Bollywood star delays French award due to blasts (AFP)

NEW DELHI (AFP) – Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan asked for a delay in being honoured for her work promoting cinema ties between India and France because of the Mumbai blasts, the French embassy said Friday.

The actress, who is pregnant with her first child, had been due to be made a knight of France's order of arts and letters at a ceremony in New Delhi on Wednesday.

But the former Miss World asked for the event to be postponed after three explosions shook India's financial hub during earlier in the day, killing 17 people and injuring more than 130.

The 37-year-old actress, who lives in Mumbai, asked for the ceremony to be held at a later date out of "solidarity and sympathy" with the victims of the blast, an embassy official said.

The award was to have been presented in "recognition of her contribution to the world of cinema and to the development of Franco-Indian co-operation in the film industry", the embassy said.

Rai Bachchan, who won the Miss World title in 1994, has starred in more than 40 Hindi-language films and a number of English-language films, including the Steve Martin remake of the "Pink Panther".

She is married to leading actor and producer Abhishek Bachchan, 35, whose father Amitabh, is one of Bollywood's biggest stars.

Amitabh Bachchan was given France's highest civilian award, the Legion of Honour, in 2007.

No new date for the the ceremony for Rai Bachchan to receive the French honour has been announced.

Indian investigators are scrambling to identify who was behind the blasts which came just two-and-a-half years after Mumbai was still emerging from the 2008 attacks by Pakistani Islamist militants that killed 166 people in 2008.

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Lady Antebellum delays Ohio show over family loss (AP)

TOLEDO, Ohio – Lady Antebellum has announced the sudden postponement of an Ohio concert due to a death in the family.

The country music trio says on its website that band member Hillary Scott's grandmother has died, so the Grammy-winning group won't perform as scheduled Friday night at the Toledo Zoo Amphitheatre.

The sold-out show has been rescheduled for Aug. 10.

Lady Antebellum says it still plans to appear Saturday night at a music festival in Sarnia, in the Canadian province of Ontario.

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Failed drug test delays DMX's Ariz. prison release (AP)

PHOENIX – The rapper known as DMX will have to spend at least an extra week in an Arizona state prison for failing a drug test.

The 40-year-old whose real name is Earl Simmons was given a year in prison in December after his probation was revoked for failing to submit to drug testing and driving on a suspended license. He was credited with 117 days he had already spent behind bars.

Arizona Department of Corrections spokesman Barrett Marson confirmed DMX was due to be released from a prison in Yuma on Wednesday. His new release date is July 19.

Prison records show he's also been caught smoking twice and once with drugs since January. He's been making 20 cents an hour as a porter.

TMZ.com first reported the failed drug test.

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Judge delays ruling on access to Jackson footage (AP)

By LINDA DEUTSCH, AP Special Correspondent Linda Deutsch, Ap Special Correspondent – Thu Jun 16, 2:50 pm ET

LOS ANGELES – Lawyers for Michael Jackson's doctor and Sony Pictures aired some of their dispute Thursday over release of unused footage from the star's posthumous concert film, "This Is It."

But the judge presiding over the involuntary manslaughter case of Dr. Conrad Murray delayed ruling on the issue, citing confusion about exactly what the defense wants to see.

Lawyers for Sony said the defense request had "changed radically" in recent days, and the entertainment company wanted more time to research the matter and file additional legal briefs.

Sony attorney Gary Bostwick said the subpoena for raw footage has now changed to a request for film from two of Jackson's personal video cameras.

Defense lawyers said earlier they wanted all raw footage of Jackson's rehearsals for what was to have been a live concert in London.

Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor said he was sensitive to whether the request is merely a fishing expedition. He said release of any footage would come with restrictions to prevent it from being disseminated on the Internet and elsewhere.

"If Michael Jackson materials are just out there, there could be amazing consequences for Sony and the Jackson estate," the judge said. "I'm not inclined to order that they just turn them over."

Bostwick added, "We will continue to be very concerned that anything shown in court leaks out and goes viral."

But he acknowledged that once the video becomes a trial exhibit, it will be difficult to keep it secret

Prosecutors plan to use clips from the theatrically released, "This Is It" to show jurors in Murray's trial that Jackson was in good health just before he died.

The defense wants to show otherwise. Those lawyers contend scenes showing Jackson in frail health during rehearsals may have been edited out of the movie.

Lawyers have said there are more than 100 hours of footage from which the movie was culled.

Murray lawyer Ed Chernoff said he learned recently that footage was recorded by Jackson's personal camera crew operating two cameras.

"If it's more than those two cameras, yes, we are asking for all the footage," he said.

Another hearing was set for June 24, just before the second anniversary of Jackson's death.

Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's death from an overdose of the anesthetic propofol and other sedatives. Trial is set for September.

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Set glitch delays Met Opera global telecast (AP)

NEW YORK – The Metropolitan Opera's live telecast to millions of listeners worldwide was delayed by 35 minutes because of a glitch in the set.

Hundreds of ticketholders stood outside the theater Saturday, waiting to enter for a noon telecast of Richard Wagner's "Die Walkuere." (dee VAHL'-kyoo-reh). The show ended and about 45 minutes behind schedule at 5:50 p.m.

Met spokeswoman Lee Abrahamian says a malfuctioning encoding sensor in one of the planks in the set had to be fixed.

The 90,000-pound set twists into different shapes, and lights and projections are used to create the effects such as water and fire.

The Met's "Live in HD" broadcasts are beamed to 1,500 movie theaters around the world, including many in Europe, where the final note was played at 11:50 p.m. Abrahamian says theaters carried the opera to its conclusion.

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The 9 O'Clock News - Nadine Coyle delays her wedding

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It’s tough isn’t it when your mates are all getting married and it becomes a bit of a competition. Now that Sarah Harding has announced she is going to tie the knot Nadine Coyle has decided to play tactical and delay her big day to avoid comparisons.

A source told the Sun: "Jason is absolutely desperate to get Nadine down the aisle this summer but she's told him she's not doing it until 2012 now. Nadine doesn't want it to be a compare and contrast between her and Sarah.

"Plus she's had a rough time over the past few months with her disaster album sales and bad reviews. She isn't in the right mindset to organise a wedding."

We think she is probably doing the right thing. There is going to be a pretty huge wedding in 2011, the royal one and no-one is going to be able to compete against that.

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