Xpress-qTODAY PAGE-1011.XPRESS.30Apr09 - Xpress - The Nation

Thursday, April 30, 2009 DAILY XPRESS GLOBETROT 5
Britney’s
ex-manager
ordered to
steer clear
of star
AFP, Los Angeles
The ex-manager of pop
star Britney Spears
must stay away from the
singer and her family for
three years, a Los Angeles
judge ruled on Tuesday.
Los Angeles Superior
Court Judge Aviva Bobb’s
order bars Sam Lutfi and the
attorney Jon Eardley from
coming within 300 metres of
the singer and her sons until
April 2012.
The court had already issued
a temporary order
against Lutfi and Eardley in
January. Lawyers for Spears
father Jamie, who controls
his daughter’s estate, alleged
the two men had caused the
singer emotional distress.
Jamie Spears and lawyer
Andrew Wallet were appointed
conservators of the
star’s estate last year in the
wake of the singer’s much
publicised mental health
scare when she was admitted
to hospital.
Jamie Spears alleged Lutfi
and Eardley had tried to undermine
the court-ordered
conservatorship.
Britney Spears endured a
torrid period following her
2006 divorce from husband
Kevin Federline. But she has
gradually got her career
back on track, releasing a
chart-topping album.
Britney:
Back at
the top
of the
charts.
US-IRANIAN REPORTER
Roxana Saberi, in a Tehran
jail on a spying conviction,
will continue her hunger
strike till she’s free, says
her parents.
Carla Bruni’s former profession as a model gave her a certain celluloid
quality in comparison with the Spanish royals or the country’s first lady.
‘Unnatural’ Bruni
elicits mixed
reactions in Spain
DPA, Madrid
What did she wear? Who
designed her bags and
jewellery? How many centimetres
did her heels measure?
How did she greet the Spanish
king, and display affection towards
her husband?
Spanish media did not ignore
any detail concerning Carla
Bruni, the wife of French
President Nicolas Sarkozy, during
the couple’s state visit to
Spain on Tuesday.
The glamour of the Italianborn
singer and former model
gave Spaniards a welcome break
from unemployment, terrorism
and other problems.
But not everyone was happy.
“Bruni lives on a permanent
catwalk,” the daily El Pais said,
describing the French first lady
as “elegant but not really natural”.
“I cannot help feeling a profound
rage when seeing” that
after decades of fighting for
women to be recognised as intellectually
and professionally
capable beings, “we remain ...
mere decorative objects on the
side of the superman”, novelist
Angeles Caso wrote on the eve
of Bruni’s visit.
Sarkozy, who is facing strikes
and other problems at home,
made the most of his wife’s publicity
value, “allowing her to flirt
SARKOZY MADE THE
MOST OF HIS WIFE’S
PUBLICITY VALUE,
‘ALLOWING HER TO
FLIRT WITH THE
CAMERAS’.
with the cameras as much as
necessary”, as El Pais put it.
Critics did not question
Bruni’s singing talents, but in
her role as Sarkozy’s consort,
her former profession as a
model came to the fore, giving
her a certain celluloid quality
in comparison with the Spanish
royals or Spain’s first lady, commentators
said.
The press “invented” a “totally
non-existent” duel of elegance
between 41-year-old
Bruni and Crown Princess
Letizia, 36, the daily El Mundo
complained.
“Bruni has made a living
from being pretty,” while former
news anchor Letizia was
“on a different level”, a woman
named Patricia wrote in an
Internet forum.
AFP
POLISH PIANIST KRYSTIAN
ZIMERMAN told his Los Angeles
audience that he could “no
longer play in a country [the US]
whose military wants to control
the whole world”, prompting
about 40 people to walk out.
‘Spicy’ chatter
Swine-flu chatter criss-crossed
the Internet as the global spread
of the virus became the hottest
subject at micro-blogging service
Twitter.
By Tuesday afternoon,
Google’s trend-tracking website
rated swine flu a “spicy” Internet
search topic due to a sudden
spike in interest that earned it a
spot in the Top 10 online Hot
Trends list. – AFP
Jet blunder
briefly
NY socialite’s son in
hot water over will
New York philanthropist Brooke Astor was mentally
competent when she changed her will, said
the lawyer defending her son from charges of
defrauding the socialite.
Frederick Hafetz, lawyer for Anthony
Marshall, denied prosecution allegations that Marshall
Astor was tricked in 2004, while suffering from
dementia, into switching her will to benefit her son.
Marshall, 84, is accused of exploiting his mother’s increasingly
severe Alzheimer’s condition to get her to change her will, securing
for himself and his wife US$60 million (Bt2.1 billion) intended for
charities. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted. – AFP
The White House plans an
inquiry into a low-flying photo
shoot by a presidential plane
that panicked New Yorkers and
cost taxpayers US$328,835
(Bt11.6 million).
“It was a mistake, as was
stated ... and it will not happen
again,” President Barack Obama
said.
But the origins of the govern-
ment public-relations stunt that
went awry remained an engrossing
mystery – and a potential
political problem for Obama.
“I think this is one of those
rare cases where we can all agree
it was a mistake,” Pentagon
spokesman Geoff Morrell said of
Monday’s flight low over the
Hudson River that for many on
the ground evoked chilling memories
of September 11, 2001’s
attacks that brought down the
World Trade Centre’s twin towers.
The sight of the huge passenger
jet and an F-16 fighter
plane whizzing past the Statue
of Liberty and the lower
Manhattan financial district sent
panicked office workers streaming
into the streets.
Big-rig chase
Police said they arrested a man
who stole a trailerless semitruck
and led them on a 80-kilometre
chase down a Georgia
interstate with the semi’s owner
clinging to the back.
Captain Jason Bolton with
the Henry County police department
said authorities believe the
suspect carjacked the truck in
Union City just south of Atlanta.
Bolton said county authorities
helped chase the truck as it barrelled
down a major highway.
When the truck stopped,
armed officers surrounded it and
broke through the windows
before pulling the driver out and
wrestling him to the ground. – AP