Australian pop star Kylie Minogue's music video and episodes of the TV series "Ally McBeal" and "Friends" have been censored in Malaysia, a Home Ministry official said.
The Film Censorship Board, which is under the authority of the Home Ministry, assigns viewer ratings - or bans - entertainment fare before it is released to theaters and TV networks.
The official, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said Friday that 195 items have failed to make the cut under censorship laws passed April 1 tightening rules against overt violence, sex and obscenity.
Minogue's "Live in Sydney" music video was judged "too hot," The Star newspaper reported Friday.
Other snipped titles were an episode each of "Friends" and "Ally McBeal."
"In order for us to instill good morals and values in our people, we have to stop importing films that are not appropriate for our country," Censorship Board Chairman Shaari Mohamad Noor said.
Loose talk
"I have looked and made sure I could keep all my dear children together for years, so as they would always know each other. Believe me, this could not be true. ... I have been hit a few times, but not hard enough to lose a child." Boxing legend George Foreman, who is fighting the claims of a 22-year-old woman who says she is his daughter.
Plans stalled over Princess Di memorial fountain
Plans to build a $1.45 million memorial fountain to Princess Diana have been delayed again after the committee overseeing the construction disagreed on the design.
The panel, led by the princess' friend, Rosa Monckton, failed to reach a decision after more than two hours of discussions Monday night. Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell has been asked to find "an appropriate way forward."
The list of 100 artists who submitted ideas was whittled down to three, but the fountain memorial committee of eight is split evenly over designs by Bombay-born British artist Anish Kapoor and American landscape architect Kathryn Gustafson.
Benicio Del Toro takes on Bogart role
"Traffic" Oscar winner Benicio Del Toro, 35, will produce and star in an updated movie remake of Ernest Hemingway's thriller "To Have and Have Not," People magazine reports.
The original 1945 Warner Bros. version starred Humphrey Bogart aboard a charter boat that is overtaken by smugglers. That version was not particularly faithful to the Hemingway book, but is famous for being the first pairing of the Casablanca screen icon and a then- neophyte actress named Lauren Bacall. The two later married.
In the new version, the Puerto Rican-born Del Toro will play a fisherman in the Keys who hooks up with smugglers because he can't get ends to meet otherwise. One aim of the new film is to remain faithful to Hemingway, who is one of Del Toro's favorite authors.
The birthday bunch
Actor Hume Cronyn is 91. Former South African President Nelson Mandela is 84. Former Sen. John Glenn, an Ohio Democrat, is 81. Skating champion and commentator Dick Button is 73. Author- journalist Hunter S. Thompson is 65. Movie director Paul Verhoeven is 64. Singer Ricky Skaggs is 48. Actress Elizabeth McGovern is 41. Rock musician Jack Irons (Pearl Jam) is 40. Actor Vin Diesel is 35.
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