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Pop singer MIKA is desperate to collaborate with AMY WINEHOUSE on a Jewish album - in order to make a political statement to the world.
Winehouse’s producer pal Mark Ronson recently revealed the Jewish 24-year-old was planning to record a holiday LP of Christmas and Hanukkah songs - and now Mika, who is half-Lebanese, wants to get involved - to prove people from the feuding nations of Lebanon and Israel can get along.
He says, "I heard Amy will be recording an album of Jewish music once she gets well and I’d like to make a contribution to it. I really like her music. "Think about this - me, a part-Lebanese artist working on a Jewish album - I think that’s a nice statement. I’d like to make a statement some day."

Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)

Hollywood stars TOM CRUISE, KATIE HOLMES, SIENNA MILLER, ELLEN DeGENERES and director TODD HAYNES were among attendees at a memorial service in Los Angeles for late actor HEATH LEDGER.
The private service to pay tribute to the 28-year-old, who was found dead in New York last month (Jan08), took place at the Sony lot in L.A. on Saturday (02Feb08) and also included a variety of figures from the movie industry and Ledger’s agency CAA.
Attendees included Cruise and Holmes, who co-starred with Ledger’s former fiancee Michelle Williams in TV show Dawson’s Creek, and British actress Sienna Miller, who worked with Ledger on 2005 film Casanova, according to People.com.
The memorial comes a week after relatives and close friends of the tragic star gathered at a smaller service at the Westwood Village Memorial Park cemetery in the city. A service also took place in New York which attracted close to 1,000 mourners.
Ledger was found dead in his New York apartment on 22 January (08). An autopsy failed to reveal the cause of death, and police are still awaiting the results of a toxicology test to asses if drugs found in his apartment played a part in his demise.
His body has been flown to his native Australia, where a private funeral is expected to take place in his hometown of Perth.

Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)

Hip-hop star SNOOP DOGG lends a helping hand to his former gang members whenever they need a word of advice.
The rapper, an ex-member of the notorious Los Angeles Crips gang, admits he hasn’t completely left his gang affiliations behind him, because he likes to advise others on how to abandon the bad boy lifestyle.
And so Snoop - real name Calvin Broadus - turns counsellor whenever his skills are called upon.
He tells chat show host Larry King, "A lot of my home boys… are… turning their lives around, because I’m the best example in the world.
"I’m the best example for them to show them how to get their lives right. So they look to me for guidance, for experience, for ‘Hey, man, what do I do? I don’t want to be a part of this (gang life) no more. I want to get my life right.’ "And sometimes I’m just a phone call away as far as helping them to say that you’ve got to believe in yourself, because the first person to doubt you is you. And when you believe in you, everybody believes in you after you believe in yourself."

Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)

Hip-hop star SNOOP DOGG is convinced he has been granted permission to re-enter the U.K. following a fracas at a London airport in 2006 - despite reports to the contrary.
The Beautiful hitmaker - real name Calvin Broadus - was prohibited from entering Britain after he was involved in a brawl at London’s Heathrow Airport in April 2006, but recently wrote to the U.K. government in a bid to get the order overturned.
And although reports earlier this week (31Jan08) stated his bid had been rejected by British authorities, Snoop Dogg claims his visa ban has now been lifted.
Speaking to chat show host Larry King on Friday (01Feb08), he says, "I had a couple run-ins or scenarios, I made (an) ad, with a couple people in the U.K.
"I was wrongfully accused and now I’ve been accepted back in. The judge overturned it. He looked at the evidence and looked at what I’ve been doing, just checked my character out and found me to be innocent and now I’m able to go back out there. So everybody in the U.K., big Snoop Dogg will be back to come give you all what you want." Broadus is expected to launch a new advertisement for European mobile phone giant Orange later this year (08).
The incident at the British airport left seven police officers injured and led to the star being handed a caution for affray and a ban on returning to the country.
Broadus’ criminal record also led to him being denied entry into Australia in April 2007.

Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)

Rocker ROD STEWART has been named as a defendant in a court case involving his son SEAN STEWART, who stands accused of attacking a man in a bar brawl.
Alleged victim Daniel Refoua is claiming his nose was broken after a group of men, including actor Sean, attacked him outside Hollywood’s LAX nightclub in 2006.
And now Refoua has filed papers citing the elder Stewart as a defendant because one of his employees, a bodyguard, was present that night to accompany the singer’s 27-year-old son.
Dana Cole, Sean Stewart’s lawyer, said: "Rod was not there and he had nothing to do with it. But they are claiming the bodyguard was an employee of Rod’s.
Naming Rod is an attempt to hype up a frivolous suit. We’ll defend it rigorously." It is not the first time the British star’s eldest son has landed in trouble with the law. In 2002, he was charged with possession of a controlled substance and four years later, he was imprisoned for 90 days following an attack on a man. Last year (07), he faced a trial after allegedly attacking a couple.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 11 April (08).

Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)

French President NICOLAS SARKOZY has married his girlfriend CARLA BRUNI in an intimate ceremony in Paris.
The couple has been dogged by rumours of nuptials ever since they announced their engagement last month (Jan08).
But now it has been confirmed that the French leader wed the former supermodel at the Elysee Palace in l’Elysee, Paris, on Saturday (01Feb08) morning.
The pair kept the ceremony low key, inviting only a handful of guests including close family members as well as Sarkozy’s fellow politician Nicolas Bazire, actress Marine Delterme and Mathilde Agostinelli, a French executive for Prada, who acted as witnesses.
It is the third marriage for Sarkozy, who divorced his previous wife Cecilia last year (07), but the first for Bruni, who is reported to be pregnant with the pair’s first child together.
Sarkozy has three children from two previous marriages, while Bruni - who has had romances with Sir Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton - also has a six-year-old son from a past relationship.

Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)

Hollywood star GEORGE CLOONEY has asked the U.K.’s Prime Minister GORDON BROWN to use his influence to save the life of a wealthy British businessman kidnapped in the Middle East.
The actor - who last month (18Jan08) was appointed Messenger of Peace of the U.N. - became involved in the case of 26-year-old Alsadig Abdullah, who has been missing inside the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for four months, in his attempts to promote peace talks in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region.
In his letter, Clooney refers to Brown’s own demands for a solution to the refugee crisis, writing: "Whatever transpires it is clearly of interest to all of us with an interest in Darfur and the future of Sudan to facilitate anything that might further peace and stability in that country.
"Our petitions and interventions to the authorities in the UAE will be less effective than even informal ones from you." A spokesperson at Brown’s official residence, 10 Downing Street, said, "The prime minister has received the letter. He will get back to George Clooney as soon as possible." More than 200,000 people have been killed and more than two million turned into refugees by famine and war, since civil war broke out in Sudan in 2003.

Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)

Actress DIANE LANE’s modelling career came to an end when she was just 12, after an agency hotshot decided her neck was too short.
The actress’ mother Colleen Farrington was a lingerie model, and the young beauty had hoped to follow in her catwalk footsteps, but it was not to be.
And she found out the hard way, during a meeting with Eileen Ford, the legendary founder of the Ford Model Agency.
She reveals, "Somebody convinced me I could pull it off, because I was tall.
But I went to visit Eileen Ford and she told me my neck was too short. So that was that."

Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)

British actress SAMANTHA BOND has hit back at movie bosses after her character was left out of the new JAMES BOND film.
The 46-year-old is best known for playing the legendary role of Miss Moneypenny alongside Pierce Brosnan’s 007.
But the production company behind the superspy franchise has decided not to resurrect the character for Daniel Craig’s second outing in Quantum Of Solace, in a bid to distance the new movies from their predecessors.
And Bond is keen to point out she is not bitter about the decision.
She says, "I suppose I should take her absence from the new film as a huge compliment because it shows the producers obviously thing I’m irreplaceable." Another character to be axed from the latest movie is the much-loved Q James Bond’s eccentric gadget maker - a role which was made famous by Desmond Llewelyn, who died in 1999, and who was succeeded by John Cleese.

Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)

MARY-KATE OLSEN nearly lost her battle with anorexia - insisting there were times when she felt like giving up the fight.
The former child star, now 21, entered rehab just after her 18th birthday in a bid to cure the condition and after a long struggle, the actress is back to full health again.
But Olsen points out her recovery wasn’t easy, and there were occasions when she felt she couldn’t go on.
She says, "There have definitely been times in my life when I just turned to people and said, ‘I’m done - this is too much for me. This is too over-whelming.’"

Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)

AMERICAN IDOL star KATHARINE McPHEE has married actor NICK COKAS in a lavish ceremony in Los Angeles.
The 23-year-old singer-turned-actress has been dating Cokas - who is 19 years her senior - for over a year after they met on the set of a theatre production.
And the couple, who got engaged last year (07), finally wed at Beverly Hills Presbyterian Church on Saturday (02Feb08), according to People.com.
McPhee wore a strapless ivory Manuel Mota gown to walk down the aisle at the ceremony which was attended by 305 guests, including fellow American Idol contestants Kellie Pickler and Mandisa.

Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)