Thursday, January 31, 2008

Britney Spears being hospitalized again.

Britney Spears was taken from her house by ambulance early Thursday, police told The Associated Press.

A Los Angeles police officer, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter, said the 26-year-old pop star was being taken to "get help" but did not give the ambulance's desination.

On Jan. 3, police were called to her Studio City home when she refused to return her two young sons, Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, to ex-husband Kevin Federline, who has custody.

Officers had paramedics haul Spears to a hospital for undisclosed reasons. She was released after a day and a half in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Police also went to the home Monday night after someone reported a swarm of paparazzi trespassing in the singer's gated community. When officers arrived, they didn't see anyone trespassing, police said, but citations were issued for several illegally parked cars.

Spears has been in a highly public downward spiral since filing for divorce from Federline in November 2006.

Her bizarre antics include shaving her head bald, attacking a car with an umbrella and bringing along a paparazzo pal on trips to a courthouse in her child custody case.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

WHAT!!! Actor Heath Ledger Found Dead


Australian-born actor Heath Ledger, 28, the co-star of the Oscar-winning movie "Brokeback Mountain," was found dead in a New York residence on Tuesday, police said.

"Heath Ledger was found dead at 3:26 pm this afternoon," a police spokesperson said, saying he was found in an apartment in the posh district of Soho. "We don't know the cause of the death."
The entertainment website TMZ said Heath was discovered "face down on the floor" adding that "law enforcement sources ... believe it was not a crime." The New York Times said Ledger was discovered by the housekeeper and a masseuse who arrived in the afternoon for an appointment.

They knocked on the door, but "when no one answered, the housekeeper and the masseuse opened the bedroom and found Mr. Ledger naked and unconscious on a bed. They shook him, but he did not respond," the Times said.

Both the New York Times and TMZ quoted officials as saying pills were found near the body, but gave no further details. According to the newspaper, the apartment was inhabited by actor Mary-Kate Olsen.

Ledger, who was nominated for a best actor Oscar for his portrayal of a gay cowboy in the 2005 film "Brokeback Mountain," had separated from his former fiancee Michelle Williams in September. The pair, who met on the set of the Ang Lee-directed drama, have a two-year-old daughter, Matilda.

Lee had hailed Ledger's performance as a "miracle" of acting, reminiscent of a young Marlon Brando.

Ledger lost the Oscar for best actor in 2006 to Phillip Seymour Hoffman for his portrayal of author Truman Capote in "Capote," but "Brokeback Mountain" won three Academy Awards, including for best director.

The flaxen-haired heartthrob first came to prominence by acting as a homosexual athlete in little-known Australian soap opera "Sweat" in 1996. He played a gay cyclist in the teen soap, set at the Western Australian Institute of Sport that portrayed the lives of Olympic hopefuls.

The creator and writer of the series, John Rapsey, said it was clear even then that Ledger, then a 16-year-old sports champion and high school dropout, possessed an unusual talent.

"He himself had absolutely no problem playing the role. He handled all of that with great aplomb," Rapsey told AFP.

"What was noticeable about him was he was concentrated, very quiet, and you could see that he was really observant of other people."

Ledger, who has never attended acting school and who left his home state of Western Australia for Sydney as a teenager, credited his instincts with his success.

"The one thing that's got me to where I'm sitting is my instincts, you know, and I'm impatient. I didn't want to wait for years to work. I wanted to just get out there and do it," he said in an interview with an Australian television program in 2001.

This month, Ledger had been working on his latest movie, "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," directed by Terry Gilliam, which was due to be released next year. He also portrayed The Joker in a Batman movie called "Dark Knight" to be released later this year.

source: http://afp.google.com

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Scientists Clone Human Embryos

Scientists in California say they have produced embryos that are clones of two men, a potential step toward developing scientifically valuable stem cells.

The new report documents embryos made with ordinary skin cells. But it's not the first time human cloned embryos have been made. In 2005, for example, scientists in Britain reported using embryonic stem cells to produce a cloned embryo. It matured enough to produce stem cells, but none were extracted.

Stem cells weren't produced by the new embryos either, and because of that, experts reacted coolly to the research.

"I found it difficult to determine what was substantially new," said Doug Melton of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. He said the "next big advance will be to create a human embryonic stem cell line" from cloned embryos. "This has yet to be achieved."

Dr. George Daley of the Harvard institute and Children's Hospital Boston called the new report interesting but agreed that "the real splash" will be when somebody creates stem cell lines from cloned human embryos.

"It's only a matter of time before some group succeeds," Daley said.

To Read More....

Source: http://news.yahoo.com

Paparazzi Arrested After Crazy Britney Spears Chase

Four photographers were arrested for reckless driving after a late night car chase of pop star Britney Spears on the outskirts of Los Angeles, police said on Thursday.

Los Angeles police spokeswoman Sara Faden said the four were among a group of paparazzi seen driving at high speed in the Mission Hills area of the city around 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday on the trail of the troubled singer.

"Britney Spears was part of the group, but was not driving recklessly," Faden said. She said four men were booked for reckless driving and each ordered to put up $5,000 bail.

According to the celebrity Web site www.TMZ.com, Spears told police that one of the cars, which she could not identify, may have tried to run her off the road. Also, she was spotted going to Kitson -- the clothing store -- at 1:30 in the morning. Yes, she made them open up the store.

Spears, 26, has been trailed by paparazzi day and night for several months as her personal and professional life has fallen apart following her divorce from Kevin Federline and bitter battles over the custody of her two children.

Source: http://reuters.com

Steve Harvey On The Cover Of Jet Magazine With New Bald Look

Steve Harvey will be featured on the cover of the latest Jet Magazine, showcasing his new bald look.

His new look is in such high demand that his radio show's website, steveharvey.com, has crashed due to excessive traffic.

Harvey, one of the "Original Kings of Comedy", has been the disc jockey on his own radio, "The Steve Harvey Morning Show", since 2000. Initially, the show aired only in L.A. on KKBT, and in Dallas on KBFB, with Harvey splitting his time between the Dallas and L.A. studios. Harvey and Radio One decided to part ways shortly before his contract expired.

In September 2005, Harvey signed a joint syndication deal with Premiere Radio Networks and Inner City Broadcasting Corporation for a new incarnation of "The Steve Harvey Morning Show". The four-hour show is now based out of WBLS in New York.

Source: http://transworldnews.com

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Actor Brad Renfro found dead in LA home tuesday morning

Actor Brad Renfro, 25, was found dead in his Los Angeles home Tuesday morning (January 15). Although the circumstances of his death are currently unknown, the former child star had been plagued for nearly a decade by drug abuse and run-ins with the law.

Renfro was best known for a skyrocketing career that began with a central role in the 1994 John Grisham legal thriller "The Client," a part he landed when he was 10 years old. In the years that followed, the Tennessee-born teen would continue to choose gritty, adult-oriented work in films like the Kevin Bacon drama "Telling Lies in America," the critically acclaimed AIDS tale "The Cure," and the high-wattage "Sleepers" (in which he played a young Brad Pitt).

In 1995, he won the Hollywood Reporter's YoungStar award, was nominated as one of People magazine's "Top 30 Under 30," and won a Young Artist award for his role in "The Cure."
Although the only straightforward family flick Renfro made during his adolescent years was the modest Disney success "Tom and Huck," the actor found himself struggling with teen typecasting as the new millennium dawned. For all intents and purposes, his last mainstream starring role was in "Apt Pupil," director Bryan Singer's underperforming Nazi tale best remembered for a lawsuit involving child extras and a shower scene.

Renfro's troubles became public in 1998, when he was charged with possession of cocaine and marijuana but avoided jail time. In a bizarre incident just a few years later, he was charged with attempting to steal a yacht in Florida. Renfro's reported drug habit led to his getting picked up in a December 2005 sting operation on Los Angeles' Skid Row as the actor attempted to buy heroin from an undercover officer; he would soon enter rehab. Just one month prior, Renfro had been charged with driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license.

Career-wise, Renfro would never fully recover from his post-"Pupil" substance-abuse troubles. The actor spent the rest of his Hollywood days in forgotten films like "Deuces Wild" and "American Girl," or occasional supporting work in the Scarlett Johansson cult classic "Ghost World" and the Adrien Brody military flick "The Jacket."

One of Renfro's final acting appearances was in a recent episode of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent." He had recently been filming "The Informers," co-starring Winona Ryder and based on the Bret Easton Ellis novel of the same name; how that film will address Renfro's passing is currently uncertain.


Source: http://mtv.com