Such was the mania gripping New York as the pope’s visit to the United States reached its emotional culmination that at least one busload of visitors erroneously mobbed what turned out to be a life-sized cardboard cut-out, propped in front of the Mount Carmel Catholic bookshop on 187th Street.
Using a team of co-authors, James Patterson has become perhaps the world’s most successful writer.
The world’s carbon dioxide emissions did not plummet to zero after Live Earth and rock stars did not rise as one to trade their private jets for bicycles. Yet the scandalous possibility presented itself that Al Gore’s seven-continent, 24-hour concert series had been rather impressive and might yet prove important.
All is emptiness, according to practitioners of Zen Buddhism, and you don’t need to read many news stories about the hotel heiress and inexplicable celebrity Paris Hilton before conceding that they’ve probably got a point. Now, though, as Hilton prepares for a 45-day jail sentence, she has been photographed holding a copy of the bestselling book The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.
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/ 13 October 2006
With its machine-gun dialogue, crackling wit and political savvy, The West Wing has dominated American TV drama for almost four years. But now Aaron Sorkin, the genius who created it, is leaving, reports Oliver Burkeman.
Brando jeans, Brando leather jackets, Brando Harleys … Alarmed that the actor’s name and image may be used for commercial gain without its say-so, the Brando estate has applied for trademark protection with a patent and trademark office, write Dan Glaister and Oliver Burkeman.
The United Nations appeared on the verge of breaking the deadlock over Lebanon recently, paving the way for a Security Council resolution in which major powers including the United States and Britain would demand an immediate end to fighting.
As violence escalated in Lebanon, diplomats insisted that disagreements on the council were now all but resolved, and that a resolution could be voted on by early next week.
With the George W Bush’s approval rating down to 33% in some polls, his lowest ever, an overt message from a musician of Neil Young’s stature could find a large audience, reports Oliver Burkeman in New York.
Jared Nissim wanted to make one thing clear. ”This is definitely not a dating service,” the 32-year-old New Yorker explained, as a motley group of 18 men and women, many unknown to each other, gathered around a long table at a Manhattan restaurant.
In an unexpected move that caught political commentators on the back foot, President Thabo Mbeki made a surprise visit to South Africa last Wednesday. His unannounced arrival was leaked to <i>Not the Mail & Guardian</i> by a part-time hangar-sweeper at the South African Air Force base at Swartkops, outside Tshwane.