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The trial of MICHAEL JACKSON’s doctor CONRAD MURRAY has been postponed until May (11) despite pleas from his lawyers for it to begin later this month (Mar11).
Earlier this week (begs28Feb11), prosecutors called for the scheduled date of the upcoming involuntary manslaughter trial to be pushed back.
Reports suggested they objected to the 24 March (11) start because they are entitled to receive details of the defence evidence 30 days before the trial begins, a deadline which has already passed.
Murray’s legal team appealed to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor to keep the original date as they "don’t have the budget" for lengthy court proceedings.
However, Judge Pastor ruled on Wednesday (02Mar11) that opening statements will be postponed until 9 May (11) - which Murray’s lawyers have accepted.
In court papers, obtained by the Associated Press, Murray is quoted as saying, "It is only acceptable to me if this is not strung along over a long period of time. I don’t want to lose my constitutional right to speedy trial." The screening of prospective jurors will still begin as scheduled on 24 March.
Murray is accused of administering the drug Propofol which killed the King of Pop in June 2009.

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ANGELINA JOLIE has urged officials around the world to "protect" Libyans as they attempt to flee the nation under the reign of controversial leader MUAMMAR GADDAFI.
Colonel Gaddafi has vowed to "fight to the death" amid the uprising sweeping the African nation, insisting he’s willing to "die as a martyr" rather than relinquish power.
As a result, an estimated 100,000 people are attempting to enter neighbouring countries, and Jolie - a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations’ high commissioner for refugees - is calling on authorities to "address" the crisis.
In a statement, she says, "It is critical that all parties respect the fundamental right of people in danger to flee to safety - whether civilians caught in conflict in their own country or refugees and asylum seekers caught in new conflicts. All I’m asking is that civilians be protected and not targeted or harmed.
"The world needs to address this moment. We have to give people safe passage, evacuation if needed, and ensure they have asylum. We don’t want to look back and find their deaths are on our hands."

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Celebrity accountant KENNETH STARR has been sentenced to more than seven years in jail for embezzling $30 million (£20 million) from clients including UMA THURMAN, MARTIN SCORSESE and WESLEY SNIPES.
Starr has been in jail since his arrest last May (10) and in September (10) he pleaded guilty to charges including wire fraud and money laundering.
On Wednesday (02Mar11), U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin ordered Starr to spend seven years and six months behind bars, according to the Associated Press.
He told the court, "I stand before you a contrite, humiliated and ashamed man. (I) strayed from the values I’ve been taught… I have no one to blame but myself." As well as his jail sentence, Judge Scheindlin told Starr he would have to hand over $29 million (£19.3 million). However, prosecutors have voiced concerns that Starr does not have enough in assets to pay the bill.

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Irish singer MARK FEEHILY was once stranded in the middle of a lake for two terrifying hours after his jet ski malfunctioned.
The Westlife star often takes to the water for fun trips with friends, but one journey turned into a nightmare after a rope got "stuck" and jammed the engine of his vehicle.
Feehily was left stranded away from the shore until his father contacted a local search team - and the singer has commended the work of his rescuers.
He tells Britain’s The One Show, "I have (been rescued). I have a jet ski and sometimes I take it out on a lake. We kind of have one of those inflatable things - other people sit on it and pull it and it’s a lot of fun, but the rope for that got stuck up in the engine in the jet ski and we ended up getting stranded for two and a half hours on the lake.
"It started to get dark and very worrying and very cold but luckily I brought my mobile phone with me. Everyone said, ‘Don’t bring it, it’ll get wet!’ Luckily I did because if I didn’t I wouldn’t have been able to call my dad and he went off and got somebody, a local search and rescue team. You don’t appreciate it until something like that happens, you realise these people are just waiting (to help)."

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PEACHES GELDOF was left almost speechless during her talk show hosting debut in the U.K. on Wednesday (02Mar11) after one guest drank her own blood.
The first installment of OMG! with Peaches Geldof featured an interview between the socialite and a self-proclaimed vampire.
Geldof, whose father is Live Aid hero Bob, was stunned when the woman, called Leanne, drank her own blood on air.
Geldof revealed, "As a statement you’re going to drink some blood… actual human blood? You’re going to drink your own blood. Gosh." Following the stunt, Geldof gasped, "That just felt so wrong watching that!"

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MOTORHEAD star LEMMY refuses to spend his rock fortune on flash cars and big homes - because he doesn’t like to live large.
The Ace of Spades rocker lives modestly in Los Angeles and doesn’t even own a motor - and he has no plans to change his low-key lifestyle.
He says, "I don’t drive… especially not in L.A. It’s like death out there. I’m a great passenger though; I read maps and all that. I can navigate.
"As for property… you can only be in one room at a time… I don’t like long walks from one end of the house to the other."

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JUSTIN BIEBER and OZZY OSBOURNE have helped raise more than $8,000 (£5,330) for the rocker’s wife SHARON’s cancer charity.
The space suits worn by the pair in a hilarious Super Bowl ad were put up for sale and when the online auction came to a close on Tuesday (01Mar11), they’d netted a total of $8,350 (£5,566).
Bieber’s outfit went for $5,800 (£3,866) after Sharon told viewers of her U.S. daytime show The Talk earlier this month (Feb11): "Justin was sweating all day, so it’s covered in his sweat." The cash will go towards the Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

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BRET MICHAELS’ doctor urged his partner KRISTI to bring their daughters to hospital after the rocker suffered a brain haemorrhage last year (10), fearing the rocker wouldn’t survive his health battle.
The Poison star was admitted to an intensive care unit at a Phoenix, Arizona hospital last April (10) after suffering bleeding on the brain, just days after enduring complications following an appendectomy.
Michaels admits his first concern wasn’t for himself - he was just "extremely sad" at the prospect of not being around for his young daughters, Raine and Jorja, if he didn’t survive.
He tells Piers Morgan Tonight, "I said, ‘Am I dying?’ He (doctor) said, ‘You’re in a lot of trouble’ and I heard him say to Kristi, ‘I would bring your daughters down, if you have kids and they’re awake, I’d bring the kids to the hospital’ and that for me was the most surreal out of body experience I’ve ever had. I was looking around a room and people always say, ‘Does your life flash in front of you?’ but it doesn’t. I got extremely sad, thinking my daughters will grow up without me, physically I won’t be here.
"At that point they start giving you sedatives and an ambulance crew came in and that’s the last thing I remember. About three days later was the first time I woke up." Michaels - who was suffering a life-threatening side-effect of the condition called hyponatremia, a lack of sodium in the body that can lead to seizures - was reunited with his daughters after waking up and worked hard to reassure them he was "going to be fine".
However, Michaels admits the girls "had a rough time" dealing with the health scare, after seeing headlines and facing constant questioning from school pals about their dad.
He adds, "The greatest moment ever (was when I saw them), but at the same time (when) I saw my daughters in the hospital, it was bittersweet. I grew up in a family where self-pity doesn’t work. I felt I couldn’t look up (at them) too much. I’m sitting there and Georgia, my youngest, who’s five, started crying immediately, and then Raine started crying and I told them that everything that was hooked up to me was helping me. I said, ‘I’m totally going to be fine, I’m going to live.’… I think they had a tough time at first."

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The young son of late rocker STUART CABLE is set to inherit more than $800,000 (£533,000) following the star’s death last year (10).
The former Stereophonics drummer was found dead at his home in Wales by his girlfriend Rachel Jones in June (10) and a coroner ruled he choked on his own vomit following a booze binge.
Cable had $2.1 million (£1.4 million) in assets at the time of his passing - but debts and fees owed reduced the amount to $802,500 (£535,000), according to Britain’s The Sun.
The rocker failed to make a will before his death - which means the cash will pass to his 10-year-old son Cian Damen, by ex-wife Nicola.

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Mother-and-daughter country duo THE JUDDS have been awarded the Country Radio Broadcasters 2011 Career Achievement Award in Nashville, Tennessee.
The pair took to the stage at the event on 1 March (11) to accept their prize and honour the radio presenters who have helped them throughout their career.
Naomi Judd told the audience she was "38 years old with two scared kids" when she recorded her first tracks in 1983.
It was a good year for the family - she and daughter Wynonna also released their first single, Had a Dream (For the Heart), and their career took off.
In the following decade, the duo scored 14 number one country singles and sold millions of albums, and Wynonna insisted radio bosses had a big part to play in their success, stating, "I’ve known about everybody in this room since I was 18 years old." The Judds have reformed for a major 2011 reunion tour and Wynonna revealed both mother and daughter are keen to get back on the radio: "One of my goals this year is to get back on country radio."

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MICKEY ROURKE has landed the role of virtual tour guide at a quirky Mafia experience in Las Vegas.
The Wrestler star has agreed to film segments that will be used to guide tourists through the Tropicana hotel’s new Mob Experience attraction.
Rourke tells news show Extra, "It’s like a trip, a journey you take to Las Vegas when it was operated by the Mob." Fascinated by all things Mafia related, Rourke admits he jumped at the chance to take fans back to Sin City’s darker days.

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FAMILY TIES star MICHAEL GROSS was relieved when his TV wife ‘came out’ as a lesbian in 2009 - because he was tired of keeping his pal’s sexuality a secret.
Meredith Baxter shocked fans when she revealed all about her sexuality on a TV news show - but Gross already knew the truth.
Joining the actress for a candid Oprah Winfrey Show special, which aired in America on Wednesday (02Mar11), he said, "My wife and I said, ‘Thank God we don’t have to keep that secret anymore’ - because I’m not that good at keeping secrets.
"I hated having to lie when people would say, ‘Do you think Meredith will get married again…? Is she dating anybody?’ "I think it was healthier for everybody." The three-times-married Baxter used her Oprah show appearance to reveal all about her sexual awakening, which came after her judgemental mother died and her youngest kids had left home.
She said, "I was no longer directly responsible for two little children and it was at that time in my life that a young woman, who was a lesbian, had rented out the garage behind my house… and I just started to notice where she was all the time.
"We started spending time together, going on walks and to the movies and things." The young tenant, Paula, who was 25 years younger than the actress, became the TV star’s life partner.
Baxter told Winfrey she’d never had strong feelings about women before.
She added, "I’ve had crushes on girls… in school, but that’s not out of the ordinary. I was a very conventional girl… I was the most shut down person you would ever be around. I was totally self-obsessed, no self-awareness."

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Actress BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD is following in her moviemaker father RON’s footsteps after signing up to direct her first feature.
The Twilight star will direct her own screenplay The Originals, according to Showbiz 411’s Roger Friedman.
Howard calls the project, "a Breakfast Club for my generation".
Zoe Saldana will reportedly star in the film.

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STEVEN SPIELBERG is reportedly working on a movie about the WikiLeaks scandal after buying the rights to a book detailing the inside workings of the whistle-blowing website and its director JULIAN ASSANGE.
The movie mogul’s DreamWorks company has paid for the rights to new book WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War on Secrecy, according to Britain’s The Guardian. The tome was published by Guardian Books last month (Feb11).
The book details the life of Assange, the creation of the site in 2006 and the leaks of classified documents.
Alan Rusbridger, editor-in-chief of Guardian News & Media, says, "It’s Woodward and Bernstein meets Stieg Larsson meets Jason Bourne. Plus the odd moment of sheer farce and, in Julian Assange, a compelling character who goes beyond what any Hollywood scriptwriter would dare to invent." Spielberg has not yet commented on the project.

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CHRISTINA AGUILERA has joined the experts who will mentor wannabe singers on new U.S. TV talent show THE VOICE.
The troubled star, who was arrested and charged with public intoxication on Tuesday morning (01Mar11), has been handed a lifeline as she attempts to get her career back on track after 2010’s flop album Bionic and a poorly received movie debut in Burlesque.
She has signed on as a coach and judge on reality TV mogul Mark Burnett’s new singing competition, where she’ll join Cee Lo Green and Adam Levine.
A statement from the Beautiful singer reads, "I am so excited to be part of such a wonderful project that celebrates music and the talent behind it. To be given the opportunity to help shape new artists’ careers and mentor them to see their dreams come to fruition is a task I welcome with open arms.
"I am so happy to be working with fellow Grammy Award winners Adam and Cee Lo as I feel there is so much we can all bring to The Voice." The Voice premieres in America on 26 April (11).

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MICK JAGGER is recording a secret solo album in Los Angeles with DAVE STEWART, according to the rocker’s brother.
Chris Jagger let the scoop slip during an interview on a Portuguese TV show, which aired on Tuesday (01Mar11).
Asked if his big brother keeps in touch with him, the younger Jagger said, "He’s doing a record at the moment in Los Angeles with Dave Stewart. He called me last night telling me what he was doing." If the information is true, the project will be Jagger’s first solo effort since 2001’s Goddess in the Doorway.
Stewart teamed up with Jagger to co-write several tracks on the Rolling Stones frontman’s 1987 solo album Primitive Cool and the former Eurythmics star also worked with Jagger for songs that appeared on the Alfie soundtrack in 2004.
The secret recording session comes just weeks after plans for a global Stones tour reportedly stalled.

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Actress MEREDITH BAXTER burst into tears during an interview on the OPRAH WINFREY SHOW on Wednesday (02Mar11) when her one-time TV husband MICHAEL GROSS reminded her of her lowest moment on the set of FAMILY TIES The beloved TV mum, who recently broke her silence about her abusive marriage to actor David Birney, never let on there were problems at home - but Gross always knew there was something wrong; he just couldn’t put his finger on it.
And it took a backstage breakdown for him to realise the extent of her private woes.
Gross joined Baxter on the Oprah show and recalled the day she "started to go".
He said, "One thing led to another and she wasn’t stopping crying… and she said over and over again, ‘I’m so afraid’… I didn’t know what that meant at the time." Baxter broke down and held her hands up to her face and Gross had to fight back tears as he embraced his former castmate.
He added, "My impulse was to say, ‘You’re coming home with me…’" The actress sobbed, "I was afraid of him (Birney) coming back. It was so peaceful (without him)." Baxter’s three kids, who were in the audience, also broke down as they watched their mum try to compose herself.
Gross picked up the story and revealed he always thought his TV wife and her real husband had the perfect marriage.
He added, "They were the poster child of a marriage that was going well… I didn’t notice because you (Baxter) kept her mouth shut." The actor also confessed he had "no idea" his co-star had a drink problem.
The couple’s TV son Michael J. Fox revealed on a video he recorded for the Oprah special that he knew there was something wrong with his castmate.
He recalled, "What I noticed with Meredith’s drinking was there was another reason underneath it; there was a sadness underneath it. You could tell that something was troubling her… It was the red flag. I think she was having problems with David and that’s (drinking) how it manifested itself."

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The songwriter behind BRITNEY SPEARS’ latest hit HOLD IT AGAINST ME has taken 1970s country rockers THE BELLAMY BROTHERS to task over suggestions he stole the idea for the tune from their 1979 song IF I SAID YOU HAD A BEAUTIFUL BODY WOULD YOU HOLD IT AGAINST ME.
Last month (Feb11), singer David Bellamy accused Spears and her partner Lukasz ‘Dr. Luke’ Gottwald of "ripping off" the title of the song, insisting it was "too close" to their 1979 ballad.
Bellamy stated he and his brother were considering their options and were in talks with lawyers over plagiarism claims.
He said, "We will without doubt take the appropriate legal action if our attorneys agree we’ve been ripped off. Surely there is more original stuff out there to do rather than rehash old titles." But Gottwald appears to have beaten the Bellamys to it - he has filed a federal lawsuit, stating the brothers launched a "smear campaign" by claiming the song he co-wrote was a knock-off.
The songwriter accuses the Bellamy Brothers of attacking him and Britney as part of "a publicity stunt aimed to increase their record sales".
In addition to damages for defamation, Gottwald is demanding a court order declaring his song has nothing to do with the Bellamy Brothers hit, reports TMZ.com.

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