Following is a summary of current entertainment news
briefs.
Taylor Swift’s ”Never Ever” breaks music chart record
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Country star Taylor Swift’s latest
single made a record-breaking entry in Wednesday’s Billboard
Digital Songs chart, scoring the biggest digital sales week
ever for a song by a female artist. Swift’s song ”We Are Never
Ever Getting Back Together,” an infectious, punky country-pop
anthem, quickly rose through the charts and gained strong radio
play after its release last week, selling 623,000 downloads,
according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Jolie, Pitt daughter to make film debut as young princess
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – She is only four-years-old but
Vivienne Jolie-Pitt, daughter of actors Angelina Jolie and Brad
Pitt, will soon follow in the footsteps of her famous parents,
appearing in Disney movie ”Malificent,” the studio said on
Wednesday. The movie is expected to hit theaters in March 2014
with Jolie playing villain Malificent from animated classic
”Sleeping Beauty.” Vivienne will portray a young version of
Princess Aurora who is cursed to sleep until awoken by kiss
from a handsome prince.
UK’s Prince Harry cavorts naked in Vegas party photos
LONDON (Reuters) – Pictures of a naked Prince Harry were
published on a U.S. website on Wednesday, showing the grandson
of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth cavorting with a nude young woman
in a hotel room in Las Vegas. A royal source confirmed to
Reuters that the two photos published on the celebrity gossip
website TMZ were of Harry, who has a reputation as a partying
playboy and is often linked to an array of women in Britain’s
tabloids.
Avril Lavigne, Chad Kroeger engaged to marry
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Canadian rockers Avril Lavigne and
Nickleback frontman Chad Kroeger are engaged to be married,
Lavigne’s spokeswoman confirmed to Reuters on Wednesday as news
of the impending nuptials spread online. People.com reported
that Kroeger, 37, proposed to Lavigne, 27, on August 8 with a
14-carat diamond ring. The couple fell for each other while
working together on Lavigne’s fifth studio album. No wedding
date has yet been set.
Actress Natalie Wood’s death certificate amended by coroner
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The Los Angeles County coroner has
amended the 30-year-old death certificate of actress Natalie
Wood to change the official cause of her demise to ”drowning
and other undetermined factors” from accidental drowning,
authorities said on Wednesday. The change was made a couple of
weeks ago, and comes nine months after homicide detectives for
the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said they were
reopening the investigation into the death of the actress at
age 43, sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said.
LL Cool J fought and detained burglar at his house, police
say
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Grammy-winning rapper and TV actor
LL Cool J fought a burglar in the kitchen of his Los Angeles
house early on Wednesday and held him there until officers
arrived to take the man into custody, police said. The
58-year-old prowler, whom LL Cool J caught in his house shortly
before 1 a.m., appears to have been homeless, said Los Angeles
police spokesman Richard French.
Jackson nephew made co-guardian of pop star’s kids
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A judge on Wednesday finalized an
arrangement for Michael Jackson’s nephew to serve as
co-guardian of the late pop star’s three children along with
the kids’ grandmother, who until recently had been solely
responsible for their care. The decision by Los Angeles
Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff follows recent turmoil
inside the famous family over the pop star’s estate after
grandmother Katherine Jackson was reported missing. She later
turned up in Arizona with her eldest daughter and other family
members.
Russia dismisses foreign critics of female punk rock band
trial
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia denounced foreign criticism of
the trial of punk band Pussy Riot as politically motivated on
Wednesday and said there were ”elements of a clash of
civilizations” in Western condemnation. Three members of the
band were sentenced to two years’ jail last week for
”hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” when they performed
a ”punk prayer” in Moscow’s main cathedral, calling on the
Virgin Mary to rid Russia of President Vladimir Putin.
Singer Sarah Brightman may be Russia’s next space tourist:
report
MOSCOW (Reuters) – British singer Sarah Brightman may be
the next paying passenger to ride a Russian rocket to the
International Space Station, the Interfax news agency reported
on Wednesday, citing an unidentified official in the space
industry in Russia. If it happens, Brightman, 52, would make
the journey in 2015 and would be the first paying customer
since Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte who donned a red
clown’s nose during his 2009 trip, the official was cited as
saying.
Private Greta Garbo goes public in celebrity auction
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – She was renowned for her beauty and
fierce sense of privacy, but later this year, fans of film
legend Greta Garbo will get the chance to own one of more than
800 items of her wardrobe and home decor, including the bed she
slept in. Julien’s Auctions said on Wednesday it would sell
gowns, pant suits, furniture and art – ranging from a dress
Garbo wore to dinner with President John F. Kennedy and first
lady Jacqueline Kennedy to an inflatable snowman the actress
kept in her living room for laughs – at auction in Beverly
Hills, California, on December 14 and 15.
