Britney Spears documentary

Britney Spears has rubbished rumours
she’s to present hit US show Saturday Night Live again.

The singer was reported to be returning to the programme next month.
But producers insists there is ‘no truth’ to the story.

Britney, 26, is due to appear on Good Morning America on 2 December
to launch her new album Circus.
She will treat viewers to her first live gig in over a year.

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Britney Spears documentary to screen on Sky1



Sky1 has picked up the exclusive UK rights to singer Britney Spears'
new warts-and-all documentary.
The 90-minute Britney: For the Record will air on Sky1 and Sky1 HD less than 24 hours
after it premieres in the US on MTV in December.

For the Record follows Spears over three months as she records
and promotes her latest single, Womanizer, and sixth studio album, Circus.

The documentary also features her talking about the issues
that saw her dominate the headlines over the past year.
Sky1's senior acquisitions executive, Louisa Forsyth, said:
"Britney Spears is an international icon and the whole world
has been fascinated by her story."

The documentary, which has been distributed by FremantleMedia Enterprises,
has been made by film-maker Phil Griffin through production company Radical Media.

Spanish Queen and same-sex couples

MADRID (AFP) —
Spain's Queen Sofia has said she opposes the use of the term marriage
for same-sex couples, who have been able to marry in the mostly Catholic country
since 2005, according to a new biography.


"If these people want to live together and dress it up as marriage,
they can be within their rights, or not, according to the laws of their country,"
she is quoted as saying in the book "La reina muy de cerca" (The Queen Up Close).

But she added that this should not be called marriage "because it is not."

The book, presented to the press on Thursday, was due to go on sale on Sunday
to coincide with Greek-born Queen Sofia's 70th birthday.

Spain became only the third member of the European Union,
after Belgium and the Netherlands, to allow same-sex marriages
giving couples the same rights as married heterosexuals in July 2005 with a law
that also legalised adoptions by gays and lesbians.


Homosexuality was legalised in Spain in 1979 shortly
after the death of dictator Francisco Franco
whose regime shipped off gays to institutions that some activists
have likened to concentration camps.

The Roman Catholic Church remains influential in Spain,
a country which is officially 80 percent Catholic
but where only about 40 percent practise the religion.

Teacher accused of sex acts with pupils

MALAYSIA --
The 40-year-old, who has 18 years of experience as an educationist,
faces up to five years in jail and whipping, if convicted.

Mohd Harith Mohd Nor, the father of a 5-year-old girl,
was calm when the charges were read out to him at the magistrate's court here yesterday.
Also present were his wife, his mother and several other relatives.

Harith claimed trial to inciting two of his former pupils, aged 13 now,
at various locations in the district between October 2006 and August this year.
He pleaded not guilty to inciting one of the boys on five occasions and another, three times.

For the first victim, Harith was accused of committing the offence while on the way
to the Paroi Stadium on October 2006.
The subsequent two alleged offences were committed while he was on the way
to the Tuanku Jaafar Hospital and at the office of the senior assistant
of co-curricular activities of SRK Wawasan Seremban 2 in March last year.

He was also charged with inciting the same boy on two other occasions in September last year
and March this year at the swimming pool of the Seremban 2 Sports Complex
and at a house at No 269, Jalan Arowana Impian 10, Taman Arowana Impian, here, respectively.

Harith was also alleged to have incited another boy, also his pupil,
at the same office in SRK Wawasan Seremban 2 between November and December last year
and at the same house in March and August this year.

Assistant public prosecutor Fairuz Syuhada Amran applied for bail of RM2,500 for each charge
in one surety before magistrate Azlina Hashim.
Counsel M. Gobinathan pleaded for a lesser amount of RM2,000 for each charge,
adding that Harith had been in the lock-up for the last seven days.

"I hope the principle of not guilty until proven otherwise will apply," he said.
Azlina fixed bail at RM15,500 and fixed Dec 1 for mention.
Bail was posted by the accused's wife.

(NST)

Guy Ritchie turns down Madonna's offer

Madonna's estranged husband Guy Ritchie has reportedly snubbed a $31 million offer
from the pop superstar to settle their divorce out of court.

The pair announced earlier this month that they are to divorce
following seven-and-a-half years of marriage.
They have been locked in divorce negotiations ever since,
but director Ritchie is allegedly refusing to settle without a fight.

A source says,
"Guy is certainly not going to accept the first offer -- $31 million is a lot of cash,
but not in their world."


Madonna's fortune is estimated at a staggering $468 million.

The former couple is also at odds over their custody plans.
Madonna is said to be planning to move to New York with their son Rocco, 8,
adopted son David, and Lourdes, 12, the singer's daughter from a previous relationship,
while Ritchie wants them to remain close to his London home.

16 years jail for sex assault naturopath

AUSTRALIA -
A Melbourne naturopath has been sentenced to 16 years' jail
for the sexual assault of 12 patients over almost 20 years.

Michael Morris Wilson, 53, formally of suburban Armadale,
will serve 12 years' jail before being eligible for parole.
In sentencing him on Tuesday, County Court Judge Liz Gaynor described Morris
as a "callous and self-centred sexual abuser" who exploited the trust of his patients.
"I can only regard each of your victim as vulnerable females
on who you prayed on remorselessly," she said.

Morris was found guilty in May of 22 counts of indecent assault,
11 of rape and one each of sexual penetration of a child under 16
and committing an indecent act with a child under 16.
His victims were all women who sought naturopathic and massage treatment
at his practices in Mont Albert and Prahran between 1987 and 2006.
(TheAge)