-25-years, Kurt Russell, have stayed together for so long without getting wed.
And now Pressly plans to follow their example by not rushing to the altar.
She says, "We’re so happy with the way everything is.
"If I could, like, put a ring on his finger and have it just be like that without us just having to go through the rigmarole of throwing a big wedding and doing that whole situation… that just seems like such a production.
"My life is a production. I don’t want to have to go do a whole other one that I’ve got to pay for.
"Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell have got it right. They’re the only ones that have lasted. You’re there and together because you want to be, not because paper says you have to be." But Pressly admits she does eventually plan to marry Cubiche.
She tells People.com, "Eventually, when things calm down and the baby’s a little older (we’ll get married) - although I’m sure I’ll be pregnant by that point and maybe we’ll have to wait again.
"We’re fine right now. We’re happy."

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LATEST: BRITNEY SPEARS’ attorney has been granted a further month to work on the singer’s driving without a valid license case.
Defence lawyer Michael Flanagan and prosecutor Michael Amerian asked Los Angeles Superior Court Judge T.K. Herman for an extension on Friday (25Jan08) so they can work out on what law applies to Spears’ case.
Herman set a hearing for 20 February (08), but warned the lawyers that if they haven’t come to an agreement by that date, he will order a trial regardless.
The hearing relates to an incident in August (07), when Spears scraped a parked car in a private parking lot in California’s San Fernando Valley while driving without a valid licence.
The hit-and-run charge, which was caught on camera, was dismissed in court in October (07), after Spears offered a personal apology and $1,000 (£500) in compensation to the vehicle’s owner, Kim Robard-Rifkin.
But the troubled star is still facing a charge of driving without a valid California driving licence - because at the time of the incident, she was only in possession of a permit from her native Louisiana Spears has since obtained her Californian driving licence.

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Former SEINFELD star JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS’ writers strike pride was shattered when EVA LONGORIA joined her on the picket line - because the DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES star was in full hair and make-up.
Louis-Dreyfus joined writers picketing outside a Housewives location shoot in November (07), which the protestors managed to shut down.
But she quickly went from being "the girl" to a badly-dressed nobody when Longoria came out to meet the strikers.
She recalls, "It was very thrilling for me and then out comes Eva Longoria and she comes off of the shoot and she walks outside and she stands up there…
in full hair and make-up.
"I’m in my yoga pants and my solar power T-shirt, I look like a hag…
activist type.
"She (Longoria) starts talking to the writers and saying how she’s so upset and she doesn’t wish to be doing this but she’s caught between a rock and a hard place and she starts to cry.
"I was the girl for, like, an hour and then all of a sudden… everyone’s heart is breaking for Eva - and then she delivered pizza to everybody.
"There were cameras there and I didn’t have any make-up on - not even chapstick."

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Movie star DIANE KEATON can add rat saver to her impressive resume after coming to the rescue of her kids’ drowning rodent last week (ends18Jan08).
The Annie Hall star was putting her son Duke to bed when daughter Dexter screamed for mum to help save her pet rat Baby-O from a toilet death.
Keaton says, "Baby-O… is in the toilet drowning and she’s (Dexter) screaming and so we’re all screaming and we’ve got Baby-O in our hands.
"We did get out the hairdryer and I swear to God we dried the rat and Baby-O’s fine."

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SPIKE LEE’s upcoming Broadway revival of STALAG 17 has been dealt a savage blow - producer MICHAEL ABBOTT has died.
The veteran TV, film, and theatre impresario produced the first Stalag 17 in 1951. He lost his battle with cancer on Thursday (24Jan08) at New York’s Beth Israel Medical Center. He was 81.
A former actor, Abbott starred in 1949 drama The Traitor and a succession of Broadway hits.
As a producer, he was the man behind TV shows like The Prince And The Pauper, The Bridge Of San Luis Rey and A Tale Of Two Cities.
He made his name as the producer of a string of network TV specials and also took charge of hit variety show Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood.

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