This US rapper Snoop Dogg has made his debut in a Bollywood film. Dogg, whose real name is Cordozar Calvin Broadus, sings and acts in a romantic comedy called Singh is Kinng. Fusing hip hop and bhangra, Dogg appears in the film with leading Bollywood star Akshay Kumar, singing the eponymous title track. The song has already made it to the top of the Bollywood music charts and is a hit at Indian nightclubs. The producer of the film, Vipul Shah, told the BBC that Akshay Kumar, the star of the film, and his friends approached Dogg to sing and act in the $11m film.
He was satisfied with the scale of the film and agreed to be a part of it. The song was filmed with his sensibility and he had creative control. Mr Shah said the song cost $475,000 to record and film.
The opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics has begun with a spectacular display of dancing, music and fireworks at a packed national stadium.
There are 10,000 performers are taking part in the festivities, being watched on TV by an estimated one billion people. City’s main airport has been closed for the ceremony due to the heightened security in the capital. The build-up to the event has been dominated by worries over pollution and criticism of China’s rights record. Before the beginning, President Hu Jintao said that the historic moment we have awaited is arriving!
picture credit to: BBC
Morgan Freeman – Hollywood star – has been discharged from the hospital where he was recovering after a car crash. Base on the statement issued after his release, Freeman said that he was well. He suffered a broken arm and had to undergo surgery after his car overturned and landed in a ditch near his home in Mississippi last Sunday. A female passenger was also injured but there is no word on the condition of his passenger named Demaris Meter. The possible cause of the accident is unclear. Police said it was possible that the actor had fallen asleep at the wheel.
This Wednesday Freeman’s lawyer said that his wife for 24 years, were getting a divorced. Freeman married costume designer Myrna Colley-Lee in June 1984 and has been separated last December 2007.
Set your mind at ease with NBA’s Most Valuable Player Kobe Bryant and top-scorer LeBron James will head the list of 12 players named by the United States for the Beijing Olympics. They also named Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony and Jason Kidd as the US seeks to end a recent run of disappointments. US aim to win the gold medal in Athens – the first time an NBA-based team had done so at the Olympics. Team’s officials have promised a change of culture in a bid to improve the men’s team’s results.
The Argentina won gold in Athens, having the edged out of the United States in the semi-finals. It is being 
said that it was the third defeat of the tournament for a US team that was criticised for being under-prepared. But the team’s managing director Jerry Colangelo and head coach Mike Krzyzewski are confident for the current squad that they will perform better than the team that went to Athens.
Bryant led the LA Lakers to the NBA finals this season, while James scorched the league’s defences, scoring 30 points per game. Tayshaun Prince, Carlos Boozer, Chris Bosh, Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, Michael Redd and Deron Williams complete the American line-up. Eight players have been retained from the team which ensured Olympic qualification at the Americas Tournament last year. Bosh, Paul and Wade, who all missed that tournament, return from the 2006 World Championship team.
While the squad will train in Las Vegas from 20-25 July before heading to China for warm-up games against Turkey, Lithuania, Russia and Australia. Since 1992, NBA players have been allowed to compete at the Olympics, where the US famously fielded gold medal-winning ‘Dream Team’ in Barcelona. There is only one occasion that the US failed to win a medal in men’s basketball – the 1980 Games in Moscow, which they boycotted.
The singer Amy Winehouse has spent the night in hospital after an ambulance was called to her London home. The 24-year-old confirmed she had been taken to University College Hospital after suffering a reaction to medication. There have long been concerns about the singer’s health, and she received hospital treatment last month for traces of lung disease emphysema.
The decision to release her from hospital was due to be made on Tuesday morning. The ambulance was called to her house in Camden, north London on Monday evening. A London Ambulance Service spokeswoman said that they sent an ambulance and a fast response car and the patient has been taken to hospital.
The police called to clear a path for the ambulance through waiting photographers. A Scotland Yard spokesman said that they were asked to assist in the London Ambulance Service leaving the vicinity since a crowd of photographers had gathered. Winehouse’s father Mitch, who has previously expressed fears over the effect his daughter’s drug use has had on her health, is with the singer in hospital. The spokesman of Winehouse said late on Monday that Amy suffered a reaction to medication at home this evening and was taken to hospital. The doctors have advised that she will be kept under observation overnight and is likely to be released tomorrow.
Will Smith was the highest-paid actor in Hollywood last year, according to US business Forbes magazine.
The I Am Legend star earned $80m (£40m) – but Dodgeball star Vince Vaughn proved the best value for money, raking in $14.73 for every dollar he was paid.
The magazine pulled together lists of Hollywood’s big earners for its special Entertainment All Stars issue.
Smith, Johnny Depp and Eddie Murphy were the best paid Hollywood actors in the past year, according to the magazine.
Smith, 39, made $80m (£40m) between 1 June 2007 and 1 June 2008, thanks to films like I Am Legend, Hancock and The Pursuit of Happyness, for which he was nominated for best actor in the 2007 Oscars.
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