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Sideshow:
By Tirdad Derakhshani
Inquirer Staff Writer
Jul 27, 2008
WENN apologizes to Yusuf Islam Yusuf Islam , the Brit folk singer once known as Cat Stevens , has accepted libel damages and a mea culpa from tabloid news service World Entertainment News Network for a report in March 2007 that said the Muslim singer reportedly had ignored female guides at a German awards ceremony because they weren't wearing veils. Islam's lawyer said the report had created "an utterly false impression of his attitude to women" and "cast serious aspersions, quite wrongly, on his religious faith."
The singer, who converted to Islam in the 1970s and turns 60 tomorrow, will donate a "substantial" portion of the undisclosed settlement to a United Nations-linked charity he chairs.
A vote for Katie Katie Couric isn't leaving CBS Evening News . So said the Eye's news and sports boss, Sean McManus , on Friday. He was speaking from New York by satellite to television critics gathered for their annual encounter with TV moguls in Beverly Hills, Calif.
"It's not true" that Katie and CBS will go their separate ways, McManus said, shooting down speculation that had her leaving after the presidential election or, at the latest, after the inauguration.
"I can echo that," Couric said. "We have no plans to part company anytime soon."
Crystal on Sept. 11 fund Billy Crystal has joined his Analyze This costar Robert De Niro on the board of the National September 11 Memorial and Museum foundation. The BBC says Crystal will help the org raise money to build a memorial to victims of the Sept. 11 attacks. So far, the foundation has raised $350 mil.
Crystal said he was "honored" to join the board, calling this "an opportunity to demonstrate New York's strength and resolve."
Alba honors her baby, Honor Jessica Alba , 27, tells OK! mag that she wanted her baby, who was born June 7, to have a unique and beautiful name, thus her decision to name her Honor Marie .
"I was always irritated that my name was Jessica," Jessica says, "because there were tons of Jessicas in every school I went to. There's something great about having a unique name."
Here's hoping Honor doesn't decide to become a judge. ("It's an honor to meet you, your honor, Honor.")
Tony & Carmela's $175K picture Seems Federico Castelluccio , who played the studly Italian hit man Furio Giunta on The Sopranos , is also a best-selling artist. Castelluccio, whose character is besotted with Carmela Soprano, recently sold a painting of James Gandolfini and Edie Falco to Toronto oil executive Robert Salna for a whopping $175,000 - the highest price for any memorabilia from the HBO mob hit.
Modeled after Piero della Francesca 's famous 15th-century portraits of the Duke and Duchess of Urbino , the canvas shows the two Sopranos actors staring at each other in profile.
Castelluccio said he had been inspired to do the piece, which he calls The Duke and Duchess of North Caldwell , after the town where the Sopranos lived, after he saw della Francesca's portraits in person.
Contact "SideShow" at sideshow@phillynews.com . This column contains information from Inquirer wire services. TV critic Jonathan Storm contributed to this report.
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