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Los Angeles (dpa) - Madonna will be dancing her way around the world in a new tour beginning in Los Angeles in May, the 47-year-old pop diva announced.
"I want to explore the idea of making the dancers more personalities in the show and having their stories come out," Madonna told Rolling Stone magazine.
"And we want to devise a sound system that's surround-sound, because the standard system in a sports arena is crap for people watching, and it's crap for people on stage."
The Confessions tour will take in major city arenas across the U.S., Canada, Japan and Europe and will mark her first full-scale outing since 2004's Re-Invention Tour, which grossed over 100 million dollars. This time the pop queen will be focusing on new material rather than old favourites, she said.
Tour stops in North America will include arenas in Chicago, Boston, San Jose, Phoenix, Fresno, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Atlantic City, Miami, Montreal and New York. Overseas appearances will take place in Paris, France; Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Cardiff, Wales; Rome, Italy; Dusseldorf and Hannover, Germany; Horsens, Denmark; and Osaka and Tokyo in Japan.
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Die Hard director charged in private eye case
Los Angeles (dpa) - John McTiernan, director of Die Hard and The Hunt for Red October, has become the first major Hollywood figure to be charged in connection with a fast-spreading wiretapping scandal.
McTiernan, 55, was charged with lying to investigators over whether he hired the jailed private-eye-to-the-stars Anthony Pellicano to tap the phone of a Hollywood producer, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.
"McTiernan claimed that he had no knowledge of any wiretapping conducted by Anthony Pellicano and had never discussed any wiretapping with (him)," the criminal complaint stated.
"In fact, as defendant McTiernan well knew, he had hired and paid Pellicano to conduct a wiretap of Charles Roven," the complaint said.
Roven is a producer of major movies including The Brothers Grimm, Batman Begins, and Three Kings, but there was no indication of why McTiernan may have ordered the wiretap.
Pellicano, 61, has also worked for stars such as Michael Jackson and Elizabeth Taylor and was charged in February with conspiracy and plotting to secretly bug the phones of stars including Sylvester Stallone and Keith Carradine as well as a dozen others.
He is also accused of using bribes to obtain police records on other individuals, including those of comedians Garry Shandling and Kevin Nealon and is facing a 110-count racketeering and conspiracy indictment accusing him of using illegal means to get information on his probe targets.
The former private detective faces up to 20 years behind bars on each of the racketeering charges.
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Samuel L Jackson to star in Stephen King's 1408
Los Angeles (dpa) - Samuel L. Jackson is to star in the movie version of the Stephen King horror story 1408, Variety reported Tuesday.
The movie will also star John Cusack as a debunker of paranormal occurrences who encounters real terror when he checks into the notorious Room 1408 at the Dolphin Hotel. Shooting is expected to start this summer.
Jackson recently completed filming the movies Snakes on a Plane and Black Snake Moan, and is currently working on the Irwin Winkler- directed Iraq war drama Home of the Brave.
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Cameron Diaz wins topless photo case
Los Angeles (dpa) - Cameron Diaz has won her court battle to keep topless photos of her out of the public eye, according to reports Tuesday.
A judge awarded the vivacious actress undisclosed damages from John Rutter, the photographer who took the photos and who last year was found guilty of forging her signature on a model release form in an attempt to blackmail her for 3.5 million dollars. The judge has yet to rule on whether Rutter must also pay her legal costs.
Rutter is currently serving three years and eight months in prison on those convictions.
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Clooney and Roberts lead Vanity Fair's charge of the green brigade
Los Angeles (dpa) - Superstars George Clooney and Julia Roberts have joined forces for the first time since starring in Ocean's Eleven to lead a new commitment by Vanity Fair magazine to report on the environmental crisis.
The pair appear on the front of the magazine in a shot by celebrity photographer Annie Liebowitz that features Roberts as a wood nymph with a leafy crown and Clooney wearing a smart dark green suit.
Former US Vice President Al Gore and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also appear on the cover of the magazine's first "green issue", which Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter said represents the magazine's "increased commitment to reporting on the threat to our precious environment."
Roberts, who is building a solar-powered home in California, told the magazine that she uses eco-friendly diapers for her kids and takes her own metal cup when she goes out for a latte. Clooney highlighted his work with the organization Oil Change, which teaches consumers about alternative energy, and underlined his commitment by driving to the photo-shoot in his 100,000 dollar electric sports car, the Tango.
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Kidman-Crowe saga delayed
Los Angeles (dpa) - A period drama starring Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe in a tale of the 1930s Australian outback has been postponed until next year due to scheduling and budgeting conflicts, according to The Hollywood Reporter Tuesday.
The movie, which was to be directed by "Moulin Rouge" creator Baz Luhrmann, had been set to start filming in September but will now not start before next February.
Crowe is now set to star with Denzel Washington in American Gangster, which will begin filming in July in New York.
Kidman recently began work on a film by Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale). The untitled family drama co-stars Jack Black, and Jennifer Jason Leigh as Kidman's sister.
Copyright 2006 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
