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The jury members in BRITNEY SPEARS’ ongoing driving license trial have been told to keep deliberating after telling a Van Nuys, California court judge they’re deadlocked over whether the singer should be handed a criminal record.
The jury went home without reaching a unanimous verdict on Friday (17Oct07), and it appears the weekend hasn’t helped.
After continuing their deliberations on Monday morning (20Oct08) the jury members asked for clarification on the charges against Spears and the foreman revealed they were deadlocked.
Spears was arrested last year (07) for driving without a valid California state licence. She denies the charge.
The trial began last Thursday (16Oct08).

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Lost recordings MADONNA made in the early 1980s have been unearthed on a new tape.
The punky tracks include a raw version of early club hit Born To Be Dancer and Tell The Truth, the first song the Material Girl wrote.
The tape, recorded by Madonna’s ex boyfriend Ed Gilroy and his brother Dan, was discovered by biographer Andrew Morton.
It has been interspersed with lines from Madonna’s 2008 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction speech and is currently available via website TheDailyBeast.com.

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DANIEL CRAIG has discovered that playing JAMES BOND has some major perks - he has a lifetime drive deal with car firm Aston Martin.
As Bond, the actor drives the sporty British cars - and Aston Martin bosses have told him he’s always free to go for a spin in one of their top motors.
Craig says, "I’m lucky enough that if I desperately want to drive in an Aston Martin, the company is just fantastic to me. They’ll let me go on a track and drive one all day long." The perk has made Craig think twice about actually buying an Aston Martin: "I could drive it faster and more furiously (on the track) than anywhere on the road. I live in London (and) it doesn’t make any sense to drive an Aston Martin there. I’ve nowhere to park it."

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JAMES BLUNT will soon be able to add editor to his resume after getting the call to take charge of international newspaper Metro for the day.
The You’re Beautiful singer will be the first ever global guest editor for the publication, which is published in 20 countries and more than 150 cities boasting a worldwide readership of over 20 million.
Blunt will assume his duties on 17 November (08) at the Metro Rome office in Italy, where he’ll oversee a feature on Medecins Sans Frontieres, an international medical humanitarian organisation the pop star supports.
Blunt says, "I have long been fascinated by the media and am excited to have the chance to go behind the scenes at Metro and experience things from the other side. With so much going on in the world right now, I am looking forward to editing a newspaper, raising the profile of subjects close to my heart and hopefully have a little fun along the way. I might even give myself a good review."

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ANNE HATHAWAY, SCARLETT JOHANSSON and PENELOPE CRUZ have all landed nominations for New York City’s prestigious Gotham Independent Film Awards.
Hathaway’s movie Rachel Getting Married and Johansson and Cruz’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona are both up for the Best Ensemble Performance award.
But the Hollywood beauties have been overshadowed among the nominees by filmmaker Lance Hammer, whose drama Ballast is up for four prizes at the ceremony on 2 December (08).
Ballast picked up nods in the Best Feature, Breakthrough Director, Breakthrough Actor and Best Ensemble Performance categories - just months after stealing the show at the Sundance Film Festival.
Cruz will be a winner at the Manhattan awards ceremony whatever happens; as previously announced, she will be honoured with the Gotham Award - the same prize her boyfriend Javier Bardem collected last year (07).
Sean Penn, Gus Van Sant and Melvin Van Peebles will also be honoured at the bash.

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A naked pool scene in HARVEY MILK biopic MILK made heterosexual SPIDER-MAN star JAMES FRANCO uncomfortable - because everyone else on the set was clothed.
Franco, who plays San Francisco politician Milk’s gay lover Scott Smith in the Gus Van Sant film, could only get through the awkward scene by constantly reminding himself he was working with his favourite director.
He says, "There’s just something uncomfortable about that (being naked on set). I felt like the girl in those teen movies that pops out of the hot tub topless.
"I was like, ‘All right, it’s Gus Van Sant, I’ll do whatever.’ I was just happy to be there."

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LATEST: Prosecutors in New York have urged a Big Apple judge to punish actress ANNE HATHAWAY’s conman ex to the fullest extent of the law.
In court papers filed on Monday (20Oct08), the federal prosecutors insist Raffaello Follieri deserves no leniency for cheating investors in a Catholic church scam.
Follieri has pleaded guilty to fraud charges and promised to serve four years behind bars - but the lawmen feel he deserves more than that.
Follieri is scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday (23Oct08).
The conman, 30, cheated well-meaning investors out of millions of dollars, so he could enjoy a lavish lifestyle as the tycoon boyfriend of a Hollywood star.

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Country star TIM McGRAW is to write a new children’s book about his experiences of parenting three daughters.
The singer has teamed up with author Tom Douglas to write My Little Girl, which will hit stores on Tuesday (21Oct08).
The tale follows a cowboy father as he spends the day with his daughter Katie, visiting a farm and playing on a tyre swing.
McGraw admits that being a father to three girls can be a challenge - because they always want to do girlie things: "It’s something that, as a father, you kind of have to sacrifice what you want to do, because boys do what you want to do.
"If I want to go to the farm and shoot guns or ride four-wheelers in the mud when it’s 40 degrees… the girls aren’t really interested in doing that.” And his major advice for dads with daughters: "Do what you have to do in your regular routine and take them with you. It makes all the difference in the world.” McGraw’s wife, Faith Hill, has written the foreword for the book.

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LATEST: DAVID DUCHOVNY’s tennis coach has denied she had an affair with the actor, just a day after sparking speculation by hinting the couple was an item.
Hungarian Edit Pakay, 28, has been linked with the X-Files star, following the announcement of his split from wife Tea Leoni.
Pakay fuelled the rumours by telling a British Sunday newspaper, "I don’t want to say anything that might hurt David. I am not going to deny it. I don’t know what our relationship means to him." But the Malibu, California-based instructor is now backtracking, insisting they are just good friends.
Pakay tells E! News, "We played tennis and we were playing partners and friends. There is no romance, and we are just friends. No love, nothing. That is all I have to say." Prior to his split with Leoni, 48-year-old Duchovny was treated for sex addiction at an Arizona rehab clinic.

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JAIME KING has turned to the police to protect her from an escaped mental patient.
The actress claims the man, whose identity has not been disclosed, has acted in an aggressive manner towards her in the past, prompting her to turn to the authorities for help.
She tells E! News, "My intention with the work that I do is to create something that really touches in to people and that people love. It’s really strange when somebody takes that to a whole different level." A friend says the man "had recently escaped from a mental institute".

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Pop star PINK is unfazed by rumours she’s bi-sexual, insisting she is "proud" to be considered a part of the gay community.
The So What singer was often mistaken for a lesbian in the early days of her career because of her tomboy looks.
And Pink, who recently split from husband Carey Hart, admits she loves challenging the public’s image of her.
She says, "I’m proud people think I’m gay. Everyone has always thought I was gay because of the tattoos, the short hair, the attitude. But I don’t care. I love to challenge people’s preconceptions." And the star admits she would gladly use her fame to draw attention to the inequalities in American society, especially for gay people.
She adds, "Loads of my friends are lesbians and it really annoys me that gay people aren’t allowed to get married in most parts of America. I’d go on a march for gay rights any time."

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FOUR TOPS leader ABDUL ‘DUKE’ FAKIR has paid tribute to late bandmate LEVI STUBBS, calling the late soul man "one of the best singers in the world, period, of all time." Fakir reveals he and the band were performing in Nevada when they heard Stubbs had died after a long battle with cancer and ill health in Detroit, Michigan on Friday (17Oct08).
Calling his former bandmate and godfather to his eldest son "a great man", the Reach Out I’ll Be There singer says he’s suffering "a big hurt".
Fakir, the only surviving original member of the soul group, only wishes he could have been closer to Stubbs when the soul star died at his home.
He tells Billboard.com, "It (show in Nevada) was a fun engagement, but I didn’t really want to be there. I was hurting the whole time. I really wanted to just come back home, but we do not disappoint the fans. That was one of the hard weekends for me.
"I saw him about a week ago and he looked healthier. His face was fatter and he was smiling and he was in good spirits. I really thought he’d pull through longer than he did." Paying tribute to his late pal’s singing skills, Fakir says, "He had such power. He had a baritone voice and a tenor range. He could do anything with his voice. He could take you anywhere with it. He could take you to a love scene.
He could take you dancing. He could take a great old standard and make you feel like you’re right there in that song. Just an amazing voice, an amazing interpreter, an amazing man."

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R&B star BRANDY is still fighting to put a December 2006 car crash, which left another motorist dead, behind her - but the incident has made her a better driver.
The singer escaped vehicular manslaughter charges over the car collision, which killed Awatef Aboudihaj, but she fears she’ll always have to live with the fact she caused the death of another motorist.
Almost two years after the accident, Brady admits she’s still haunted by the car crash.
Speaking exclusively to Los Angeles DJ Ryan Seacrest on Monday morning (20Oct08), she said, "It was just a tough situation to go through. I can’t really talk about it in any great detail because of legal matters but it was just something that I don’t like to think about often.
"You have to understand that you don’t intend for things like that to happen; it’s an accident… and that’s how you get through things like that.
"I prayed a lot and I had great people around me to help me up and lift my spirits and I got through it… but I don’t even think that I’m all the way over it. I don’t think you can ever get over something like that - but I’m able to live my life without feeling the way I did in the beginning. I’m a lot more cautious driving, you don’t want anything like that to happen again." Brandy reveals the pain she went through in the weeks and months after the crash has leaked into her new songs - one new track, Right Here Departed, is a tribute to her friends and family members who stuck by her: "A lot of people can relate to that song because everyone needs someone to be there for them."

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American actor SEAN PENN has rejoined the political dialogue in Venezuela after meeting the country’s president for a second time since 2007.
Venezuela’s state-run news agency reports Penn accompanied Hugo Chavez during the inspection of a natural gas pipeline on Sunday (19Oct08).
State media did not broadcast images of Penn at the event.
Chavez has praised the actor for his criticism of the U.S. war in Iraq since he first visited the leader last year (Aug07) as a freelance journalist.
The Oscar-winner joins politically-minded celebrities Danny Glover, Kevin Spacey and British supermodel Naomi Campbell, who have also visited Chavez in recent months.

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Pop star LILY ALLEN is baffled by the media’s response to MADONNA’s divorce from GUY RITCHIE - she expected him to be savaged for wanting a share of the Material Girl’s millions.
The estranged couple announced they were divorcing last Wednesday (15Oct08) and gossips immediately began speculating over how much Ritchie would be paid in a settlement.
Weekend tabloid reports claimed the filmmaker had agreed a multi-million dollar sum from Madonna, although those claims were subsequently denied by the singer’s representative Liz Rosenberg.
And Allen is stunned by how tame the British press has been towards Ritchie, compared to how Heather Mills was treated when she took former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney to the divorce courts.
Writing on her blog, Allen muses, "So I’m reading the papers today, and I couldn’t help but wonder………………. why the press haven’t gone on the attack at Guy Ritchie for walking away with 150 million quids of Madonnas. When only recently we saw a very different story with Heather Mills . Like you , I know nothing of the ins an outs of either parties negotiations , but then neither do the press really. I just find it weird how it can be one rule for one person and another for another."

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MARIAH CAREY thought twice before marrying R&B singer NICK CANNON - because of their 10-year age gap.
The 38-year-old pop star wed Cannon in the Bahamas in April (08) after a six-week whirlwind romance.
And the Touch My Body singer is convinced their love will be lasting, because her marriage to music mogul Tommy Mottola - 20 years her senior - was a "disaster".
When asked if she had second thoughts before her nuptials with Cannon, Carey says, "You know what, I did. But he doesn’t act like it (younger) - he’s really very intelligent. He’s a very business-minded person, but he’s also a lot of fun so you don’t really think about those things. It is what it is.
"I’ve been with someone older and that could be a disaster or maybe you have to throw that side away and don’t think about it - think about who’s right for you." Carey and Mottola split in 1998 after five years of marriage.

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French actress EVA GREEN refuses to move to Los Angeles to further her career because she’s adamant she’ll be typecast as the typical BOND girl by Hollywood agents.
The Casino Royale star currently lives in London after moving from Paris, but she insists she has no desire to uproot to the bright lights of Hollywood because she wouldn’t fit in.
She says, "Hollywood wouldn’t suit me. In L.A. it’s all about work - studio people have their five minutes with you and they go, ‘Oh mah Gawd, I love your movie.’ You just feel very self-conscious there.
"When I go to L.A., people just think of me as a sexy French girl who drinks and smokes. Everywhere people like to typecast you as a femme fatale."

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IVANA TRUMP fears her husband ROSSANO RUBICONDI won’t come through his stint on the Italian version of reality TV show SURVIVOR unscathed.
The 35-year-old is in Honduras shooting L’Isola dei Famosi (Island of the Famous), and Donald Trump’s ex is terrified he’ll succumb to "diseases, tarantulas, cockroaches and snakes".
She writes in her Page Six magazine column, "I am freaking out. He’s going to the jungle where you get all kinds of diseases, and he went through a thousand pulls and malaria shots.
"I am worried. In the jungle there are no mobile phones, no computers and no cigarettes, but there are plenty of tarantulas, cockroaches and snakes."

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