TAIPEI – ACTOR Li Yapeng has denied tabloid stories that his wife, pop queen Faye Wong, has a gynaecological ailment and is dangerously thin.

‘We have been staying in Hong Kong lately. She is as happy as a bird every day,’ he told the Taiwanese press on Monday.

‘Her health has never been better. She didn’t exercise much before but she does yoga every day now, with more perseverance than me.’

The couple are based in Beijing with their two daughters. But Wong has been back in Hong Kong to apply for Hong Kong residency for her toddler, Li Yan, according to Ming Pao Daily News.

Li was in Taiwan for talks on China-Taiwan co-productions. The actor-producer said he hoped to produce a drama inspired by the story of his family, which was divided when the Kuomintang troops fled to Taiwan after they lost the civil war.

‘My grandfather, uncle and aunt lived in Taiwan. Last year, my 90-year-old grandfather went to Beijing for the Olympics and there was a family reunion,’ he said.

‘This is not just my story, but also the story of many Chinese.’

Straits Times

DETROIT – EMINEM’S music publisher wants a bigger slice from Apple.

Interpret contracts
IF THE case isn’t settled, the trial before US District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor will center on how to interpret contracts.

Eight Mile agreed in 1998 and 2003 that ‘Eminem would create master sound recordings embodying compositions, and that Aftermath would own those masters,’ Apple’s attorneys said in a court filing.

… more
Eight Mile Style LLC and a co-plaintiff, Martin Affiliated LLC, are suing Apple Inc, claiming they never authorised the use of 93 songs in a downloadable format on Apple’s popular iTunes service.

The non-jury trial is expected to start on Thursday in the rapper’s hometown of Detroit, unless a settlement is reached Wednesday with the help of US Magistrate Judge Virginia Morgan.

They are also suing Aftermath Records, which controls the recordings in question, saying it didn’t have the right to make deals on digital downloads.

It’s unclear from court documents just how much money is at stake, but the plaintiffs claim Apple wrongfully gained US$2.5 million (S$3.5 million) through iTunes downloads, including US$466,915 from Lose Yourself, Eminem’s biggest hit from the hip-hop film 8 Mile.

The publisher also believes it should get a share of Apple’s profit from the sale of iPods.

Eight Mile also claims Aftermath wrongfully collected US$4 million off Eminem’s songs on iTunes.

Apple denies the allegations and says it has a valid agreement with Aftermath Records. Eight Mile has received royalties but says that doesn’t mean it can’t press ahead with a lawsuit.

The ‘acceptance of a single check containing mostly royalties for authorised uses, but also containing small and hidden royalties for unauthorised uses, cannot operate as a satisfaction of a claim,’ Eight Mile’s lawyers said in a recent filing in federal court.

Eight Mile says it still retains ownership, including copyright, of the compositions inside Eminem’s recordings. — AP

Straits Times

NEW YORK – THERE will be more than a little star power in the upcoming Broadway revival of A Little Night Music, the Stephen Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler musical.

Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury will share top billing in the production which begins preview performances Nov 24 and opens Dec 13 at the Walter Kerr Theatre.

Zeta-Jones will make her Broadway debut in the production, which will be directed by Trevor Nunn.

The musical also will feature Alexander Hanson, who appeared in Nunn’s recent London production.

It’s based on the Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night.

Lansbury won her fifth Tony Award in June for her performance in a revival of Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit.

Zeta-Jones won an Oscar for her portrayal of Velma Kelly in the movie version of Chicago. — AP

Straits Times

LOS ANGELES – A PHARMACIST asked to provide powerful medications for late Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith described the combination of drugs as a prescription for ‘pharmaceutical suicide’ and refused to fill the order, according to court documents released on Tuesday.

The Los Angeles pharmacist’s account of the incident gives a glimpse into how Smith was treated before her death in 2007 at age 39 from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.

Smith’s former boyfriend and two doctors have been charged with illegally supplying Smith with controlled substances for years before she died in a Florida hotel in February 2007.

Smith was a Playboy Playmate and Guess jeans model who gained worldwide fame when she married an 89 year-old billionaire oil tycoon when she was 26.

Previously-sealed search warrants and supporting documents describe a 2006 request from Smith’s psychiatrist to a pharmacist for 300 tablets of methadone, two types of sedatives, a muscle relaxer and other drugs, including a painkiller nicknamed ‘hospital heroin’.

The pharmacist called Smith’s doctor and said he would not fill the prescription, calling it ‘pharmaceutical suicide,’ the court documents state. The documents also detail warnings given to Smith’s team of doctors by other pharmacists.

The papers also suggest that the two doctors charged in the case, psychiatrist Dr Khristine Eroshevich, and Dr Sandeep Kapoor, crossed professional boundaries by having sexual contact with Smith, who was a top Playboy model in the 1990s.

They cite photos showing Smith and Eroshevich naked and embracing in a bathtub, and mention a video aired on celebrity news show ‘Inside Edition’ showing Smith and a shirtless Kapoor ‘kissing and nuzzling.’

Smith’s longtime boyfriend Howard K. Stern, and Eroshevich and Kapoor have pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy and illegally supplying the model with drugs. They face up to five years in prison if convicted. Another court hearing is scheduled for Oct 5 in Los Angeles.

Smith died shortly after the death of her 20 year-old son, who also suffered an overdose of prescription drugs and methadone. — REUTERS

Straits Times

NASSAU (Bahamas) – PROSECUTORS said on Tuesday that a paramedic who treated John Travolta’s son shortly before he died in the Bahamas threatened to release private information unless the movie star paid US$25 million (S$35 million).

Travolta was among those expected to take the stand during the trial, but he was not in the courtroom as prosecutors began presenting evidence in the capital of this island chain off the Florida coast.

‘Contact was made with certain persons to communicate a threat to John Travolta,’ said Bernard Turner, chief prosecutor in the Bahamas, in his opening argument.

Ambulance driver Tarino Lightbourne and former Bahamas senator Pleasant Bridgewater, a co-defendant who allegedly acted as an intermediary, have pleaded innocent to extortion charges. Defence lawyers had not yet presented opening arguments.

Police say the alleged scheme involved a document related to the treatment of Jett Travolta, a chronically ill teenager who died Jan 2 following a seizure at a family vacation home on Grand Bahama island.

It would have released emergency responders from liability if the family refused an ambulance but police said that did not happen.

The first trial witness, police inspector Andrew Wells, testified that after 16-year-old Jett was loaded into an ambulance, Lightbourne told him that Travolta wanted his son taken directly to the local airport instead of the hospital. Mr Wells said that Travolta signed a release form.

It was unclear why Jett Travolta was not taken to the airport and why the defendants allegedly believed the actor would pay to keep it secret.

Travolta, who has kept a low profile since his son’s death, is on a list of 14 witnesses who could be called to testify.

Prosecutors have not said when the actor might take the stand. The other potential witnesses include lawyers for Travolta as well as five police inspectors and detectives.

A jury of six women and three men was seated in the Supreme Court case on Monday. — AP

Straits Times