 News Makers
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-04 07:42 Madonna couple not divorcing US pop star Madonna and her husband, British film maker Guy Ritchie, are not planning to divorce, her spokeswoman said on Tuesday, denying media speculation that their marriage is ending.
"There are no divorce plans," Liz Rosenberg, Madonna's publicist, said in a statement. Rumors that the London-based couple planned to split have been circulating for months, fueled most recently by reports that the singer had lined up Fiona Shackleton, a lawyer for Paul McCartney in his bitter divorce from Heather Mills. The speculation reached a fever pitch last week in London, where the Daily Mirror newspaper dedicated two front pages to the plight of the couple's marriage. Madonna, 49, and Ritchie, 39, married in December 2000 at Skibo Castle in northeast Scotland. They met at a party hosted by ex-Police frontman Sting and his wife Trudie Styler. Their son, Rocco, was several months old on their wedding day, and in 2006 Madonna applied to adopt David Banda, a boy from Malawi whose mother died shortly after his birth. Texan put away for 4,060 years A Taxas man was sentenced to more than 4,000 years in prison for sexually assaulting three teenage girls over two years. A day after finding James Kevin Pope guilty, jurors sentenced him to 40 life prison terms - one for each sex assault conviction - and 20 years for each of the three sexual performance of a child convictions. At the request of prosecutors, state District Judge Graham Quisenberry ordered Pope to serve the sentences consecutively, adding up to 4,060 years. He will be eligible for parole in the year 3209, according to the Parker County District Attorney's Office. "We believe it was a just result," prosecutor Robert DuBoise said, adding that he was "overwhelmed" with the judge's decision to stack the sentences. Pope, 43, abused the girls for nearly two years. It came to authorities' attention earlier this year after Pope made several inappropriate comments to a friend, who notified Child Protective Services. During the trial, the teens testified about the abuse, and their sexually explicit photographs were shown as evidence. But Rick Alley, Pope's defense lawyer, told jurors in closing arguments that the victims were incapable of understanding what happened, the Weatherford Democrat reported in its Wednesday online edition. During the sentencing phase of the trial, a US Secret Service agent testified that while examining Pope's home computer, he found more than 200 images of child porn. Dentist wins music contract An opera-loving dentist is to swap his drill for a microphone after winning a four-album recording contract worth one million pounds. Andrew Bain, 35, who has worked as a dentist in London for more than 10 years, was finally signed by record company SonyBMG after chasing a deal for years. His debut album, to be released in September, will feature operatic versions of pop hits such as The Smiths' "How Soon Is Now?", Abba's "The Winner Takes It All" and Prince's "Purple Rain". "This is the ultimate dream come true," he said in a statement. "Not only have I finally got a record deal, but they understand my eclectic taste in music. Who needs yet another version of 'Nessun Dorma?'" Richard Hinkley, a senior executive at SonyBMG, said Bain's modern operatic style was "refreshingly different" and would appeal to pop fans. Raised in Lancaster and Essex, Bain sang in a church choir from the age of eight and went on to perform in amateur opera. He qualified as a dentist when he was 24 and used his holidays and spare time to indulge his passion for singing. After years of juggling two careers, Bain said he was looking forward to singing full-time.
Billionaire quits governor post Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, owner of Britain's Chelsea soccer club, has resigned as a regional governor in Russia, the Kremlin said yesterday. The Kremlin's press service said Abramovich had asked to step down as governor of the Chukotka Autonomous District, a sparsely populated Russian region near Alaska, and this had been approved by President Dmitry Medvedev. Abramovich, 41, is ranked by Forbes magazine as Russia's second wealthiest businessman with a reputed wealth of $23 billion. He moored his $300 million yacht in Russia's second city of St Petersburg while he attended an economic forum there last month. Abramovich is best known in the West for his ownership of Chelsea soccer club in London. Russian media has reported in the past that Abramovich tried repeatedly to step down as governor of Chukotka, on Russia's north Pacific coast, but that former President Vladimir Putin insisted he stay on. Agencies (China Daily 07/04/2008 page11) |
