[Harry!]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/?nav=globaltop


Madonna seeks delay in Malawi adoption case: lawyer

BLANTYRE (Reuters) - U.S. pop star Madonna has asked a Malawian court to delay a hearing to finalize her adoption of a boy from the southern African nation, a lawyer close to the case said. The singer's law firm in Malawi filed an application requesting the High Court in Lilongwe to hear her adoption of David Banda on May 15 instead of April 22, as originally scheduled, the lawyer said, speaking on condition of anonymity.


Cate Blanchett takes limelight at Australia summit

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Hollywood star wattage outweighed intellectual light at the opening of an Australian thinkers summit on Saturday, with cameras firmly focused on Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett and her newborn son. Fellow actor and X-Men film franchise star Hugh Jackman also stole the limelight from the other 998 of the nation's best minds, promising to lobby for more Australian actors to come home as his "big idea" for the future planning summit.


Was Bush lucky for U.S. soldier on TV game show?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Did President George W. Bush bring luck to a soldier who was a contestant on the television game show "Deal or no Deal?" Stay tuned. Bush taped a "surprise good luck video" in the White House Library on March 17 for Army Captain Joe Kobes who served in Iraq and was a contestant on the NBC show "Deal or No Deal," the White House said on Friday.


CNN's Richard Quest arrested for drugs in New York

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York judge ordered CNN reporter Richard Quest to undergo six months of counseling on Friday after Quest was arrested in Central Park for possession of a controlled substance, his lawyer said. The British reporter is known for his boisterous and quirky style, especially on CNN International.


Springsteen keyboardist Danny Federici dies at 58

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Keyboardist Danny Federici, who for four decades played alongside rock star Bruce Springsteen as part of the E Street Band and helped define his rollicking sound, has died of melanoma. He was 58. Federici's death at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York on Thursday was announced on Springsteen's official Web site and the rocker postponed a pair of weekend concerts in Florida.


R&B singer Ne-Yo "bored" by urban music

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - As he prepares to release his third album in as many years, R&B singer/songwriter Ne-Yo says he is "a little bored" with urban music. The genre has served him well, to be sure. His first two albums have both been certified platinum, and he has co-written such monster hits as Beyonce's "Irreplaceable," which spent 10 weeks atop the Hot 100 singles chart in 2006.


Foxy Brown freed from prison in New York

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. rapper Foxy Brown was freed from a New York City prison on Friday after serving eight months of a one-year sentence stemming from an assault of two nail salon stylists over a $20 manicure. Brown, 29, whose real name is Inga Marchand, was sentenced to three years' probation in October 2006 for assaulting the stylists. But in September 2007 a judge ruled she was not taking probation seriously and sent her prison for one year.


Social networks prepare own music services

DENVER (Billboard) - One of the biggest new-media sensations to emerge from last year were music-related widgets -- mini-applications that allowed members of social networking services like MySpace or Facebook to customize their profiles with such music features as streamed playlists and tour calendars with links to ticket sales. What helped the widget trade to boom in the first place was that MySpace and Facebook didn't offer such services to artists and fans directly. But now that MySpace is readying a full-featured music service of its own, and Facebook is rumored to be working on something similar, what happens to all these widgets that filled that void?


CBS CEO says no plans to replace Couric: source

NEW YORK (Reuters) - CBS Corp Chief Executive Les Moonves offered Katie Couric his support on Friday, telling the CBS News anchor and her staff there were no plans to replace her. Couric's job security has been under intense scrutiny since a report in the Wall Street Journal earlier this month that said she could leave her job as anchor well before her contract expires in 2011, possibly as early as next January after the U.S. presidential inauguration.


Half say celebrities don't aid causes they promote: poll

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fifty-one percent of Americans say celebrities make little or no positive difference to the issues they promote while 45 percent say they have a large or some positive influence, according to a new survey. Oprah Winfrey was seen as the best champion of causes with 49 percent of those surveyed in the Harris Poll saying she was very effective at raising awareness. The others in the top five were Bono (32 percent), Angelina Jolie (31 percent), Brad Pitt (23 percent) and George Clooney (22 percent).